The BBC’s take on the political import of blogs. Though they reference the US election, they again miss the Rather angle. Can old media fairly report on new media? I don’t think they understand it yet.
They do understand that their position is threatened, however.
“The notion of a gatekeeper who filters and decides what’s acceptable for public consumption and what isn’t, that’s gone forever.”
“With people now walking around with information devices in their pockets, like camera or video phones, we are going to see more instances of ordinary citizens breaking stories.”
Hat tip: NRO
ABC News named Bloggers as their “People of the Year.” They pointed to bloggers’ importance in stories ranging from the tsunami to Howard Dean, but made no mention of CBS’s forged documents.
Maybe it’s because this is being reported by network TV, but why not mention Rathergate? If you mention Dean (who lost), isn’t a story revolving around the presidential victor more important?
Hat tip: NRO
Six soldiers are suing the Associated Press for taking personal photos published on a public website and republishing them as part of a report on prisoner abuse.
An AP reporter discovered the photos, posted on the picture-sharing site Smugmug.com, during research on another set of photos that purportedly showed Navy SEALs abusing detainees.
Jane Doe One, the lawsuit said, stored the photos on Smugmug.com, among a collection of personal photographs. The suit said the two Jane Does are wives of two of the SEALs, members of the elite Navy force Sea-Air-Land.
Usually, internet sites take material from print media. This time the give and take is reversed.
The suit complains that publication put the lives of the military personnel at risk. Two points: First, didn’t the original web publication do the same thing? Second, the AP writer was told that publication would endanger their lives:
The Dec. 3 AP story quoted a spokesman for the Naval Special Warfare Command as saying some of the photos could put the lives of the SEALs at risk.
Adam Penenberg at Wired.com argues that journalists should reject embargos because the media is playing along with a big PR game. He also notes that it’s up to editors, rather than powerless reporters, to resist embargo pressures.
Matt Drudge has made a career of blowing past embargos. I would guess that many of his scoops come from the very reporters who are unhappily sitting on an embargoed story. After it’s on Drudge, the story is unembargoed, and everyone, except the PR folk, is happy.
New York Daily News - Business - Sirius , XM radio scale Yule heights
Both satellite contenders lured lots of new business this year with Sirius going from just 260,000 to 1 million customers and XM going from 1.3 million to 3.1 million.
It would be interesting to compare this growth to other new media like radio and TV.
Relatives and survivors - World - www.theage.com.au
The Age in Melbourne collected stories from its readers who were caught in the tsunami. Note the invitation for interviews too.
The Age would like to speak to anyone affected by the earthquake or the tsunamis in the region. You can contact us by email: newsdesk@theage.com.au
Requires free registration.
Oliver Kamm: What is… Pajamahadeen?
Old-media arrogance is worn with pride by new media operatives. Pajamahadeen is a new label suggested by a CBS exec’s comparison between old and new:
You couldn’t have a starker contrast between the multiple layers of checks and balances (in television news) and a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas writing.
Never mind that it was the bloggers who checked and balanced CBS’s documents story and CBS who acted like the unprofessional partisans.
MotherJones.com — Debt to Society
Although you won’t have the time or resources to do something like this, here’s an example of the kind of reporting the web can handle.
Teaching online journalism - saila.com
Here’s another journalism professor making an argument for learning at least basic HTML. You need to know the fundamentals of how the web works and what is possible before you start writing for it.
Gallup: Online News Hasn’t Beaten Old Media — Yet
Two notable trends:
“Only news on the Internet gaining, from 15% going there every day two years ago to 20% doing so today.”
“Contrary to many assessments, young people do not consult Internet news more often than other sources, Gallup found. For those 18 to 29, only 21% said they looked at Web news daily, not much different than the 19% of those 50 to 64 who do so.”
Suggests that the medium does not affect young people’s interest in news, something that has been in a long decline.