Highlights of the projects presented during June’s Future of News and Civic Media conference at MIT.
Creating a web-centric newsroom
31-Aug-09
College media service provider CoPress provides this snappy summary of how to turn a newspaper newsroom 180 degrees, to be “web-centric”.
Humour from the Onion
Jon Friedman of the Wall Street Journal interviews Arianna Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post, who says the future of online journalism is social, linked, and free.
Video: Saving the Silverton Standard
25-Aug-09
John Temple mentioned this wonderful story a couple of weeks ago on his blog, and I thought it was well worth sharing.
The town of Silverton, Colorado has saved its weekly newspaper in an innovative way. Read John’s post, or better yet watch the video above to get the story.
Talk about being a jack-of-all-trades! In the video, Mark Esper runs down the list of jobs he holds in the one-person operation. And that doesn’t even include running the Silverton Standard’s website.
From digitaljournal.com:
Citizen media news outlet DigitalJournal.com is proud to announce it will be hosting a unique panel discussion featuring some of the most influential leaders in Canadian media. Dubbed “The Future of Media,” the live panel discussion will explore how the mainstream media are implementing user-generated content and what challenges news organizations face in the changing news economy today.
The event will take place Thursday September 24 at the Drake Hotel Underground (1150 Queen Street West) at 8 p.m. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and admission is free and open to the public. Seating is limited and will be on a first-come, first-serve basis. The event will also be filmed and streamed live online, as well as broadcast after the event.
News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch may be keen to build paywalls around his websites, but Canada’s Globe & Mail is not looking to charge for access to online news.
“I think that horse has left the barn,” Globe publisher Phillip Crawley tells the Canadian Marketing Association.
The Globe does, however, see a good business in continuing to charge for online financial information carried by its Globe Investor Gold website.
Watch the 5-minute interview by clicking on the image above.
Tough times for Australian papers
22-Aug-09
Back in March of this year, Australia’s Triple-J TV looked at the state of printed newspapers in that country. No prizes for guessing they’re losing advertisers and readers.
Hat tip: 93 Studios
Washington Post closing hyperlocal site
18-Aug-09
After two years of trying and failing to make a buck on its hyperlocal website LoudounExtra.com, the Washington Post will close the site next month.
Rafat Ali has the story at PaidContent.org, while former LoudounExtra blogger Tammi Marcoullier posts a few thoughts on the site’s demise.
As Rafat points out, the closure stands in interesting contrast to yesterday’s news that MSNBC is purchasing hyperlocal data service EveryBlock.
Residents of Loudoun County, a suburb of Washington DC, have also just lost their only local radio station.