Civic journalism 2.0: The Guardian and NYU launch a “citizens agenda” for 2012
This August, Jay Rosen published a blog post arguing for “a citizens agenda in campaign coverage.” The idea, he wrote, “is to learn from voters what those voters want the campaign to be about, and what they need to hear from the candidates to make a smart decision.” And the method of doing that, he...
Tom Stites: Taking stock of the state of web journalism
Tom Stites had a long career in newspapers, editing Pulitzer-winning projects and working at top newspapers like The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. In recent years, he's shifted his emphasis to trying to figure out a new business model to support journalism through the Banyan Project. This week, Tom outlines...
The Jekyll and Hyde problem: What are journalists, and their institutions, for?
One of the surprisingly pleasant things about Dean Starkman’s recent CJR piece — the one in which he took on the "future of news" establishment — is that it brings Jay Rosen's questions about "what journalism is for" back into a debate that often stops at the bleak shores of basic economics. News' future is about...
John Robinson: “Find thinkers who will challenge you,” and more advice for newspaper editors
When John Robinson, longtime editor of the News & Record in Greensboro, North Carolina, announced his resignation from the paper last week, the news was met with accolades. "One of journalism's best editors," Steve Buttry called him. "One of the best editors I know," Jay Rosen had it. "Exemplary man, inspiring journalist." I caught up...
The newsonomics of gamification — and civilization
Ask most publishers or editors about games, and they'll tell you their business isn't about fun and games. It's about the serious, semi-Constitutional role of informing the public. Game dynamics may change that thinking. When we think of games these days, our minds move to enraged birds or fortune-seeking farmers. We think of the little...
Is Twitter writing, or is it speech? Why we need a new paradigm for our social media platforms
The big debates about Twitter's overall efficacy as a medium — the ones launched by, say, Bill Keller and Malcolm Gladwell — tend to devolve into contingents rather than resolve into consensus. Why are heated debates about Twitter's effect on information/politics/us tend to be at once so ubiquitous and so generally unsatisfying? The answer may...
Is Twitter writing, or is it speech? Why we need a new paradigm for our social media platforms
The big debates about Twitter's overall efficacy as a medium — the ones launched by, say, Bill Keller and Malcolm Gladwell — tend to devolve into contingents rather than resolve into consensus. Why are heated debates about Twitter's effect on information/politics/us tend to be at once so ubiquitous and so generally unsatisfying? The answer may...
Sarah Palin’s 2009 “death panel” claims: How the media handled them, and why that matters
It’s been almost two years now since Sarah Palin published to Facebook a post about “death panels.” In a study to be presented this week at the 61st Annual International Communications Association Conference, we analyzed over 700 stories placed in the top 50 newspapers around the country to consider how the media reacted to her...
This Week in Review: WikiLeaks’ forced hand, a Patch recruiting push, and two sets of news maxims
Every Friday, Mark Coddington sums up the week’s top stories about the future of news. This week: A new round of WikiLeaks documents leads to new and competing distribution models; Patch expands into free content; Jay Rosen and Jeff Jarvis sum up what they know; new details on The New York Times' paywall; and this...
This Week in Review: WikiLeaks’ forced hand, a Patch recruiting push, and two sets of news maxims
Every Friday, Mark Coddington sums up the week’s top stories about the future of news. This week: A new round of WikiLeaks documents leads to new and competing distribution models; Patch expands into free content; Jay Rosen and Jeff Jarvis sum up what they know; new details on The New York Times' paywall; and this...
Journal Register’s open advisory meeting: Bell, Jarvis, and Rosen put those new media maxims to the test
We watchers of media — analysts, theorists, pundits, what you will — make assumptions about journalism that have become, along the way, tenets: Openness and transparency will engender trust.... The process of journalism matters as much as the product.... Engagement is everything.... Etc. We often treat those ideas as general truths, but more accurately they're...
