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New media models disrupt traditional journalism
A slew of made-for-Web news sites are increasingly undermining the platform of print media. In this shifting landscape, how will journalism and storytelling survive, and what are readers to gain? Judy Woodruff talks to Re/code’s Walt Mossberg, VOX Media’s Jim Bankoff, and Tom Rosenstiel of the American Press Institute.
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This is Danny Pearl’s Final Story
“For the families of those who died on 9/11, the day marks the start of what’s likely to be a years-long trial for justice against KSM, the self-described architect of the World Trade Center attacks. For me, it’s something else. KSM is the man who bragged about taking a knife to the throat of my Wall Street Journal colleague and close friend Daniel Pearl.”
Asra Q. Nomani, a former reporter for the Wall Street Journal, teaches journalism at Georgetown and is a co-director of the Pearl Project.
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How the internet will save the Indian press
Stepping away from the shallow allegations of ‘paid media’, and above the usual hand-wringing rhetoric peddled by the likes of Vinod Mehta, Jose takes a bird’s eye view of the evolution of the Indian press to answer the thorny questions that preoccupy us all: “Why is our journalism so pliable? What gives external forces the temerity to shape the media to their own ends? What is it in our democratic culture that makes the media subordinate itself to the legislature, executive, judiciary and corporations—making it susceptible to inappropriate influence?”
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Public to back investigative journalism
Uncoverage, a website that will be announced on Monday, will test whether the public cares enough about investigative journalism to pay for it. The site, to be at Uncoverage.com, will allow journalists and nonprofits to seek crowdsourced funding for both articles and topics like, for example, the Syrian war. Money for general topics will be split up among projects by the site’s editors.
The nonprofit investigative group the Center for Public Integrity has signed on as a partner whose projects will be featured on the site.
The commercial site is being founded by Israel Mirsky, an entrepreneur who said that the current model for financing investigative journalism was broken.
“I am passionate about depleted uranium” he said, “but if I want to see more on the topic, my only choice is to buy a paper where reporting on the topic has appeared before and watch for future articles. I can’t imagine a less effective and satisfying way to get journalism on a topic I care about.”
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The Big Roundtable
“For a story to succeed it doesn’t have to be loved by everyone; it just has to be loved by enough.”
In this post, The Big Roundtable reviews readers’ response to some of the stories published, and ultimately reaches an analysis of what makes a successful story.
The Big Roundtable is a digital publishing platform that aims to connect passionate nonfiction writers with readers who will support their work. This journalism resource engages in experimental methods of gathering, selecting, editing, and distributing ambitious narrative stories, and, eventually, researching the reading and sharing behavior around those stories. And by convening forums—online and in person—where writers can learn and connect for mutual support.
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Audiovisual archive for Palestine refugees
On this website, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) unveils the first images of its newly digitized archive. Over half a million images and hours of film will follow, covering all aspects of the lives and history of Palestine refugees from 1948 to the present day.
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The Future of Syria – a UNHCR report
UNHCR has launched a report, based on research carried out over four months in Lebanon and Jordan, which finds alarming indications of distress among children, with thousands living alone or separated from their parents, many out of school, and extensive child labour. An informative source for journalists interested in the Syrian crisis.
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Rieder: Gearing up for a journalism juggernaut
How Pierre Omidyar’s free-spending, ambitious news start-up is coming together
“Omidyar wants to launch a news organization that is not narrowly focused on, say, investigative reporting, though it will do plenty of that. Instead, he envisions a wide-ranging powerhouse that will cover an array of subjects and attract a broad swath of readers. The idea is to create a mass audience that will magnify the impact of the hard-hitting stories the site aims to produce.”
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A Litmus Test for Kenya
“In the dark of night, Parliament passed a draconian media law that critics say amounts to a gag order on Kenya’s Fourth Estate.”
Michael Meyer, a former communications director for United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, is dean of the graduate school of media and communications at Aga Khan University in Nairobi.
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Britain Needs a First Amendment
Kenan Malik is a writer, lecturer, broadcaster and the author of “From Fatwa to Jihad: The Rushdie Affair and Its Aftermath.” In this op-ed, he argues that both the left and right defend freedom for journalists — but only those they like.
“What we have today in Britain is a tribal view of press freedom. Both sides want to defend freedom for the journalists they like while silencing the journalists they despise. Neither side seems to understand that the moment you invite politicians or the police to determine what is and is not acceptable journalism, freedom is eroded for all of us, whatever our political beliefs.
Oh, for a British First Amendment.”
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Phony balance, manufactured conflict: The media just confuses the truth
By feasting on controversy and focusing on the trivial, the media misinforms us about policy and misserves us all. Read excerpts from Thomas Patterson’s book “Informing the News”.
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The rise of the reader: journalism in the age of the open web
Katharine Viner, deputy editor of the Guardian and editor-in-chief of Guardian Australia, gave the AN Smith lecture in Melbourne on Wednesday night. Here’s her speech:
“I’d like to begin with a true story.
I was recently conducting a job interview for a Guardian role, and I asked the interviewee, who had worked only in print journalism, how he thought he’d cope working in digital news. In reply he said, “Well, I’ve got a computer. I’ve been using computers for years.”
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Women on Front Lines & Behind the Lens
“Stephanie Sinclair has mostly happy memories of her childhood in Miami, where she grew up encouraged by her parents to be carefree, confident and defiant. It was there, in an elementary school broadcast arts program, that she requested to be a camera operator, offering the first inkling of what she would do with her life.
Today, she is one of National Geographic’s conflict photojournalists, one of about a dozen women among the magazine’s 60 freelance photographers.”
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The Regression of Human Rights in the Middle East
Huffington Post Blog
By Rana F. SweisWith a high death toll in Syria, intensified sectarian strife across the region and a sharp rise in conservatism, it’s easy to forget why the Arab Spring actually began.
From autocratic regimes to deteriorating press freedoms to consistent corruption, the Middle East was, for the most part, decaying.
The past decades in the Middle East saw a decline not only in literacy and culture — Arabs comprise almost five percent of the world’s population, but publish just 1.1 percent of its books, according to the U.N.’s 2003 Arab Human Development Report – but it is also the consistent regression in human rights.
When Mohammad Bouazizi set himself on fire in December 2010, it was in protest against injustice, harassment and humiliation. In Egypt, 28-year-old Khalid Said died while in police custody. It was the brutality and abuse inflicted upon him that inspired many to take to the streets. Even in Turkey, an economically prosperous country, it was aggression against protestors that prompted outrage across the country.
Even so, human rights issues have taken a back seat as the region continues to face unprecedented change. Despite protests waning, divisions plaguing opposition movements and violence intensifying, one of the biggest challenges facing the Middle East today is the declining state of human rights and the silence of so many democratic governments across the world.
From Qatar to Tunisia, artists such as poets, musicians, bloggers have been imprisoned since the revolutions.
“The willingness of new governments to respect rights will determine whether those uprisings give birth to genuine democracy or simply spawn authoritarianism in new forms,” noted Human Rights Watch in its 2013 world report on challenges for rights after the Arab Spring.
“Turning a blind eye to repression may be politically convenient but it does enormous damage to the quests for rights-respecting democracies.”
Dozens of social media users have been jailed in the Gulf for posting comments on Twitter.
“I see freedom of expression as a release valve: people have those thoughts, people have those concerns, they want to articulate them and when a government takes an approach (such as jailing dissidents), what you’re really doing is forcing those concerns and debate internally, it doesn’t go away,” said Ross LaJeunesse, global head of Google’s Freedom Expression project.
After 16 years of free and unfettered access to the Internet, Jordan blocked nearly 300 news websites this month and enforced an amended press law to regulate online content. And still despite the uplifting of a public assembly law, speech related crimes or simply participating in protests could send you to State Security Court, a special body that has jurisdiction over crimes considered harmful to Jordan’s internal and external security — involving drugs, terrorism, weapons, espionage and treason.
In Egypt, 20 organizations announced the decline in the status of human rights in Egypt since Morsi took office last year — police beatings, torture, military trials and lack of accountability.
Earlier this year, an Egyptian prosecutor charged Bassem Yousef, a comedian whose satire brings relief to many Arabs bombarded by constant images of war and violence, of maligning president Mohammad Morsi.
Morsi’s office claimed the show was, “circulating false news likely to disturb public peace and public security and affect the administration.”
For many decades, Arabs were denied a platform for expression and in turn they were plagued by internal fear and self-censorship. There is no doubt, after the Arab Spring, an internal barrier of fear was lifted.
I see this during labor strikes and protests, in art exhibitions and plays that tend to push previous boundaries but where it will all end remains unclear.
Western democracies continue to send a message to people in the Middle East: Security and stability trumps human rights issues. But if there is any lesson to be learned from the Arab Spring, it is indeed that human rights is security.
This post is part of a collaboration between The Huffington Post and The Aspen Institute, in which a variety of thinkers, writers and experts will explore the most pressing issues of our time. For more posts from this partnership, click here. For more information on The Aspen Institute, click here.
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Letter from Damascus (2006): Captured on Film
An important feature in the New Yorker written in 2006. Lawerence Wright goes off into the secret world of filmmaking in Syria to discover more about the society that at the time had limited press freedoms. It is fascinating to read it and assess that with events taking place there now.
“Although many foreign critics have portrayed Mohammed and other Syrian directors as symbols of artistic victimization, he defiantly rejects that role. “Do you want me to play the hero?” he asked. “Do you want me to repeat two hundred times each day that my films are forbidden? This is my society. I belong to this world. I am not a victim.”
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A Score or More of Languages in Your Pocket
Apps so far or even google translate does not do an accurate job in translating from Arabic to English or vice versa. Will there be something more accurate that can be created on the horizon?
“The more a translation app is used, the more it learns to statistically make correct associations with sounds, text and meaning. The latest translation apps incorporate voice-recognition software so you can speak as well as type in the word or phrase you want translated and then get both a text and audio response.”
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Ted Blog
Further reading on ideas worth spreading. The TED Blog shares interesting news about TED, TED Talks video, the TED Prize and more.
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Journalism of the future should be less concerned with the present
The challenge of journalism today argues John Lloyd is simply this:
“There are publications and broadcasts and news agencies (such as this one) that are wedded to objective reporting, investigation and rational analysis, but they are in the minority, and a lot of them are finding it hard to make a living these days.”
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TEN MOST POPULAR JOURNALISM BLOGGERS IN AMERICA?
Some of the popular journalism bloggers in America but there is a UK version as well. A great resource for journalists and those looking for information on the profession as well.
“I’ve grabbed the baton and produced a chart of the top ten American journo-bloggers, based on combined subscriptions via Google Reader and Bloglines”
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How Many Teachers Use Technology in the Classroom?
Great infograph on how the use of technology has given us the opportunity to do so much more in the classrooms.
“According to a press release, close to 74% of all teachers surveyed said they use digital resources — tablets, computers — to expand and reinforce on content in their classrooms. Among the other highlights: 69% of those surveyed said educational technology helps them “do much more than ever before” for their students, with the most commonly used resources being online lesson plans, interactive web games and online articles.”
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Journalists are heroes in latest TV dramas
Journalists are usually vilified by some, but more recently Journalists have been playing the heroes in the latest TV dramas, including one of my favorite show “The Newsroom”. But with budget problems and some print newspapers closing down, is this at odds with what we are seeing on TV?
“…Yet if Hollywood still sees journalists as viable heroes, this image-boosting vote of confidence comes as actual jobs have disappeared faster than guest stars in many of these programs. Moreover, the profession’s esteem in the public’s eyes remains under siege.”
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GRAY MATTER: Learning From Failure
People love to read only about success stories it seems. NGO’s, institutions, schools and others always highlight success but what isn’t it worth learning from failures? Since many success stories most probably faced failure somewhere along the road. And this is what this article speaks about.
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9 Rules for Success by British Novelist Amelia E. Barr
The secret of success and tips for writers by British novelist Amelia Barr. She speaks of inspiration, work ethics and more. Brain Pickings happens to be one of my favorite websites because it’s creative and fresh. It’s content is always fun to read.
“It was after at least forty-five years of conscious labor that I reached the object of my hope. Many a time my head failed me, my hands failed me, my feet failed me, but, thank God, my heart never failed me.”
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Major papers’ longform meltdown
Despite the creation of an App that lets you read all the long form stories from various news and magazine sources, this article in the Columbia Journalism Review talks about the decline of long form articles in the most prominent newspapers.
“When it comes to stories longer than 3,000 words, the three papers showed even sharper declines. The WSJ’s total is down 70 percent to 25 stories, from 87 a decade ago, and the LA Times down fully 90 percent to 34 from 368. The New York Times’s record was more mixed. It published 25 percent fewer stories over 2,000 words from a decade ago, but 32 percent more stories over 3,000 words.”
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A Writer Revisits the Ancient Laptop He Used in College
This is a light story on our relationship with our laptops and writing.
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“Laptop is dusty these days. His shell is slightly scratched. But he’s still bright on the inside—even polished—thanks to the years of oiling by fingertips and palms. He bears the marks of his experience. The A, S, E, D, C, O, L, N, and M keys are worn down to a point of near-illegibility. There’s evidence of lots of activity on the BACKSPACE key—though, having just sifted through a bunch of writing from those years, I think maybe not quite enough. Crumbs were, and continue to be, a problem.”