Journalism blog mash-up 2

[Bristol Editor] Is your website anti-social?

Sun, 27 May 2012 17:28:07 GMT

Guest Blog By Rick O’Neill, Creative Director, www.looktouchfeel.co.uk Build it and they will come, right? Sorry, wrong. And even if they come – will they ever come BACK? Embarking upon a new website development project, or the evolution or re-vamping of an existing website can be a daunting prospect, not least of all from a...

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[Tabloid Watch] 'It's a lie'

noreply@blogger.com (MacGuffin) — Sun, 27 May 2012 16:49:00 GMT

A Sun 'exclusive' by Ben Duffy reveals:

The article explains:

Comedian David Baddiel is to take Class A drugs live on telly as part of a scientific study for a new show.

The Three Lions on a Shirt star will sample the substance MDMA, often known as “Mandy”, and then discuss how he is feeling.

David, 47, and other celebs are taking part in the Channel 4 series Drug Live, which aims to explore the effects MDMA has on the brain.

In response, Baddiel tweeted:

[Shane Richmond] ‘We are rigging the energy market’, admits Ed Davey

Sun, 27 May 2012 16:08:42 GMT

I suppose it had to happen. There I was, listening to Ed Davey, the new(ish) Energy and Climate Change Secretary, emphasising his determination to “keep the lights on”, when those in his Whitehall office abruptly went out. Briefly disconcerting though this might have been, it transpired that it was not the long-predicted consequence of decades [...]

[Rick Waghorn] The man from Google insists we need to cling to a compass; that we still need to search for our futures in local. Really? My certainty comes from a map, not an algorithm…

Sun, 27 May 2012 11:33:17 GMT

As is the wont on these occasions, I always feel slightly beholden to ‘take away’ something from the various conference spaces you end up in. Way back when it was even one of your own… #1000flowers (Nov, 2010). Since then there’s been, in no particular order, StreetFightMag (Oct, 2011), SxSWi (March, 2012) and Collab2012 in Berkeley, Ca [...]

[Adam Tinworth] NEXT Berlin 2012 - liveblogs

Sun, 27 May 2012 09:35:45 GMT

Ah, I love NEXT. Unlike many tech-based conferences, which are very rooted in the now, they have a remarkable knack of looking about two years into the future, and giving you a sense of what the world might look like then. I've been working with them since January, and it's one of the pieces of work I enjoy the most. Here's all the liveblogging I did for them earlier in the month:

Day One

The Future of the Network and the History of the Computer - two keynotes that kicked off the conference, with René Obermann of Deutsche Telecom talking about a more open future for mobile networks, and George Dyson showing how the past of computing might point its way to the future.
Towards the internet of things - four talks about the emerging world of networked smart objects
Designing Digital Services by Putting People First - a great talk for agencies and product managers by Lousia Heinrich of Fjord, about human-centric success
Making Books into a shareable experience - Henrik Berggren of Readmill has ideas of how to make eBooks more networked.
Hacker kids, Maker culture and Wired clothing - my personal favourite session of the first day. It felt like a glimpse into the culture of five years hence - or what talking to the Homebrew Computer Club must have been like.
TV to come , TV to go - a panel looking at visions of Future TV.
The startup pitch winners

Day Two

The velocity of digital business - Ajaz Ahmed and James Hilton of AKQA with a vision of doing great work in a digital age
Give the teddy bears WiFi - Russell Davies' grab-bag talk of ideas from the future
Selling fashion online and printed clothes - a weird mix of pragmatic advice about selling clothes online - and whole new ways of creating clothes, including 3D printed bikinis!
Three views of the future of media - always connected consumers, updating eBooks and the psychology of publishing
Dave Weinberger & the future of everything - not a children's adventure novel, whatever the title makes it sound like. ;) Mr Weinberger takes us on a gallop through the likely consequences of the networked world.
James Bridle: Moving beyond the fanfics of technology and place - a brain-stretching journey through the cultural consequences for places and ideas of mash-up culture

Videos of all the sessions are flowing onto the site now. Loads of juicy brain food for you there!

[Jeff Jarvis] News articles as assets and paths

Sun, 27 May 2012 00:30:25 GMT

This is the start of a new project I’m working on to brainstorm new forms, relationships, and (business) models for news. Responding to a current discussion on Twitter among @AntDeRosa, @felixsalmon, @jayrosn_nyu & @davewiner about the form of articles, I’m posting it here. The discussion started when Jay challenged Anthony, as a representative of Reuters, [...]

[Adam Tinworth] Like Minds Exeter 2012 Liveblogs - day two

Sat, 26 May 2012 23:00:42 GMT

Links to my liveblogs of day two of Like Minds Exeter 2012

Morning

John Rosling: is the chief executive the chief entrepreneur - an inspiring talk on being an inspring leader (and how to lead rather than manage)
Rajeeb Dey: the path to entrepreneurship - a young, successful entrepreneur lays out how others can follow in his tracks
JP Hamilton: good business is personal - Virgin Media's Pioneers programme is doing both social and economic good. Here's how...
Alan Moore: a navigation guide to a better future - fantastic climax to the morning, with a clear vision for how our organisations need to chance to compete in the new era

Afternoon

Peter Shankman: Forget Likes, be liked - live via Skype, Peter gave the most entertaining talk of the festival, highlighting the human in the network
Endeavour: GoodPeople's platform for social enterprise - Anton Chernikov outlines a vision for making a communication tool to find people for social enterprises
Neville Hobson: Take courage - Neville concludes the event with a rousing call for the courage needed to make change happen

[Jeff Jarvis] The (not so) daily news

Sat, 26 May 2012 14:56:47 GMT

I have more conflicts than a Louisiana politician when it comes to the news of the New Orleans Times-Picayune reducing its frequency from seven to three days a week: I was in charge of digital content in the parent-company division that started its sister site, NOLA.com; I worked on Advance’s Ann Arbor project; I was [...]

[The Media Blog] They didn't...?

Sat, 26 May 2012 12:11:46 GMT

You would have to travel to a lot of cities and read a lot of newspapers before you ever found a layout as bad as this horribly inappropriate front page from the Liverpool Echo: (Hat tip Andy Thornley)

[Shane Richmond] When archaeologists are looking for evidence of why Europe collapsed, they will stumble upon an EU tax demand

Fri, 25 May 2012 22:12:05 GMT

[Shane Richmond] Old people in care homes? Sorry, but they’re way too uncool for digital entrepreneurs

Fri, 25 May 2012 21:24:21 GMT

From Saturday’s Daily Telegraph I don’t know about you, but the sight of orange-skinned celebrities raising money for “charidee” on telly has me reaching for a sick bag rather than my wallet. But perhaps I’m being cynical. Somebody has to help the vulnerable, and these appearances save washed-up comedians from the living hell of end-of-the-pier [...]

[Shane Richmond] If this is Britain’s energy policy, we’re toast

Fri, 25 May 2012 18:01:10 GMT

“Global warming” is SO totally over. Even President Obama concedes this now. The problem is that after twenty years or more of infectious drivel from the richly-funded global junk science community (NASA, the Royal Society, the “University” of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit, the National Academy of Sciences, etc), the minds of too many politicians [...]

[Tabloid Watch] The Express and arthritis (cont.)

noreply@blogger.com (MacGuffin) — Fri, 25 May 2012 16:49:00 GMT

Another day, another health 'cure' story from Jo Willey and the Daily Express:

This is not the same pill that the Express trumpeted as stopping arthritis pain on 25 April:

And on 9 May, the paper didn't mention any 'seaweed pill' when it claimed to have revealed the 'best way to battle arthritis':

And on 18 May, the seaweed pill was mysteriously absent from the Express' story claiming to reveal the 'easy way to halt the misery of arthritis':

With all these stories, it's a wonder there's anyone still suffering with arthritis at all.

But what of today's story about the 'seaweed pill'? Willey's article begins:

A pill made from seaweed could be the key to tackling arthritis.

'Could be'. A bit different from the front page 'will'.

But it seems that the 'seaweed pill' - the 'amazing tablet' than can 'fight other diseases' - doesn't actually exist in tablet form.

Willey goes on to say:

Various laboratory tests were carried out and the research team discovered that the seaweed – Leptolyngbya crosbyana – generates natural products known as honaucins with potent anti-inflammation and bacteria-controlling properties.

She then quotes one of the researchers, who points out:

"It’s a long road to go from this early-stage discovery to application in the clinic but it’s the only road if we want new and more efficacious medicines...In different arenas these compounds could be helpful, such as treating chronic inflammatory conditions for which we currently don’t have really good medicines."

Willey's article is a bit of churnalism that originated from a press release from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.

The press release said:

Scientists identified the “nuisance” organism in 2008 on the reefs directly adjacent to the National Park Pu‘uhonua o H’onaunau off the Kona coast of Hawaii. The cyanobacterium is believed to be native to Hawaii and is usually inconspicuous.

Willey 'changed' this to:

Scientists first identified the “nuisance” organism in 2008 threatening the reefs next to a national park off the Kona coast of Hawaii. The cyanobacterium is believed to be native to the islands and is usually inconspicuous.

And this bit from the original:

Choi, Gerwick and their colleagues conducted various laboratory experiments and discovered that the seaweed (the cyanobacterium Leptolyngbya crossbyana) generates natural products known as honaucins with potent anti-inflammation and bacteria-controlling properties.

Became this:

Various laboratory tests were carried out and the research team discovered that the seaweed – Leptolyngbya crosbyana – generates natural products known as honaucins with potent anti-inflammation and bacteria-controlling properties.

Incidentally, the press release does not specifically mention arthritis.

[Mindy McAdams] Every journalist is a copy editor (or needs to be)

Fri, 25 May 2012 16:37:22 GMT

As print/online newsrooms evolve, the role of copyediting (and the people who copyedit) is changing. Steve Buttry, director of community engagement and social media at Journal Register Co., just wrote a long blog post about this. There’s useful information there for students, journalism educators, reporters and bloggers.

Journalists who have treated the copy desk as a safety net need to take more responsibility for the quality of their own work. And journalists who have specialized in copy editing will play multiple roles in a Digital First newsroom.

I’ve been preaching the “no safety net” sermon to students for many years. It’s one of the reasons to require long-term (at least a full semester) blogging — if a potential employer finds your blog and it’s full of grammatical and other errors, you are toast. So writing a blog is good practice for the real world.

I really like how Steve divided his post into two sections: “Advice for copy editors” and “Copy editing tips for all journalists.” I worked as a copy editor for 11 years, and I appreciated the advice in both lists.

Copy editors should be teaching their colleagues and community bloggers the skills they have learned (and are learning). Lead a workshop in self-editing or in writing SEO headlines. That may seem counter-intuitive, like you are trying to help the newsroom get along without your copy-editing skills. But training demonstrates your value and underscores your expertise.

(Hat tip to my Florida colleague Ron Rodgers for the link to Steve’s post.)

[Shane Richmond] A few ‘EU veto moments’ won’t be enough to keep the Tory base happy

Fri, 25 May 2012 16:09:12 GMT

I was raised thinking I was a Tory. I can clearly remember defending my Dad’s choice to vote for John Major in 1997 aged 10 (cool, I know). I was told that the Tories would look out for the Hugginses in their right-to-buy council house. Families like ours believe in the “conservative values” of hard [...]

[Jon Slattery] NUJ facing 'severe financial crisis' says Stanistreet

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Slattery) — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:47:00 GMT

The NUJ is facing a severe financial crisis and could be insolvent by October, according to a Rescue Plan drawn up by general secretary Michelle Stanistreet (pictured).

The Rescue Plan document also states that overall NUJ membership is down 18 per cent over the last five years.

The union's National Executive Council today agreed a strategy including cuts across all areas of union expenditure, including provision for staff redundancies, in order to meet problems being caused by a fall in union income, rising costs and the challenging industrial environment.

Stanistreet said in a press statement: “This is not the first time the NUJ has had to take decisive action to deal with financial difficulties. Previous solutions to falling income, resulting from a fall in employment in our industries, have sustained us until now.

“But we are conscious that if we are to plan responsibly for the future of the union, and the members whom we serve, we need a comprehensive strategy which involves managing expenditure and practising good housekeeping while continuing to provide the service to NUJ members which they are entitled to expect.

“As an immediate priority we will be extending the union’s activities and membership across all sectors of the industry where the union’s protection is needed by journalists now more than ever before.”

In the Rescue Plan document, the general secretary states: "There has been no single overnight event that has brought us to this position. The fact that there has been no positive uplift in the industry’s fortunes, and therefore our members’; the continued pressure on our budgets and unresolved deficits in some areas; the drop in subs income in the first half of this budget, 3 per cent more than the 2 per cent decline budgeted; the depletion of our assets and reserves in the wake of successive deficits; and the crisis in our pension scheme – all of these things bring us to the position we are in today, and this combination of factors mean we have to take action. Sitting back and doing nothing is not an option."

"As things stand, after provisions in the accounts for forthcoming agreed expenditure, we have around £300,000 in cash. That only amounts to 3 weeks running costs. We are running monthly deficits averaging over £20,000 (this is after the non-recurring one-off costs highlighted in the accounts). The overall deficit to the end of February is £267,000. If immediate action is not taken this money will run out in October and the union would be insolvent."

She adds: "We also now have accurate data on membership statistics, long overdue. The introduction of a new membership system as well as other organisational changes mean we have access to genuinely meaningful data. This shows an 18 per cent drop in overall membership figures in the past five years. Given the scale of the crisis in our industry we cannot assume that this decline will not continue."

Stanistreet says: "We need to be completely clear that the way out of the crisis will involve cuts across all areas of the union’s expenditure."

The document states that the current estimate is that the necessary savings in staff costs will mean the loss of nine posts out of 47 in total. The union is also grappling with a large pension fund defecit of between £500,000 to £4m.

It's no surprise that the NUJ is facing financial problems. Hundreds if not thousands of journalists have lost their jobs in UK in the last five years as the impact of digital media has ravaged print. Maybe something worth having an inquiry about? - Jon S
Pic: Jon Slattery

[Shane Richmond] If Britain had joined the euro

Fri, 25 May 2012 15:44:35 GMT

“Just think where we would be if Britain had joined the euro”, someone recently said to me at a City lunch. There is actually a very obvious answer to this proposition – out of it. If Britain had joined the euro, it would by now have broken the single currency beyond redemption, for it is [...]

[Shane Richmond] Our obsession with young politicians is damaging Britain

Fri, 25 May 2012 15:37:13 GMT

As Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson dismissed some of his critics as “teenage scribblers”. This was only a slight exaggeration. Now the political world is thronged with bright young things not much older than teenagers. They get jobs as Special Advisers, even though they have very little or no experience to inform their advice. [...]

[Tabloid Watch] Star's ad campaign for Big Brother begins

noreply@blogger.com (MacGuffin) — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:30:00 GMT

The front of today's Daily Star claims there is a 'Fury over Big Bro live sex show':

The article, by Peter Dyke, begins:

Big Brother bosses will spark a major controversy by screening a live sex show in the house.

A 'live sex show'? On Channel 5? Rather than on one of Richard Desmond's 'other' channels?

It sounds unlikely. And as the article goes on, it becomes clear this is hype:

Producers unveiled the luxury Las Vegas-style BB13 house yesterday and it contains the ultimate kinky bedroom.

They have cordoned off two double beds and surrounded them with mirrors and lighting.

It is a clear hint they want the randy wannabes to couple up and put on a rompathon.

So there is no 'live sex show'. And even if there was a 'live sex show' when Big Brother starts next month, broadcasting rules would limit what Channel 5 could show anyway.

Is there any 'fury', as claimed in the front page headline? No. The article does not name, or quote, any furious person or organisation.

So no live sex show and no fury. It is another of those headlines that editor Dawn Neesom would say was 'eye-catching' rather than true.

This is simply about one of Richard Desmond's papers plugging a show on one of his TV channels. Dyke remembers to give the date and time of the broadcast of the first episode of the new series.

It's not the first time the Star has misused 'live sex show'. On the front page on 3 December 2008, it claimed Britney Spears had performed a 'live sex show' on TV when in fact she had simply done a song-and-dance routine on Good Morning America.

And trying to sell Big Brother (and copies of the paper) on it's sex content isn't exactly a new tactic for the Star either. Housemates will 'strut their naked stuff' or the programme will be 'full of naked romps' or it will be the 'sexiest Big Bro ever'. So for today's paper to claim this is a 'shock plan' is nonsense. It's the same tired old 'plan' that the Star claims is afoot every year.

Helpfully, MailOnline's JJ Anisiobi has joined the ad campaign, copying-and-pasting the Star's article into a 'story' which claims the series is already 'courting controversy'.

[Shane Richmond] How can we help children in care? Should we be sending them to boarding school?

Fri, 25 May 2012 15:27:36 GMT

Politicians talk a lot about fighting poverty and spreading opportunity. And there are endless arguments about how to best to do that. What should the top priority be? What would help the most? But there are some groups of children who everyone would agree are hugely and unfairly disadvantaged. Take children in the care system: [...]

[Shane Richmond] Revolution, what revolution, ask Egyptians – but the liberals lost for a reason we can all learn from

Fri, 25 May 2012 14:51:27 GMT

Egypt is in uproar this morning, and particularly its twittersphere. Its population, having survived five or seven thousand years – take your pick – of dictatorship, finally got the chance to vote for freedom and democracy, and according to most informed observers blew it spectacularly. The two presidential candidates who, as counting nears completion, seem [...]

[Shane Richmond] Let Alex Salmond call his referendum, and then when he loses, he can go back to admiring himself in the mirror

Fri, 25 May 2012 14:29:39 GMT

OK. We know an actor who once played James Bond wants Scottish Independence (not that he lives in Britain, let alone Scotland). (I wonder what Daniel Craig thinks? Oh hang on: I don’t give a stuff.) We know that diehard Scot Nats will take to cyberspace to attack anyone who points out that Britain’s not [...]

[Shane Richmond] There is no magic money tree of uncollected tax; we cannot close the deficit with more tax inspectors

Fri, 25 May 2012 13:29:41 GMT

There is joy in heaven and sniggering here on Earth as Richard Murphy gets soundly slapped by HMRC over his lunatic claims that there is a £120 billion tax gap. That is, a gap of that size between what should be righteously coughed up in taxes and what is: one so large that if we [...]

[Shane Richmond] Hitler’s children and the sins of the fathers

Fri, 25 May 2012 13:22:55 GMT

The Hitlers used to live near to me in Highgate, north London. Quiet family, kept themselves to themselves; weren’t terribly keen on the Jews, as far as I remember. Bridget Hitler, the Führer’s Irish sister-in-law, and her son, the improbably named Paddy Hitler, lived in England after Alois Hitler was deported as an undesirable alien, [...]

[Jon Slattery] Bloomberg's headbanger of a cover on Euro crisis

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Slattery) — Fri, 25 May 2012 13:11:00 GMT

This is the front cover of this week's European edition of Bloomberg Businessweek.

It invites the reader to bang their head on the large black circle printed on the front, in frustration over the Euro Crisis Relief. The bottom of the page provides step-by-step instructions before directing the reader to an article on the Euro Crisis in the magazine.