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This weblog was developed and is supported by the Bernard L. Schwartz Communication Institute, Baruch College, CUNY
Mar
27
Young people and the news
Posted by Vera Haller on Mar 27, 2008 under: blogs, newspapers, online news, politics | 1 Comment
That the younger generation seeks out its news from different sources is hardly new, but The New York Times today takes it a step further. An article states that young consumers are spreaders of news, especially in the realm of politics. Here’s an excerpt:
“According to interviews and recent surveys, younger voters tend to be not just consumers of news and current events but conduits as well - sending out e-mailed links and videos to friends and their social networks. And in turn, they rely on friends and online connections for news to come to them. In essence, they are replacing the professional filter - reading The Washington Post, clicking on CNN.com - with a social one.”
The article underscores the fact that the ease with which the Internet allows the transfer of information is leading people to get to their news in non-traditional ways.
Mar
26
Aggregating the news
Posted by Vera Haller on Mar 26, 2008 under: multimedia, newspapers, online news, politics, television, video | 3 Comments
An area I haven’t touched upon yet in this blog is the ability of the Web to aggregate news by subject matter. This may seem very obvious to some of you, but I wanted to draw attention to the way it affects traditional news Web sites.
More and more people are using searches such as Google and Yahoo news, which organize the news by topic and then list links to stories written by different news organizations. When you can see the top news stories from a selection of outlets, why go to just one site for your news?
This means that people are entering news Web sites through larger search engines, not by going to the home page and seeing what the editors have posted and chosen as the top stories. It also means people might not have the same attachment and loyalty to “their” news Web site like they used to have to the local newspaper. Just another example of how news consumption is changing.
Another type of news aggregator to watch are sites such as digg.com, which post stories, photos, videos and podcasts based on the number of times they are recommended by readers. I find these lists interesting but often skewed heavily with stories about technology, politics and the weird and whacky.
Mar
19
Web workout
Posted by Vera Haller on Mar 19, 2008 under: Uncategorized, newspapers, online news, politics | 3 Comments
Under a headline “Obama speech on race gives Web a workout,” USA Today took a look at how the candidate’s take on race relations in America played out on the Internet.The article includes statistics on the number of hits and stories and blog entries out there about Obama’s Philadelphia speech. It’s interesting that how a story plays out on the Web has become the story itself.
Mar
18
Checking the pulse of online news
Posted by Vera Haller on Mar 18, 2008 under: blogs, community journalism, multimedia, newspapers, online news, television, video | 6 Comments
Each year, the Project for Excellence in Journalism releases a report that analyzes the status of journalism in the U.S. So obviously, I clicked straight through to the section abut news on the Web.The findings aren’t surprising. More people are going online for news, more people are watching video online and no one has figured out yet how to make a lot of money off of news Web sites. News about foreign events (particularly the war in Iraq) filled a larger news hole on major news Web sites than in other news outlets.
The editorial part of news organizations were credited with being innovative in finding ways to use new technology. The report criticized Madison Avenue for not moving more quickly to find ways to make advertising pay on news Web sites.
The section on the major trends identified by the study is important reading for all who work - or those of you looking to work - in the news business.
Mar
11
When a big story breaks
Posted by Vera Haller on Mar 11, 2008 under: multimedia, newspapers, online news, video | 5 Comments
That blockbuster of story – the Eliot Spitzer sex scandal – has spurned a million stories, blog entries, photo galleries and interactive features.
As an exercise, I scrolled through the local online coverage and pulled out a few links that illustrate how the written word was augmented by many online features.
If anything, the breadth of coverage shows how a big story gets covered in the digital era.
Interactive timeline: Milestones in an Ambitious Career
Audio: Back story with Sewell Chan
Write your own Post headline (not censored)
Video: Spitzer’s apology
Photo gallery: Political career
Poll: Should Spitzer resign?
Video: Reaction on Wall Street
Photo Gallery: Inside the Emperor’s Club
PDF: Criminal complaint about Client 9
Predict the New York Post’s headline
Mar
10
Running with the story
Posted by Vera Haller on Mar 10, 2008 under: newspapers, online news, politics | 1 Comment
News that New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer was implicated in a prostitution ring hit the Internet right around 2 p.m. today when The New York Times broke the story. It took no time at all for the news to spread throughout the Web.
This was a big story. The quickness with which it was disseminated was in direct proportion to the magnitude of the story. Readers surely will be clamoring for details and the Web will oblige as a platform that permits immediate updates and room for unlimited copy.
Because of how quickly the story developed, Spitzer was out there in front of the television cameras only a short time after the story broke to apologize to his family and constituents for his involvement in a “private matter.”
Here are a few links to check out. A Google News search on Eliot Spitzer shows how far and wide this story went. Also, The New York Observer wrote up an item about how the Times metro staff broke the story.
Mar
4
A must-read
Posted by Vera Haller on Mar 4, 2008 under: multimedia, newspapers, online news, television, video | 6 Comments
A new poll shows that younger people (those under 30) are increasing turning to the Internet for their news. No big surprise, but this survey on the state of the news industry by Zogby International really drives home the point.
Mar
4
When video makes the news
Posted by Vera Haller on Mar 4, 2008 under: foreign news, online news, television, video | 3 Comments
Anyone who has followed the news on television knows that decisions can be influenced by the type and quality of video that reporters bring back to the newsroom. For example, dramatic footage of a car accident or a police chase might make the air even if there is not much of a story to back up the video.The Web is no different. Yesterday, any number of news sites with a national reach had links on their homepages to video that an amateur videographer took of a near plane crash at Germany’s Hamburg airport.
Fox News and The New York Times in its blog, “The Lede,” were among those with stories and links to the video. When I looked on Google News for the story today, I found 247 links.
While the video is dramatic (it shows the plane wobbling and almost crashing right near the runway and then swooping up again), the incident would never have made news if that person with the video camera hadn’t been taping the landing.
The plane ultimately landed safely. No one was injured. So was it news? This story illustrates how – in the digital age — a good video clip can make news, not just on a local TV news station but on news outlets around the world.
Mar
4
The power of the Web
Posted by Vera Haller on Mar 4, 2008 under: community journalism, television | 1 Comment
I wanted to note in a quick post just how powerful the Web can be when someone powerful uses it. Oprah Winfrey, who already has conquered television and publishing, is launching a new online endeavor - a free, 10-weekly Web seminar with herself and self-help author Eckhart Tolle. His book “A New Earth” is Oprah’s pick for her influential book club.
She says 700,000 people have signed up for the weekly Web seminar. Anyone would agree those are pretty impressive numbers. According to Oprah.com, participants will watch live classroom Web casts and have the opportunity to ask questions and connect with other like-thinking people around the world.