$35 a Month for News?

When newspapers first began to post news online in the '90s, they charged for that online access. Most of those newspaper sites became completely free to users later.

However, according to paidContent.org paywalls may soon be the trend again. PaidContent.org has found 20 newspaper sites that charge up to $35 a month for online content. $35 seems to be a little excessive. Especially, when a person can go to a newsstand and buy print edition for much cheaper.

This could be a ploy to get people to buy newspapers and get circulation numbers back up. So even if people don't want to pay $35 a month, the newspaper will still make money.

None the less, these 20 newspapers are the model for the hundreds of other newspapers that are still debating to paywall or no to paywall their Web sites. If the pioneering 20 newspapers are successful financially with their paywall venture, there could soon be a lot more than 20 news sites that are charging up to $35 a month for their content.

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The Importance of Getting Active in Politics

It may be assumed that it remains in journalists' best interests to remain politically neutral. However, according to an article published Tuesday on the Online Journalism Review by writer Robert Niles, in the case of independent online publishers (a position many of us may find ourselves in), getting politically active actually proves to be an important part of the job. Succeeding in this task gives publishers the opportunity to give input on important issues affecting the field as well as the ability to gain credibility with readers.

The government always has the potential to create legislation that drastically changes the media/news world including higher taxes or stricter access to public documents. Traditionally, big media conglomerates have lobbied to ensure that new legislation stays favorable to the field, however, the independent online publisher cannot rely on these businesses to have his/her best interests in mind. In some cases, as Niles points out, media companies may actually work against small independent sites.

Concerning public records, for instance, newspapers and other established media entities may have the staff to access public documents physically at the courthouse or other location and may or may not be concerned with lobbying for laws dealing with online public records. Independent Web sites, however, may not have the staff or time to deal with physical public records, and need to be willing to lobby for better access to online records. For another example of this idea, research net neutrality, a complex issue dealing with access to online content.

In addition to ensuring a beneficial economic environment for business, getting active in and understanding local politics should be a top priority for independent online journalists and publishers. These issues could be almost anything, ranging from school board issues, city budgets, local business, or even sports and culture. Covering and standing on these issues allows a journalist to gain credibility as a community leader and participator. However, as we've discussed in class, all opinions on these issues should be based on solid reporting.

While, getting politically active may not be high on the to-do list for students here at Simpson I would argue that based on Niles' advice, now is the time to start. Our Student Government Association makes decisions that affect the student body, so as student journalists we should be familiar and form opinions on these decisions. Hopefully, obtaining an understanding of politics now will pay off in the future.

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Is Your Facebook Dirty?

Social media tools such as Facebook are overtaking the media and communication industry as we know it, but as great as these tools can be, they can also be misused without you even realizing it.

For anyone who has a Facebook, we are all familiar with the "News Feed" and other common settings. It is also true, for most, that we are familiar with those 50 or so people that we are "friends" with online that we don't actually know who show up in our News Feed.

This is a problem. Why do you care what someone you don't even know is changing their Facebook status to? Facebook is meant to be a social networking too, not a stalking device (although commonly used as one).

The good news is, there is a solution to this problem. You can clean up your "dirty" Facebook fairly easily, you just have to take the time do it.

One of the first things you can do is "Hide" anything and anyone you don't want showing up in your News Feed, and then click "Edit Options." From here you can see all of the people and things you have hidden and set any additional options, such as the maximum number of friends you want to show up in your News Feed.

Another thing you can do is organize your "friends." As I said before, I think most everyone who has a Facebook realistically doesn't know a majority of the people they are friends with, so take the time to organize them into a "Friend List." This will help you filter your News Feed as well as the chat box.

The final thing you can do to tidy up your beloved Facebook is to edit your settings so that all those pesky notifications about your best friend playing Farmville 24/7 do not show up in your News Feed. All you have to do is access your Application Settings and then choose "Show - Authorized" from the drop down menu. You may have applications listed that you didn't even know you had authorized.

These may sound like little, tedious things to do for something as simple as Facebook, but I guarantee it will make a huge difference. Facebook is supposed to be your personal social media tool, so take the time to personalize your settings and get the proper use out of it.

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What are Topic Pages You Ask?

In searching for a topic for my Beginning Newswriting Class at Simpson College regarding journalism in the news I came across article by Maurreen Skowran called, "How Topic Pages can give Readers a Bird's-Eye View of the News" on PoynterOnline. The words "topic pages" caught my eye, but then I wondered what topic pages were

Basically what topic pages are is summaries of new stories. This always people to get caught up on the news quicker.

In a study commisioned by the Associated Press in 2008 showed that adults between the ages of 18 and 24 experiance "new fatigue" because we are continually supplied updates but lack the meat of the story.

Topic pages include summaries to stories, but also include links that the original story might not have.

But will they work? In December and January of this past year Google did an experiment with the help of The New York Times and The Washington Post called the "Living Stories." In this experiment each topic had a summary that was approximately five paragraphs long. The ending result showed that 75 percent preferred the "Living Stories" over regular online news stories.

This is a wonderful idea! Who has time these days to read the paper from front to back anymore. We want the information that we feel we need and we want it as quick as possible, easy to read, and links to answer any new questions we might have.

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Please, No More Hateful Comments

The Washington Post is taking steps to curtail online commentary from anonymous bloggers that is particularly abusive. They have no intention of stopping anonymous bloggers from posting, just a more careful moderating. Online commentary is important, it draws attention to the issues of the day and provides a forum for the public to express their views.

However; some anonymous comments serve no purpose but to convey hate. Andrew Alexander cites the following examples:

"Excellent!" exulted a Post commenter when conservative columnist Robert Novak died in August. "Hope he suffered."

When Sen. Edward M. Kennedy died a week later, a commenter wrote: "They are going to have to bury him in a secret location to stop people from defecating on his grave."

And after The Post reported last month that the wife and daughter of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had been badly injured when their car was hit by a tractor-trailer, a commenter applauded: "I would dearly LOVE to shake the hand of the driver of the other vehicle."

The Post would implement a system of tiers where some bloggers would be considered "trusted commentators" and placed in one section and those that do not provide their names or first time bloggers may be placed in another tier and still others who violate the rules in another or blocked.

I applaud The Post for taking steps to curtail these hateful comments. A public forum is no place for some of these distasteful and sometimes heinous comments. It is no wonder that are children are bullying each other on Facebook and in text messages when this is the example that is set.

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How Much Do We Need to Know?

In 1990, a man dubbed the Gainesville Ripper raped, murdered, and mutilated five college age women in the town of Gainesville, Florida. 17 year old Sonja Larson was one of those women. At some point during the investigation, photos of the crime scenes where the young women were found began to be questioned. Media lawyer Tom Julin, argued for the release of crime scene photos, claiming that in order to maintain the integrity of an open court system, the public has a right to see information such as this.

Wait... wait... this story is over ten years old? Or did I just hear it? The situation sounds familiar.

Recent debate regarding the release of a video tape portraying SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau being attacked by a killer whale, and attempts by a reporter for Hustler magazine to obtain crime scene photos of murder victim Meredith Emerson, have brought older media rights cases to the front line again. They have also raised very important questions for both journalists and media consumers: How much, exactly, does the public need to know?

The terms "sealed documents" and "gag order" have been thrown around much more frequently in the past few years. Due to vast amounts of instantaneous information we have access to, court officials have had to issue these in order to protect both plaintiff and defendant during the proceedings. How is a person going to have a fair trial with photographs floating around showing the criminal acts? Casey Anthony is a perfect example; images showing her partying during the time her two year old child was missing were splashed over the Internet and other sources of news even before her trial began. This was obviously damaging to her defense case, and advantageous for the prosecution. When the trial out of the court room into our living rooms, the information becomes subject to public judgement. Can a person be convicted even before the trial begins?

Ada Larson, mother of murder victim Sonja, described to CNN how devastated she would have been if crime scene photos of her daughter's mutilated body had been flashed over the papers and on the news.

"We did not want our loved ones to be put out there in the scenes where they were found..." she stated regarding the case.

In the Gainesville trial, the judge involved ruled that the media and public could see the 700 crime scene photos, but no copies could be made. This action helped to prevent the photos from being republished time and time again.

Media representatives state that their goal is not to cause harm to the victims or their families, but they also say the public interest regarding these cases has to be respected as well. Rachel Fugate, a media attorney in the state of Florida, states that part of the media's responsibility is to provide verification of facts; this is especially important in situations where there are multiple reports and stories racing through the channels. She does understand, however, that the families of victims need to be respected.

"We are not advocating that the photographs be released or that they be published or broadcast in any manner," she said. "We want the opportunity to inspect."

Inspect, yes. But how far does inspection go? With everyone having cameras on their cell phones, is it truly possible to issue a gag order? A jury sees a crime scene photo and one member snaps a shot with his camera, and sends it to a friend, who sends it to a friend, and so on. Though the member of the jury ultimately may be charged with something, that image is still out there for all to see. Because, in today's world, we have access to everything we could ever want to see at our fingertips if you search hard enough for it.

Note my own experience writing this blog. I typed "Gainesville Ripper" into Google to just get some basic information on the case, and instantly was presented with several links to crime scene photos, and various other crime images, some of which had nothing to do with my search query. Try as we might, we can't protect ourselves from everything. Perhaps the public is served by having media view such images, but beyond that, I personally believe it is a great disservice to everyone involved if the images are released too broadly and splashed across the internet for all to see.

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Can Bloggers be Credible Journalists?

We use blogs every day to find sources, story ideas and general news, but is all of this information accurate?

According to a study done by PRWeek and PRNewswire, 52 percent of bloggers think they are journalists, but Jeremy Porter disagrees with this idea.

His argument is that many bloggers just copy and paste what others have already said, making it harder to source information. The speed of the Internet itself becomes a problem when something that's not true goes viral.

What makes this information any less credible than that of the big media companies? Even they use blogs and other social media as sources in their articles.

Porter says, "It comes down to the quality, accuracy and authenticity of the content."

Major media companies have an advantage in this, but today many people trust their peers over what they see on television or read in newspapers.

Some of the people who answered yes to the question of if they are a journalists are definitely credible, but it all comes down to your own judgment to discern what is and isn't.

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Strategy for Delivering News Via Video

Robert Niles has warned the public that the iPad will not save journalism, but application development never hurt anyone. He decided that if you are going to get ahead of the tech curve you must begin playing with video on demand.

Netflix sent him a disc that lets you watch it on a Wii, it seems a lot better on a larger screen he said. So why not make it VOD? This he feels is the future of journalism. This kind of media seems to be in control with distributors such as Netflix and TiVo. Pretty soon televisions will let people easily upload video to the web, and then it is much easier to get and distribute news. So video on demand will be the future it seems in Niles eyes. We will see then, i guess.

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News and it's Interaction

Remember wen you had to pick up a newspaper or wait until the nightly news to see what is happening in the world. Well, I dont, mostly because I was to young to care about what has happened in the world. However, for individuals who are older than do you remember having to work for your media.

Well, nowadays the work to find media has gotten less while the user participation in creating media has increased. With the usage of blogs and social media normal citizens can contribute to the countless amounts of information that make up our daily news sources. Also people hear about news faster through internet and phones than they ever could have dreamed using newspapers.

So does this mean newspapers will die? I cant answere that question, but it certainly looks that way. Also what will happen to trained Journalists whose job is to bring you the news? Will they become extinct and be replaced by more evolved and better equipped citizens of the world who can gather information and post it online in a matter of seconds?

It is only natural to evolve and natural for things to die. However only time will tell if newspapers and journalists will ever take the same route as the dinosaurs.

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Will Newspapers Last 10 More Years?

Is newspaper extinction really 10 years away? The way technology changes on a daily basis, I personally don't think it will take 10 years. Do you?

According to James Tyree, CEO Mesirow Financial Inc., who led lasts October's buyout of the Chicago Sun-Times' publisher, "Newspapers have got a good strong 10 years."

C'mon, Mr. Tyree! Do they really have that long? Can they survive for a whole decade in this 24-hour news cycle, gotta have it now, world we live in?

In this article, which I found on Poynter Online, Tyree goes on to say, "By then you'll have to evolve into something else -- maybe five years evolve into something else -- or you'll just be out of business."

I think newspapers are on their way to being history in far less than 10 years.

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Time Magazine App Costs Too Much?

MediaMemo has brought attention to the fact that some media outlets, like Time Magazine, are charging big money for little its iPad apps. Bringing up the question is $4.99 a week to much to pay for Time Magazine's app?

Some would say it is, considering if one were to purchase Time Magazine at a local newsstand, it would cost roughly the same amount. Not to mention, a lot of users get there apps free off the Web, and would be outraged to have to pay $4.99 a week for one app.

Others would justify that the price is not to much, because of all the extra features the app provides to users over the print edition of Time. Meaning, users are actually getting more for their money.

Time, Inc. refutes that the price is to much with the logic that the price of the app will eventually be lowered, but it cannot be lowered, if the app is already priced low. Also, Time, Inc. will eventually offer discounted subscriptions to the app that will be much cheaper than the week to week paid price.

That is all well and good, what Time, Inc. plans to do about its prices, but what about other media outlets who have very high priced apps? Will they follow suit with Time, Inc. and eventually lower prices and offer discounted subscriptions? OR will they continue to have high prices because there is no regulation on how much they can charge for an app?

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Logging Off

There is a new website offering to end your online lives. The site, called Web 2.0 Suicide Machine, claims to give people back their real life by wiping out their social networking accounts. It claims to do this significantly faster than manually removing accounts.

Network Analyst Jason Hill of Clive felt like he was checking his online accounts too much and felt managing Facebook was becoming a full time job. He notified his friends and logged off for the last time in March.

Professor Michael Bugeja suggests everyone rethink online life. "Think about everything you do from iPhones to Second Life to social networking or Twitter, its doing two things at once: surveilling you and selling to you," said Bugeja, the Director of the Greenlee School of Journalism at Iowa State.

Breaking the addiction to social networking sites is difficult, but reconnecting with family and friends in person is well worth it.

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Top Ten Journalism Pieces

New York University’s Carter Journalism Institute chose the top ten journalism pieces from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2009. The winning pieces are:

1. The New York Times',"A Nation Challenged," Fall 2001
2. Adrian Nicole LeBlanc's, Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx, 2003
3. Lawrence Wright's, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, 2006
4. Alex Blumberg and Adam Davidson's, This American Life & NPR: "The Giant Pool of Money," May 2008
5. C.J. Chivers (reporter), Dexter Filkins (reporter) and Tyler Hicks' (photographer), The New York Times, 2003-2009
6. Jane Mayer's, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals, 2008
7. Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, 2001.
8. The Times-Picayune staff's, New Orleans, La. Coverage of Hurricane Katrina, August-December 2005
9. Anne Hull, Dana Priest (reporters) and Michel du Cille's, (photographer)"Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration at Army's Top Medical Facility," February 2007, The Washington Post
10. Walter Robinson, Michael Rezendes, Sacha Pfeiffer, Matt Carroll, Stephen Kurkjian, Tom Farragher, Michael Paulson, Kevin Cullen, Ben Bradlee Jr., Mark Morrow's, "Abuse in the Catholic Church," The Boston Globe, 2002

Descriptions of each piece can be found here.

Faculty from the institute, as well as other journalist, including: Wall Street Journal editorial board member Dorothy Rabinowitz; Morley Safer of “60 Minutes”; and Pulitzer-Prize-winning reporter Leon Dash, a professor of journalism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign comprised the panel that determined the winners. The top ten pieces reflect the passage of time from 2000 - 2009.

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Lil Wayne Blogs From Jail

Lil Wayne may be doing his time in jail but that doesn't mean his fans will not being hearing from him. Let's just say he doesn't want to be forgotten while he's gone.

The rapper launched a new Web site on Friday, April 2 WeezyThanxYou.com where he'll be able to connect with his fans by posting weekly updates, blogs about sports and respond to letters he's received from fans since he began his sentence last month.

In the first post, Wayne explains that he's been spending his days working out and reading the Bible.

The rapper also announced he will revive his popular ESPN blog, where in the past he opined on various sports. Next week's scheduled post will be on the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

Wayne also writes on more personal issues like his family. He also writes that he is doing well despite the rumors of altercations at Rikers Island.

In addition to the posts, the site features a clock that counts down how much time the rapper has until his release, which is currently 212 day. Fans will also be able to purchase a "Free Weezy" T-shirt and Tweet on blogs and posts.

"Weezy explained to me the idea behind WeezyThanxYou.com, which will basically serve as his gateway to the free world," said Civil in a statement to MTV News."'I wanted to do something for my fans, so they know I am still with them and that I love them very much'" Wayne said to Civil according to MTV News online.

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Goolge, News Innovator?

Google may hold the future of news in its hands and has what many publishers wished that had thought of first. Google's newest product, Fast Flip may be the latest tool that will be an asset to news today.

The Fast Flip allows news consumer to flip through news stories. What's interesting about the Fast Flip is that Google is now taking the lead where publishers used to be on top.

Publishing has always been about packaging content such as newspapers, magazines and newsletters.

With a new era of digital media, on the web, the news package is now a function of software which is why Google is the leader and the publishers are not.

Fast Flip is an attempt to recreate a better UI for news. This will be a better way to consume publishers' content than publishers provide on their own site.

In publishing most are focused on how to charge for news but hardly any conversation on how to innovate the packaging of news, much less a new UI for news. Also there is little discussion on how people consume news on the web, about the value of aggregating articles from multiple sources about solving consumers' problems rather than publishers' problems.

This is why Google is taking the lead on figuring out how to create new news package and why they will continue to control the lucrative front end of distribution.

Google is sharing revenue with publishers because Fast Flip goes way beyond linking to actually partially reproducing entire web pages. Publishers will have to be content with the revenue that Google shares unless they finally decide to compete on the real playing field that will determine the future of news and publishing.

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Creating Better Video

In a recent post, Jeff Achen, interactive media specialist for the Minnesota Community Foundation, gave ideas on how to produced quality video. In his three-part series, Achen listed three keys to creating better video: technique, planning and publishing. The focus of this post was publishing, which is the variety of platforms you use to reach your audience.

Achen wrote that "video publishing is about more than just posting your video. It's about making it embeddable, subscribable and mobile." He then offered tips on how to utilize video publishing efficiently:

• Know the current trends in digital video distribution. Today, people use the web, Internet-enabled TVs and mobile devices, such as smart phones and iPods.


• Know which distribution tools will help you which your audience via the channels mentioned above.
  
• Due to its popularity and success, it is important to have a strong presence on YouTube.
  
• Make your video mobile. This means a couple of things. First, set up hyperlinks to your video in order to direct your audience there. Second, your video must be embeddable so others can share it o their own sites. Lastly, your video must be downloadable.


• You can also "livestream" your video by broadcasting live events directly to the web.

These are all very important ideas to keep in mind when creating news videos. You could also use social media platforms to help increase viewership of your video.

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Plagiarism Sucks: 8 Reasons Why

Plagiarism, in a nut shell, is taking someones thoughts or words and claiming them as your own. (I hope I didn't plagiarize the word plagiarism!) Some journalists live and die by this covenant of moral journalism, while others feel that is it nearly impossible to not reproduce another's thoughts without some form of parallelism.

In the world of today's media and journalism, with the likes of Nexis, Google, and Wikipedia, how can we ensure that what we are reporting or writing has not been done before? What if a work is not Copywrited? We could go even further. In theory, what if someone wrote a story that was never published? If I wrote a very similar piece and it was published, could the non-published writer of the "original work" accuse me of plagiarism?

While some believe plagiarism is menial way of flattery, many believe it has tragic consequences. And not just for the writer.

I found this article from Slate that breaks down the eight reasons why plagiarism sucks.

(By Jack Shafer.)

1. It swindles the reader.

2. Journalism is about truth, not lies.

3. It corrupts the craft.

4. It promotes the dishonest.

5. It indenigrates the hard work of others.

6. It's not what we paid for.

7. It's not theft--it's something worse.

8. It's vampiric.

I also found this website of famous plagiarists and the effects, if any on their careers.

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The iPad Won't Save the News Industry

If you haven't heard of the iPad, you most likely have no contact with society and live in a cave.

The New York Times has found it important enough to write 80 stories containing the word "iPad", and the Washington Post wrote a triumphant 23 stories containing the word "iPad."

It has been beyond news worthy, not only because it is a revolutionary piece of technology, but because it is supposed to save the news industry. It, however, will not according to Jeff Jarvis, author of What Would Google Do?

"Editors and publishers and advertisers want to regain control of the media experience that the Internet took away from them," Jarvis said. "In their minds, this iPad is the magic pill that will make all of this Internet crap go away. Surely, it won't."

Time magazine is charging $5 a month fee for their paid application for the iPad.

"Mag iPad prices are delusional: In no form, even engraved in gold, is Time is worth $5/issue," Jarvis said. "If Time's iPhone app is free & iPhone apps work on iPad, why would I pay $5 for an iPhone app? Naked newsmakers?"

The news industry surely needs help, but the iPad s not the answer.

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Digital Media: Is it Green?

At first it seems like common sense that because it reduces paper involved in media consumption, digital media presents a more environmentally friendly option. However MediaShift writer Don Carli shows in a recent arcticle how growing research and awareness has proved this idea to be a large misconception. While reducing paper consumption provides a popular and easy way to address the problem and certainly can have an impact, the industry needs to look at the facts and find a suitable balance between the use of paper and digital media.

The main problem concerning the massive consumption of digital media remains the mass amounts of energy required by data centers, computers and cellular networks. According to the U.S. Department of Energy data centers use more than 60 billion kilowatt hours-per-year, equal to the amount of electricity of 559,608 houses use in one year. A large portion of this energy comes from mountaintop-removal coal mining, a huge contributor to deforestation. Currently, data centers are connected to 600 square miles of deforestation caused by mountaintop-removal coal mining.

In addition to problems caused by direct energy consumption used to power digital media, massive amounts of energy are used to produce the technology that enable digital media. According to MIT researcher Timothy Gutowski, every one kilogram of plastic or metal part made for technologies such as cell phones, computers, or iPods requires as much energy as running a flat screen TV for one to 10 hours. Also, according to Greenpeace, e-waste caused by people throwing away cell phones, computers and iPods accumulates to around 20 to 50 million tons of trash yearly.

Certainly, there are many sides to this issue, however, I see very little the media can do about this issue. While Carli proposes that data centers could make a greater effort to run on sustainable biofuels, I do not think the responsibility lies within media industries alone. Rather, this issue points to a greater need for the government and all industries within the private sector to place a greater focus on developing sustainable energy alternatives. However, I do agree that as individuals, we need to be more responsible with our technological devices by using and updating them in a manner that will decrease the need for a new computer/iPod/smartphone every few years.

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Google Wave

Technology is evolving everyday and that is why the way reporters gather information has to evolve as well. A plausible way to do this is to use Google Wave. It is a blog site that many of the top and most current reporters use and is a great way of scoring information.

Wave helps build relationships between reporters and common people and allows everyone, through blog, to keep up with the most current information. It allows reporters to find people who are highly educated on the exact topics they are researching and it is a blog site so it is much more effective than tweeting to get information due to the depth of the others responses.

Being apart of a blog on Wave is much different than the traditional one-on-one interview system of old. The blogs allow credible sources to post what they know quickly and efficiently and that allows other reporters to feed off what they find out. This helps shape the posts of the other sources you are receiving and helps form a new and efficient way to get credible sources.

Many criticize Wave because anyone can post and the inaccuracy of normal people may not hold up to that of professional reporters. No one knows if Wave will stand the test of time but it is a new and efficient way of getting sources and information.

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