COPPA: What happens when a generation ignores a law?
By Robert Niles: The United States Federal Trade Commission is seeking public comment on amendments to its rule implementing the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act [COPPA]. While, as a website publisher and a parent, I'd love to see some changes ...
Five myths I hope you don’t hear at ONA 2011
By Robert Niles: Here are a few of the industry myths that I hope you will not hear during the Online News Association conference in Boston next week. The ONA's done a good job over the years of inviting more speakers and panelists who are grounded in ...
Apps vs. eBooks: Where can newsrooms and journalists make the most money?
By Robert Niles: How much time do you or your news organization spend developing apps? What's your return on that investment, and by that I mean - how much money are you making on app sales and from direct advertising on those app platforms?Now, how ...
The news entrepreneur’s dilemma: Which comes first, the money or the audience?
By Robert Niles: Reporters who would like to escape the annual threat of newsroom layoffs often ask me how they can get started running their own news websites.They're not so much worried about the technical steps in starting a website business. And ...
Which social media tool is the right one for PR professionals?
By Robert Niles: This past week, an email from a media relations rep got me thinking again about the ways that social media is changing how journalists and PR people work together.The email announced plans for a new ride at a theme park (which is one...
How evolution works, and why that matters to journalists
By Robert Niles: Many of us have talked about the evolution of the news industry in the Internet era. But what do we mean by that?I can't speak for others in the field, but when I talk about news industry evolution, I'm talking about a version of th...
The ‘high quality Web content’ experiment has *not* failed – but some news publishers have
By Robert Niles: If you follow as many journalists as I do on Twitter, perhaps your timeline blew up last week, too, with links to Paul Carr's piece on TechCrunch asking Now Can We All Agree That The "High Quality Web Content" Experiment Has Failed?S...
The "hyperlocal" lessons of America’s weekly newspapers
By Melanie Sill: In her new book, award-winning broadcast journalist Judy Muller goes deep into the experiences of small-town and rural newspapers to draw lessons for anyone passionate about doing community journalism right.
Why journalists shouldn’t be afraid of advertisers
By Robert Niles: Are you afraid of being labeled a shill for advertisers if you get involved in soliciting income for your news website? Don't be. If there are themes to my writing here on OJR, one of them must be that you can control your own future a...
A journalist’s guide to the scientific method – and why it’s important
By Robert Niles: Why should journalists care about the scientific method? I suggested in my post last week that journalism students should take a lab science class to learn about the scientific method. Here's why I think that's so important to journali...
Advice for this year’s incoming journalism students
By Robert Niles: I'm making this an August tradition, so here is my advice for this year's incoming journalism students. These tips are given to encourage new students to look beyond the typical j-school curriculum, to help them develop the skills that...
What is journalism worth?
By Robert Niles: What is journalism worth? That's the question journalism managers and entrepreneurs have been trying to figure out ever since it became clear, years ago, that the Internet was disrupting local publishing monopolies.And so we've endu...
