200 Transformational Moments

In a recent article at Poynter Online, Bill Mitchell writes about "200 Moments that Transformed Journalism," as compiled by David Shedden, Poynter Library director.

Shedden selected 200 moments that occurred in the years 2000 through 2009, using the New Media Timeline; a resource he created and has maintained to track the evolution of news since the invention of the Internet in 1969.

As Mitchell said in his article, "there's often no way to tell, in the moment, whether any given development signals a passing fancy, a seed of destruction or a glimpse of tomorrow. But there's nothing like a little hindsight to provide some context."

"Not all of Shedden's 200 moments are as consequential as his first entry for the year 2000 -- the acquisition of the Time Warner media empire by that once feisty startup known as America Online."

It's an interesting list and I have to agree with Mitchell. Some selections, "seemed to have little to do with the news at the time," but you be the judge. Take a look and see what you think. At the very least, it will provide some interesting conversation around the office water cooler!

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Halt Opinion-Hurling Journalism

Today's Poynter Online, features an article about a speech given recently by Pulitzer Prize winner Ellen Goodman. It took place at Harvard's Nieman Foundation for Journalism, in celebration of the winners and finalists for the J. Anthony Lukas book prizes.

In her speech, Goodman commended the writers for
their "work against the very strong tide of the times, against food fight journalism. We live in an era of opinion hurling, where there are villains and heroes. Everything is required to be far more simplistic than the problems we face."

I say, "Bravo!" to Ms. Goodman. In this age of "Faux" News and others, I find her perspective very refreshing.

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Journalism..what do we want?

During the last 8 weeks I have paid more attention the journalism. One thing that I have notice is that yes everyone can be a journalist, but we no longer have to wait for "certified" journalist to supply us with information any more. I don't have to watch a game or news cast to see who won anymore. Facebook and Twitter can give me up-to-date information faster then a journalist can load it onto a website. I can find out traffic delays, hotel selections, sports scores all on my blackberry.
Today we don't have to wait for People Magazine to come out, celebreties Twitter they thoughts and events with us daily. To me this is a subject of wanting the cake and the ability to eat it also. We want to save the journalism industry BUT we want everything at out finger tips also. We are going to have to all get on the same page or it might be too late for the journalism industry as we knew it growing up (for those of us over 40).

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Good night, and good luck

Journalist, Public Commentator, and Broadcasting Legend Bill Moyers signed off from his weekly PBS series for the last time Friday night. Moyer's departure was unsurprising, but Craig Aaron, Managing Director for Free Press, stated that his absence marks a turning point for journalism in America.

For the EWG Students in BNR this term, the topic of Aaron's blog post echos sentiments we heard in a speech by Free Press founders John Nichols and Robert W. McChesney. The media is in crisis; thousands of journalists are losing their jobs and local newspapers are becoming a thing of the past. Big media companies that overtook smaller media outlets are now drowning in debt and taking the public's access to local stories and media down with them. Eight weeks ago, I would have considered the word using the word "crisis" to describe this situation a bit of a misnomer. But, as I have become more aware of the news around me and the effect it has on my opinions and my responsibility as a citizen, I now think the term is accurate.

Aaron's article explains that America, which is considered by many the greatest democracy in th eworld, only spends $1.43 on it's media sources. Those media sources are our link to each other, to citizens in other towns across the state, to our capital and to the world. $1.43 will buy you a small french fry or a hamburger at McDonalds. $1.43 is all the public money available to fund a public media. In comparison, each U.S. taxpayer spent $565 to bail out AIG. I'm not sure about you, but something seems off here. There is more money available to bail out a bunch of CEO's whose bonus' equal more money than I will see in my lifetime than there is to pay someone to go out and investigate the truth for me?

It's hard in an economic downturn to think of funding something as small as journalism. But if I've learned anything in BNR this term, it's that journalism isn't small. It's size depends on where we can send it, where we can make it reach; be it the far corners of the Earth or just down the street, I've realized that there journalism offers us a chance to reconnect to each other in a world where we've completely disconnected.

Aaron provides details in the blog on his testimony to the FCC, in which he gave several possible solutions to the crisis in journalism. Though he cited a few kind words spoken by FCC representatives and others regarding Moyers' retirement, he stated that finding a way to get journalism back on it's feet to help America build a stronger democracy would be the best tribute we could all give him.

And I think that after over 50 years of service to us, a tribute is in order.

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Politician to Jail to Broadcaster?

The New York Times reported that in Illinois, breaking the law seems to lead to a guaranteed opportunity as a political broadcaster. The city has three politicians that have been convicted of crimes from accepting bribes to corruption charges, done jail time, and now have their own shows as radio broadcasters.

While Chicago or Illinois is not the only place this happens, the city has numerous tainted politicians turned professional talkers.

Local television stations explain that they always recruit ex-politicians on election night, and they don’t differentiate the honest from the dishonest. It seems more important to have the insider awareness, and who better knows what is going on?

Listeners are also drawn to big politicians that have been brought down, convicted, and now they are out and have lots to say. Prior broadcasting or radio experience isn’t necessary.
While these individuals obviously aren’t trustworthy, maybe they are the best source to tell what really happens in the political world.

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Social Media for Recruiters

Social media and social networking are becoming hot terms in the HR world. Companies are realizing that there is a significant opportunity to reach candidates through the various social media avenues.

1. Go where candidates would hang out on the web. Surround yourself with people smarter than you are. See which site fits your niche and join by creating a profile. Options include RecruitingBlogs.com, HRM Today, and The Fordyce Letter Network.

2. Learn how to use LinkedIn. This site is a must for business professionals. It is a great tool for personal branding, job searching, and business development.

3. Read more blogs by subscribing to an RSS such as Google Reader. This allows a reader to skim through material and read content at a more efficient pace.

4. Try Twitter and connect with thought leaders who share what they’re working on, resources, tips, and links. Potential candidates and clients may follow you on Twitter.

5. Use Facebook to recruit. It offers some cool tools for recruiting and employment branding, and you can effectively connect with and recruit young professionals as well as senior level talent.

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Time to Review Online Privacy Laws

The New York Times reported that the push to strengthen online privacy laws was backed by a coalition calling itself Digital Due Process. The coalition wants to ensure files and documents remain protected from easy access by legal and government authorities.

The coalition includes the American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Center for Democracy and Technology. The coalition also includes technology companies such as AT&T, Google, and Microsoft. The group wants to safeguard information and require law-enforcement agencies to use a search warrant rather than a subpoena to obtain online data.

Under current law, information on Facebook and other social media sites is accessible through a simple subpoena, which can be issued easily. The group wants Congress to update the current Electronic Communications Privacy Act written in 1986, a decade before Internet became mainstream.

While advocates say new rules are merely intended to ensure protection enjoyed in the past as technology evolves, they acknowledge they will face resistance from law-enforcement agencies.
It seems clear that the electronic privacy laws are outdated and need to be reviewed. Whether you store a file in a cabinet at home or on your laptop, your privacy should remain the same.

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Hawaii Loses a Newspaper

Hawaii will only have one newspaper following Gannett's sale of The Honolulu Advertiser to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Owner, David Black, of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin signed the paperwork this morning. This means the loss of at least 300 jobs for employees of The Honolulu Advertiser. Gannett said the poor economy in Hawaii has led to declines in readership and advertising.

Many people worry how the consolidation will impact the community with fewer news stories will be produced each year.

"It's a real tragedy," said Gerry Keir, who worked at The Advertiser for 27 years, rising to editor before leaving in 1995. "I don't think there's any question that the community is the loser."

Mark Platte, editor of The Honolulu Advertiser, will become the news director of Hawaii News Now. He starts in his new role May 10.

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Thousands of Online Newspapers!

With all the chatter of online news, and its effect on the newspaper industry, I thought I would share a website that gives you the opportunity to find thousands of online newspapers. This gives you the opportunity to find U.S. newspapers, world newspapers and magazines. You can even update the site if it does not contain one that you know of.

According to http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/, these are the current top 10 of the top 50 newspapers in the United States.

1. The New York Times (New York)

2. The Washington Post (Washington D.C.)

3. The Los Angeles Times (California, Los Angeles)

4. The Daily Fulki (Dhaka)

5. New York Post (New York, New York)

6. Daily News (New York)

7. Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Georgia)

8. The Boston Globe (Massachusetts)

9. Detroit Free Press (Michigan)

10. Chicago Tribune (Illinois)

This is an interesting site to check out! Who knows, this site could be used as your future career lead list.

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Good Bloggers and Bad Bloggers

The recent events in the case of the Apple iPhone acquired by Gizmodo has the potential for a significant legal precendence on whether blogger's can be protected by shield laws the same as journalists according to Jeff Neuburger, legal correspondent for MediaShift.

First there has to be determination on whether or not the iPhone that was abandoned in the bar is considered stolen property.

Brainstorm Tech names Brian J. Hogan of Silcon Valley as the person who found the phone. They also report that it was Apple who contacted the district attorney to report the iPhone as stolen. Hogan said he tried to return the phone to Apple, but was ignored. Then he realized what he had and started peddling it on the Internet. However, Hogan may still be charged with theft.

Gizmodo's editor, Jason Chen's home was raided by police last Friday and computer equipment, hard drives, phones were seized as police carried out a warrant that stated the equipment was used in the commission of a felony. That means that the San Matteo district judge sees it as stolen property.

Everyone seems to have an opinion on the situation. Jon Stewart thinks that Steve Jobs of Apple is overreacting. Letterman says it comes under the category of "who cares."

Regardless of where you stand on the issue, there is also an element of journalistic integrity that should come into play. Jason Chen paid $5000 for this iPhone prototype. He gave it back, but not before disclosing all of Apple's proprietary technology over the internet. Is that news? Should that really fall under the category of journalism and be protected by shield laws?

Shield laws are meant to protect the journalist from having to testify to reveal their sources of confidential information. Information that is gathered because the public has the right to know and disclosure of the information is for the public good. I would argue that would not include the right to know trade secrets of an organization.

I think some bloggers are journalists and I think others are not. Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't think this will be the case that decides the issue.

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5 Ways To Improve Facebook's User Privacy

It doesn't take long before privacy advocates and users complain about new services introduced by Facebook. This time Senators from across the United States have taken a stand. Senators Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Mark Begich (D-Alaska), Al Franken (D-Minn.), and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) are involved and ready to fight.

The senators are taking on the issue of the recent changes to Facebook's privacy policy as well as the Instant Personalization services that allows third-party websites to customize site features to users' tastes. The senators are asking FTC to recommend privacy guidelines for online social networks. This may in turn cause lawmakers to introduce legislation to govern privacy on social networks.

Facebook however, has been responsive to user concerns in the past and may do the same in this situation. According to Ian Paul there are several things Facebook could do to improve their likability.

First Facebook must make the Opt-out option for the Instant Personalization feature much easier to understand. Apparently users are being buried within the privacy settings and Facebook forces users to click several times to opt-out.

Facebook must become much more upfront about changes and rewrites. Last Friday Facebook reworded the privacy policy and Statement of Rights and Responsibilities unknown to many of it's users.

Stop being vague. Facebook tends to use ambiguous language such as: "Connections. Facebook enables you to connect with virtually anyone and anything you want... Because it takes two to connect, your privacy settings only control who you can see the connection on your profile page."

Reading between the lines you must understand that this connections means at minimum your friends, likes, interests, city, hometown, family, relationships, networks, activities, interests, and places. It is very unclear on how these connections are made public and to whom

Let the user control the information access. Facebook users interacting with a third-party website or application need to have more control over what information those third parties can get from their profiles.

Finally the fifth improvement needed is to bring back the 24-hour user data storage policy. Third parties you interact with are not aloud to sell users Facebook data or use it other than in relation to Facebook. But it does make it easier for rogue sites to build databases on Facebook profile information.

Facebook should heed these warnings or else Congress may take action and soon.

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The Ethics of the "Leak"

A tech blog aired a video last week listing the features of the unreleased iPhone 4G after the top-secret phone was forgotten in a bar.

On his 27th birthday, Gray Powell, an Apple engineer, was at a bar celebrating with friends. When the group left the bar, Powell forgot his iPhone sitting on a bar stool, but this was no ordinary iPhone. It was an iPhone 4G, not due for release until this summer, disguised as an iPhone 3GS.

Gizmodo, a blog specializing in the analysis of new technology, bought the iPhone 4G for $5,000. Staff members then dissected the phone and verified its authenticity as the highly anticipated new iPhone.

Immediately, speculations began that the iPhone leak was simply a ploy by Apple to steal buzz from the release of Google's Android. However, Gizmodo refutes that idea in a recent article.

This is not the first time that there has been a leak on a highly-anticipated Apple product. The morning the iPad was released, an Apple engineer showed it to Steve Wozniak, one of Apple's co-founders, for two minutes. As a result of this internal leak, that engineer, identified only as A.J., was fired.

Wozniak told Gizmodo this story following the recent iPhone leak. If Gizmodo knew that Apple fired the person who leaked the iPad, would they have an ethical responsibility to reconsider publishing the leak of the iPhone 4G? Or, in contrast, does a blog like Gizmodo have a responsibility to publish that information when it is encountered?

In the iPad leak, the engineer was kept anonymous, and he lost his job. Because Gizmodo identified Powell so quickly, they may have helped him keep his job. Instead of remaining faceless, he became the symbol of a guy who screwed up. If you fire the guy now, you make him a martyr for Apple. From a public relations standpoint, it's a whole lot easier to give Powell a second chance when everyone knows his name.

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8 Ways for Journalists to be in Business

Recently on the site Poynter Online, Steve Myers wrote a post dealing with ways that a Journalist can be more like a businessperson. He said that being a entrepreneurial journalist is more than a check and a good idea.

1.) Unfortunately, cash does make a difference. Assuming invoices are paid on time, your income statement will show how much cash a business will have.

2.)Watch for the quickness in paychecks. Focus is mainly on the contracts but actually it should be more on the paycheck. You must make sure you are paid as fast as possible.

3.) Complementing Revenue streams. There needs to be a well balance of multiple ways that revenue is created and a variety of options.

4.) Knowledgeable in pro and cons of Revenues. Advertisement is crucial but risky. You will not receive payment till after you provide your service.

5.) Be open. Don't limit yourself to what your core is. Branch out and do a variety in the field.

6.) Increase advertising with certain networks. Google is great for your ads. They are able to pinpoint your to those who would care about it.

7.) Never stress over the site. Meet your goals and target audience. If the hyper local site is outside the area, you are not reaching your target audience.

8.) Page views are unequal. The further you get with the site the more opportunities that are given. Let ones that register and subscribe receive more access than those of visiting the site.

While this is mostly on business, i still think that it is good for a journalist to keep in mind.

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Onaf's 13 Steps of Blogging

Blogging is the news reporting of the future and Ant Onaf has 13 tips that will help young journalists get their start online.

1.) Start Free

Onaf suggests that young journalists should start with a free blogging site. Going this route allows them to focus on the content of their stories and not have to worry about scripting, hosting or programming. This way, if your blog does not become successful, you are not out of any money either.

2.) Niche

Young bloggers need to decide on a product, topic or service to write about. Bloggers are trying to appeal to specific audiences and will come to your blog expecting to read about the specific topic you cover. The topic does not have to be extremely popular if it has an audience then it works.

3.) Update Daily

Consistency is important to keep brining readers back to your blog. They do not want to be stuck reading old things and the more frequently and consistently you post the more audience you get to follow what you are writing.

4.) Traffic

Young writers are going to need traffic to attract attention to their blogs. The distinct ways to spread word of you blog is through advertising, search engine marketing, viral marketing, RSS feeds and word of mouth. Even if they run over it by accident they may be interested by what they see.

5.) Track You Blog

Do not panic if none of your readers are commenting on your page. The majority of blog readers do not comment on articles you write and there are several ways to find out your traffic numbers differently. Onaf suggests a free page counter like StatCounter.com.

6.)Listen to Your Audience

You should check and see if readers are finding your blog through search engine searches. If this is the case then find out what word they use to find the blog and write your blog around that word or topic.

7.) Multiple Blogs

Once you really get into the grove of things you should use multiple accounts to blog. Having blogs on many different sites is a great way to increase reader turnout and a great way to create more traffic to the blogs you are writing.

8.) Short and Concise

Onaf feels that except for a weekly blog summing up your findings for the week your blogs need to be as short as possible. Readers have short attention spans and if they are reading novels every time they come to your page they will lose interest.

9.)Digital Aft

Include pictures and other forms of art on your blog entries. Graphics perk up your blog and can bring color and life to the stories you are pursuing and reporting.

10.) Keep It Personal

Include personal experiences that have to do with your blog topic. It is fine to write in the first person and use a more personal voice in a blog.

11.) Interact With Your Visitors

You now have a great following of loyal readers that go out of their way to see what you have to say. You owe it to them to put out the best product you can. Knowing that they will visit frequently Onaf suggests using daily tips and other devices to keep them intersted.

12.) Make Money

Once you have established your self in the big time you need to start trying to profit from the stories you are putting out. This means buying a page for yourself and checking its domain availability. Use advertising as a source of income and well as a way to create more traffic.

13.) You're a Professional

The last twelve sets have all led up to this point. Now you have a following, you have a specific niche, you are making money and life is good.

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10 Rules for Brands to Folllow on Twitter

Mashable journalist, Jolie O'Dell, recently conducted research on how people think brands should utilize Twitter. O'Dell compiled a list of 10 items in which consumers expect companies to follow.

1. "Don't Be a Showoff" -- Tell users about special deals and make sure the features and benefits are known. To determine whether a tweet is acceptable, ask yourself if you would care to read about it if you didn't work there.

2. "Don't Use Poor Grammar or Spelling" -- It seems obvious, but far too many people misspell words. If this happens and you catch the mistake, I would suggest going back and fixing it. You may also want to delete the incorrect tweet. Don't use abbreviations for words, or at least keep them to a minimum. Avoid using shorthand terms, such as "LOL" and "Thnx," and emoticons, such as the smiley face.

3. "Don't Get Too Personal" -- Don't use your company's Twitter account to tell people about your favorite things or what's going on in your personal life. If you are representing a business or brand, remember to keep it professional.

4. "Don't Auto-Tweet" -- The purpose of Twitter for companies is to be "personally engaging" not entirely promotional. While it may be OK to set up a tweet or two to roll out while you are away, avoid setting up an entire feed. Also, don't automatically direct message new followers as it is considered spam by consumers.

5. "Don't Leave Air in the Conversation" -- If you are having a conversation with someone via @replies, don't wait too long to respond. People expect responses in a timely manner.

6. "Don't Overtweet" -- If you're not using Twitter to engage with consumers, but you're constantly tweeting, people will feel as if you are "shouting" at them.

7. "Do Shout Out to Users Who Mention You" -- If a person tweets something that is favorable toward a product or your company in general, tell them thanks. If it is a negative tweet, be cautious about replying, but never ignore them.

8. "Do Monitor Keywords and Competitors" -- Knowing what people are saying about a competitor helps keep you informed and can also allow you to gain a potential costumer.

9. "Do Make an Informative Profile" -- Use your company or brand logo as your avatar and make the purpose of the account known in the "bio" section.

10. "Do Fish Where the Fish Are" -- Determine if your brand or company needs to be on Twitter. If your general target market is an older demographic, use forms of media that they engage with. However, it may be beneficial to know what is going on on Twitter. If you are trying to tap into a younger market, you may want to consider setting up an account.

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Newspaper Circulation Still Declining

Newspaper circulation is still falling according to Monday's figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations as reported in The Huffington Post.

Overall circulation is down 8.7 percent, for the period October 1,2009 through March 31, 2010 compared to that same period last year. Circulation for Sunday papers is down 6.5 percent.

Free news on the Web is still considered a factor. Publishers have increased subscription costs to adjust for lost advertising revenue and of course others have stopped or reduced delivery in certain areas.

The Top 25 newspapers in the country showed major losses.

• The Washington Post is down 13.1 percent; 8.2 percent down on Sundays.


• USA Today lost 13.6 percent - partially contributed to the slump in travel because it is popular in hotels and airports. It is now at the number two spot.


• The Wall Street Journal had a gain of .5 percent and now has the highest circulation at 2.09 million as it surpassed USA Today as the top newspaper. Although this is somewhat misleading because looser auditing standards allows it to count its digital online replica in the subscription count. In essence providing a double count. The Journal's paid online circulation rose by 31,000 offsetting the printed editions decline of 20,000.


• The New York Times has the third highest circulation at 951,063, which is a 8.5 percent decline.


• The San Francisco Chronicle is down 23 percent.

The Wall Street has launched a metro edition in New York City to compete even more agressively with The Times, its biggest competitor in the region.

The president of the Newspaper Association of America, John Sturm, says that you can't judge the industry by these declining numbers, because more and more people are turning to the Web for their news and 100 million adults still say they read a newspaper daily and 168 million read news in print or online daily.

These facts and figures help to paint a clearer picture of the state of the newspaper industry and how it is affecting journalism. I don't know that I would refer to it as a death spiral for the newspapers because people are still reading the news; where they are getting it has changed.

There are just so many options available. It is apparent that the business model has to change as we have heard from various sources throughout the BNR course. Perhaps charging for access does make sense in some instances. I also agree with the idea of public funding to protect the integrity of journalism and insure that students who want to go into journalism for the love of writing and reporting get the opportunity to do so without living in poverty due to thier chosen career.

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Integrating Facebook's New Tools

Recently, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has introduced several new tools on its site. These features include using the "Like" function on various sites such as IMDb (a movie database site) and news sites. Another feature is the Recommendations Plugin, which tells you what others on Facebook recommend. The purpose of this tool is to make it easier to share your interests with others.

Sites such as CNN.com have incorporated this function onto its website, which could possibly benefit news sites. If more and more people are recommending news stories to their friends via Facebook, it could generate more traffic to the site. Also, if people notice that a story has been recommended by several people, they may be more inclined to read it. However, companies obviously should not depend on this to stimulate interest in what they are reporting. People aren't going to recommend everything they read nor will everything they recommend be read by others.

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Being Held Captive

Most people will never know what it is like to be held captive in a hostile country. Unfortunately, journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, have an intimate understanding of this. For four months Ling and Lee were held captive in North Korea. The journalist were there on assignment, working on a story about human trafficking. They crossed over into North Korea, without visas, briefly. After help from former President Bill Clinton, North Korea pardoned both journalist. For the first time they will speak on camera about their experiences being held captive. On Wednesday, May 19 at 10/9c, Current TV, will feature the Vanguard special, “Captive in North Korea.” This special will have interviews with both Ling and Lee.

Ling and her sister Lisa Ling, also wrote the book, “Somewhere Inside: One Sister’s Captivity in North Korea and the Other’s Fight to Bring Her Home,” that comes out May 18.

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Make YouTube Work for You

We've been hearing it a lot lately. Facebook and Twitter are two social networking sites that can help your business thrive.

But one very important Website is getting lost in hustle and bustle of new sites: YouTube.

Whether you're an individual starting your own private company, or a large corporation, you can make YouTube work for you. After all, it's called YouTube for a reason.

According to Mashable's Amy-Mae Elliott, there are 10 major ways to use YouTube to its fullest extent.

The first tip is all about your YouTube channel. Elliott suggests customizing it with company information, logo and colors. A second tip is to subscribe to similar companies' channels and appropriate content. Make YouTube 'friends' that have similar interests to what your channel will provide.

Next, go the extra mile and provide subtitles. When getting your company name out there, you don't want to exclude any particular person or group. However, tip number four suggests taking action to remove offensive material. If a user is continually posting irrelevant and inappropriate comments on your videos, remove and/or block them from commenting.

If you remove other users' irrelevant and annoying comments, don't post your own as well. Tip number five is a warning against too many annotations. Annotating your video is sometimes helpful, but having too many comments overlapping the video can be overwhelming for the audience.

If you really feel the need to tell your audience more about your videos, use tags. Tags are helpful because if someone is searching for a certain keyword that you tagged your video as, your videos show up in the search results.

Tagging is a great way to promote your videos, but don't forget about your other options. Use Facebook and Twitter to notify followers and friends of your latest video or content.

Tip number 8 encourages organization. Make sure your channel is organized and professional. You don't want visitors to leave because they can't find their way around your content.

Elliott also promotes using YouTube's analytical tools to stay on top of your followers. These tools can help you figure out who is watching your videos, how do they get there and how often do they revisit your channel.

Last but not least, don't let your hard work go to waste. Everybody hits a dry spell. Don't let it affect you and your channel. Keep it up to date, even if you don't have anything new to post. There is always going to be something you can update. So comment users back, post some pictures and accept those friend requests; just don't leave your channel dormant.

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Investigative Reporting on Twitter

Investigative reporting is changing because of the internet, but it is not going away.

Infact an article in the Taipei Times argues that the internet is becoming one of the best sources for information beneficial to investigative reporters. Many reporters feel that the best way to get information is to announce that there is an investigation going on. What better way to do this than to post it on twitter

"I wasn't convinced about Twitter at first, but it quickly turned out to be quite useful for investigating," the Guardian's Paul Lewis says. "Twitter is not just a Web site and not micro-blogging, it is entirely different medium - like e-mail, fax or even newspapers. The way in which information travels on Twitter - the shape of it - is different to anything that we've previously known."

These journalists feel that a great way for them to get the information they need is to tell the Twitter world that they are investigating a subject and let the information role in. They are also using it to bounce ideas off each other and receive ideas from their followers.

They also understand that Twitter cannot just be the end all solution for them getting stories. The fact that anybody can create an account on Twitter and can say anything bothers them so they have developed "Help Me Investigate," which is a crowdsourcing project that allows them to establish a known and trusted audience.

This does not mean that they are edging away from Twitter, though. When it is all said and done with all of the reporters spoken to feel Twitter is a great way to help with investigative reporting.

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SEO is More Important Than AP Style

Robert Niles of The Online Journalism Review makes a compelling point. As journalism shifts more to online content, so should the style in which it is written. So say good-bye AP style and hello SEO.

Some may wonder, what is SEO? SEO stands for search engine optimization. This allows readers to find you based on the information they are searching for, instead of you going to readers through ads.

Instead of you ad just popping up at random, it will pop up because you have posted something with several keyword matches the potential reader has been searching for.

SEO techniques help to provide clear cut writing that stays to the point and on topic. It also helps to frequently reference words and phrases that match the articles topic.

This would be great if, like AP style, there was a book to tell writers how to do this effectively. One day though, SEO might just be the new AP style and taught to journalism students through out the country.

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Avoiding Collapse Through Blogging

The media as we know it may soon be coming to an end. In a recent article for MediaShift, writer Roland Legrand tells of how another media scholar and writer, Clay Shirky, believes that traditional media outlets have become too big for their own good, destining them for collapse. This may seem disconcerting to journalism students such as myself, however, as Legrand continues he details several ways future journalists can save themselves in the face what I am titling, with inspiration from John Stewart, "mediapocalypse."

In examining the newspaper industry, it becomes evident that the structure and functioning of a large newspaper remains extremely complex. First, as Legrand points out it must employ, reporters, editors, news managers, graphics editors, printing, and sales and circulation departments. Also, with new online technologies, papers must employ people involved in digital news, who produce stories and video often 24 hours a day.

With all this complexity and need for employees, Shirky points out that traditional media entities will soon not be able to produce profit and will collapse in on themselves. Yet, in his article Legrand provides a well argued case for how blogging can help. First, blogs provide an interactive community and running them is far less complex. In following three simple rules, Legrand believes individuals and newspapers can find success with blogs.

First, newspapers must keep their blogging staff at a minimum and utilize simple software. Using simpler software will make the blog more manageable and limit the need for a more complex technical staff.

Second, blogs must be run similarly to small businesses. Although Legrand does not expound on this idea, in my opinion, this rule involves a local and creative approach to the news.

Lastly, bloggers must be granted freedom of control over their blogs. While it may be tempting for large news organizations to enforce too much control over bloggers, ultimately this will limit the creativity and life of the blog.

I agree that Legrand's approach to blogging is good sound advice for students such as myself. The last concept he discusses is the blog's ability to create a personal brand for an individual blogger, an idea that will come in handy for journalists after "mediapocalypse." As we've discussed in class, there remains a good chance that future journalists may someday be forced to take control of their own business and work independently. So, take Legrand's advice and continue to develop your brand as a blogger, your future may depend on it.

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Who Really Reports The News?

In today's changing media, who really reports the news? Every morning when we wake up, we are positive the paper will be on our doorsteps full of news. When we turn on the evening news, we are sure there will be something to report. Where does it really come from?

If newspapers were to die, how would it affect our media landscape? Would that change what our communities know and seek to find out everyday? What is taking up the slack for the decreasing number of people who get their news from TV, print, and radio?

According to journalism.org and the Pew Research Center's project for excellence in Journalism, the answer is a moving target. Actually the tracking and the pursuit are nearly impossible. Newspapers are still the overwhelming choice as a traditional media vehicle inwhich audiences are getting their news. The study shows that eight out of ten news stories are repackaged or repeated from previously published information. Of the stories that were new, 95% came from traditional media.

Some of the findings include:

1. Of the 53 different news outlets, 12 did not produce any new or local content.

2. Of the six major new threads studied, only 17% actually contained new news content.

3. General interest newspapers only produced half of that.

4. Almost half of the newspaper stories studied were online rather than print.

5. 63% of new stories were initiated by the government officials.

Of the media vehicles, TV news was the most locally focused, and 80% of straight news accounts were written by local staffers.

What does all of this mean? When we look to our papers, TV news anchors and radio personalities, we assume they are reporting the news first. As time passes, it seems like every bit of "news" we absorb, isn't really "new" after all.

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The New Mobile News

Huge name companies including NBC, Fox and Gannett Co. Inc. are combining to form a new national mobile content service.

They are using the current broadcast spectrum but this agreement allows the companies involved to provide mobile content to those who may not have originally able to access all these companies content. The services that are available to mobile phone users now are live and on-demand video, local and national news from print and electronic sources and sports and entertainment programming.

The spectrum these companies are using is Fox, NBC and Telemundo and ION. The other nine companies providing content will be Belo Corp., Cox Media Group, E.W. Scripps Co., Gannet Co. Inc., Hearst Television Inc., Media General Inc., Meredith Corp., Post-Newsweek Stations Inc. and Raycom Media.

By joining together these companies will allow them to offer mobile video and and print news content to over 150 million people. The deal helps fulfill the Federal Communication Commission's initiative to reduce congestion on the nation's wireless broadband networks while offering the same amount of content to customers.

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iPad Developing Ideas

The iPad is earning the label of "idea creator."

Much fuss has been created since the release of Apple's newest creation but most of that has been technical news. Chuck Frey is arguing in his blog that the iPad is going to be the best way to create and develop ideas, as well as share those ideas.

Frey points the portability and battery life of the iPad as a major pro for the spread and share of ideas. The iPad can be taken anywhere and especially if you purchase the 3G version it can be used to find information for that story you have been trying to write.

The bigger screen and new technology in the iPad allows you to browse mediums of news not only quicker but more efficiently to find the information that is important. It is a tool meant to tap all forms of media and because of this owners of the iPad have a world of information at their fingertips.

The iPad is also helping the ideas it creates be implemented. The iPad allows you to download full books and allows authors to publish books and blogs that may not have been published otherwise. Frey feels the iPad will never take the place of a computer or a laptop, but its versatility and ability to tap information that those two also can makes it a prime source for developing and implementing your ideas.

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Generation Touchscreen

Once dubbed "Generation Z" or "digital natives," the new hipper term for those under the age of 15 is "Generation I." Analysts at Gartner have predicted that over 50% of the computers purchased for this age group will have touchscreens by 2015. That means the idea of typing on a keyboard will be gone.

Gone will be bedtime stories from a book chosen off a bookshelf or even drawing on paper with crayons. Board games and shuffling a deck of cards - will this generation even learn to do this? Tangible objects with a feeling of permanence will be replaced by an application on a computer.

The computer that used to be a tool, a means to an end, is now everything. It is 160,000 applications with more added daily. It replaces books, TV's, DVD players, coloring books, a canvas, a globe, and so much more. Also predicted is that over half of U.S. schools will specify touch and/or pen input within the next 5 year - and this seems to be accurate prediction.

As we adjust to smaller and smaller hand-held devices, smaller keyboards and keys, and now touchscreens - the logical next step will be voice activation.

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Paid Tweets in Twitter Searches

Twitter recently announced that is is testing the concept of advertising through "Promoted Tweets." This comes after pressure to turn its wide usage into profits since growing rapidly from 2006.

The Promoted Tweets will appear as ads on top of search results, so users would see the new ads when they search broadly for topics being tweeted about.

Twitter invited a test group of advertisers, including Virgin America, Best Buy Co, Sony Pictures, and Starbucks Corp. The ads are not expected to bring in much money during this initial phase, but it should eventually turn into a paid model.

About 69 million people worldwide used Twitter in March, up from roughly 4 million at the end of 2008. Investors have valued the site at $1billion. Twitter is making an undisclosed amount of money by providing Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. with access to messages for their search engines.

The catch? If a Promoted Tweet isn't replied to or forwarded by other users, it will disappear. With advertising bombarding our emails and virtually every website visited, I don't know how logical it would be to expect viewers to forward ads. It will be interesting to see if the concept is successful.

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Who Do We Hold to What Standard

People are very passionate in their opinions about whether or not The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is "news." Most explain this opinion is because the show doesn't present equal sides of the issues as journalism should. The problem I have, is that the media itself has labeled show as "news", which is something that Stewart never claimed the show to be. Per the show's website, it is intended to be a nightly half-hour series "unburdened by objectivity, journalistic integrity or even accuracy". With that in mind, should the public hold Jon Stewart, who has no degree in journalism, political science, or communications, to the same standard as we hold other commentators who hold those titles and assume that responsibility?

Bernard Goldberg believes so. On April 15th, Stewart aired a clip of Goldberg and several other commentators from Fox News complaining about the media generalizing the Tea Party based on the actions of a few individuals. Stewart agreed that the media had done so, but then pointed out that Fox News in particular was guilty of the same generalizations against liberals. He proved his point by airing several clips of Goldberg along with Bill O'Reilly and others making generalized statements that portrayed liberals in a negative light. Goldberg responded to this by appearing on O'Reilly's Fox News program and agreeing that Stewart had a point, but he went on to say that Stewart himself had failed as a news reporter and social commentator because he did not treat liberal guests as roughly as conservative ones.

"But if clearly you want to be a social commentator, more than just a comedian and if you want to be a good one, you better find some guts because even though you criticize liberals as well as conservatives, congratulations on that, when you had Frank Rich on your show, who generalizes all the time about conservatives and Republicans being bigots, you didn’t ask him a single tough question. You gave him a lap dance. You practically had your tongue down his throat.."

Stewart addressed the critisism on his show April 20th. He pulled together the entire clip of Goldberg and his comments, pausing inbetween to offer challenge points and elaborate a few of his own points.

There was one in particular where Goldberg claims that Stewart isn't as edgy as he thinks he is. "You're just a safe Jay Leno, with smaller audience, but you get to say the F-bomb, which gives your incredibly unsophisticated audience the illusion that you're courageous and you're renegade, but it's only an illusion."

Stewart responded with mock horror, exclaiming "Wait, Wait... I'm not a courageous renegade? But I've always considered myself the Lorenzo Lamas of late night." Stewart continued, explaining that he never labeled his show as edgy, or claimed to be renegade. He accused Goldberg of trying to hold his show to the standard proclaimed by the Fox News tagline "always fair and balanced." "You can’t criticize me for not being ‘fair and balanced.’ That’s your slogan. Which by the way, you never follow..."

Stewart ended the segment with a gospel style skit in which explained that, even in his personal beliefs, he is not perpetually on one side or the other. He closed by calling Fox News the "lupus of news" and offered the same insult he had given to them in the clip on April 15th. "Fox News, as long as fair and balanced is how you sell yourselves, Go F*** yourself," to which the audicence clapped and cheered and the choir behind Stewart broke out into a gospel style chorus of the insult.

The whole clip was amusing to me on many levels from both sides, but what struck me was how Stewart is constantly being portrayed as a journalist, which he is not. Fox News has been critisized by not only Stewart, but other sources (News Hounds and FAIR for example) for being biased in its commentary. Fox News responds not by changing the way it portrays news, but by hurling back superfulous accusations against the accusers, and calling them what appears to be their favorite insult: liberals.

For consumers of media, what does this approach provide to us? From either side, whether you choose to watch Stewart and his openly comedic biased social commentary, Fox News with its right-wing tilt to everything, or another source, if the journalism being provided by our largest news corporations isn't accurately giving us the facts, how can we make informed decisions on all the issues that affect us?

For me, when I watch Stewart, I am fully aware that I'm getting his opinion with the jokes. I completely understand that he might be a little biased, and he can be, because he's never claimed to be a journalist and I don't hold him to those standards. But Goldberg and others are journalists, and there is no warning on Fox News that states "the opinions expressed on this channel may not portray all accurate portions of the story." Which, in my opinion, means Fox News is selling me a false product.

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Berman to Stay

Chris Berman, the face of ESPN's "Sunday NFL Countdown" and "Monday Night Football," is staying with ESPN.

Along with his involvement in ESPN's NFL coverage Berman is the host of ESPN's U.S. Open golf coverage. Berman is the six-time national sportscaster of the year award winner and has been with ESPN since October of 1979, soon after the network was launched. Berman has become the face of the NFL branch of ESPN and is the anchor for all their NFL coverage.

The decision was not a quick and easy one for Berman. He was pursued by two major broadcasting companies, DirecTV and NFL Network. Berman has decided to stick with the network where he got his start, however saying, "Home is where the heart is."

The next time you can catch Berman on ESPN will be Thursday night where he is set to host ESPN's live coverage of the NFL draft at 4:30 p.m. (ET). Berman has hosted the NFL draft since 1987.

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Tumblr wants your money

The three year old company Tumblr wants your money.

What is Tumblr? It's a service that allows people to quickly and easily set up lightweight blogs. They currently have 4.5 million users.

What makes them stand out is they do not charge their users for their service. They also do not sell advertising on pages they generate.

In the past Tumblr has received millions of dollars from Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures. Together they recently poured another $5 million making them the sole investors in Tumblr.

Now Tumblr wants to sell "digital stickers" to users at a dollar each. Users will buy these "stickers" to spruce up their pages, like bells and whistles.

Peter Kafka says this "strategy is a little more seat-of-the pants, but the bet is that it may be easier to coax money out of people a couple dollars at a time."

Although I had never heard of Tumblr before, I think that it is a great starting place for new journalist to get a start blogging, and get the feel of blogging. Because there is no cost associated with their service, new journalist don't have a huge financial investment, but allows them to start a portfolio of work.

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Entire Rolling Stone Archive Online

All 43 years of interviews, reviews, and other articles from Rolling Stone magazine will soon be available online for a price.

According to AFP, Rolling Stone plans on making most of their content free, but in order to see all of the content a user would pay $3.95 per month or $2.50 per month with a yearly subscription. The magazine will also be redesigning its Website, adding more audio and video.

Mashable writer Brenna Ehrlich argues that Rolling Stone is setting up its paywall in a smart way. Rolling Stone not only released more content, they also added a lot of new content.

She points out that putting up 43 years worth of content online is "no small feat." When media consumers are considering whether or not to drop $30 a year into a subscription, they will have to take this work into consideration also.

Ehrlich makes a good point, but will consumers agree with her?

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Poynter Points to FCC to Stop Media Crisis

Remarks at today's FCC workshop should be of interest to fellow BNR students.

In remarks made in her testimony at today's FCC workshop, Karen Dunlap, President of Poynter Institute said that cross-ownership of media wasn't the immediate crisis. Whearas she urged the FCC to keep watch to insure that relaxing cross-ownership rules wouldn't affect independent, local and community provided news, she urged them to consider a wider issue.

She is concerned about the media transformation, anyone can have a megaphone now. She quotes Michael Smith, executive director of Northwestern University's Media Management Center. Who said to a group at the Newspaper Association of America meeting that "an eight-year old –- let's say an affluent eight-year-old -- has more publishing power in her bedroom today than publishers in 1999."

The FCC is concerned about owners of mass media and the power they hold; but mass media now shares the stage with the masses. And the FCC should also be concerned about that; because "Almost anyone can post almost anything to friends, a community or the world. Drawing an audience, of course, is another matter, as is the matter of producing news and information that is of value to society. The megaphone simply speaks to the means of commanding attention, of gaining influence."

She also discussed declining audiences of all traditional news media, people are selective in where they are getting thier news. She mentions the decline and loss of jobs in the newspaper industry, newsrooms, news magazines and the loss of ad revenue. "The decline was greater for journalists of color." according to Dunlap.

Dunlap told the FCC, "The problems that I have outlined are a threat to an informed democracy. We are seeing the deterioration of informed civic discourse as we drown in information, opinions, debates, half-truths and lies."

She encourges the FCC to consider their role in insuring an informed population.

She urged the FCC to:
1. Assist local communities to make sure daily, local, national and international news gets to them - using public funding, government, foundations and citizen contributions.
2. Promote diversity in the field of journalism.
3. Take a stand against hate speech and raise the "level of exchanges to stop the civic discourse."

This article addressed similar issues we discussed from the speeches of McChesney and Nichols and emphasizes the amount of concern there must be out there, particularly by academics. I hope the FCC can take some action that doesn't trample on First Amendment rights and yet makes sure we can sustain journalistic integrity within the newsrooms. And I hope they can save jobs and make sure that local communities continue to have news service.

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Bad News For Bill O'Reilly

The Comedy Central kings are still sitting pretty on their thrones.

The political and media news shows that satirize and mock conservative political pundit programs such as Fox News's The O'Reilly Factor are here to stay. The Colbert Report and The Daily Show both just got their contracts extended on the comedy channel.

Stephen Colbert has hosted his own show, The Colbert Report, since October 2005. His show has been extended through "indecision 2012" and through the end of that year.

Jon Stewart, executive producer, writer, and host of The Daily Show, has gotten his contract extended through June 2013. He began hosting the show in 1999.

Between the two, they have been nominated for 47 Emmys and three Peabody awards.

All in all, Colbert and Stewart aren't going away any time soon.

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Banned iPad

The Apple iPad has been banned from two major American Universities because of wireless connection issues.

Princeton University has officially blocked 20 percent of the iPad from being used on the Princeton wireless network. Princeton claims that the iPad cause DHCP client malfunctions which means the iPad is making it hard for other devices to connect to the school's wireless network.

George Washington University is having technical difficulities of their own with the iPad, though their issues don't involve DHCP malfunctions. Their wireless networks do not support the iPad just like they did not support the iPhone when it was released. This problem makes it impossible for iPad owners to connect to GWU's wireless network.

Not all places are having trouble with the iPad. Cornell University specifically tested for DHCP malfunctions before the iPad was released and because of this Cornell has had no problems with the iPad on their wireless networks. Seton Hall is another institution that was prepared and has had little trouble with the iPad.

Apple plans to release iPads that will connect to 3G networks in April which could help solve the WiFi connections problems the current iPads are having.

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Apple Still Old Fashion

Apple has recently denied an application called "Newstoons." This application was apparently in violation and so it was not published. The application was created by Mark Fiore, a Pultizer-prize winning cartoonist. His application was to let people view the cartoons.

While Apple seems to believe that the gated community they have now created works well, it shows interesting views of whether you'll only be able to have stories that are overall popular with audiences. If Apple is pick and chosing what they want to publish, what exactly are they looking for? Just the topics that might get them more money. It seems that this might be Apple's main concern.

Currently this application has now been published.

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Google Buzz Gets Scolded By Privacy Officals

Google CEO Eric Schmidt is being criticized by data protection officials from 10 countries for his company's handling of the launch of Google Buzz and asked the company to commit to building greater privacy protections into services.

Jennifer Staddart, privacy commissioner of Canada sent the scolding letter signed by her counterparts in France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

The letter stated that the officials were concerned that the privacy rights of the world's citizens are being forgotten when Google releases new technological applications. They were disturbed by the recent roll out of the Google Buzz social networking application which is a complete disregard for fundamental privacy norms and laws

The letter also noted that Google has a history of privacy problems with its services, particularly Google Maps Street View.

Google Buzz, which launched in February, was an attempt to hasten the process of creating a social network by designating Gmail users contacts as followers. Googles attempt to catch up with the phenomenal growth of Facebook, backfired by exposing relationships that users expected would remain private.

Google apologized and made some changes to the service. Earlier this month, the company attempted to start over again by asking users to reconfirm their Buzz settings.

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"Liking" Their Way to the Top

As we all know by know, Facebook is currently the most popular social network site available. In the past, sites like Myspace, Friendster and Bebo once reigned.

The problem with other networking sites is that they didn't last all that long. Users grew tired of them and moved on to bigger and better things. That 'thing' right now is Facebook.

But how long will the fad last? Will Facebook soon die out much like Myspace did?

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is well aware of the trend. That is why he is making efforts now to help sustain the life of Facebook.

He is doing this by trying to build a sturdy platform; basing other businesses off of Facebook and integrating the 'like' button into other sites.

The plan is to create a web-wide 'like' button and to create a Facebook toolbar compatible with any browser.

While these new options will be good for Zuckerberg, Facebook and the Web, they might not have so many positive effects on Internet users.

To those who refuse to hop on board with Facebook, and those who let the site take over their lives already, Facebook is ready for total domination of the Web.

Before Facebook is seen absolutely everywhere online, get out from its grasps while you can. When Facebook controls everything else, don't let it control you.

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Media Reporting Finalists Announced

According to an article on Poynter Online, Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications has selected finalists in seven categories in the fourth annual Mirror Awards. The competition received nearly 200 entries.

"Those of us who served as judges were impressed by the depth and variety of entries," says Joel Kaplan, associate dean in the Newhouse School, a member of the Mirror Awards Advisory Committee and a first tier judge. “While traditional journalism outlets like Vanity Fair and The New York Times continue to hold a mirror to their media colleagues, they have been joined by such content providers as 5280 magazine in Denver, Politco.com, Philadelphia Magazine and Financial Times.”

Finalists in the following categories are chosen by a group of journalists and journalism educators:

• Best Single Article—Traditional Media
  
• Best Single Article—Digital Media
  
• Best Profile—Traditional Media
  
• Best Profile—Digital Media
  
• Best Commentary—Traditional Media
  
• Best Commentary—Digital Media
  
• Best In-depth Piece—Traditional Media

The winners will celebrate at a luncheon and ceremony on Thursday, June 10, from 11:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at The Plaza Hotel, Fifth Avenue at Central Park South, New York City, with Katie Couric serving as emcee and Lorraine E. Branham, dean of the Newshouse School, serving as event host.

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Cashing In On Your News

What do you do once you have joined the masses, put down your pen and paper (literally) and have made the decision to go digital? You still have a job to do and bills to pay!

You can earn money online! Due to the rise of online journalism and news, many are actually starting to make money. By publishing independently online, journalists are making extra cash or even a full-time wage.

Here are some tips to getting the money rolling. (This is not intended for established power-seeking news organizations)

1. Advertising networks

Advertising is the largest way new websites are money. The sale and display ads for your site can be handled by ad networks. You just have to decide where you want it to go.

2. Selling your own ads

If you are a little more greedy, and do not want to share revenue, you should consider selling your space directly to advertisers.

3. Sponsorships/Grants

Of all of these options, this one requires the least technical skill. In addition to be a reporter and journalist, you will need to sell yourself. Essentially, you will need to convince organizations and other individuals to give your money.

4. Commissions and/or affiliate links

To make a few extra bucks on your website, affiliate programs would work the best. By providing links to sites and products, your return is usually in the form of more commission.

5. Paid content

If your content and site is unique and valuable enough that readers are willing to pay for it, you will need to come up with ways to collect it. This is the most time consuming and usually generates less revenue than selling advertising on free pages.

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