Social Networks: Rules of engagement for journalists | Redes Sociais: Regras de acção para jornalistas

by luc legay

The New York Times established a set of rules for reporters to deal with the ethical and method issues raised by social networking. The importance of social networks like Facebook, MySpace, or even Twitter for reporting, has become priceless for both media companies and journalists, that benefit from them by promoting their work and gathering information. Yet, to befriend or to expose  users,  use private information, or show a bit too much of the reporters’ personal views can be tricky.  In the still virgin and fertile land of social networking, journalism still hasn’t found the right procedures to develop work under clear ethical guidelines. To help journalists to avoid falling into the many traps posed by the new relations brought about web2.0, the NY Times‘ assistant managing editor, Craig Whitney, has devised a small set of policies, to protect the image, credibility and impartiality of the newspaper. The rules in a nutshell by Patricio Robles: Don’t specify your political views. This includes joining online groups that would make your political views known. Don’t write anything you wouldn’t write in The Times on your profiles, a blog or as commentary on content you share. Be careful who you ‘friend‘. Since this is a tricky subject, The Times suggests that its reports “imagine whether public disclosure of a ‘friend’ could somehow turn out to be an embarrassment that casts doubt on our impartiality.“ Using email addresses found on social networks to contact individuals is fine but the standard rules apply: treat the person fairly and openly and don’t “inquire pointlessly into someone’s personal life.“ The Standards Editor must be consulted before contact is made with a minor. The spanish written blog Paper Papers has an interesting point about the need for these rules:“The text is strict and demanding – and it’s written in a positive tone. You can see that the NY Times is one of the few newspapers that understands in these media there is a very delicate game between credibility and influence. And they care. Good. I say: a journalist is a liberal professional that works for an organization. (…) What matters to us is the right of the citizens to be informed, not my freedom of speech (My opinion!; I like it / I don’t like it; I think it’s good! / I think it’s bad!). In this professional context, working for a news company means to limit personal options that would be open if working to another company – or outside journalism. ” There are too many questions lurking along the way, and they will have to be dealt in a case by case basis.  The potential of reporting using social networks is huge, but so are the perils and the responsibilities. Kelly McBride has left some suggestions for a healthy use of this power at PoynterOnline. Read them, and let me know how they can be useful in your organization or how they fall short for your needs.

O New York Times estabeleceu um conjunto de regras para os jornalistas saberem lidar com as questões éticas e de método levantadas pelas redes sociais. A importância de redes sociais como o Facebook, MySpace, ou mesmo o Twitter para o jornalismo tornou-se valiosíssimo quer para as empresas de media quer para os jornalistas, que ganham ao poder promover o seu trabalho e recolher informação. No entanto, adicionar ou expôr utilizadores, usar informação privada, ou mostrar demasiado a perspectiva pessoal do jornalista pode tornar-se complicado. No ainda virgem e fértil terreno das redes sociais, o jornalismo ainda não encontrou os procedimentos correctos para trabalhar sob uma clara  linha ética. Para ajudar os jornalistas a evitar as várias armadilhas postas pela web2.0, o editor assistente do NY Times, Craig Whitney, definiu uma série de regras, para proteger a imagem, credibilidade e imparcialidade do jornal. As regras resumidas por Patricio Robles: Não especifiquem as vossas inclinações políticas. Isto inclui juntarem-se a grupos online que as demonstrariam. Não escrevam nada nos vossos perfis, blog ou comentários em conteúdos partilhados,  que não escreveriam no The Times. Tenham cuidado com quem adicionam. Como este é um assunto complexo, o The Times sugere aos jornalistas para “imaginar se a revelação de um amigo pode se tornar num embaraço que possa lançar dúvidas sobre a nossa imparcialidade.” Usar moradas de email encontradas em redes sociais para contactar indivíduos é correcto, mas as regras básicas aplicam-se: tratem a pessoa de forma justa e aberta e não “questionem inutilmente sobre a sua vida pessoal.” O Editor de Padrões tem que ser contactado antes de qualquer contacto com um menor. O blog Paper Papers tem um ponto de vista interessante sobre estas regras: “O texto é severo e exigente – e está escrito numa nota positiva. Podemos ver que o NY Times é um dos poucos jornais que compreendem que nestes meios há um jogo delicado entre credibilidade e influência. E eles preocupam-se. Bom. Eu digo: um jornalista é um profissional liberal que trabalha para uma organização.(…) O que nos interessa é o direito dos cidadãos à informação, não a minha liberdade de expressão (A minha opinião!; Gosto / Não gosto; Acho que é bom / mau;) Neste contexto profissional, trabalhar para uma organização noticiosa significa limitar opções pessoais, que estariam abertas noutra empresa – ou noutra actividade fora do jornalismo.” Existem demasiadas questões à espreita pelo caminho, e teremos que lidar com elas numa base de caso a caso. O potencial do jornalismo através das redes sociais é enorme, mas também são os perigos e as responsabilidades. Kelly Mc Bride deixou no Poynter Online algumas sugestões para um uso saudável deste poder. Leiam-nas e digam como é que elas podem ser úteis na vossa organização, ou como são insuficientes para as vossas necessidades.

• La deontología 2.0 del NY Times, Paper Papers

• New York Times‘ Policy on Facebook and Other Social Networking Sites, Craig Whitney

• New York Times creates policies for reporters’ social network use, Patricio Robles

• Roanoke, Poynter Develop Ethics Guidelines for Journalists Using Facebook, MySpace and Twitter

• Don’t post information that could embarrass you or your newsroom, even if you believe your page is private.
• Use the tools, such as limited profiles and privacy settings, to restrict access to your most private information.
• Recognize that your actions can be misinterpreted. You may sign up for a group to get story ideas, but people may see you as a fan. State your intentions often, in wall posts and other notifications. When appropriate, tell groups when you are signing up that you are looking for story ideas.

Post suggested by | Post sugerido por

Mary Jo Zilveti

Deloitte’s 09 Media Predictions | Previsões para 2009 da Deloitte

A tough year for media | Um ano duro para os media

The latest report on media by Deloitte is available. No far out predictions yet, but i’m  just starting to read it.

Já está disponível o último relatório sobre média da Deloitte. Nada de previsões fantásticas, mas ainda agora comecei a lê-lo

Putting print out of peril may require stopping the presses

The newspaper and consumer magazine industry is set for continued challenges in 2009, with developed country markets likely to be most affected.

The developing world market should grow along with increasing literacy, improving distribution  infrastructure and rising incomes, but the spread of the economic downturn itno developing economies in 2009 could slow or reverse print’s growth even in these markets.

The challenged state of the print industry in developd world markets does not signal the demise of the sector. Rather, 2009 is likely to mark the emergency of a range of new business models, including shared backroom infrastructure and online-only delivery.

PDF

Links for Today | Links para hoje

• When Journalists Blog: How It Changes What They Do, NiemanReports

By Paul Bradshaw

From journalistic pariah to savior of the news industry, blogs have undergone an enormous transformation in recent years. As a journalist and a blogger, I was curious to see how this transformation from blogophobia to blogophilia was affecting journalism. Was the hype surrounding the potential of blogs to transform our craft being realized—or were journalists simply treating their blogs as another “channel” into which to plough content?

• Personalised newspapers: industry saviour or just another novelty?, Editor’s Weblog

Personal News

In a world where customisation is key (our clothes, our cars, our TV channels…), why can’t we customise our newspapers?  In fact we can, Mary Lou Fulton explains.  Fulton is Vice President of Audience Development at The Bakersfield Californian, and has discovered a Swiss-German innovation called Personal News, collaboration between SwissPost and Syntops GmbH.

Personal News is currently in its pilot stage, and available in a limited area in Switzerland.  However the idea is this; after registering online you select up to seven newspaper sections that interest you (at the moment, available publications include The Washington Post and Austria’s The Standard).  After that, the relevant newspapers send their PDFs to Syntops, who assimilate the PDF into personalised publications and pass them on to Swiss Post, who has them on your doorstep by 11am.  You can even change your newspaper selection up to 7pm the previous night.

• LET’S BUY A NEWSPAPER

The title says it all | O título diz tudo

• “We Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet”: Jack Driscoll on Community Journalism, Henry Jenkins

(Part One) (Part Two)

Driscoll recently published a book, Couch Potatoes Sprout: The Rise of Online Community Journalism, which shares some of his experiences and offers sage advice about how and why community journalism may become an important part of the contemporary newscape. What I love about the book is its emphasis on journalism as a practice and a process rather than simply a product, since it is clear that working on these publications is empowering to those who become involved, changing the ways they think about themselves and their communities.

I was lucky enough to get a chance to pick Jack’s brain about community journalism and to be able to share his perspectives with you here. As you read this, you have to picture this ruddy faced man with gray hair, a sparkle in his eye, and a broad toothy smile. Jack represents what was best about the old style journalism and he represents a bridge to what may be most vital about the future of civic media.

• Improving the web with web analytics, Journalism.co.uk

  (part one) (part two) (part three)

Why most of the web is junk
The truth is that the vast majority of the web contains poor quality content. Even for those sites that do have great content, often they are difficult to find (via a search engine) and the user experience, once you visit it, is so poor, you simply wish to leave.

Despite nearly 15 years of web development, most of us still waste dozens of hours a month trawling the web, weeding out sites that either have irrelevant content to our search query or where the user experience is just too frustrating.

Unfortunately – similar to weeding – those sites don’t really go away. A search engine query the next day can bring up the same poor results and the process starts all over again.

Links for today | Links para hoje

Monniter

Twitter is increasingly being used by journalists to make contacts and track news events, but the Twitter user-interface (UI) itself is pretty limited making it difficult to track conversations. Fortunately its open API structure and the ability to subscribe to various types of RSS feeds from Twitter means there are a number of ways to track a ‘buzz’ around an event or specific conversations.

• How My Quote Ended Up on the CNN Article, AcademHack

Okay first read this article on CNN about the new whitehouse.gov website, okay you can actually just skim the article and skip to the last three paragraphs. Yes, that’s me being quoted in that article, and yes you are correct that quote makes no sense. What the bleep was I talking about? Perhaps like many stories in the world of journalsim this is partly a story of being misquoted, but there is actually more to it than this. The way the reporter found me, and the context surrounding said quote, while perhaps not a unique story, is certainly illustrative of several trends and problems with old journalism, and perhaps more germanae to this audience, it is a telling story about the future of media and the importance of social networks.

• 9 Telltale signs of amateur video, 10.000words

It’s easy to take good video for granted until you’ve seen bad video: the poorly shot, poorly lit, shaky kind that makes any viewer cringe. Here are some of the worst offenses in videography:

1. Everything looks blue or orange

Video shot outdoors looks blue, while video shot indoors is a puke-colored orange.

Solution: Off-color video is often a result of unbalanced color temperature (see an example here). Use the camera’s white balance feature — usually a single button or found in the features menu — to counteract the offending color.

• The Big Video Debate: Rough or Slick?, MediaShift

Video is one of those new practices we have to get used to as newspaper journalists now working in a Web 2.0 world. One of the key issues is the quality of the video. Do we always need slick, television-style video, which require more specialized skills, or will our community accept “rougher” video, made by amateurs using less sophisticated cameras?

At the Belgian business newspapers De Tijd and L’Echo we use five main video techniques now: prosumer cameras, consumer-type camcorders, Seesmic (webcams) and Flip cameras, and two Sony cameras on a fixed installation for interviews in the center of the newsroom.

I will briefly discuss who is doing what with which cameras, concluding with some issues we are debating these days.

• 7 news story comment guidelines worth looking at, Kurt Greenbaum

I came across a tweet by Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn in which he mentioned revising the commenting guidelines for his blog. So I wanted to find how what he changed, how, and why.

“Back in October, I quit comments altogether (the guidelines were short: “Comments are not posted immediately. We review them first in an effort to remove foul language, commercial messages, irrelevancies and unfair attacks. Thank you for your patience.” (That is) still found on many other Trib Blogs).

I reinstated with the New Year an open comments policy, no pre-review, but here are my rules.”

• Our Plan To Fix The New York Times (NYT), Silicon Alley Insider

The New York Times Company (NYT) needs a long-term plan.  Current management doesn’t seem to have one, so it’s up to us.

Here’s what we would do if Arthur Sulzberger called and invited us to succeed Janet Robinson as CEO.  (Bear in mind that we’re not privvy to the detailed numbers Janet has, so we reserve the right to change our minds).

Our Plan To Fix The New York Times

1. Cut costs 40% by 2010.
2. Continue to raise print subscription prices
3. Explore charging an online subscription fee

• HOW TO MANAGE A NEWSPAPER COMPANY IN A RECESSION, Juan Antonio Giner via Atrium
  

Journalism is our core business.

Period.

Journalists and the newsroom are at the heart of our company.

But, yes, they can and must be more efficient.

New working flows are needed, like new open space and multimedia integrated newsroom facilities.

Train them to serve not just readers but new audiences and communities.

More editing is mpre important than more pages.

This is time for Journalism Caviar.

We need selective and relevant newspapers.

Paté newspapers, not pottage newspapers.

• Are newspapers losing their multimedia mojo?, Mastering Multimedia

Around the multimedia blogosphere, the January doldrums seem to have kicked in. My usual inspirational haunts like Newsvideographer.com, Teaching Online Journalism, Multimediashooter.com have all slowed their publishing cycles. Even my own blog is in need of a New Year’s kick-start. With all the newspaper layoffs last year, over 28,000 from one count, I’m sensing a definite decrease in the multimedia mojo I felt just a year ago. Even the NPPA Monthly Multimedia Contest I run had the lowest amount of entries ever this month.

• “Everyone just Googles”, Joanna Geary

This is a quote taken from a conversation I had with a lawyer about her consumption of news:

“The problem is you people in the media are stuck in your own little world and forget that we’re also quite busy in our own little world and we don’t have time to keep up with what you’re doing.”

Fiz asneira. Agora peço desculpa.

Este post é um pedido de desculpas. O texto é a transcrição do post original no ContraFactos & Argumentos , escrito pelo Pedro Fonseca, e o meu comentário.

O Alexandre Gamela

Alexandre Gamela, no blogue O Lago, desabafa como está “lixado pela forma como fui descrito num jornal depois da minha cobertura informal do Acidente no Hudson: “Alexandre Gamela, um jornalista desempregado”. O descaramento!”

O autor do “descaramento” fui eu, que não costumo trazer coisas da vida profissional para este blogue. Pelo que respondi no blogue do Gamela, há dois dias, sobre as suas afirmações e comentários.
48 horas depois, o “freelancer/empreendedor” já postou vários textos, eu já reenviei o comentário mas ele não viu a luz n’O Lago. Por isso aqui transcrevo o texto que lhe reenviei ontem, sabendo-o leitor do ContraFactos & Argumentos (pelo menos no ano passado, quando até o recomendou no Online Journalism Blog):

Caro Alexandre,
reenvio um comentário aqui colocado ontem mas até agora não publicado por acreditar ter havido qualquer problema técnico para o não mostrar aos seus leitores ou a ele responder.
Agradeço a publicação.
Pedro

Caro Alexandre,
sou o autor do texto no DN a que se refere neste post.
Não tenho por norma responder a críticas aos meus artigos. No seu caso, tenho de abrir uma excepção porque me parece haver alguma má fé, que prosseguiu nos comentários.
Não diferencio qual a contextualização a que se refere que atenua o que Paulo Querido fez no Certamente/Expresso online mas não a minha frase no DN. Ambos falámos de um jornalista desempregado – algo que o Alexandre confirma ao dizer que procura emprego. Não vejo onde está a ofensa.
Mas o que me levou principalmente a escrever é a sua afirmação de que o meu texto “é uma cópia pobre do artigo do Paulo Querido no Expresso”.
Não sei qual é a sua posição sobre o plágio ou cópia no jornalismo mas eu não gosto dele e fico ofendido quando alguém ma faz, sem apresentar provas. Sendo jornalista, presumo que o Alexandre compreende a minha indignação.
O seu “desabafo” denota que ou não leu o artigo todo no DN e se fixou no parágrafo em que é referido o seu nome ou faz afirmações gratuitas sobre outras pessoas e que não abonam muito a seu favor.
Apenas mais umas notas:
– ainda sobre a contextualização: o Paulo escreveu sobre o Twitter e a rapidez do Alexandre, eu não procurei esse ângulo – basta ler os títulos… – mas não podia deixar de referir o seu nome porque, na noite (cá) do acidente, ele foi inevitável no Twitter. Mas, diferente do Paulo, o texto no DN não era sobre si e se está “lixado” com isso, é um problema seu.
– sobre o seu desemprego (ou o que lhe quiser chamar): há muitos meses que acompanho o seu blogue e não é de hoje que escreve sobre a sua situação laboral. Não precisei de ver no blogue do Paulo essa indicação. Porquê escrevê-la? Por dar ao leitor uma indicação de que é alguém, português, habituado a usar ferramentas jornalísticas e as transpõe para o Twitter. Podia ter usado outros exemplos, americanos? Podia.
– sobre a “espada” do DN: eu ainda não a senti mas presumo que saiba do que fala. Se também me quiser esclarecer neste assunto, agradeço.
Repito, não vejo o tamanho da ofensa – tanto mais escrita por um jornalista que também não está empregado mas a trabalhar para o DN.
Desejos de boa sorte para a sua vida profissional e também que não encerre O Lago.

BTW: para conhecer um caso bem mais grave, em que um blogue estraga a reputação e a saúde de uma pessoa, oiçam um inesperado testemunho nesta Prova Oral em que participei.

O meu comentário:

Olá Pedro, como isto é tudo muito pequenino eu estava à espera de que o autor do texto me saltasse para cima. Não recebi o teu comentário e não sei porquê, mas vou averiguar as razões. De qualquer forma vou postar o teu texto e a minha resposta ao mesmo n’O Lago.

Antes de mais nada, a imagem está bem escolhida.  Depois, é verdade que sigo o teu blog e com muito gosto, há sempre coisas por aqui que vou vendo e aprendendo. Não aprendi nada sozinho, mas sempre com o que os outros também aprendem e partilham.

Quanto à minha reacção propriamente dita, fui um idiota. É verdade que não gostei de me ver classificado de uma forma que, apesar de ser a verdade (sou mais desempregado que jornalista), não devia ter ajudado ao descarrilamento da  linha de ideias que queria seguir. Não és o culpado de nada e não devia ser o jornalista do DN a levar comigo e com os meus exageros. Por isso, as minhas desculpas. Tens toda a razão para estar lixado comigo a sério, e eu não tenho nenhuma para o estar contigo.

Não te vou dar pormenores a justificar a minha atitude porque nenhuma das razões é importante para o assunto.  Eu ando a fazer uma carreira de sofá, tu trabalhas num meio complicado, de forma precária pelos vistos,  e eu ando a fazer biscates inconsequentes, numa realidade completamente diferente da tua. Eu respeito quem trabalha, quem paga as contas ao fim do mês com o fruto do seu trabalho, que vive em paz consigo mesmo e espero um dia poder fazer o mesmo. Eu tenho consciência que o teu conhecimento sobre o meu trabalho não vem de agora, e que estás ao par da minha situação. Não a desejo a ninguém mas parte é opção minha. O mercado de trabalho em jornalismo está como sabemos, e quando falo da “espada”, percebes o que quero dizer. Espero que não caia em cima de mais ninguém, o que este país menos precisa agora é de mais jornalistas desempregados.

Tenho tido muito destaque e apoio nos últimos tempos apenas pelo meu trabalho, vindo de pessoas que nunca vi na vida, sendo o Paulo Querido uma delas.  Alguma coisa devo andar a fazer de bem, e isto vem prejudicar a minha mais valia neste momento, a minha reputação. Mas eu sou quem sou e não o escondo, e volta e meia saem umas asneiras destas. Quem gosta de mim gosta, quem não gosta, paciência. Não me sinto é satisfeito quando prejudico alguém quando não o quero fazer, mesmo que siga todos os procedimentos para tal.

Numa opinião pessoal, acho que o teu artigo não está famoso,. Não que seja melhor redactor que tu – a mim não me pagam para escrever – mas não gostei no texto, que li algumas vezes e por inteiro, não duvides. Se disse que me parecia uma versão transversal do texto do Expresso, foi o que me pareceu. Agora estou esclarecido que não é esse o caso.  Não gostei da forma como fizeste o  apontamento final sobre os irmãos Wright. São questões de gosto, e para todos os efeitos, considera-os como comentários de treinador de bancada, ou seja, a influência que têm é igual a zero.
Aposto que, se te deres ao trabalho, arranjas uma lista enorme do género para os meus textos, e eu vivo bem com isso, agradeço que me digam onde estou a errar. Não sou muito sensível em relação às críticas, o que está mal melhora-se, nem que seja para a próxima. Por isso, em relação à minha opinião sobre o texto, desculpa, mas não peço desculpa por uma avaliação pessoal deste género. Só te posso dizer que não deveria tê-la propalado daquela forma, estou consciente do poder de amplificação que os meus canais possuem, e deveria ter sido mais cuidadoso.

Eu próprio considero que falhei redondamente na construção do meu próprio texto sobre o assunto, o que começou de forma humorística azedou rapidamente. Aí não estou definitivamente ao nível que procuro ter, por isso vou ter que me esforçar mais. Estupidamente resvalei para algo de que não me orgulho, e falhei tecnicamente, pessoalmente e profissionalmente. Sim, porque como leste no meu texto, não recebo mas trabalho muito. Por vezes não trabalho é bem.

Vou dar-te a razão que mereces, não tenho justificação ter ficado ofendido como fiquei. Aliás, como não fiquei. . A minha reacção é que foi exagerada, e acabei, com um tiro, acertar em dois pés: um meu e outro teu. No futuro, prometo que vou tentar mantê-los bem assentes na terra.

Espero ter a oportunidade de te apresentar pessoalmente as minhas desculpas um dia destes, com cervejas e tremoços pelo meio. Não é já hoje porque não me é possível. Mas em breve. Um abraço.

Aos que induzi em erro, com razões que vos são alheias, também peço desculpa. Vamos todos aprender com esta lição, e se me apanharem outra vez em asneiras destas, por favor, avisem. Eu agradeço.

Manuals, guides and resources for journalists | Manuais, guias e recursos para jornalistas

Read before use | Ler antes de usar

I was organizing some folders in my desktop when i realized i had a bundle of unread pdfs, that covered issues from Krav Maga to Slide Guitar lessons. And Journalism, of course. Some of these manuals and resources were already referred here at The Lake. They are great for students and seasoned professionals, from writers to multimedia enthusiasts, and are a valuable asset for those who are converting to new media. This is not a final list, so if you have any other links i’d appreciate if you’d share them with the rest of us. Special thanks to Daniel Doyle for helping me out with this one.

Estava eu a organizar algumas pastas aqui no meu computador quando me apercebi que tinha um monte de pdfs por ler, sobre temas desde Krav Maga a lições de Slide Guitar. E Jornalismo, claro. Alguns destes manuais e recursos já foram falados aqui no Lago. São excelentes para estudantes ou veteranos, desde escritores a entusiastas do multimédia, e uma mais valia importante para aqueles que se estão a converter aos novos média. Esta lista não está terminada, por isso se tiverem mais links agradecia que os partilhassem connosco. Um agradecimento especial ao Daniel Doyle por me ter ajudado com isto.

Books | Livros

Journalism 2.0: How to Survive and Thrive
A digital literacy guide for the information age

Download the book for free in your preferred language:

• Edición en Español
  
• Edição em Português
  
• Edition in English

Go to story about the launch of this book.

Handbook of Independent Journalism

Handbook for Bloggers and Cyberdissidents, RSF

Photojournalism, Technology and Ethics: What’s Right and Wrong Today?

The News Manual

We the Media

Online Courses | Cursos Online

• BBC Free Online Courses

These online modules and guides are free for you to use. They were originally designed for BBC staff and in publishing them here we have not made many editorial changes to them.

This is because they are primarily aimed at anyone who is working for, with or alongside the BBC, so the modules still contain some specific references to BBC procedures, methods and services.

• NewsU

NewsU (www.newsu.org) offers newsroom training to journalists and journalism students through its interactive e-learning program and links to other journalism education and training opportunities. The program is a partnership between the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and The Poynter Institute for Media Studies.

• BusinessJournalism.org

Guides | Guias

• Mindy MacAdams

> Online Media Types

> Interactivity

> Writing for the Web

> No-Fear Guide to Multimedia

> Journalists’ Toolkit

• Online Journalism ‘How-To’ Guides,  OJR

Getting started with an online news or information website? These guides will help you learn what you need to know about reporting, writing and making money on the Internet.

• ItrainOnline Multimedia Training Kit

The ItrainOnline MMTK is a growing collection of “workshop kits” for face-to-face training. The materials use a standard set of templates, and offer building blocks for trainers to build their own courses. But don’t think you need to be a trainer to use the ItrainOnline MMTK! The handouts are valuable information resources for anyone who wants to teach themselves about any of the wide range of topics covered.

Em Português

• Comunicamos.org

• Como tratar  casos de suicídio

O que Não fazer

• Não publicar fotografias ou notas de suicídio. • Não noticiar detalhes específicos do método usado. Este guia encontra-se disponível em português, com tradução autorizada pela OMS. Faça o download do documento completo aqui.

I know there are more resources,especially about video that could make this list. Send them over so i can make it better. We all can.  Leave your suggestions in the comments. Thank you.

Eu sei que há mais recursos, especialmente sobre video que podiam fazer parte desta lista. Enviem-nos para que eu possa fazer melhor. Possamos todos. Deixem as vossas sugestões nos comentários. Obrigado.

From online to print | Do ecrã para o papel

The Printed Blog

The print people – the Amish, like they are called in a newsroom of a daily here in Portugal –  were getting used to the idea that they were losing ground to a new medium. But  now their realm is being invaded by the same people that questioned their supremacy. Ok, this sounds too drastic, i’ll tone it down. The main effort of print media in the last years has been how to take their inked content into the flashing computer screens. New channels demand new forms of distribution, and that’s fine. But there was a streak of arrogance that remained unnoticed for a long time, in my opinion: they thought their content was better. Sure, you have bloggers in their websites. You have the odd columnist with a blog (more and more actually, which is really healthy for the writer and the publisher). But seldom i’ve seen real blog  contents transferred into print. And that should be an obvious thing. No matter how good your newspaper writers are, there will always be someone better out there. But denial is a bitch, instead of soughting for the best content, they stuck to what they knew. No problem with that, it’s a normal reaction. I came across with this post about a new venture described as “a Current TV model for print news” (don’t agree with the title, but it gets your attention). From pixels to picas The Printed Blog is not new in concept – i talked about a similar project before – but it is bold in their purpose: to create a daily printed newspaper with contents from the blogosphere. The man in charge , Joshua Karp, says “[For] people around the world, who need to and want to consume information, whether it be in developing countries or emerging countries, newsprint is still going to be a main mechanism for information for years to come”. So the print lives on as a medium. This makes me wonder if all the fuss about the survival of newspapers is about medium or ascendancy. The best content will always work no matter what the medium is, from smoke signs to microscopic engravings in toothpicks (if people have access to and are comfortable with the medium it will work, maybe toothpicks and smoke signs are a bit too far off). The point is that there are many good sources for content out there. And there is a new way for the cretors of that content to monetize their work. Hey mister, get your cart off the road!

As pessoas da (im)prensa- ou Amish, como gostam de lhes chamar numa redacção de um diário da nossa praça- estavam já a habituar-se à ideia de perderem terreno para um novo meio. Mas agora o seu domínio está a ser invadido pelas mesmas pessoas que questionaram a sua supremacia. Ok, o tom é exagerado. O esforço principal dos media impressos nos últimos anos foi tentar perceber como levar a tinta para os ecrãs brilhantes. Novos canais exigem novas formas de distribuição, e isso é óptimo. Mas havia uma certa arrogância que passou despercebida durante demasiado tempo: eles achavam que o conteúdo deles era melhor. Claro, temos bloggers nos sites dos jornais. Temos até o colunista com um blog (na realidade são cada vez mais, o que é óptimo tanto para o autor como para quem o publica). Mas raramente vi conteúdos exclusivamente de blogs vertidos para o papel. E isso devia ser um processo óbvio. Indepentemente de terem escritores muito bons nos jornais, há sempre alguém melhor online. Mas a negação é terrível, em vez de terem procurado pelo melhor conteúdo, ficaram agarrados ao que conheciam. Não tem nada de mal, é uma reacção normal. Eu vi este post sobre um novo projecto descrito como “um modelo tipo Current TV para o papel” (não concordo com o título, mas chama a atenção). Dos pixels para as picas O Printed Blog não é um conceito novo – falei aqui antes de um projecto parecido – mas é audacioso no seu objectivo: criar uma edição impressa diária com conteúdos da blogosfera. O homem à frente do projecto, Joshua Karp, diz que “[Para] as pessoas pelo mundo fora, que precisam e querem consumir informação, seja em países em desenvolvimento ou emergentes, a notícia impressa vai ser o mecanismo principal durante anos”. Portanto, o jornal em papel será um meio viável. Isto faz-me questionar se toda a confusão à volta da sobrevivência dos jornais é uma questão de meio ou predominância. O melhor conteúdo irá funcionar sempre seja qual for o meio, desde sinais de fumo a palitos microscopicamente gravados (se as pessoas tiverem acesso e estiverem confortáveis com o meio, funciona. Talvez os palitos e os sinais de fumo sejam um pouco demais). O que quero dizer é que há muitas e boas fontes para conteúdos  por aí. E esta é uma nova forma dos criadores desses conteúdos rentabilizarem o seu trabalho. Ó chefe, tire aí a carruagem do caminho!

The hope is that the hyperlocal content will attract local advertisers who can spend less to reach out to their target audience.  Ads are relatively cheap in comparison ($15-$25) and the paper has already lined up a number of Chicago-based businesses for its debut. It will also host classified ads.

The first issue is expected to launch on Jan. 27, handed out at three CTA stations around Lincoln Park and Wicker Park in Chicago and one location in San Francisco. A New York edition is due out shortly.

While the cost of printing alone — not to mention two issues a day — seems daunting , Karp says he would surprised if he spends more than 15 thousand dollars on the entire production and distribution of the first paper.

New Media Venture Turns Bloggers Into Print Journalists

UPDATE

• Publisher Rethinks the Daily: It’s Free and Printed and Has Blogs All Over, NYTimes

Links for today | Links para hoje

• The lie of print advertising (followed by good news), Buzzmachine

That myth is essentially that every reader of a publication – not just buyer but alleged reader – is exposed to every ad. So every advertiser is charged for every reader of every ad. Great while it lasted, eh?

But the internet punctured that illusion because on the web, advertisers pay only for the ads a reader sees (and, in many cases, clicks on). So online, a paper or magazine can no longer charge every advertiser for every reader. This has exposed the essential inefficiency of print advertising (like TV advertising that is ignored or skipped). But it shows the inherent efficiency of online advertising.

• How Newspapers Can Survive, The Daily Beast

Newspaper companies need to turn the tide and turn it fast if they want to stay in business at all. It’s time to go on the offensive and renovate their businesses around the changing needs and demands of their customers. The difficulty lies in that much of their future may not involve paper, and the industry is having a hard time changing its name.

If they don’t, they will become what the railroad industry became. The railroads could have survived as major players in the business of transporting people, had they believed they were in the transportation business, not the train business. They would have invested in cars, buses and airplanes. But they didn’t, and while there remains a railroad industry today, it’s much smaller and less significant than it was.

• Let’s talk about the economics of great journalism, Mitch Ratcliffe

The fully loaded cost of a great reporter doing great work, then, falls somewhere in the $180,000 range:

$130,000 salary and benefits
$4,800 a year in subscriptions and other information sources
$2,500 a month in travel
$1,250 a month in legal and insurance coverage
$179,800 total, and that’s before the cost of IT, telecom and office space

• Carnival of Journalism: Are we asking the right questions about online revenue models?, Ryan Sholin

I’m not (that) interested (today) in trying to figure out what revenue, then, will support major metro newspapers online.  When a major city loses its last print edition, it will be because it has already been replaced, in terms of reporting, advertising, commentary, and yes, journalism, by (mostly) smaller organizations.

And by definition, I expect a newspaper.com in a no-print city to look and feel infinitely different than it does now, to be a distributed news service, the sum of dozens of tiny parts, a portal to a wide variety of platforms where bits of news pushed out and pulled in.

(Right, so again, these are all the things I’m not going to talk about today. Right. Sure.)

My question, then, is how to support a small, agile, online-only news organization.

• Roanoke, Poynter Develop Ethics Guidelines for Journalists Using Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, Poynter Online

In Roanoke, the journalists grouped the pressure points into three categories: How to use Facebook and MySpace as a reporting tool, how to use the sites as a promotional tool and finally, how to balance your personal and professional images.

As a reporting tool, it’s easy to argue that Facebook, MySpace and Twitter instantly connect journalists to stories that in the past would have taken days or weeks to surface. Last year, the Orlando Sentinel discovered a Facebook group devoted to the lack of water at the University of Central Florida’s brand new football stadium. The group provided immediate access to dozens of sources who’d experienced firsthand the opening game in 95-degree heat.

• Shotgun Approach: Testing Digital Ideas, Michael Karnjanaprakorn

90% of startups fail.

It’s kind of crazy that entrepreneurs think that their vision and their idea is the “right” one.  What qualifies them to know what will work?  Why don’t digital and tech entrepreneurs test their ideas before they waste money and countless hours building a product that’s not needed?  I call this the “me too” syndrome that is so prevalent on the west coast <cough> Silicon Valley…

• TweetNews Ranks News Stories by Twitter Links, Lifehacker

TweetNews keeps an eye on Yahoo News and compares its headlines with which news stories are culling links on Twitter updates. A story’s popularity amongst the tweeting masses will push it up farther on TweetNews. There’s no landing page full of links, though, just search functionality. You can see the Twitter updates each result is pulling from in a drop-down box, and the absolutely minimal site loads seriously fast.

I work… | Eu trabalho…

***Se vieram parar aqui a partir do post do Pedro:  este desentendimento foi resolvido em condições***

…I’m just not making any money | …não estou é a ganhar dinheiro

http://www.workathomewear.com/

This is a personal rant. I’m pissed off about the way i have been described in a newspaper after my informal Twitter coverage of the Hudson Plane Crash: “Alexandre Gamela, an unemployed journalist”. The impudence!   It is true i’m not working for a company. It is true that i don’t have a fixed income. But i have a job. Well, i have an activity, a few actually, and sometimes they’re profitable, sometimes they’re not.  Most of the time they’re not. Biggest example: this blog. I wake up everyday at 6 am not because i’m an early riser, but because i have the need to read and write about journalism, learn and share with others the signs that are leading the business into the future. And i do it for free. Where are my earnings? In the reputation i’ve built from my living room, interacting with smart, forward people. Google me and you’ll be able to evaluate that effort. Do i want a job? You know, the standard concept thing. Yes, if there were any interesting, but in a global current where the word is “lay offs” it’s hard to find any (interesting or not). Here in Portugal there’s a huge offer for internships, 150€ a month, if you’re lucky, i saw an ad offering a 1 year internship for free. Oh the privilege! We have a slavery history, but i think we were the first ones to abolish it. Well, History is easily forgotten. There is the ocasional ad, that looks like the perfect thing. In hundreds of job applications  i sent in the last years i only made it to three interviews. And i screwed a few. So i stopped answering. I don’t think i’m “too good for it” or “misunderstood”. Maybe the truth is that i’m  not what people want. And most of the times what they offer is not what i want. I’m not a kid. I know what i can and cannot do. And i did too many demeaning jobs to know how hard it is to make money out of something you loathe. I have my own project. I built – and still am building – a good reputation. Now i want to monetize it. I have a few ideas, that i’ll share soon. Meanwhile, my side gigs should be paying more, i’m broke and in debt. But that’s the sacrifice i’ve been making to achieve my goals. I plan my life in four month periods, so this means if by April i don’t amount to nothing or stop having a positive feedback, i’ll post a fail whale and say goodbye and thanks for all the fish. There are many talented journalists working at gas stations, supermarkets, or waiting on tables. I won’t be alone. Meanwhile i’ll be working my ass off and take my chances. If you see a job that suits me, well let me know. I like to work with other people, and get paid for it. But meanwhile, do not refer to me as unemployed. I prefer freelancer/entrepreneur. It sounds better.

Isto é um desabafo. Estou lixado pela forma como fui descrito num jornal depois da minha cobertura informal do Acidente no Hudson: “Alexandre Gamela, um jornalista desempregado”. O descaramento!   É verdade que não estou a trabalhar para uma empresa. É verdade que não tenho rendimentos fixos. Mas tenho trabalho. Bem, uma actividade, umas poucas até, e por vezes dão lucro. A maior parte das vezes não. Maior exemplo: este blog. Eu acordo todos os dias às 6 da manhã não por ser madrugador. mas porque preciso de ler e escrever sobre jornalismo, aprender e partilhar com outros os sinais que mostram o caminho para o futuro . E faço-o de borla. Onde estão os meus ganhos? Na reputação que construí a partir da minha sala, interagindo com pessoas inteligentes, de vanguarda. Procurem-me no Google e digam se vale a pena. Se eu quero um emprego? Sabem, nos moldes tradicionais. Sim, se houvesse algo que interessasse, mas numa corrente global onde a palavra de ordem é “despedimentos” é difícil encontrar um (interessante ou não). Cá existe uma oferta enorme de estágios a 150€ por mês,se tiverem sorte, vi um anúncio para estagiar um ano de borla. Ui o privilégio! Temos um passado de escravatura, mas creio que fomos os primeiros a aboli-la. Mas a História é facilmente esquecida. De vez em quando lá aparece um anúncio que parece perfeito. Em centenas de candidaturas que enviei nos últimos anos só consegui três entrevistas e espalhei-me em algumas. Por isso não respondo a mais nenhum. Não porque ache que sou “demasiado bom” ou “incompreendido”. Talvez eu não seja aquilo que as empresas procuram, a maioria das vezes eu não quero o que elas oferecem. Não sou um miúdo, eu sei o que posso e não posso fazer. E tive demasiados empregos maus para saber como é mau fazer dinheiro em algo que odiamos. Eu tenho o meu próprio projecto. Construí – e ainda estou a construir- uma boa reputação. Agora quero rentabilizá-la. Tenho algumas ideias, que partilharei em breve. Entretanto, estou teso e cheio de dívidas. Mas esse é o sacrifício que tenho feito para atingir os meus objectivos. Eu planeio a minha vida para os quatro meses seguintes, por isso se em Abril eu não conseguir nada ou deixar de ter feedback positivo, posto aqui uma fail whale e digo adeus e saúdinha. Há muitos jornalistas talentosos em estações de serviço, supermercados, ou a servir às mesas. Não estarei sozinho. Entretanto, vou trabalhar muito e arriscar. Se virem um emprego para mim, bem, avisem. Gosto de trabalhar com pessoas e ser pago por isso. Mas entretanto, não me descrevam como “desempregado”. Prefiro freelancer / empreendedor. Soa muito melhor.

Related recommended posts | Posts relacionados recomendados

Responsibility | Responsabilidade

Twitter Power

122 laid off in portuguese media cuts | 122 despedidos em cortes da Controlinveste

Myths, Half-Truths, and Other Freelance Lies

Links for today | Links para hoje

• The internet now second only to television as a news source, EatSleepPublish

Pew Research Center

I bet most of that “online” news is really the work of existing newspapers (newsbrands) who operate online. That’s actually good news. It means that collectively, newspapers are MORE popular than television as a source for news.

As I’ve already said, it’s time to monetize it.

• Is ad-supported journalism viable in a pay-for-performance age?, Ethan Zuckerman

While a great deal of what I write here is underinformed speculation, this piece is unusually speculative and underinformed. It’s possible that I’m flat out wrong about the idea I’m developing here. I’m putting it forward with the hopes that folks will react with examples and data that help prove or disprove this theory. Being told that I’m unambigiously wrong with good data demonstrating my error would be very helpful. Simply being told I’m wrong – less helpful.

• The Journalism Bubble, Lisa Williams

You’ve heard about the housing bubble. And the dot-com bubble. I’m here to tell you about The Journalism Bubble.

Anybody who’s paying attention to the state of journalism in the US is aware of the financial crisis facing the news industry. And there’s wide agreement on the cause of the crisis: advertising revenue for print and broadcast is declining, and advertising revenue for internet offerings is not rising fast enough to make up the difference.

That’s true.

It’s also a completely inadequate explanation for the waves of layoffs, bankruptcies, and outright closures of news organizations.

There is a journalism bubble. And the bubble has burst.

• Outsourcing the News, Newspaper Death Watch

Tribune Co. and the New York Daily News* are looking at closing their foreign bureaus and outsourcing international coverage, The Wall Street Journal says. The beneficiaries would be the Washington Post and a Boston-based startup called GlobalPost. Under the arrangement being discussed by Tribune Co. and the Washington Post, Tribune would contract with the Post for international stories to be delivered to its portfolio of newspapers and would close dozens of foreign offices, saving the bankrupt company millions each year. There’s no word on how much of that coverage would be unique to Tribune, but that’s presumably an issue in the talks. The two companies have long had an alliance via a joint news service.

• Solutions to newsroom troubles, Advancing the Story, via Atrium

Adopt new technologies and workflows to make news production more efficient. Many traditional news organizations have redundant production processes for their traditional (print or broadcast) product and the Web. These must be consolidated.

Distribute professionally created content through as many channels as possible. Stories must go out in print, on the air, online, via mobile technology — and yes, on the Kindle or another “iTunes for news.” When appropriate, news organizations could share the cost of content creation with other news organizations. The Miami Herald and Poynter’s St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, for instance, already collaborate to pay for coverage of the Florida state capital.

• Is ‘on-demand’ journalism the future?, Editor’s Weblog

Williams highlighted the need to find a way to “make journalism happen where it’s needed, when it’s needed, and then redeploy elsewhere when things change.”  Poynter writer Amy Gahran elaborated on the idea of a “cadre of general assignment reporters, ready to work on whatever needed doing.” It is essentially a development of the idea of stringers and freelancers, but she believes it could be an interesting complement to traditional news outlets, and takes it a step further, envisaging a situation where various kinds of organisations, not just news, could purchase reporting capacity.

• Newspaper objectivity combats Internet hysteria, Editor’s Weblog

If newspapers were to die, Pratt believes that we would lose all objectivity – on the Internet, he says ‘it seems that reality can be created and spun’.  ‘Hysterical’ predictions about print’s imminent demise to him signal the exact reason that we need it to stay, to present facts as facts and for the ‘check and balance that news organisations strive to provide’.

• Style guide and tips for online sub-editors, Journalism.co.uk

This page is intended to be a collaborative style guide for online sub-editors, including useful tips.

• Experimentation (Not Stagnation) Should Flourish at J-Schools, MediaShift

Some journalism academics may be even more scared of new technology and more resistant to change than the worst print “dinosaurs” working in media today. But Web 2.0 has made getting online so simple that there are no more excuses for being disconnected. While some reporters see journalism education as a potential refuge from the rapid pace of change in the 21st century digital newsroom, journalism schools should in fact be among the first places to adapt to new technology if they’re to train the journalists of tomorrow and remain relevant today.

I have been working to integrate blogs and other social media into my teaching, but traditional academia’s inherent resistance to educational experimentation — as well as fears around defamation litigation, autonomous student publication, and public relations fallout — can make embracing the journalism of the digital age even more difficult in the classroom than in the newsroom.

• Point and shoot will dominate but you still need a quality strategy: New Year convictions, Andy Dickinson

Fit for purpose

Put all those things together and the only viable strategy for getting video in your newsroom now is point-and-shoot. It’s responsive, cheap and easy to implement and the kind of video produced – short clip content, illustrative video and vignettes of action – is best suited to the embedded style we see on news sites.

That doesn’t mean I’m ditching the idea that a quality video strategy has lost.  It isn’t a betamax Vs. VHS type thing. Those that invested in the training and development of that strategy will always get good results from it.  Those who just bought lots of kit and left the newsroom to it will have already put the camera in a cupboard.

• Congresso: CDS «high tech», Portugal Diário

News article about the live coverage of a political congress using Twitter, by Parlamento Global’s journalists.

Artigo que fala da cobertura do congresso do CDS, através do Twitter pelos jornalistas do Parlamento Global.

As novas tecnologias tomaram conta da política e a Internet tornou-se um veículo para transmitir mensagens e não só. O 23º congresso do CDS, nas Caldas da Rainha, foi um bom exemplo disso. Além de ser transmitido ao minuto através do site Parlamento Global, foram vários os presentes que partilharam com os seus «seguidores» no twitter tudo o que estava a acontecer.

Twitter & Cover It Live