Posts Tagged 'new media'

Polis & BBC Value of Journalism Conference

Published June 9, 2010 Future of journalism Leave a Comment
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I’m heading to London on Friday for a conference on the value of journalism organised by Polis and the BBC College of Journalism.

The one-day events coincides with the publication of a new paper from Polis and the London School of Economics – ‘The Value of Networked Journalism’.

According to the organisers, the event will examine the following questions:

- What can new forms of journalism offer the digital society?

- Can blogging, social media and mobile deliver quality, accuracy and universal access?

- What impact will this have on politics and political reporting?

- How will journalism be funded?
It’s a great schedule with some excellent speakers and panelists. In particular I’m looking forward to hearing Janine Gibson (Guardian News & Media), Peter Horrocks (BBC) and Adam Westbrook.
Hoping to tweet on Friday and I’ll post some notes over the weekend … and maybe a video or two. You can follow the event live via the #voj10 hashtag.
Anyone else going? If so, tweet me!
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Good storytelling links, 6 May 2010

Published May 6, 2010 Future of journalism , Online News Leave a Comment
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Boston.com has a very powerful selection of more than 30 photographs on its ‘Big Picture’ feature that show the devastation caused by floods in Tennessee. The series of images convey the destruction and loss clearer than most articles or videos could. Take time to look through them if you can.

Boston.com's The Big Picture

Some Irish users could complain about the time it takes to load these large images. But bear in mind most people in the US have faster connections. (Must return to examine how slow connections could be holding back certain forms of storytelling in Ireland).

The New York Times featured a great infographic showing the inter-linking of European debt. To explain this in  written form would have been taxing for the reader but this, quite simple, graphic tells the story so well.

NYT Inforgraphic; Europe's Web Of Debt

Third example comes from The Guardian’s web coverage of the elections. It has a nice feature where it’s asking voters to tweet when they have voted and tag their tweet with their postcode so that it can be represented on a map to illustrate voter turnout. Good interactive way to tell the story even though it’s limited to Twitter users. (When I checked it out it didn’t seem to include Northern Ireland)


Have you seen any good storytelling this week?

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RTE.ie, Mark Little team up for The Global Irish

Published March 13, 2010 Irish Media Leave a Comment
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If you have a few spare minutes, take a look at Portraits of The Global Irish – a collaboration between Mark Little and RTE.ie timed to co-incide with St Patrick’s Day.

The series of profiles looks at the lives of six Irish people living abroad. Through the medium of video, the men and women featured tell their individual stories.

Beijing: Aidan Duffy (Director: Dan Cheung)
Cape Town: Fr Dick O’Riordan (Director: Jamie Macken)
New York: Alexei Kondratiev (Director: Mary Catherine Brouder)
London: Celestine Cooney (Director: Michelle ‘Shelby’ Sadlier)
Toronto: Tara Lyons (Director: Lauren Crothers)
Buenos Aires: Mick Connery (Directors: Paul Byrne & Jeff Farrell)

Watch the videos and vote for your favourite here.

The series is the first piece of content from Mark Little’s new venture.

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US government to examine direction of journalism

Published January 22, 2010 Future of journalism , Online News Leave a Comment
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Via Nieman Journalism Lab

In the US, the Federal Communications Commission has issued a public notice today seeking comment on the ‘future of media and information needs of communities in a digital age’.

The objective of this review is to assess whether all Americans have access to vibrant, diverse sources of news and information that will enable them to enrich their lives, their communities and our democracy.
 
The Future of Media project will produce a report providing a clear, precise assessment of the current media landscape, analyze policy options and, as appropriate, make policy recommendations to the FCC, other government entities, and other parties.

It sets out its reasons for the undertaking – talking about worrying trends in the industry and quoting research from Pew and Columbia:

These trends could have dire consequences for our democracy and the health of communities, hindering citizens’ ability to hold their leaders and institutions accountable.

It says that while it is a time of difficulty for the industry there is also opportunity to be found and points to the benefits the digital age creates for newsgathering and the choice it offers consumers.

The FCC asks 42 questions under a number of headings including:

Newspapers and Magazines
Information Needs of Communities & Citizens
Business Models and Financial Trends
Commercial Broadcast TV and Radio Cable and Satellite
Noncommercial and Public Media
Internet and Mobile

Along with paper submissions, comments can be made to the FCC through a special website, which they are launching for the project: www.fcc.gov/futureofmedia

Even if you don’t intend to submit anything  the questions are worth a read.

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Read All About It – some random links

Published December 8, 2009 Future of journalism , Newspaper news , Online News Leave a Comment
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Following the news that Jim VandeHei, co-founder of online and print-based publication Politico, has been elected to the Pulitzer Prize Board, a move it made to demonstrate its fondness for new media, Greg Marx at the Columbian Journalism Review asks if Politico really is new media. A good question considering 60% of Politicos’ income comes from small ads in its print edition. Read Marx’s article here

Next up, Robert Andrews at PaidContent has some interesting comments from Times Media’s digital development head Hector Arthur and News International’s strategy and product development director Dominic Young who are apparently ‘calm and relaxed’ about an impending paywall. Read here

Finally, I am sure it is no consolation to the employees who no longer have a job at McClatchy, but after earnings reports showed ‘improving trends’ the company has decided to end the wage freeze. However, more bad news made be around the corner as the group’s CEO did add that further cuts may be necessary next year. Read here

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The Humble Bee – a multimedia series

Published November 24, 2009 Irish Media , Online News Leave a Comment
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Photo by Blathnaid Healy

I was lucky enough to be one of the journalists who received funding from the Simon Cumbers Media Challenge Fund for a reporting project this year.

A few weeks ago I traveled to Kenya and Uganda. Going by road from Nairobi to Entebbe I reported on people who keep bees for a series of stories focused on food security.

I traveled alone with a backpack full of equipment: video camera, digital camera and lenses, audio recorder, plenty of tapes and leads and of course paper and pen. The aim was to come back with a multimedia project similar to a series I also did for RTE called Global Classroom.

Today, the first part of the series, The Humble Bee, went live on RTE.ie. It focuses on beekeeping as a means of improving food security on a macro and micro level. It looks at a family who keeps bees to make an income and a farmer who uses bees to improve pollination on his farm. There are videos and photos (more hopefully on the way) and an accompanying radio report, which was broadcast on RTE Radio One on World Report.

The rest of the series will look at other aspects of bee keeping in east Africa including women who keep bees, the environmental impact and the challenges some people face.

This has been a wonderful and challenging series to work on – I hope you enjoy it.

Check it out here
-B

Guardian seeks public’s help in expenses probe

Published June 18, 2009 Online News Leave a Comment
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Guardian.co.uk is calling on its readers to use its research tools to search through some 700,000 MP expenses documents to see if there are more instances where a claim needs investigation.

It is asking people to read through the documents and when they see a possible irregularity hit the ‘investigate this’ button and the Guardian will take a closer look.

There are so many documents to review that the Guardian’s crowdsourcing move makes sense – and what a great story to use it on.

Looking forward to seeing how this project develops! And to the future twists, turns and revelations in the expenses story.

If you want to help the Guardian with its research click here

Global Classroom – an RTÉ special series

Published July 27, 2008 Irish Media 2 Comments
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Tomorrow RTÉ.ie presents a special series about technology in the developing world.

Joe Zefran, RTÉ.ie News Editor and I have put the cross-media series together.

Joe traveled to India and I went to Rwanda and Kenya where we reported and shot our own video for three reports on three programmes, including the Irish charity Camara, which are using three different approaches to reach the same goal: educating the world’s youngest citizens.

The series looks at how children in the slums of New Delhi are linked to the larger world, how one experiment wants to make sure every child in the world has their own laptop, and how an Irish charity is changing the lives of people in Kenya.

There will be full-length text features and web-exclusive interviews on RTÉ.ie/globalclassroom.

Plus, for the first time at RTÉ, RTÉ.ie will produce a three-part television series that will air on the Six One News and News on Two.

My reports will air on Monday and Wednesday and they focus on Camara and One Laptop Per Child.

This has been a very exciting project and I look forward to doing more like it in the future.

**Six One News reports**

Part One, Two, Three

Blathnaid Healy

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All views and opinions are my own. © Blathnaid Healy 2008