Yemen Times is today launching a new website and has begun to restore its archive after technical difficulties resulted in it being taken offline last year.

The independent English-language newspaper’s site suffered technical problems, resulting in data loss involving the organisation’s digital archive of news dating back to 1997.

“This was especially heart breaking,” said Yemen Times publisher and editor-in-chief Nadia al-Sakkaf in a release.

2011 was a time when the world wanted to know more about Yemen with the Arab spring and the deaths of Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaqi.

Despite the technical difficulties with the site, al-Sakkaf, who has an MSc in information systems management, and journalists on the ground in Sana’a, Taiz, Aden and Hodeida, reported on the political situation in the May 2011 leadership crisis in Yemen.

“We write news in a neutral and professional way. However the world did not know,” said al-Sakkaf in the release.

In a time of technology and web 3.0 if you are not online, you don’t exist. Being online is not just having a functional website, it is also about traffic and how many people read your news.

This new website is like a rescue boat. Now we are at last visible, and can recover our old database manually.

The new site is based on open source software Newscoop made by Sourcefabric, which is also behind radio platform Airtime which al-Sakkaf plans to use in to broadcast news firstly via an online station and eventually creating Yemen’s first independent FM station.

Under al-Sakkaf, Yemen Times has published several books such as Breaking the Stereotype, a book on Yemeni women’s experience as political candidates in elections.

In 2008 the Huffington Post’s Magda Abu-Fadil said of al-Sakkaf, who is also a TED speaker, “her stride is fast, her energy seems boundless, she seeks reforms, she’s bold, she’s articulate, she’s young, and she has her own newspaper in Yemen to use as a platform for action.”Similar Posts:

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There’s some useful reading list on media law on the International Forum for Responsible Media blog (Inforrm), where Judith Townend has collected together a number of academic papers on the subject.

The papers cover topical issues such as defamation, privacy and regulation of the press. She has also indicated those which are free to access, and others which require subscriptions.

See the full post here.Similar Posts:

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Nick Johnstone of UBM title Property Week has claimed the top award at the Periodicals Training Council’s inaugural New Talent Awards.

Johnstone was handed the grand prix 2012 at a ceremony in London last night (February 1).

He was also named new business features journalist of the year.

This year the PTC changed its award scheme, expanding “to reflect the range of roles across the publishing sector”, it explained in a release.

The awards recognised the “most promising student journalists of the year”, with the undergraduate title going to Stacey Bartlett from the University of Central Lancashire and Rakesh Ramchurn from City University named in the postgraduate category.

Immediate Media Co, the company formed in October from the amalgamation of BBC Magazines, Origin Publishing and Magicalia, was the biggest winner on the night, taking home three awards.

Winners of the PTC New Talent Awards 2012

• Grand Prix 2012: Nick Johnstone, Property Week, United Business Media
• New Publisher of the Year: Martin Stahel, Immediate Media Co.
• New Ad Manager of the Year: Ossie Bayram, Hearst Magazines UK
• New Business News Journalist of the Year: Carl Brown, Inside Housing, Ocean Media Group
• New Business Features Journalist of the Year: Nick Johnstone, Property Week, United Business Media
• New Editor of the Year: Tom Cullen, ShortList Media
• New Consumer Specialist/Customer Journalist of the Year: Louise Ridley, Immediate Media Co.
• New Designer of the Year: Elliott Web, Q Magazine, Bauer Media
• New Consumer Journalist of the Year: Amy Grier, ShortList Media
• New Sales Executive of the Year: Courtney Maggs-Jones, JLD Media
• New Classified Sales Executive of the Year: Sereena Gill, IPC Media
• New Section Editor of the Year: Zoe Smeaton, Chemist+Druggist, UBM Medica
• New Marketing Executive of the Year: Caroline Motson, Immediate Media Co
• New Direct Marketing Executive of the Year: Elizabeth Telford, Newsquest Special Media
• Most Promising Student Journalist of the Year (Undergraduate): Stacey Bartlett, the University of Central Lancashire
• Most Promising Student Journalist of the Year (Postgraduate): Rakesh Ramchurn, City University, London

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The Guardian has today announced the launch of a two-day festival with more than 300 speakers.

Its Open Weekend will take place on 24 and 25 March and be open to the paying public.

It will cover topics such as the phone-hacking scandal, which will hear from speakers including Guardian investigative journalist Nick Davies and Tom Watson MP.

In a release, the news outlet said speakers presenting at the event at its Kings Cross offices would will include “Guardian editors, writers and columnists will be speakers from all over the world – including Egypt, Pakistan, the US and India”.

Among those taking part are authors Ian McEwan, Robert Harris, Jeanette Winterson, Alain de Botton, Kamila Shamsie and Adhaf Soueif, the economist Jeff Sachs, the director Steve McQueen, the playwright David Hare, artists Grayson Perry and Jeremy Deller, broadcaster Jon Snow and politicians David Miliband, Tom Watson, Zac Goldsmith, Caroline Lucas, Tristram Hunt and Chris Huhne.

The Guardian’s best-known faces will also be hosting a series of debates and conversations. These include Charlie Brooker, Marina Hyde, Polly Toynbee, Zoe Williams, Grace Dent, Michael White, Jackie Ashley, John Harris, Suzanne Moore, Jonathan Freedland, Simon Hoggart, Nick Davies, Deborah Orr, Simon Jenkins, Peter Bradshaw, Michael Billlington and Simon Hattenstone.

The event promises to “bring to life the Guardian’s uniquely open, collaborative and networked approach to publishing on the web, and will be a key moment in the Guardian’s forthcoming brand campaign”.

In the release, Alan Rusbridger, editor-in-chief, Guardian News & Media, said:

We pride ourselves on our open and collaborative approach to journalism and what better way to demonstrate this than physically opening our doors to readers? The Guardian is at a pivotal moment in its history and our first-ever Open Weekend will give readers the opportunity to join us on our journey. Our top writers, editors and photographers will be there to speak, discuss and listen, and readers will be able to meet with some of their favourite Guardian faces.

Tickets cost £40 for a Saturday day pass, £30 for a Sunday pass or £60 for the weekend.Similar Posts:

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GRN, an agency for foreign correspondents, has posted a video interview with freelancer Portia Walker.

In the first in a series of interviews from GRN, Walker talks about her year covering the Arab spring in Yemen and Libya.

A former TV current affairs producer with Al Jazeera English, Walker explains how she moved to Yemen just before the Arab spring began.

She speaks about the “baptism of fire” in reporting from Yemen for the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, Washington Post and the Economist as well as GRN’s TV and radio clients.

Expecting to spend time in Libya researching features, she found she was spending her time “daily news reporting” which “did not go down well at some times with the authorities” and led to her arrest a gun point.

You can find out more about GRN in this Q&A interview and read guide on how to become a roaming reporter.

The video interview is below.

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• New York Times: Arab Spring reshapes market for TV news
• BBC CoJo: New opposition newspaper launched in Libya
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• Media release: Yemen Times launches new website and restores lost archive

TheNextWeb has a post outlining some of the best ways journalists can make use of LinkedIn, such as by simply searching for contacts or looking at the financial results of companies of interest.

Journalism.co.uk has also recently compiled a list of ten tips for journalists on using the platform, and a podcast on making the most of the site which includes an interview with Krista Canfield, senior manager of corporate communications (consumer PR) at LinkedIn.

Tipster: Rachel McAthy

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link– we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.Similar Posts:

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The 10,000 Words blog has produced a list of the key parts of a journalist’s “mobile reporting kit”, based on the advice of social media editor at New York Daily News, Anjali Mullany.

Read the post here.

Tipster: Rachel McAthy

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link– we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.Similar Posts:

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A campaign launched by the Royal Statistical Society has proposed 12 “rules of thumb for journalists” in order to encourage a better understanding of numbers in news.

Getstats is also calling for numeracy and statistics to be taught in journalism schools.

More details and a 12 point summary is at this link.

The full 12 rules of “number hygiene” for journalists are below:

1. You come across a number in a story or press release. Buyer beware. Before making it your own, ask who cooked it up; what are their credentials; are they selling something. What other evidence do we have (what numbers are they not showing us?); why this number, now? If the number comes from a study or research, has anyone reputable said it is any good?

2. Sniff around. Do the numbers refer to a whole group of people or things or a sample of them? If it’s a sample, are the people being questioned or the things being referred to a fair representation of the wider group? Say a company is claiming something applies to the population at large. If it is basing the story on a sample, such as a panel of internet users, the company goes back to time and again then beware: the panel may not be representative.

3. More probing. What was the sample asked? The wording of a question can hugely influence the answer you get. People’s understanding of what it means to ‘be employed’ or the nature of ‘violent crime’ may differ. What the public understands may not match the survey researcher’s idea. In government surveys bigamy was till recently classed as a violent crime. Might researchers’ choice of words have led people into a particular response?

4. One number is often used to sum up the group being measured, the average. But different averages measure different things. The mean is extremely sensitive to highs and lows: the very fact of Bill Gates coming to live in the UK would push up mean wealth. The median tells us, for example, the income of an average person – half the population get less, half more. Comparing earnings, the mode tells us the salary most people earn.

5. There is a lot of uncertainty about. We need to be sure the number on offer is a result and not just due to chance. With a sample, check the margin of error, the plus or minus 3 per cent figure, usually stated by reputable polling companies. A poll saying 52 per cent of people are in favour of something is not definitively saying half are in favour: it could be 49 per cent. Beware league tables, except in sports reports. Chelsea is higher than Arsenal for a simple and genuine reason: the side has collected more points. With hospitals or schools, a single score is a never likely valid basis for comparison (a teaching hospital may appear to have a worse score, but only because sicker patients are referred to it). Comparisons between universities or police forces are unreliable if the scores fall within margins of error. Midshires scores 650 on the ranking and Wessex 669: they could be performing at the same level or their respective positions reversed.

6. The numbers you are given show a big increase or sharp decrease. Yet a single change does not mean a trend. Blips happen often. Blips go away, so we have to ask whether the change in the numbers is just a recovery or return to normal after a one-off rise or fall (what statisticians refer to as ‘regression to the mean’). The numbers may come from a survey, like (say) ONS figures for household spending or migration. Is the change bigger than the margin of error?

7. Unless researchers carried out a controlled experiment (such as a trial of a new drug, based on a randomly chosen group, some of whom don’t know they are getting a placebo), it’s very difficult confidently to state that a causes b. Instead, the numbers may show an association (a correlation) between two things, say obesity and cancer. Beware spurious connections, which may be explained by a third or background factor. If use of mobile phones by children is associated with later behavioural disorders, the connexion could be the parents, and the way their behaviour affects both things. If the numbers suggest an association, the important thing is to assess its plausibility, on the back of other evidence. Finding a link can stimulate further study, but can’t itself be the basis for some new government policy. Recommendations for changing daily behaviour such as eating should not be based on speculative associations between particular food and medical conditions.

8. A key question for any number is ‘out of how many?’ Some events are rare — such as the death of a child. That’s why they are news, but that’s also why they deserve being put in context. Noting scarcity value is the way to reporting the significance of an event. An event’s meaning for an individual or family has to be distinguished from its public importance.

9. Billions and millionths are too big and too small to grasp. We take figures in if they are humanized. One way is comparing with, say, the whole UK; another is to plot the effect on an individual. Colourful comparisons can make risk intelligible: the risk of dying being operated on under a general anaesthetic is on average the same as the risk being killed while travelling 60 miles on a motorbike.

10. Good reporting gives a balanced view of the size of the numbers being reported. Better to focus on the most likely number rather than the most extreme, for example in stories about the effects of a flu pandemic. ‘Could be as high as’ points to an extreme; better to say ‘unlikely to be greater than’. Numbers may be misperceived so try to eliminate bias.

11. Risk is risky. ‘Eating bacon daily increases an individual’s lifetime risk of bowel cancer by 20 per cent.’ Another way of saying that is: out of 100 people eating a bacon sandwich every day one extra person will get bowel cancer. Using the first without noting the second tells a story that is both alarmist and inaccurate. If the information is available, express changes in risk in terms of the risks experienced by 100 or 100,000 people.

12. The switch from print to digital brings opportunities to present numbers more dynamically and imaginatively, for example in scatter plots. Graphics can show a trend. Stacked icons in graphs can show effects on 100 people. But the same rules of thumb apply whatever the medium: is the graphic clear; does it tell the story that is in the text.Similar Posts:

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App of the week: Blogsy

Device: iPad

Cost: £2.99

What is it and how is it of use to journalists? Blogsy is a blogging solution for iPad users.

In this post, Adam Tinworth, a blogger for more than 10 years, points out the problems with writing and posting from his tablet.

iPad blogging landscape has been a horrible, barren mess, with barely any decent blogging apps to be seen. Most blog platforms’ editors didn’t function in mobile Safari in any useful way. Blogging using the iPad was, at best, a challenge and, at worst, an impossibility.

He has tried and tested Blogsy, using it to write and file this post, finding that it “works very well”.

These videos teach the various swipe, drag and drop techniques.

Reviews: Blogsy gets four stars in the iTunes App Store.

Have you got a favourite app that you use as a journalist? Fill in this form to nominate an app for Journalism.co.uk’s app of the week for journalists.Similar Posts:

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Sean Dempsey/PA

The Financial Times is reporting that the launch of a Sunday newspaper “to replace the News of the World” has been delayed due to the arrests of News International journalists at the weekend.

On Saturday (28 January), four current and former Sun journalists were arrested by officers working on Operation Elvedon, the Met team looking into illegal payments to police.

The FT reports that a launch date of 29 April had “been set in stone”. Journalism.co.uk heard late on Friday, the day before the arrests, that the launch date had been brought forward.

The insiders said that managers of News International had decided that the adverse publicity surrounding the arrests and the suspension of the four journalists while police inquiries were going on would hamper any possible launch of a new title, which earlier reports said would be called the Sun on Sunday.

The article includes a comment from anonymous insiders, plus an interview with former chief reporter at the News of the World Neville Thurlbeck.

Mr Thurlbeck said that an internal group, the management and standards committee, set up at the direction of Rupert Murdoch to co-operate with a police investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World, had handed over so much material that it had lost control of the situation.

“The staff [of the Sun] have lost trust in their own management because they [the MSC] don’t believe that they know what is contained in the material that the police now have.”

The FT adds that News International declined to comment.

The full Financial Times article is at this link [part-paywall].Similar Posts:

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Poynter has a post listing cheap and useful tools that can help entrepreneurial journalists be more efficient.

It recommends Evernote, Google Docs, tools for handling invoices, Dropbox and other file transfer tools, plus back-up solutions.

The full post is at this link.

Tipster: Sarah Marshall

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link– we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.Similar Posts:

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Tool of the week: Tableau Public

What is it? A data visualisations tool, allowing you to create interactive graphs, charts and maps.

How is it of use to journalists? Tableau Public is a free tool that allows journalists to upload an Excel spreadsheet or text file and turn the data into an interactive visualisation that you can embed on your news site or blog.

Here are five examples of how Tableau has been used by news sites to tell stories. A quick browse will give you a sense of how the tool can be used to explain news stories.

• We aint got no history: Chelsea passing analysis
• Guardian Datablog: Gender pay gap
• New Scientist: Hurricanes in 2011
• PocketLint: Mobile OS Market Share
• Qualita Della Vita [in Italian]

One of Tableau’s real strengths is providing the reader with the opportunity to move a slider or select a drop down and see how the visualisation alters when a variable changes.

In order to create a visualisation you will need a PC (or a Windows environment on your Mac) and to download the free software.

I was able to upload an Excel file and within less than two minutes had produced a map showing what are predicted to be the most-populous countries in 2100.

I had previously used this data set to create a visualisation in Google Fusion Tables and Tableau was equally easy to navigate.

For those who have not tried creating data visualisations, Tableau requires no technical ability and is easier to use than the wizard options that allow you to create graphs in Excel.

There are options for sorting and reordering data, plus changing the colours and view options.

Tableau also has a paid-for option. The difference between the free tool and the premium option is that Tableau Public requires you to publish your visualisation to the web.

Tableau launched version 7.0 a couple of weeks ago and will soon be adding functionality allowing you to create a map using UK postcodes, according to Ross Perez, data analyst at the US-based company.

Disclaimer: Tableau Public is a sponsor of the Journalism.co.uk-organised conference news:rewired. This relationship did not influence this review.Similar Posts:

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These are the latest editorial, PR and media job opportunities from this week on Journalism.co.uk’s jobs board.

Technical editor – IT Pro
IT Pro, the leading IT management website, has a strong reputation for providing excellent technology and product insight for IT decision makers and we are currently recruiting for a technical editor.

Salary: DoE
Dennis Publishing
London, England

Research and information coordinator
If you have experience of writing accessible, inspiring copy about serious content be part of the creative team at Comic Relief and help us deliver engaging editorial about the projects, people and issues that we support

Salary: Circa £24K
Comic Relief
London, England

Newspaper editor
This job offers the successful candidate the opportunity to lead a very unique start up business that has great and rewarding prospects.

Salary: Market Rates
Dynamic Star
London, England

Reporter
A reporter with a desire to break agenda-setting stories and provide the critical analysis is required to work across established and respected brands Accountancy Age and Financial Director.

Salary: DoE
Accountancy Age and Financial Director
London, England

News editor
The English Service of Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa has a vacancy for a general news editor based in Berlin.

Salary: DoE
dpa English Services
Berlin, Germany

Click on the link below to see more.

Art editor
The UK’s leading bridal title is looking for a brilliant Art Editor with the passion and experience to bring visually dynamic ideas to every single page of Brides Magazine – issue after issue.

Salary: DoE
Condé Nast t/a Brides Magazine
London, England

Copywriter
The role combines web editing activities such as writing fresh copy and updating elements of the website as well as writing all printed marketing material.

Salary: £30 – 40K
Major Players
London, England

Content writers
Adfero is looking for talented and enthusiastic writers to join its Newsfeeds division in our offices in Manchester and Leeds

Salary: £16K
Adfero
Leeds and Manchester, England

Web content editor
This is a fantastic position for an aspiring web professional to join the Digital Communications team of a major household brand.

Salary: £23 – 27K
Major Players
Berkshire, England

Staff writer
At a time of unprecedented interest in, and demand for information about, central banks and central banking, CBP is looking for a staff writer to join the existing team based in London.

Salary: DoE
Central Banking Publications
London, England

News editor
The INQUIRER is seeking a News Editor with a passion for technology to take a key role in its team.

Salary: DoE
The INQUIRER
London, England

Senior agency copywriter
If you are a copywriter looking for the chance to enhance and develop your career within an award winning and innovative company then this could be the role for you.

Salary: £50K-60K plus generous discretionary bonus and excellent benefits
TTCS Recruitment
London, England

Senior staff writer / international correspondent – Strategic Risk
Contributory pension scheme, interest-free season ticket loan, 25 days holidays, excellent training and development opportunities.

Salary: Up to £30K
Newsquest Specialist Media
London, England

Editorial assistant
Risk Journals, a brand in Incisive Media’s Financial Risk Management Division, is looking to expand its editorial team.

Salary: DoE
Risk Journals
London, England

[USA] Staff writer
Waters magazine and WatersTechnology.com (the group’s website), part of Incisive Media’s Financial Technology Division, is looking to appoint a New York-based staff writer to produce features for the monthly magazine and news analysis pieces for the group

Salary: DoE
Waters magazine and WatersTechnology.com
New York, USA

UK Staff writer
Waters magazine and WatersTechnology.com (the group’s website), part of Incisive Media’s Financial Technology Division, is looking to appoint a London-based staff writer to produce features for the monthly magazine and news analysis pieces for the group’s

Salary: Doe
Waters magazine and WatersTechnology.com
London, England

Reporter
Local Government Chronicle, one of the country’s most respected social policy magazines, has a vacancy for a news reporter.

Salary: DoE
Emap Ltd
London, England

Photo editor
The Bloomberg Photo team is looking for a staff photo editor to be responsible for processing imagery for live and non-live events on the London picture desk.

Salary: DoE
Bloomberg
City of London, England

Deputy editor
just-drinks.com is looking to recruit a deputy editor, to head up the site’s news, commentary and analysis content.

Salary: DoE
just-drinks.com
Remote, All

To sign up for free as a jobseeker, please go to http://www.journalism.co.uk/cv-upload-editorial-jobs/s113/

To sign up as an advertiser, please go to http://www.journalism.co.uk/media-jobs/s75/

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The Guardian has launched a new liveblog in its next development of its open newslist trial, which it started last year to facilitate greater discussion around the given topics.

According to a blog post by UK news editor Dan Roberts, Newsdesk Live was prompted by “limitations” with the open newsdesk which became apparent, “chiefly the difficulty of using a simple grid and 140 characters to communicate all the complexities of the day’s news with an outside audience”.

Newsdesk Live will “incorporate the open newslist, but will also feature a live comment thread allowing readers to discuss what’s going on directly rather than having to do so via Twitter”.

Journalist Polly Curtis is overseeing the project, Roberts adds:

For the period of the experiment, Polly is joining the national newdesk to work alongside other UK editors to help feed ideas from readers back into the newsgathering process.

Hat tip: 10,000 Words blogSimilar Posts:

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