John Kroll, Director of Training and Digital Development for The Cleveland Plain Dealer, issued a call on January 15, 2010 for bloggers and Twitter users in Northeast Ohio, USA, to register with Cleveland.com, The Plain Dealers website. According to Kroll, “Northeast, Ohio, has a thriving online community, filled with creative and thoughtful bloggers as well as lively Twitter users.” Some of the best political blogs I’ve ever read are produced by Ohio bloggers. I think The Plain Dealer is smart to try to aggregate bloggers in its circulation area, so readers will get to them by going through Cleveland.com. I... Continue reading

Robert Niles, writing in the Online Journalism Review, made the following announcement in a January 15, 2010 post regarding the second edition of the News Entrepreneur Boot Camp, which is sponsored by the Knight Digital Media Center, in cooperation with OJR, the Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at USC's Marshall School of Business as well as the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism": If you are thinking about starting your own online news website or blog - or if you've already made that move, but wondering where the money will come from - please consider applying for the second... Continue reading

“Journalists are the target of such violence in Mexico that many have been forced to seek refuge in the United States, or to give up their profession,” writes Emilio Godoy in a January 15, 2010 Inter Press Service (IPS) dispatch from Mexico City. “And the outlook at the start of this year is even grimmer for media workers in this country,” he predicts. If you want to read more, please see “MEXICO: Journalists' Options - Silence, Exile or the Grave.” Technorati Tags: Inter Press Service,Mexian Journalists,Emilio Gordoy Continue reading

Steve Coll, writing in The New Yorker blog Think Tank on January 15, 2010: Journalism is not a particularly esteemed profession, but its capacity to bear witness remains one of its more redeeming attributes. At moments like this in Haiti, a journalist’s function as a witness can be relatively uncomplicated, in comparison to, say, the processes of political or investigative reporting. In the field during a natural disaster of this scale, you do feel at times ghoulish and intrusive upon both the grief of survivors and in relation to the more directly useful efforts of rescuers and humanitarian relief workers.... Continue reading

Matea Gold writes in a January 14, 2010, report in the Los Angles Times that, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta’s "role as a journalist who sometimes practices medicine as he reports “trouble some media ethicists, who said it’s problematic for Gupta to be toggling between the roles of reporter and a doctor.” See “CNN's Sanjay Gupta treats injured baby in Haiti [Updated].” I wonder whether these critics would want Gupta to assist them if they were severely injured at an event he was covering. Would they want him to ignore them and continue reporting? I doubt it. Would they... Continue reading

I intended to post at The I-Time Media Observer this week but didn’t due to the January 4, 2010 death of my wife. Her funeral was January 7, 2010, in Chicago, USA. I will resume blogging at this site this weekend, or on Monday, January 11, 2010. Technorati Tags: Death of Spouse Continue reading

Mike Allen, Politico, January 2, 2010 -- “Critics are calling on The Washington Post to stop printing news articles from The Fiscal Times, a new “independent digital news publication” funded by Peter G. Peterson, a former Wall Street financier and longtime advocate of changes to Social Security.” To read more, please see “Critics question Post partnership.” Also see “Wash. Post turns news pages over to conservative billionaire Peterson's news service” and “The Fiscal Times to Launch in Early 2010” For an article from The Fiscal Times, see “Support grows for tackling nation's debt.” Technorati Tags: The Fiscal Times,Peter G. Peterson,The... Continue reading

“Can the internet really bring about political change?” the Guardian of London examines the question in a January 4, 2009, editorial headlined “The internet and politics: Revolution.com.” Technorati Tags: The Internet & Politics,The Guardian,Revolution.Com Continue reading

On January 3, 2009, Karen Peterson at The News Tribune, a McClatchy Company newspaper in Tacoma, Washington, USA, published online her “Top 10 list for how newsgathering has changed in the past decade at The News Tribune.” See “What a difference a decade makes.” I think number 10 is highly relevant for any newspaper trying to stay afloat, especially newspapers in smaller markets. It reads: 10. Learning to change. To keep up with the pace of change, we have had to temper our perfectionist tendencies. Instead of spending months fine-tuning every small change, we prefer to launch “pilot projects.” When... Continue reading

Politics Daily’s Carl M. Cannon has the best tribute to former Washington Post ombudsman and St, Paul Pioneer Press editor Deborah Howell I’ve read so far. See “Deborah Howell, Trail-Blazing Newspaperwoman, Dies in Traffic Accident.” As Cannon notes, Howell, “a prominent and trail-blazing newspaperwoman in both Minnesota and Washington, D.C., has died after being struck by a car in New Zealand while on vacation with her husband.” I offer condolences to her family and journalist colleagues. May she rest in peace. Technorati Tags: Deborah Howell,Washington Post Ombudsmanm Deborah Howell's Death,Carl M. Cannon Continue reading

David Judson, editor-in-chief of the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review, a 48-year old Turkish newspaper, said “the indelible memories of the year [2009] will be of the 50 or so remarkable young journalists who come to work each day at this very Turkish newspaper that just happens to be produced in the English language.” See “The year of the Daily News reporter.” He adds: They positioned themselves in Baku, Kars and Yerevan to bring the world the details of a high-drama diplomatic deal between Turkey and Armenia. Hours after a mass murder in Mardin, our reporter was there to... Continue reading

Levon Sevunts, Montreal Gazette, writing in a January 1, 2010, post headlined “Reporters on ground in Afghanistan help Canadians make informed choices:” Covering the war in Afghanistan is an enormous burden — both financially and in human resources — for the already struggling Canadian media. Most Canadian media don’t have dedicated foreign correspondents. So just like the case with [Calgary Herald Reporter MIchelle] Lang, journalists whose usual beats involve covering health care or courts have to step into the breach. All Canadian reporters in Afghanistan volunteer for their assignments. Sevunts said, “Most reporters are rotated in and out on a... Continue reading

Michael Duff, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Friday, January 01, 2010, writing in a post headlined “Duff: To techies, 2009 will be remembered as the year the Internet sold out”: Here’s my advice to bloggers in 2010: Don’t try to be TMZ. TMZ already exists and they’re better at being TMZ than you are. Don’t try to compete with giants on their home turf. Focus on what makes your site unique — the experience, the opinions and the personality of your writers. Don’t parrot the gossip sites, react to them. Critique them. Duff encourages bloggers to, “Find a voice and trust it. Don’t... Continue reading

Lisa Vorderbrueggen, Contra Costa Times, December 30, 2009 -- “No one was more surprised than Belva Davis when KQED Channel 9 asked her to stay on as anchor of its revamped weekly news analysis staple, "This Week in Northern California." See “Bay Area journalism icon talks of life behind lens.” Vorderbrueggen said Davis, 77, “has been on television in the Bay Area for 43 years — 16 of those on KQED public television — and has earned a wall full of journalism awards, including a place in the National Association of Black Journalists' Hall of Fame and a lifetime achievement... Continue reading

The Calgary Herald has a fitting memorial to Herald reporter Michelle Lang who was killed December 30, 2009, in Afghanistan “while reporting on the Canadian mission in the southern regions of the war-torn country.” See “Herald Journalist, 4 Soldiers Die in Afghan Blast.” Also see “Canadian journalist casualties in Afghanistan at a glance.” Lang’s last post at her blog is dated December 29, 2009, and is headlined “Wanted: combat barbers.” I offer my condolences to her family and colleagues. Technorati Tags: Michelle Lang,Calgary Herard Continue reading

Christopher Elliott, National Geographic Traveler magazine’s reader advocate, reported December 29, 2009, that he was served with a subpoena by the Transportation Security Administration for “[a]ll documents, emails, and/or faxsimile transmissions (sic) in your control possession or control concerning your receipt of TSA Security Directive 1544-09-06 dated December 25, 2009.” See “Full text of my subpoena from the Department of Homeland Security.” “We had just put the kids in the bathtub when Special Agent Robert Flaherty knocked on my front door with a subpoena,” Elliot wrote . “He was very polite, and used “sir” a lot, and he said he... Continue reading

Steve Outing wrote the Stop The Presses! column at Editor & Publisher for nearly 15-years. But since the 108-year old publication is set to close in January 2010, he may have penned his last column there, “if E&P -- the magazine and the Web site -- disappears from view.” “…it feels weird to have the final one published,” he writes at his personal blog at Steve Outing. Com.” See “Farewell, E&P: The last of my 14-1/2 years of columns.” “But it’s online, “Goodbye, for Now: Looking Forward,” he adds. (My editors rejected my apparently too-controversial suggested headline: “Stop a Lot... Continue reading

The Topeka Capital-Journal of Topeka, Kansas, USA, has an informative interview with blogging journalist and Topeka native Nick Clayton. The American University graduate currently lives in “the Eastern European country of Georgia, where he has worked as a freelance journalist for the past six months,” according to the interview. He arrived in Georgia in June 2009. He also “teaches journalism at the University of Georgia.” . For more, see “Topekan reporting from Georgia.” Clayton’s articles can be read at his Three Kings blog, which covers “The ongoing chess game between the U.S., E.U. and Russia.” Note: This item is cross-posted... Continue reading

Si Cantwell, columnist for the StarNews and StarNewsOnline.com of Wilmington, North Carolina, USA, reported on December 22, 2009, that Rachel George, a blogging journalist who “covers prep sports for the StarNews,” is “working with StarNews staffers including me to improve our blogs. She’ll will be devoting quite a bit of her time to that in the coming year,” he noted. Cantwell said, “Her Varsity Now blog is nearly always among the day’s Top 5 most-read blogs.” But why the interview? “I thought her insights into blogging might benefit other bloggers,” he wrote in “5 questions with sportswriter Rachel George about... Continue reading

“On New Year’s Day 2010, I will for the first time in 25 years not be employed by a newspaper publisher,” writes Birmingham Post editor Marc Reeves. He tells why in a post at The Drum headlined “Why I won’t be a newspaper journalist on January 1.” Reeves, who will contribute to that publication, said “it’s time to get a proper job.” The Birmingham Post referred to in this post is in England. Technorati Tags: Marc Reeves,The Birmingham Post,The Drum Continue reading

In a December 26, 2009, article on TMZ.com [Thirty-Mile Zone], The Sydney Morning Herald of Australia opined: The website's daily news agenda is filled with reality television stars and the latest tribulations of Britney Spears. But its steady rise to international prominence has been based on a series of genuine scoops. I agree. I go to TMZ before I go to traditional media sites when it comes to serious news about celebrities. For example, when Michael Jackson died in June 2009, I went to TMZ before I went to The New York Times. A few years ago, I wouldn’t have... Continue reading

David Cohn, founder of Spot.Us, a nonprofit media project of the Center for Media Change covering the California, USA, Bay Area and Los Angeles, has a post in the December 25, 2009, Sacramento Bee headlined “The Oh Decade: Fear not for information – it always finds a highway.” Cohn, one of “various writers and public figures” The Bee “asked to assess the big events and trends that had an impact” on California “the last 10 years,” writes: There's no telling what the next decade will bring. But most media entrepreneurs, especially those in sunny California, believe there is a light... Continue reading

Nathan Hodge, who writes at Wired’s informative Danger Room blog, reported December 23, 2009, that his “post on the relationship between reporters and think tanks — particularly the Center for a New American Security, or CNAS, which has helped fund book projects by some prominent journalists — seems to have touched a nerve. In part,” he writes, “some people read the post as implying that there was something, well, improper about journalists taking book leave at a think tank.” If you want to read more, see “Nathan to Defense Reporters: Smoooch!” Technorati Tags: Nathan Hodge,Danger Room,Wired,Center for New American Security,CNAS,Defense... Continue reading