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Media Cloud and Quantitative News Media Analysis, 11/23, 11:45 am EST, Harvard

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:27:17 +0000

The Center for Research on Computation and Society hosts Ethan Zuckerman and Hal Roberts on Monday, November 23, at 11:45 am to discuss Media Cloud and Quantitative News Media Analysis at Harvard’s Maxwell Dworkin, room 119.

“The rapid rise of participatory media technologies – weblogs, social networks, microblogging, video sharing sites – are transforming the news media landscape, reshaping how ideas are spread. Much of the early research on the influence of participatory media on existing institutions focuses on specific, successful cases where media frames developed online influenced offline media. Our project seeks to complement this work with tools to facilitate quantitative analysis of the relationship between media sources. We will present our prototype system to retrieve, tag, cluster and analyze blog and newspaper data, and discuss how the Media Cloud platform will be used in our future experiments, and can be used by other researchers to analyze patterns of influence in news media.”

FTC Workshop on Future Survival of Journalism in Internet Age, 12/1-2; Public Comment Deadline Friday, 11/6

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:43:44 +0000

The Federal Trade Commission hosts the free public and webcast workshop From Town Criers to Bloggers: How Will Journalism Survive in the Internet Age? Tuesday and Wednesday, December 1-2, in Washington, DC. Pre-registration by those attending is encouraged to reserve space.

They are accepting public comment by Friday, 11/6. An organization called FreePress.org has put together a survey to add public comment.

Future of the News in The New York Review of Books

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:06:07 +0000

In September, The New York Review of Books printed an article about trends in the news industry and the potential future of news. An upcoming issue includes some editorials in response.

The Boston Globe is off the market

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:20:28 +0000

I breathed a big sigh of relief when I read the front page headline of my paper copy of The Boston Globe yesterday: The New York Times decided not to sell The Globe. The future of this newspaper and Boston journalism were in question. Sure, there are lots of news sources around here, but without this newspaper, the area would be missing a major source of news. I wonder how the folks at the Boston Herald are taking the news.

The Globe has a special section on their Web site about the prospects of selling and the future of journalism.

Power Reporting Web Site Up For Grabs

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:55:06 +0000

Bill Dedman, owner of the Power Reporting: Resources for journalists is offering the website for anyone who take it over:

“If a university journalism program or nonprofit association is interested in using this domain as an aid to journalists or journalism, drop me a line. Contact Bill Dedman. I don’t think whoever takes over the site has to make it what it was. The name is flexible enough that it could be used for public records, crowdsourcing, computer-assisted reporting, etc.”

For more info:

http://powerreporting.com/

Posted by Rich

ABC News Shuttering In-House Library in Favor of “Digital Research Facility”

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:58:28 +0000

The June 4, 2009 issue of The New York Observe has an article called ABC News Shuttering In-House Library in Favor of ‘Digital Research Facility’; Looking To Donate Print Materials:

“Today, yet another bricks-and-mortar media bibliothèque fell victim to the digital age.”

“This afternoon, in an email to his staff, David Westin, the president of ABC News, announced that ABC News will be converting its existing research library on the second floor of its 47th street building into a smaller, more cyber-focused “Digital Research Facility.”

“You will continue to receive the same exceptional service as you have in the past,” he added. “But we’re developing, with an outside research consultant, a state of the art research system tailored to our particular needs. When this new system is completed, you will be able to get the information you need and conduct your own searches from your desktop.”

Mr. Westin went on to inform his newsroom that the changes will result in a “reduced staff” but that some of the current library staff would be staying on through the transition and “perhaps beyond.”

For the whole article:

http://tinyurl.com/o7h8tn

h/t to LISNews:

http://www.lisnews.org

The Paper Cuts newspaper website reports that 10,025+ jobs have been lost in 2009.

http://graphicdesignr.net/papercuts/

Even this furry creature from a popular children’s television show received a pink slip!

http://tinyurl.com/dy9ho6

Posted by Rich

Paper Cuts Multimedia Site Concerning Newspaper Layoffs And Other News

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 05:34:50 +0000

Erica Smith, journalist, newspaper and multimedia designer at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a nifty multimedia website called Paper Cuts which lists all of the layoffs, closings and other news in the newspaper field.

As of March 16, 2009, 5,046 plus jobs have been lost in the United States.

For more info:

http://graphicdesignr.net/papercuts/

Posted by Rich

NEWSOUT: What to do when the newsroom lights go out March 21 Boston University

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:52:11 +0000

The New England News Forum at UMass Amherst, the Boston University College of Communication and the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute are hosting a one-day collaboration called NEWSOUT: What to do when the newsroom lights go out: Options and strategies for New England communities on Saturday, March 21, 2009 at Boston University:

“In the last 18 months, some 15,000 working journalists have lost their jobs through retirement, buyouts or layoffs. New England is not immune.

If independent, watchdog journalism is critical to participatory democracy, then what should communities do when the lights dim–to use a metaphor–at news organizations” Who will watch the school board? Check public records before planning, zoning and conservation boards? Champion those in need? Connect the dots on critical regional
issues?”

Kickoff speaker: Stephen Clift, director, eDemocracy/Democracies Online
Panel: Jane Stevens, Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute fellow
Joe Bergantino, director, New England Center For Investigative
Journalism
Carol Amick, former editor, Bedford Minuteman
Steve Collins, reporter, Bristol(Conn) Press

The collaboration costs $45.00.

For more info:

http://dbs.hosting.crocker.com/wiki/index.php/Newsout

Posted by Rich

Boston’s Weeklies Change Strategies During Down Times

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 05:45:41 +0000

The daily Boston Globe reports how various Boston area weekly newspapers are handling the economic downturn. Several have reduced page size and number of pages, some are limiting distribution, and one has gone back to being a weekly after a few weeks of trying life as a daily.

3/9: The Future of News Discussed at Harvard, 5-7 pm ET

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 20:02:29 +0000

From the Berkman Center for Internet & Society’s weekly email detailing nifty events in the coming week:

[MONDAY] THE FUTURE OF NEWS
=================================
3/9/09, 5:00-7:00 PM
Austin West, Austin Hall, Harvard Law School

Topic: The Future of News
Guests: Russ Stanton and Jeff Jarvis — A public session of “The Internet: Issues at the Frontiers” seminar

Russ Stanton and Jeff Jarvis will be the guests for a public session of The Internet: Issues at the Frontiers, a Harvard Law School seminar taught by Professors William Fisher and Jonathan Zittrain.

Background, discussion topics, readings, and more information are available on the course website at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/iif/The_Fut….

For more information and a complete description, see the event web page: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/2009…

The course page encourages participants to sign up for Seesmic accounts in order to participate remotely and fully.