MetaFilter posts tagged with newspapers and journalism

Inconceivable!

bardic — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:34:15 -0800

WANTED: EDITOR OF A SUCCESSFUL LIB-LEANING BLOG AND NEWS ORGANIZATION LOOKS TO HIRE A PUBLISHER. Say what you will about the relative merits of Talking Points Memo or whether or not it's the triumphant example of why we don't need "real" newspapers or journalists any longer (previously on Mefi [1] [2]), but it does seem we've turned a corner (or perhaps jumped the shark?) when editors hire publishers instead of the other way around.

A New Species in the News Ecosystem

Potomac Avenue — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:12:07 -0800

The Huffington Post just announced that it is launching a new initiative to produce a wide range of investigative journalism — The Huffington Post Investigative Fund. Arianna Huffington has various ideas about how to fix the hole that failing newspapers leave behind, but this does have some precedent . Some reactions so far.

Open Platform

netbros — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:31:11 -0800

Somewhat quietly within the past couple weeks, two major newspapers, on each side of the Atlantic, have opened up their data and content APIs. Last month, on their Open blog, the New York Times introduced their Developer Network. Then just yesterday, on their DataBlog and OpenPlatformBlog, the Guardian launched Open Platform. Insiders at the Guardian are talking about the Data Store and the Content API. Even Members of Parliament are duly impressed. The Times will be at SXSW this week to talk about opening up as an information platform. The Information Age is truly coming of age.

End Times?

netbros — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:11:37 -0800

Virtually all the predictions about the death of old media have assumed a comfortingly long time frame for the end of print—the moment when, amid a panoply of flashing lights, press conferences, and elegiac reminiscences, the newspaper presses stop rolling and news goes entirely digital. Most of these scenarios assume a gradual crossing-over, almost like the migration of dunes, as behaviors change, paradigms shift, and the digital future heaves fully into view. But what if the old media dies much more quickly? What if a hurricane comes along and obliterates the dunes entirely? Specifically, what if The New York Times goes out of business—like, this May? New York Times stock performance over the past five years.

At least they still have the Mapparium

Horace Rumpole — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:48:38 -0800

Newsfilter: "After a century of continuous publication, The Christian Science Monitor will abandon its weekday print edition and appear online only, its publisher announced Tuesday." Coverage from the New York Times, Editor & Publisher, Poynter, HuffPo.

Times Archive,

languagehat — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 06:50:55 -0800

Every issue of The Times published between 1785-1985, digitally scanned and fully searchable. (Via Wordorigins.org.)

Gentlemen Ranters

criticalbill — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 13:27:37 -0800

Gentlemen Ranters, a "brilliant compendium of reminiscences of the great days of Fleet Street". Via (check the comments for a more depressing viewpoint).

The new Newseum

lalex — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 00:50:37 -0800

The website of the ridiculously awesome Newseum has been revamped and relaunched in anticipation of its October reopening. Check out the redesigned Today's Front Pages and Analysis sections - and go here for frequent, fascinating evaluations of current front page graphic design (archive). Browse the downloadable front pages of notable dates in recent history (e.g. Katrina, 2004 tsunami, 9/11). Watch discussions of some of the most recognizable Pulitzer Prize winning photographs, and check out the interactive archives of past exhibits. You can also pay your respects at the online version of the Newseum's Journalists Memorial. (previously)

Journalism etiquette

Geezum Crowe — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 03:25:02 -0800

Since Rupes went to great lengths to protect Wendi, see some other examples of newspaper self-censorship

The Conceptual Scoop AKA the way they used to do it back in the day....

photoslob — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 08:29:42 -0800

"A smart story often does contain new facts," Bennett explains. "But just as often it takes facts that are lying in plain sight and synthesizes them, or arranges them in a way — sometimes in a narrative — that really exposes some new meaning on an important subject. And I think that's a conceptual scoop." (via ATC)

The ten things most likely to be on The Daily Express front page

feelinglistless — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 14:04:29 -0800

The ten things most likely to be on The Daily Express front page. This UK newspaper has gained something of a reputation of late because of their apparently monosyllabic attitude to the news and what'll appear as their front page story -- today with everything that's going in the middle east they ran with yet another story about Princess Diana. Here, Martin Belam analyzes the leaders for the past three months and examines the patterns.

Hand of God

TheGoldenOne — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 16:02:35 -0800

Charlotte Observer photographer Patrick Schneider has been fired. After a 2003 incident in which the North Carolina Press Association stripped him of his awards for three pictures (before and after can be seen here) the Observer has fired Schneider over the alteration of this image. The question remains among photojournalists: is it unethical to alter a photo in such a way that it more closely resembles what the eye saw and the camera is unable to capture, or is this a deceptive practice that damages the public's trust?

The End of News?

russilwvong — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 10:27:27 -0800

The End of News? From the New York Review of Books. Michael Massing, a contributing editor of the Columbia Journalism Review, discusses the decline of the mainstream media and the ideal of objectivity: Accuracy in Media (1969), the Center for Media and Public Affairs (1985), the abolition of the Fairness Doctrine (1987), Rush Limbaugh (1988), Fox News (1996), weblogs, cost-cutting at newspapers. Of course, the newspaper business has always been a difficult one, as Walter Lippmann noted in his book Public Opinion (1921): [more inside]

Citizen journalism -- Everybody's a Critic

Julie — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 15:23:41 -0800

Citizen journalism gets vetted, and the people of Greensboro101 etc. bite back. Should the new outlets emulate old-style papers or to each her own?

Most-read newspapers in the world

mediareport — Sun, 12 Jun 2005 09:16:10 -0800

The world's 100 largest newspapers by circulation Japan and China take 9 of the top 10 spots; Greece enters at #17, the United States at #19. Newspaperindex now also has the list broken down by continent. [An updated top 100 list has been posted here] [via Cynical-C]

Scotsman Newspaper Digital Archive 1817-1950

ClanvidHorse — Sat, 04 Jun 2005 13:20:13 -0800

Edinburgh's Scotsman newspaper has launched a digital archive covering all editions from 1817-1950. There are several stories with an American slant which may be something that interests you. There is coverage on such things as the hanging of the notorious bodysnatchers Burke and Hare. Unfortunately, after viewing the free archives it is a paysite, but I still think it's worth a look as there is easily a couple of hours of interesting reading on the free articles that are included. The set-up and look of this site is brilliant as well.

Information (from 1945) wants to be free

DrJohnEvans — Fri, 30 Jul 2004 05:20:11 -0800

Pages of the Past The Toronto Star has digitized each of its issues from 1892-2001. And they're searchable. And they're online. Unfortunately, access starts at about a buck an hour—but 1945 is free!

Neighbours' Untidy Yard Shock!

Blue Stone — Thu, 22 Jul 2004 10:42:11 -0800

Open Source Local Journalism. "A small California newspaper [The Northwest Voice] has undertaken a first-of-its-kind experiment in participatory journalism in which nearly all the content published in a regularly updated online edition and a weekly print edition is submitted by community members." Is the editor of your local newspaper aware of this?

the future used to be so much nicer...

Aleph Yin — Sat, 29 Nov 2003 08:22:20 -0800

"The newspapers of the twenty-first century will give a mere "stick" in the back pages to accounts of crime or political controversies, but will headline on the front pages the proclamation of a new scientific hypothesis."

From an interview with Nikolai Tesla in 1937 about the now near future...

US Army Used Reporters for Own Ends in Iraq War

fenriq — Mon, 08 Sep 2003 13:51:49 -0800

U.S. Army Used Media Cover in Iraq for Own Ends which sounds like a big old bowl of yellow journalism but isn't really, at least I don't think so. It was more to refute the Iraqi Minister of Lies talking about the whooping the Iraqi war machine was delivering to the coalition forces.

The main issue that the reporters had was that they were only getting the one side of the story and not the Iraqi perspective.

But it raises some questions about the supposed objectivity of the media. Is this a proper use of them? To help achieve military goals? Or to try to avoid more unnecessary deaths?

Are bloggers the heir-apparant of the independent weekly?

skallas — Sat, 06 Sep 2003 19:10:37 -0800

Are bloggers the heir apparent of the independent weekly? Welch: For all the history made by newspapers between 1960 and 2000, the profession was also busy contracting, standardizing, and homogenizing. Most cities now have their monopolist daily, their alt weekly or two, their business journal. Journalism is done a certain way, by a certain kind of people. Bloggers are basically oblivious to such traditions, so reading the best of them is like receiving a bracing slap in the face. It's a reminder that America is far more diverse and iconoclastic than its newsrooms.

Searching for Valerie Plame

Artifice_Eternity — Fri, 25 Jul 2003 14:49:11 -0800

Search the New York Times website for any occurrence of the words "Valerie Plame" during the last week ...and you'll find nada, zilch, zip. The so-called "paper of record" has remained totally mum on what may be one of the biggest scandals of the Bush administration yet. You can read about it at Newsday, CBS, Time, and The Nation, and it's been mentioned on NBC... but not a word from the New York Times (save for a reference to it last week by syndicated columnist Paul Krugman, and a wire service story today; neither of those pieces mentions Plame by name). The Times' news and editorial divisions are asleep at the switch on this story. Maybe the Jayson Blair scandal was a distraction from the deeper problem: a paper that is so concerned with being balanced and respectable, it refuses to cover any politically controversial stories. You can e-mail letters@nytimes.com to ask why the Valerie Plame news blackout. Or just click this link a few dozen times to send 'em a message.

Jayson Blair doesn't know when to shut up.

solistrato — Thu, 22 May 2003 18:13:23 -0800

Jayson Blair doesn't know when to shut up. The first interview with the disgraced New York Times reporter indicates that if he's feeling bad about what he did, he's not exactly showing it. Oh, and he has "a book full of anecdotes." Very subtle, Jayson.

The Grey Lady Falters

hhc5 — Sat, 10 May 2003 10:14:23 -0800

Times Reporter Who Resigned Leaves Long Trail of Deception The New York Times runs a long article detailing its preliminary findings in the matter of Jayson Blair, The Times' young staff reporter who made up sources, facts, and anecdotes in potentially hundreds of stories. Does this investigation help the Times avoid permanent disgrace? Or does this just confirm what you've always thought about the Times? Slate magazine is attributing part of the problem to affirmative action (Blair is black). Is AA relevant here?

Shhh! American Prisoners Being Held in Afghanistan

Postroad — Thu, 28 Nov 2002 05:22:04 -0800

Shhh! American Prisoners Being Held in Afghanistan This report is from Pravda, the Russian newspaper. I have not seen any media posting of this story and I wonder whether the story is false or our media does not want to go into this. Anyone at MF hear of this before?