Category Archives: Journalism

Copy editors laid off more than other newsroom staffers—but can newspapers’ credibility afford the cut?

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Source: j-source.ca

Kim Covert remembers the “dead silence,” broken by muffled crying.

She and two dozen other copy editors were clumped around the large central table in Postmedia Network Inc.’s newswire office in Ottawa. The group, which gathered national and international news and copy edited it for use in Postmedia newspapers across the country, gaped at the company’s vice-president of editorial operations, Lou Clancy, as he announced Canadian Press was taking over their jobs. It was cheaper; they were fired.

“We all kind of looked at each other and thought, ‘What the fuck?’ because most of us hadn’t expected any such thing,” says Covert. “My first thought was, ‘Oh my God, my mortgage,’ and my stomach just fell.”

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IFJ Renews Call to UN and Governments to Halt Slaughter of Journalists after 121 Killings in Bloody 2012

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Source: ifj.org

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today said that 2012 has been one of the bloodiest years for journalists and media workers after recording 121 killings in targeted attacks and cross fire incidents. The IFJ warned that these terrible numbers are the result of systematic failure by governments and the United Nations to fulfill their international obligations to protect and enforce journalists’ basic right to life.

“The death toll for 2012 is another indictment of governments which pay lip service to the protection of journalists but have consistently failed to stop their slaughter,” said Jim Boumelha, IFJ President. “It is no wonder that these sky-high numbers of killed journalists have become a constant feature in the last decade during which the usual reaction from governments and the United Nations has been a few words of condemnation, a cursory inquiry and a shrug of indifference.”

According to figures released today by the Federation which has published annual reports of journalists and media workers killed in work-related incidents since 1990, 121 journalists and media staff lost their lives in targeted attacks, bomb attacks and other cross-fire incidents this year, up from 107 recorded in 2011. Thirty more died in accidents or of illness while they were at work in 2012, against 20 last year.

Syria tops the IFJ’s list of the most dangerous countries for media in 2012. More violence and lawlessness in Somalia turned the country into a media killing field while organised crime in Mexico and insurgents in Pakistan account for the high numbers of fatalities in these countries.

The Federation said that, by and far, journalists were deliberately targeted because of their work and with the clear intention to silence them. This constant finding in IFJ annual reports bring into sharp focus the need for genuine measures to protect journalists and punish those responsible for violence against media.

Last month, the IFJ urged accountability for violence targeting media at the UN Inter-Agency’s conference in Vienna, Austria which officially launched the UN Action Plan on the safety of journalists and the issue of Impunity, noting that ‘ the new UN plan is akin to drinking in the last chance saloon.”

“We now look to the UN Plan on the safety of journalists and the issue of impunity to deliver on its mandate,” added Beth Costa, IFJ General Secretary. “The situation is so desperate that inaction no longer represents an option.”

As of 31 December, the IFJ recorded the following information on killings of journalists and media staff in 2012:

Targeted killings, bomb attacks and cross-fire incidents    : 121

Accidental and illness related deaths                                     : 30

Total Deaths                                                                                 : 151

The deadliest region in 2012 was the Middle East and Arab World with 47 journalists and media personnel killed.  Syria had the region’s highest death toll with 36 dead.

Among countries with the highest  numbers of media fatalities are:

Syria                                       : 35

Somalia                                 : 18

Pakistan                                : 10

Mexico                                    : 10

Philippines                           : 5

Iraq                                         : 5

 

The list of journalists and media personnel killed in 2012 is available here

 

For more information, please contact IFJ  :

Jim Boumelha, IFJ President                   :+44 1865723450

Beth Costa, IFJ General Secretary           : + 32 2 235 22 10/ +32 279077194

Ernest Sagaga, Human Rights Officer   : +32 2 235 22 07/+32 477 71 40 29

The IFJ represents more than 600,000 journalists in 134 countries around the world

TV station firing renews questions about whether journalists should respond to critics online

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Source: poynter.org

You may have heard the story of Rhonda Lee, a meteorologist at Shreveport, La., TV station KTBS who was fired for responding to viewer criticism on Facebook.

The firing raises some old and new questions about how journalists should (or shouldn’t) engage online with caustic critics and troublesome trolls.

Click the link to read the entire story @ poynter.org

Mickadeit: Thanks for Register’s reawakening

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Source: ocregister.com

By FRANK MICKADEIT COLUMNIST / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

This is the Thanksgiving column I never thought I’d write.

You’ve seen what’s happened to newspapers. As we’ve struggled for relevancy in the digital age with one hand and fought off the recession with the other, we became something less. At the Register, our Web presence grew and we got the most-important news to you faster – great progress. But overall we couldn’t do as much as we once did.

We went from about 385 journalists in 2002 to about 185. There was round after round of painful staff cuts, some voluntary, some not. I stopped going to staff meetings because I knew there was nothing more our editor could say. You saw our newspaper physically shrink. The Business section, for example, was folded into the News section. We lost richness and breadth.

Click the link to read the entire story @ ocregister.com

How journalists made sure the truth spread as far as the lie in Elmo accusation coverage

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Source: poynter.org

An accusation is often more newsworthy than the recantation. So should a news organization make an effort to ensure the new information is given the same prominence as the original?

It’s a question that arose this week after the unnamed man who leveled underage sex allegations against Kevin Clash, the voice and puppeteer of Elmo on “Sesame Street,” recanted his allegations. TMZ first broke news of the allegations, and it spread quickly.

Click the link to read the entire story @poynter.org

Globe’s Oil Sands Advertorial Blurs Lines Public Editor Won’t Discuss

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Source: thetyee.ca

Eight pager formatted much like news, but Stead offers slim explanation.

By: By Jonathan Sas, 22 October 2012, TheTyee.ca

View full article and comments: http://thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2012/10/22/Globe-Oil-Sands-Advertorial/

 

“Journalism, commercial interests should be kept separate.”

So ran the headline of a post written by the Globe and Mail’s public editor Sylvia Stead on Sept. 27.

In the midst of the uproar over Margaret Wente’s plagiarism, Stead was busy trying to put out another fire, this one over an article from a freelance journalist who had written glowingly about the house she was selling. In this post, Stead concedes that Globe editors had erred in running the story.

The headline, however, speaks to the Globe’s recognition of something broader and ultimately more important: their duty to maintain a clear line between editorial content and the interests of advertisers. One would expect as much from any serious journalistic outlet.

Allowing that line to blur signals a more serious conflict of interest than was printing the real estate article, or failing to be transparent about the misdeeds of a sloppy columnist.

Unfortunately, as careful readers of the Globe might well have noticed, the self-styled “paper of record” has not been living up to its responsibility. Not by a long shot.

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The Orange County Register is hiring dozens of reporters, focusing on print-first expansion

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Source: niemanlab.org

After being sold over the summer, the newspaper is hiring about 50 editorial staffers and adding new print sections — because print’s where the money is.

Why did the Orange County Register send reporters and photogs to cover 40 — yes, four-zero, 40 — high-school sporting events in one weekend?

No, it’s not another news mob. Nor is it a one-time thing. At a time when many newspaper companies are starting to think digital first, the Register is investing in print.

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Pay for Journalism or Pay the Consequences

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Source: fogcityjournal.com

When longtime reporter Bill Snyder joined a panel of fellow labor journalists during Laborfest, he brought along a copy of Moby Dick. When it was his turn to speak about the issues journalists face today, Snyder opened the book to an earmarked passage and began to read.

“Again, I always go to sea as a sailor, because they make a point of paying me for my trouble, whereas they never pay passengers a single penny that I ever heard of. On the contrary, passengers themselves must pay. And there is all the difference in the world between paying and being paid.”

For Snyder, being a journalist is about earning a living while producing the important stories that affect the world.

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Editorial: Local News and Newspapers Deliver a Winning Combination

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Source: editorandpublisher.com

by: Jeff Fleming

Local news continues to be the mainstay when it comes to solving newspapers’ 21st century challenges. The newest report by Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism and Internet & American Life Project revealed that “72 percent of adults are quite attached to following local news and information, and local newspapers are by far the source they rely on for much of the local information they need. In fact, local news enthusiasts are substantially more wedded to their local newspapers than others.”

The Pew report focused on “local news enthusiasts,” which overwhelmingly named newspapers as their preferred information source for 12 out of 16 local news topics named on the survey. (http://bit.ly/HP6BkF)

The newspaper brand remains a prominent information source, and these findings offer encouraging insight when it comes to helping newspapers strategize editorial content and develop successful advertising programs. But as more competition enters the market, newspapers need to continuously maintain and strengthen their grip on local news content and do so by taking a cue from technology, which never stands idle. Editors and publishers should constantly be asking, “How can we improve and develop our content by taking advantage of the latest digital and printing breakthroughs?” Creativity, ingenuity, and intelligence drive content delivery — and the most successful initiatives will be those developed by writers, designers, and Web developers working as a team.

In March of this year, Heritage Media (a Digital First Media affiliate) flexed its digital muscles with local coverage of a tornado that ripped through Dexter, Mich. Managing editor Michelle Rogers posted an overview of the coverage in a blog post: “As a group of weekly publications in print, it has been an ongoing challenge to get our audience to realize we’re now a daily online. I think the tragedy of the tornado served as a reminder to readers that they don’t have to wait until Thursday to get their local news, and we’re happy to oblige, providing breaking news coverage from news stories, Storify compilations, photo galleries, and videos to Tweets and Facebook posts, and SMS texts to email alerts.”

This month, Gannett’s Journal News Media Group announced it is expanding local coverage of taxes, food, home, schools and education, real estate, and communities. The plan clearly punctuates local, focusing on topics readers identify as most important — almost a complete list of the preferred local topics cited in the Pew study. Under the new content model, all subscribers will have access to print editions of The Journal News and lohud.com, with iPhone, iPad, and Android applications. “Our core value is local content,” Journal News Media Group president and publisher Janet Hasson said.

Local also a plays a key role in advertising. Last month, Kip Cassino, executive vice president of Borrell Associates, in an interview with Media Life magazine revealed two of four factors that are helping fuel the growth of newspaper websites. “They have big local sales forces that know their markets intimately and they are trusted by their local advertisers, from years of contact.”

More and more newspapers are proactive in their local communities, maintaining and building a reputation that not only includes news, but also trusted relationships. If content is king, local content and interconnection may be newspapers’ Almighty Saviors.