Networks and online journalism

Online Journalism
#cityOJ

Paul Bradshaw
OnlineJournalismBlog.com, Twitter.com/paulbradshaw
Tuesday, 27 September 2011

Why are you here?

..
Martin Belam (http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2009/08/news_paywalls_and_scarcity.php)


http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/2009/01/how-long-can-print-newspapers-last.html


http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-workers-employed-in-newspaper-publishing-2009-12


source: Ofcom (http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/cm/icmr08/converge.pdf) and http://liesdamnedliesstatistics.com/2011/09/if-
you-condensed-3-4-billion-internet-hours-into-one.html)


Internet ad growth 2000-2008 source: IAB


"Magazine publisher Future is to cut
around 100 jobs based in the UK and
worldwide – in a move favouring
digital over print."

http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/editors/2011/07/19/voluntary-redundancies-as-future-publishing-focuses-on-digital/


Source: Magazines & Their Websites, CJR study (2010)

"This job is just as likely to attract
people who’ve set up community
websites or blogs and have a passion
for their locality."

Sarah Hartley - http://sarahhartley.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/beatblogging-–-what-is-it/


"I want to see social media become a
part of the fabric of the day-to-day
work."

Julian March, Sky News - http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=31&aid=179903


"I'm afraid you're not doing your job if
you can't do those things. It's not
discretionary."

Peter Horrocks, Director, BBC Global News - http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2010/feb/10/bbc-news-
social-media


Being a good writer is no longer
enough.


(corporate machinery)


(your new networks)


Go to interviews with more than
a clippings file.

"A URL is an obvious asset. The site
you build at your URL should become
your greatest business asset, but
you'll need to build many smaller
assets within that site first.


"An active reader community is an
asset. That takes time to develop."

Robert Niles - http://www.ojr.org/ojr/people/robert/201001/1816/


What this module is about:

Journalism across all media orgs:
broadcast, print, magazine and online-only
A developing medium: learning how to
keep up
Building assets: networks and URLs


What this module is not about:

Teaching web design: useful but not
essential
Learning by rote: technology will change
- so must you
Sitting behind a computer all day: get
mobile, report the unreported

It’s not about the mark.

Assignment: Group blog
Covering an under-reported network
Journalism as spotlight, forum, watermark
Scoops, networks, asset URL
Community, multimedia, data
Newsgathering, Production, Strategy

Live - in 4 weeks

Judged by a panel of industry experts in 3
months
Editorial roles
Best journalism showcased on central site
(I’ll tweet it too!)


See Moodle.

Briefs, guidance documents, readings, links, FAQ


(break)


1: Networks

JOM800 Online Journalism


This week in 3 bullets:

• Networks are the key structure
journalists need to operate across online
• Mutual benefit should be the guide
• Make product out of process


You do not control
the platform

..


4 reasons why networks are vital

Finding contacts
Being findable by contacts
Distribution
Building trust and relationships


Case studies

..


Print: Paul Lewis, The Guardian

A networked journalist


Magazines: Farmer’s Weekly

"Within 20 minutes Farmers Weekly journalist Isobel David was
on the forum to confirm the story and provide more information
plus links to the MAFF web site. Over the weekend the
journalist posted whatever information she had on the site and
collected reader feedback."

http://www.freelanceunbound.com/2009/11/19/how-the-web-has-changed-the-journalist
%E2%80%99s-working-day/


Broadcast: Robert Peston

"Comments left by readers contain useful insights - and they
help me understand what really matters to people. That is not
to say that I give them only what they want ... Sharing
information - some of it hugely important, some of it less so -
with a big and interested audience delivers [ownership] and
creates that committed community."

http://www.cybersoc.com/2009/09/bbcs-robert-peston-the-blog-is-at-the-core-of-everything-
do.html

Online: BirminghamRiots2011

On Monday evening the site published an image of a rioter
kicking a policeman – said to have been taken in Birmingham
that night. Within an hour it had already been correctly
identified as being taken in London in March. The next day,
however, the same image was incorrectly captioned on the
front page of the Birmingham Mail and the centre spread of
The Guardian, along with many other newspapers.
http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2011/08/10/how-a-musician-and-a-sikh-tv-channel-
dominated-coverage-of-the-birmingham-riots/


"Authority, trust and persuasiveness
play an important role ... Connections are
another important factor, along with timing
and a dash of pure luck."

http://www.visualizing.org/stories/visualizing-bin-laden


How to create a
decentralised news
operation
..


The internet hates a
middleman.


(before)


(after)


5 things to do on Twitter
1.Sign up to Twitter and follow anyone you know,
plus 10 people from your field (use Twellow,
Tweepsearch, wefollow) or area (use Twitterlocal
or Twitter Grader)
2.Tweet what you’re working on (just try it)
3.Tweet a useful link
4.Tweet an @ message to someone you don’t
know
5.Try using Pingvine or Twitterfeed to send a
Delicious RSS feed to your Twitter account (so
anything you bookmark will be tweeted)


What is journalism
now for?

Things change.


Nodocentrism

"A network is quite incapable of
recognizing things that are not nodes.
If something is available in the
network, it is perceived as part of
reality, but if it is not available it might
as well not exist."
Ulises Mejias: ‘The Limits of Social Networks for organising the social’


The role of a journalist in a
networked age

Making the hidden findable
A voice to the voiceless
Connecting communities
Verifying and debunking


Guest Q&A:
Neal Mann,
@fieldproducer
A networked journalist


This week's lab.

Choosing a network - & listening to it.
Setting up Twitter, Delicious, RSS
Populating them
Linking them using RSS


Further reading.

Bradshaw* & Rohumaa:
Online Journalism Handbook
Delicious.com/paulb/cityOJ01
OnlineJournalismClasses.Tumblr.com
(password ‘student’)
Benkler: The Power of Networks
*I have a financial interest (but only for biscuit money)


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