The Blogging Journalist

Google's Plan to help You Find Local News

On February 6, 2008, Andre Rohe and Rohit Ananthakrishna, software engineers at Google News, announced:

Today we're releasing a new feature to find your local news by simply typing in a city name or zip code."

" While we’re not the first news site to aggregate local news, we’re doing it a bit differently -- we're able to create a local section for any city, state or country in the world and include thousands of sources. We’re not simply looking at the byline or the source, but instead we analyze every word in every story to understand what location the news is about and where the source is located.

This spells serious competition for Topix. If you want to read more, see "All News is Local."

Technorati Tags: Google,Local News,Topix,The Blogging Journalist

CUNY's Networked Journalism Summit

Back on October 14, 2007, BuzzMachine Editor Jeff Jarvis posted "Networked Journalism Summit follow up," It's about the Networked Journalism Summit held at CUNY (City University of New York) on Wednesday (October 10, 2007)(thanks to the MacArthur Foundation). Jarvis says "it went off well."  I recommend the post.

The Michigan Messenger Debuts

 The Conservative Media (TCM) reported September 10, 2007, that, "A new venture was launched in Michigan [USA] today..."

 According to TCM, "The online newspaper/blog the Michigan Messenger was launched today, and it’s a collaboration of professional bloggers and journalists across Michigan with the goal of breaking news and influencing the conversations about issues that face our state."

To read more, see "New progressive online newspaper and blog launched."

Technorati tags: The Conservative Media, Michigan Messenger

A Few Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Job Descriptions

Rob Curley, Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive's vice president for product development, revealed in an August 1, 2007, post: "I’m always surprised at how the questions and phone calls I get kind of come in waves of specific topics.

"The topic that it seems I’m getting asked the most about right now is “will I share our job descriptions?” he wrote. 

I think the request for the descriptions are a good indicator of what some news outlets may be looking for in the future. To read more, see "A few job descriptions for a newspaper’s new-media team." 

Technorati tags: Rob Curley, Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, Job Descriptions for New Media Team

Will Use of Widgets Enhance 'Citizen Networks'?

"Just as Web blogs and blogging gave rise to citizen journalism, widgets [link added] will give rise to citizen publishers, citizen syndicators and, most important, citizen networks," contends Online Spin's Dave Morgan in a July 5, 2006 post.

To read why he thinks so, please see "Widgets And The Notion Of Citizen Networks."

Recommended: 'Community Journalism Evolves'

Blogger Denise Civiletti, "co-publisher of Times/Review Newspapers, a four-paper group of award-winning newspapers on eastern Long Island, New York,"  says "the troubles newspapers are facing today, from Main Street to Wall Street, are old news."

To read why, see her March 1, 2007, post headlined "Community journalism evolves."

Mindy McAdams' Most Visited Posts For January 2007

Mindy McAdams, proprietor of "Teaching Online Journalism" and an online journalism professor at the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida, today put up a list of "most visited posts" on her blog from Jan. 1 through Jan. 31, [2007], according to Google Analytics."

In first place is " Getting (and keeping) a job in journalism

If you are interested in reading the other posts that made the list, please see "MVPs for January."

Toledo Free Press: 'More Ohioans Take To The Blogs'

The 52nd edition of Blog it! Toledo!," a Toledo Free Press feature, offers another list of new blogs in the Toledo, Ohio area, in its February 2, 2007 online edition. 

Lisa Renee Ward, "a life long resident of the Toledo area who blogs at Glass City Jungle and Liberal Common Sense, compiled the list.

Ward has been writing the weekly feature since February 8, 2006. It takes a lot of effort to do what she's done. Congratulations to her for a good job of tracking new blogs for and by folks in the Toledo area.

To read the latest posting, please see "More Ohioans take to the blogs.

By the way, I have long been fond of bloggers in Ohio, especially political bloggers, regardless of their political persuasion. They do it with conviction.

The Citizen Journalism 2007 Conference

A Citizen Journalism 2007 conference took place in Birmingham, England on January 26,2007. For coverage, see the Citizen Journalism 2007 blog.

Paul Bradshaw, a "lecturer, freelance journalist and designer" in Birmingham , England, has a January 27, 2007, post  in the Online Journalism blog on the conference. In it, he reports on an address by Michael Hill, head of multimedia at Trinity Mirror LLC, in which he says this is a "'garlic bread moment' for the local press - the realisation that new media and citizen journalism 'is the future.'"

To read Bradshaw's entire post, see "Trinity Mirror head speaks of "garlic bread moment" Trinity publishes about 240 publications among them the  Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, People, Sunday Mail and Daily Record.(Source: Wikipedia).

Town And Neighborhood-Specific Forums

The New York Times noted in a January 14, 2007, post that, "Across the United States, citizen bloggers and deep-pocketed entrepreneurs are creating town-specific, and even neighborhood-specific, Web sites where the public can read and contribute items too small or too fleeting for weekly newspapers."

To read about it, see "Anytown, Online." May require registration.

The 8th International Symposium on Online Journalism Set For March 30-31

Professor Rosental Calmon Alves, Knight Chair in Journalism & UNESCO Chair in Communication at the University of Texas at Austin, wants you to mark your calendar  for the 8th International Symposium on Online Journalism." It is  scheduled for March 30-31, 2007.

A Call for Papers can be found here. The deadline for papers is January 25, 2007. 

Valleywag Crowns 'Media Winners And Losers' In iPhone Coverage

Valleywag has crowned the "Media winners and losers in the frenzy to report Apple, Inc.'s widely reported unveiling its iPhone at Macworld Expo on January 9, 2007.

Jeff Jarvis: 'We Are In The Age Of News Served Raw'

On January 7, 2007, Jeff Jarvis, proprietor of Buzzmachine and an associate professor at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism, had an Op-Ed article in Newsday headlined "In news, the more access, the better."

Jarvis wrote:

We are in the age of news served raw. And it doesn't get much rawer than the cell-phone video of Saddam Hussein's execution that made its way to the Internet only hours after the deed was done.

Even as news organizations deliberated about whether and what to show of the execution, the entire event appeared on YouTube, available for anyone who cared or dared to watch.

"Get ready for more of the same," Jarvis warned.

Jarvis: Size Doesn't Matter Anymore In Media

BuzzMachine editor Jeff Jarvis continues his argument that, "No, size does not matter, not in media, not anymore."

"I know that’s counterintuitive and counter everything we’ve assumed about mass media," he contends in a December 27, 2006, post. "But today what matters is reaching the right people by the right means. That has always been the case. Only now, thanks to connected, collaborative media, it’s finally possible."

His argument makes sense to me. To read more, please see "Size doesn’t matter: The distributed media economy."

Bill Grueskin and Joseph Rago: Two Disparate WSJ Perspectives

MediaShift host Mark Glaser has a probing interview with Bill Grueskin, managing editor of WSJ.com, The Wall Street Journal's online presence, that contradicts Joseph Rago's "The Blog Mob."  Rago is a Journal assistant editorial features editor.

Glaser says in a December 20, 2006, post that  Grueskin "has long been a fan of the blogosphere, but had been wary about actually launching blogs at his site. In our previous conversations on the subject," he added,

he was worried about the legal issues of having reporters post instantaneously online and possibly moving markets before editors could see what was happening. Now, Grueskin tells me the Journal has found subjects that work as blogs, and they’ve figured out a method for doing quick editorial oversight.

Grueskin's approach to blogs is in stark contrast to Rago's. On December 20, 2006, Rago generated considerable commentary in the Blogosphere with an OpinionJournal post headlined "The Blog Mob."  The tagline is "Written by fools to be read by imbeciles."

Rago's opinion is that:

The blogs are not as significant as their self-endeared curators would like to think. Journalism requires journalists, who are at least fitfully confronting the digital age. The bloggers, for their part, produce minimal reportage. Instead, they ride along with the MSM like remora fish on the bellies of sharks, picking at the scraps.

Rago better get with it if he wants to survive in journalism, especially with his own publication increasing its online presence and using blogs to build communities around content.

By the way, the "scraps" of journalism is often where the real story is found. Secondly, some bloggers give so-called mainstream media articles extended reach and shelf life.  But, so what? Most people aren't blogging to influence news and opinion. They simply want to express themselves.

It's the bloggers with a point of view of national and global issues that scare the hell of people like Rago. Such bloggers are usually highly motivated, educated, aggressive and not afraid to network or interact with so-called mainstream journalists. Some are even professional journalists, who are embracing a new medium that is influencing the world in a way no newspaper ever has or ever will.

To read Glaser's Q & A with Grueskin, please see "WSJ Gets Comfortable with Blogs, Wants to Boost Community."

Technorati tags: Mark Glaser, Media Shift, Bill Grueskin, WSJ.com, The Wall Street Journal, Joseph Rago, The Blog Mob, WSJ Gets Confortable With Blogs, Wants to Boost Community

Should EU communication Policy Emphasize Using Citizen Media Tools?

"A new pan-European TV channel is not viable and EU communication policy should decentralise radically using new 'citizen journalism' technologies," says a December 7, 2006 post at EurActiv.com. The writer noted that, "These were the two main recommendations from a media experts' conference organised in Helsinki on 4-5 December [2006]."

If you're interested in reading more, see "Media experts critical of EU communication practices."

NowPublic.Com: What Is It?

Toronto Globe and Mail columnist Jack Kapica describes NowPublic.com in an October 13, 2006, post headlined "The Crowdsourcerer.

According to Kapica, NowPublic.com is a Vancouver, Canada-based "news site... built on crowdsourcing, which is "like outsourcing, but with a large number of unpaid or low-paid amateurs."

Mike Tippett, the proprietor of NowPublic.com, "opened for business on the Web a little more than a year ago, and is now ramping up its marketing and outreach," Kapica writes.

He said, "So far, Tippett can claim some 30,000 reporters, who are really not more than registered contributing members working without a newsroom and on their own deadlines. They can write and post their news stories, cellphone-camera pictures or videos, or something they read on-line elsewhere (with attribution) about what they consider to be important news."

It sounds a bit like Digg.com.

SignonSanDiego.Com's John Louv Introduces 'The New Informers'

On October 3, 2006, John Louv at SignonSanDiego.com, the online presence of the San Diego (California) Union Tribune, presented the "first of two columns on the post-Katrina news media." See "Introducing the 'new informers.'"

According to Louv, whose column appears twice a week, the second column will be on "The post-journalism era." Its publication date is October 10, 2006.

WSJ Plans To Keep Large News Departments

Mark Fitzgerald, editor-at-large for Editor & Publisher, reported September 30, 2006, that Wall Street Journal (WSJ) publisher L. Gordon Crovitz told an Inter American Press Association (IAPA) seminar September 30  in Mexico City that the changes WSJ introduces on January 2, 2007 won't result in a reduction in the size of news departments.

"Our goal is keeping a business model in order to maintain news departments that are as large as they have been, and that maintain the lifestyles of the people in those large newsrooms," Fitzgerald quotes him as telling "an overflow room at the Camino Real hotel across from Chapultepec Park."

This was at IAPA's 62nd General Assembly. For more, read "'WSJ' Publisher Outlines Changes Coming at Paper."

By the way, I'm curious to see how Crovit'z ideas will work. I guess if you're WSJ you can continue to afford large news departments, at least for a while.

The Gazette's 'Network Of Neighborhood News'

On September 27, 2006, The Gazette of Colorado Springs, Colorado, joined "a growing national trend toward online citizen journalism by launching a network of neighborhood news Web sites with information supplied by the public."

According to Gazette.com online reporter Jim Bainbridge, the network, called Your Hub, "will start with nine Web sites covering Colorado Springs-area neighborhoods, and the best submissions each week will be collected for three printed editions of Your Hub for those neighborhoods. Gazette editor and vice president Jeff Thomas explained how it will work.

For more, see "Gazette starts online town square."

John C. Dvorak On 'The Folly Of Citizen Journalism'

"A number of hopeless citizen journalist initiatives are emerging, most of them promoted by idealistic professionals such as Jay Rosen, Dan Gillmor, and Jeff Jarvis, who are disappointed with the way things are going in the world of news reportage," contends old school journalist John C. Dvorak, who slings words together over at PC magazine.

Dvorak said, "The most notable is Backfence, a series of mundane, localized news sites that focus on reports submitted by citizen journalists. But in this instance, a citizen journalist is no more a journalist than someone who adds comments to a football forum—it's laughable."

If you want to read more, see "The Folly of Citizen Journalism."

 Personally, I don't think it's folly. There'll be failures. But, so what! Somebody will eventually get it right.

Note: Links added for background on the blogger/journalists listed in Dvorak's article. 

Global Voices Blog Publisher Awarded $10,000 Cash Prize

"The international citizen journalist hub Global Voices Online [link added] was awarded a $10,000 cash prize from the Institute for Interactive Journalism at the University of Maryland," The Editors Weblog reported today.  The blog said, "The prize will allow the website to continue compiling and publishing blogs, photos, podcasts, and video blogs from around the world."

To read about it, see "US: Global Voices Online wins cash prize.

Seattle Times Looks AT 'News Brought To You By The Average Joe'

Seattle Times technology reporter Kim Peterson takes a look at "News brought to you by the average Joe." The September 27, 2006 report "is the first in an occasional series looking at technology's impact on media."

MediaShift's 'Guide To Citizen Journalism'

Mark Glaser at MediaShift has a September 27, 2006, post headlined "Your Guide to Citizen Journalism." He put a lot of work into it.

NewAssignment.Net Making Progress

I'm five days late with this, but it's too important to pass up. Reuters is giving Jay Rosen's promising NewAssignment.Net $100,000. According to Jay, "That will underwrite the costs of hiring our first editor, which is going to be a fun job."

For the details and background on New Assignment.Net, see "Editing Horizontally: Thanks to Reuters, NewAssignment.Net Can Hire Someone.

To read about another gift to the startup, see "Sunlight Gives $10K to NewAssignment.Net.

The Impact Of ABC's 9/11 Docudrama On September 11 Attacks

AlterNet executive editor Don Hazen  raises an interesting question in a September 11, 2006 perspective on ABC' Television's controversial docudrama on the events leading up to Al-Qaeda's September 11, 2001, attack on the United States. He wonders what the future would be for "Disney and ABC, should the Dems get their foot in the door in November." He opines:

So, ABC went forward and run a slightly sanitized version of the conservative's notion of pre-9/11 fiction. A spirited effort by bloggers, Democratic leadership and a cadre of Clintonistas, including eventually big Bill himself, failed to make ABC blink -- well, maybe they conceded a half-blink. No doubt the Disney World was feeling tons of pressure from the other side, behind the scenes... hey, the Republicans are still in power. Fortunately for the Democrats, "Manning Bowl" was on Sunday night football, and Peyton and Eli put on a good show... dampening the audience for the faux history channel.

"But what does it mean for the future of Disney and ABC, should the Dems get their foot in the door in November, and especially if Hillary should, by some chance, get elected president in '08?" he asked.

For speculation on the question, see "How will ABC & Disney be punished for rewriting history?"

A Few Related Links

What's Fact, What's Fiction in 'The Path to 9/11'? --- ABC News

ABC's 9/11 miniseries eclipsed by football ---Reuters

ABC 9/11 Docudrama's Right-Wing Roots--- The Nation 

ABC: Lies, Obfuscations And False Promises ---Eat The Press

Path to 9/11 - Part II --Hugh Hewitt.Townhall.com

Revised '9/11' still riles Clinton camp --Chicago Sun-Times

More Questions of Accuracy Raised About ABC Mini-Series on 9/11 ... The New York Times

I watched about 30 minutes of the docudrama on September 10, which is about the length of my attention span when it comes to television. I rarely watch any program all the way through, including Law and Order, my favorite program.

Valleywag's 'Cheatsheet' On Digg

Back on August 30, 2006, Valleywag served up a post headlined Cheatsheet: What is Digg?" If found it useful in helping me understand what Digg is about.

Fox News' Ratings Reportedly Way Down

Jonathan Singer over at MyDD  had this to say about Fox News' ratings drop: "It is perhaps a sign of the times. As approval ratings for the Bush administration and the Republican Congress continue to be mired in the 30s and below, so too has the viewership at Fox News fallen. And fast."

For more, see "Saturday Schadenfreude: Fox News Ratings Down 24% Since Last Summer."

Citizen Journalism Academy Seeks Students

"The World Company and the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Kansas University are seeking applications for the Citizen Journalism Academy, according to LJWorld.com, the blog of the Lawrence Journal-World of Lawrence, Kansas.

LJWorld.com reported August 30, 2006 that, "The class will learn from educators and journalists about the processes and standards that help translate community activities and events into “news.”

For more, please see "Applicants wanted for journalism academy."

An Update On NewAssignment.Net

PressThink proprietor Jay Rosen today posted an Update on NewAssignment.Net." If you are not familiar with the project, read "Introducing NewAssignment.Net."  Also see "Some Problems with New Assignment.Net."

The Debate Over Metcalfe's Law: Kent Newsome Weighs In

Kent Newsome at Newsome.Org & Rancho DeNada takes exception with some of Jeff Jarvis' ideas in "Looking through the wrong end of the wire. Jarvis'  August 19th, 2006 post is a commentary on what he calls an

entertainingly pissy, if sometimes obtuse — argument going on over Metcalfe’s Law (which states that the value of a communications network grows exponentially as its number of users grows). On one side are three authors of an article in IEEE Spectrum, who insist that the law was wrong and even dangerous, for it justified the first internet bubble, and they fear it is being used now to inflate a second social bubble. On the other side is Ethernet inventor Bob Metcalfe himself, arguing at VC partner Mike Hirshland’s blog that his law is not only still valid but, when you tie it with Moore’s Law, it leads to the Law of the Long Tail.

Jarvis argues "with them all — not against Metcalfe’s Law but against the way they value networks." Newsome argues with him in an August 19, 2006 post headlined Jeff Jarvis: His Blog and the Street Choir. It's a worthwhile discussion. I home it doesn't degenerate into unnecessary personal attacks.

Friedman: 'Citizen Journalism Filling Local News Void'

Market Watch's Jon Friedman declared in an August 14, 2006 post headlined "Citizen journalism filling local news void":

"When most media industry pundits assess the future prospects for local news, they cringe in despair." . "Not Merrill Brown" [of MMB Media LLC]. As he ponders the future of placeblogs, he smiles."

Friedman added: "Far from agonizing about The State of Journalism Today," Brown "sees lots of opportunities for ordinary citizens to shake up local news."

Indeed, the opportunity is there. Hopefully, more people will take advantage of it.

The Potential of Blog Power

Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist Annette John-Hall says in an August 2, 2006 post that, after "spending a weekend at the BlogHer conference in San Jose, Calif. (July 28-29, 2006) I'm realizing that the potential of blog power is almost too heady to consider."

To read the entire post, see "Awakening to the powerful potential of blogs."

Is 'Bigger, Better Journalism' Possible?

On August 1, 2006, Jeff Jarvis at BuzzMachine told his readers: "I’m sorely disappointed in Columbia Journalism School Dean Nicholas Lemann’s piece in The New Yorker about “journalism without journalists.” See "Talk of the town."

"I would have hoped for something more expansive, imaginative, open, creative, generous, constructive, strategic, and hopeful from the head of one of America’s leading journalism schools — from, indeed, the man hired to bring that school into the future — and from a leading light of American reporting," Jarvis wrote in a long essay written on the fly..

"Instead," he added, "Lemann pits professional journalist v. blogger — as if any more ink need be spilled on that putative battleground — and sets up his easy strawmen to tear them down."

Jarvis agrees with some of Lemann's notions but "challenged him to tell how he proposes to meet his proper desire to bring more reporters (I would say, instead, reporting) to citizens’ journalism."

In a second post on August 1, 2006, Jarvis picked up his "own challenge" and offered notes on how he "hope to learn and teach, study and explore some of the new possibilities for journalism" when he starts "teaching journalism at CUNY (City University of New York) this fall."

See "Bigger, better journalism" for Jarvis' proposals.

'Amateur Hour: Journalism Without Journalists'

Mitch Ratcliffe at ZDNet's Rational Rants blog noted in a July 31, 2006 post that, "Nicholas Lemann of The New Yorker has contributed a thoughtful piece to the debate over what a citizen journalism might look like, Amateur Hour: Journalism without journalists."

"My guess is that the blogosphere will take it badly, minimizing the argument as another "journalism vs. bloggers" rant. It's not," he wrote.

To read more, see "Journalism of all kinds and the process of growing."

Do Blogging, Vlogging Offer An Alternate Reality?

Mohammed A. R. Galadari  says in a July 26, 2006 article in the United Arab Emirates-based Khaleej Times that "The explosion of new media such as Internet has created a new breed of amateur, citizen journalists, who using the new and convenient tools of technology are challenging the established media.  Call them what you will — bloggers, Net pundits or geeks - you cannot ignore them. So much so that most prominent newspapers and news channels around the world are now offering blogging facilities on their sites opening themselves to a wider and far more interesting world. 

"More to the point," he wrote, "these citizen journalists or alternate media — as they are often called — are presenting an alternate reality that most of us did not know existed until recently."

For more, please see "Alternate reality — Other side of the story." 

Writer Describes How He Became a 'Citizen Journalist'

Pierre Joo tells in a July 9, 2006 post how he became a "Citizen Reporter in the City of Lights" for Ohmynews International.

If you haven't visited the site, I recommend you do. Some of the best foreign news I've read this year was provided by its reporters in various parts of the world.

Backfence.com Seeking Inroads Into Chicago Suburbs

I didn't realize that Backfence.com was "looking for an entrepreneurial, dynamic, hard-working, experienced business person to lead the development, rollout and management" of its "community Web sites in the Chicago suburbs" before I read about it at Rafat Ali's Paidcontent.org.

See "Backfence: General Manager, Chicago Area Local Community Web Sites."

I guess that means Geoff Dougherty's citizen journalism site over at Chi-town Daily News.org may eventually have a little competition, although it appears that Backfence will aim primarily at the suburbs.

However, I can't see the folks behind it remaining in the suburbs when the dynamism and vitality is in Chicago.

Najeeb Hasan's Interview With Dan Gillmor

MetroActive, a weekly newspaper "serving San Jose, Palo Alto, Los Gatos, Campbell, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Fremont and nearby cities" in California, has a highly informative Q & A with Dan Gillmor, "the former [San Jose] Mercury News tech-columnist-turned-blogging-guru," and author of We the Media: Grassroots Journalism By the people, For the people,

 

To read Najeeb Hasan's interview with Gillmor, see "From Print to Pixel." Gillmor blogs at the Center for Citizen Media: Blog and at Backfence.com.

'Blog Utopianism...'

Blogger/Journalist Edward Cone makes great points in his May 14, 2006 Greensboro, North Carolina  News-Record column headlined "Councilwoman Carmany blazes blogging trail." Ed, who blogs at Ed Cone.com, noted:

The professional media still matter in this expanded infoscape -- they just have a new source for stories and a new place for those stories to be discussed and advanced when they are done. Local bloggers are having a direct impact on the traditional press in other ways, too. Some of the News & Record's newest columnists, including David Hoggard, Sarah Jones and Joe Guarino, write their own blogs, and Anthony Piraino, who publishes a site called Plead the First, is now a regular editorial cartoonist for the paper.

I totally agree withe Ed when he says: "Again, a reality check: Blog utopianism is as phony as any other supposedly perfect world. Amateur bloggers are still adjusting to their newfound status, and sometimes the growing pains are obvious. Not every blog is well-written or well-reasoned, not every question gets answered, and not every answer given satisfies."

'We Media: Citizen Media-Where's the Money'

"The ability for citizen journalism to effectively pay for itself and become a business remains in a state of flux, a conference in London heard this week, reports Mike Butcher in a May 5, 2006 Journalism. co.uk post headlined "We Media: citizen media--where's the money." It's an important question.

The WeMedia Conference: Day 2

The Guardian Unlimited blog Organ Grinder has "coverage of the second day of the WeMedia conference, organised by The Media Center, along with the BBC and Reuters" See "WeMedia day two."  It's about citizen journalism.

Also see Jeff Jarvis'  "We Media, continued. He does a good job of summing up the presentations of various speakers from Africa, the Middle East, Asia  and other parts of the world."

Mark Glazer at MediaShift offers good coverage in "We Media’s World Tour from Reuters."

Jemima Kiss is covering the conference for paidContent.org. When I read her reports, I feel as if I'm in attendance.

Will Citizen Journalism Catch On in the UK?

Roy Greenslade, "a professor of journalism at City University and former editor of the Daily Mirror," told Reuters correspondent Astrid Zweynert that citizen journalism "hasn't got a proper foothold" in in the United Kingdom and "hasn't carved out a niche for itself like in the United States."

"But more and more news reports in the "old media" have taken their lead from submissions by ordinary citizens and a new wave of political bloggers is challenging media commentators," Zweynert added.

To read why, see "Citizen journalism climbing up the media ladder."

Second 'We Media Global Forum' Opens May 3-4 in London

p2p news / p2pnet of Canada reported April 25, 2006 that, " The second edition of the We Media Global Forum opens on May 3-4 in London."

"It "brings together the trailblazers of the connected society - the thinkers, innovators, investors, executives and activists seeking to tap the potential of digital networks connecting people everywhere," the Forum website says, according to .p2p news / p2pnet

"Last year," the blog reported, "the We Media Global Forum was inaugurated in New York and gathered 300 international participants wondering what it is the internet changes in their everyday job."

Will Citizen Media Professionalize Journalism?

Jemima Kiss at journalism.co.uk comments on the March 27, 2006 MediaGuardian Changing Media Summit in a March 29 2006 post headlined Changing Media Summit: Citizen media will 'professionalise' journalism." She has a quote by Jon Snow, news anchor or presenter for Britain's Channel 4 News, that I found plausible:

Citizen journalism won't supplant professional journalism, but it may actually professionalise it.

Kiss also quotes him as telling the summit:"There's a sharp, exciting world there - made more exciting, more comprehensive and more vigorous in maintaining democracy by conspiring with the citizens and exposing the unprofessional media, which is what citizen media is doing all over the world."

Bloggers Cover Capitol Hill Hearings On U.S. Internet Firms

The Chicago Tribune's Eric Benderoff reported February 15, 2006 that, "Using new media to promote the virtues of freedom in cyberspace, a handful of bloggers were invited into the room to report on Wednesday's [February 15, 2006] Capitol Hill hearings on the activities of American Internet companies in China."

"Bloggers from five organizations, including a political Web sites, Redstate.org, and the New York Times, posted updates from the hearings as they happened in Washington, D.C.," he wrote.

For more of his very informative report, please see "Bloggers post updates from Capitol Hill hearings." Registration may be required.

BusinessWeek: Taking Lessons From Bayosphere

Heather Green at BusinessWeek Online says Dan Gillmor's "grand plans" for Bayosphere "may be history, but many more community Web sites have taken its lessons to heart, letting everyday citizens deliver news." See "News You Can Use -- and Write."

Abovitz Responds to Financial Times Article on Davos Blogging

On January 20 2006, The Financial Times published online an article by Emiliya Mychasuk's on blogging and the World Economic Forum." It drew a response from Florida tech guru Rony Abovitz, the man whose blog post from the 2005 forum unintentionally ignited a blog swarm against CNN's Eason Jordan.

In the January 28, 2005 post at Forumblog.org - The World Economic Forum Weblog" about what was said in a discussion titled "Will Democracy Survive the Media?", Abovitz reported that Jordan asserted "that he knew of 12 journalists who had not only been killed by US troops in Iraq, but they had in fact been targeted."

This produced a blog swarm by conservative bloggers who saw a chance for a mainstream media take down. The relentless commentary caused Jordan to resign to spare CNN from the unwanted attention. Abovitz wrote in response to the FT article:

I am very impressed by the Forum's response to blogging this year by moving to enable all attendees to blog - and by pushing a very open form of media. This is a very healthy response to all of the issues that streamed out of last year's meeting - and in my view a good response.

As for blog swarms, Abovitz said, "Blogstorms in general - I wish that the force of such things could be controlled and used positively. For example, could one massive blogstorm end poverty? Save a hostage? End a regional conflict?"

Abovitz makes a lot of sense to me.

'The Joys of Local News Blogging

Debra Galant, founder and editor-in-chief of Baristanet.com, has a "special" over at Jay Rosen's PressThink "on the Joys of Local News Blogging."

I found Galant's article very informative and satisfying. She paints vivid word pictures of how she built Barista, which made me think about the potential of Chi*Town Daily News, Chicago's just-getting-off-the-ground experiment in citizen journalism. If you want a blueprint on how to do it--I didn't say the blueprint--Galant and Barista have something to offer.

By the way, I think she's really a good writer.

Bowing to the Chicago Sun-Times' Wishes

If you click on The Chicago Daily News, Chicago's experiment in daily, citizen journalism, you will get the following message:

The Chicago Sun-Times, Inc., has requested that PublicMedia, Inc. cease its use of the www.chicagodailynews.org domain name.

You can now find PublicMedia Inc.'s news website at www.chitowndailynews.org.

PublicMedia, Inc. is not affiliated with the Chicago Sun-Times, Inc. or any of its past or present newspapers.

You can find more information about the Sun-Times at www.sun-times.com.

Former Chicago Tribune reporter Geoff Dougherty, editor of the Chi*Town Daily News and CEO of PublicMedia, Inc., and the non-profit's Board of Directors, did the right thing by avoiding a legal battle. See "The Name Game."

Also see Chicago Tribune reporter/blogger Steve Johnson's "Chicago Daily News no more -- again."

Gillmor to Lead Fellows Luncheon january 17

Bayosphere's Dan Gillmor announced today: 'I'll be leading the weekly Fellows Luncheon at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society (Harvard Law School) next Tuesday [January 17, 2005]. There's also a webcast."