My National Press Club talk on ‘The Case for Open Journalism Now’
By Melanie Sill: The University of Southern California Annenberg School hosted a panel on Monday called 'Opening Up Journalism: A Culture Change."Here's my talk as part of the panel, outlining my thinking and some of urgency I feel about the need fo...
If you’re not careful, efficiency could kill your business
By Robert Niles: If you're not careful, efficiency could kill your business.That was the destination on a little mental raft trip I took on the stream of consciousness last week. I was waiting for an airport shuttle at the Hilton Tokyo Bay in Japan a...
What the Oregon blogger who lost a $2.5 million judgment should have done
By Robert Niles: You want to know the lesson of the Crystal Cox case?If you're going to court, get a lawyer.Crystal Cox is the Oregon blogger who got hit with a $2.5 million defamation judgment for a blog post wrote, critical of Obsidian Financial ...
Five more lessons for getting it right, this time around
By Robert Niles: We've talked at length about finding new sources of revenue as the news industry moves from a monopoly-driven market to a more competitive one. (And that's the real change that's happening in our industry - not a switch from print to o...
Which online retailers do the best job of helping sell your eBooks?
By Robert Niles: I thought I would share some potentially interesting information about the effectiveness of various online stores in driving eBook sales, based on my personal experience over the past months.If you're not a regular reader of OJR, las...
Should a news publisher be a cheerleader for the local community?
By Robert Niles: Should a news publisher be a cheerleader for the local community?This month, San Diego businessman Doug Manchester bought the Union-Tribune newspaper from a Beverly Hills-based private equity firm."We'd like to be a cheerleader for...
What’s the point of media credentials?
By Robert Niles: Is getting a credential really worth it any longer?I had to wonder that, following the New York Police Department's appalling treatment of reporters covering Occupy Wall Street protests.Of course, the NYPD's not busting up just rep...
It’s okay: You don’t have to use every social media service
By Robert Niles: If you're like me, you love hearing about the next new thing in social media and publishing technology. Hey, we're online journalists. Tech is part of what we do.But after a few years in this business, that list of "next new things" ...
Encouraging grassroots journalism as a defense against news blackouts
By Robert Niles: If the police arrest reporters who show up to cover the news, then let's help all the other people whom the police can't arrest become the reporters."Citizen journalism" - the reporting of news events by non-professional reporters - ...
Banging my head against the computer screen
By Robert Niles: What a depressing day to be an online journalist.First, yesterday we lost access to Jim Romenesko (at least temporarily), thanks to a ham-handed and misguided "investigation" by his bosses at the Poynter Institute.Poynter Online D...
Diversify your ad base to survive in the news publishing business
By Robert Niles: I lost an advertiser on one of my websites last week. As much as I hate to lose customers, I understand completely why she felt she had no choice but to not renew her ad campaign.I'll start with some background, which will lead to wh...
COPPA, part two: New study suggests a majority of kids are on Facebook… by age 12
By Robert Niles: A newly published study quantifies some of the fears I expressed earlier this year in a post about the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act [COPPA].The title lays out the problem: "Why parents help their children lie to Facebook ...
