Links for today – with questions! | Links para hoje – com perguntas!

• Huffington Post Launches Investigative Journalism Venture, Huffington Post

NEW YORK — The Huffington Post said Sunday that it will bankroll a group of investigative journalists, directing them at first to look at stories about the nation’s economy.

The popular Web site is collaborating with The Atlantic Philanthropies and other donors to launch the Huffington Post Investigative Fund with an initial budget of $1.75 million. That should be enough for 10 staff journalists who will primarily coordinate stories with freelancers, said Arianna Huffington, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post.

Work that the journalists produce will be available for any publication or Web site to use at the same time it is posted on The Huffington Post, she said.

Q: Why will this never happen in Europe? | P: Porque é que isto nunca irá acontecer na Europa?

• A good rundown of how to do multimedia journalism, Adam Westbrook

Want to know how an awesome piece of online multimedia/interactive journalism is put together?

Press Play

Look no further than than the Wisconsin State Journal, and a brief behind-the-scenes report into the production of their “Silent Shame” series on elderly abuse.

• Landmark moments in citizen journalism, 10000words

Depending on whom you ask, citizen journalism is either pushing journalism forward or is unaccountable vigilantism. Either way, it is shaping the way we consume our news.

Surely ordinary citizens were documenting and discussing news events before the advent of the internet but what separates citizen journalism from pure observation is the use of the net as an avenue to either aid or circumvent traditional media outlets and spread the news independently. Average Joes can take their own photos, record their own video and recount a story through blogs or other social media, often more quickly than a media organization can begin to report and in a more organic way than is usually presented by mainstream media.

The following is a timeline of events in which ordinary citizens shaped the news, followed by an analog description of each landmark moment.

Q:Is there really a “citizen Journalism”? I can’t answer, some say i’m unfit to comment on this. Check this excellent list, it will become a part of Journalism History books.

P:Existe realmente um “Jornalismo do Cidadão”? Não posso responder,há quem me ache inapto para me pronunciar sobre o assunto. Vejam esta excelente lista, vai fazer parte dos livros de História do Jornalismo.

• Do blogs make reporting restrictions pointless?, Online Journalism Blog

The leaked DNA test on 13-year-old alleged dad Alfie Patten has revealed a big problem with court-ordered reporting restrictions in the internet age. (NB This is a cut down version of a much longer original post on blogging and reporting restrictions).

Court orders forbidding publication of certain facts apply only to people or companies who have been sent them. But this means there is nothing to stop bloggers publishing material that mainstream news organisations would risk fines and prison for publishing.

Even if a blogger knows that there is an order, and so could be considered bound by it, an absurd catch 22 means they can’t found out the details of the order – and so they risk contempt of court and prison.

Despite the obvious problem the Ministry of Justice have told me they have no plans to address the issue.

Q:Where to draw the line? | P:Onde se deve traçar a linha?

• Using Twitter at the Chicago Tribune, J.D. Lasica – SocialMediaBiz

I‘ve been arguing for some time that journalists need to embrace the best elements of social media — going beyond the new media and multimedia elements of the craft developed over the past 15 years to develop a true conversation about the news with members of their communities.

In the past few weeks I’ve begun plying the waters to see who’s begun to take advantage of the new social tools now available to all of us, in preparation for an online course I’ll be giving, along with Paul Gillin and Michele McLellan, at the Poynter Institute’s News U. starting next month about how news organizations can incorporate social media in their news offerings. (The lessons are equally applicable to corporations, government agencies, nonprofits and other institutions.)

Q:How is your newspaper using it? | P: Como é que o vosso jornal está a usá-lo?

• The Sorry State of the Newspaper Industry: Advertising Income Fell 16.6% in 2008, ReadWriteWeb

The U.S. newspaper industry was already facing numerous challenges before the economy took a nosedive, but the latest data from the Newspaper Association of America shows that the current economic climate has only exacerbated the already dire state of the American newspaper industry. Specifically, total newspaper advertising revenue fell 16.6% in 2008. Classifieds advertising, which is under a lot of pressure from online ventures like Craigslist, fell almost 30%, and real estate classifieds fell 38%.

Q: Craigslist is not to blame in Portugal. Whose fault is it then? | P: O Craigslist não tem expressão em Portugal. Então de quem é a culpa?

• Voyages of Discovery Into New Media, Nieman Reports

At the crossroad of old journalism and new media, digital news entrepreneurs—some at Web-only operations, others expanding the reach of storytelling on the Web—lead us on voyages of discovery into new media. From MinnPost to MediaStorm, these entities are using visual media, interactivity and social media to watchdog government abuse and the justice system, identify environmental dangers, and tell enduring stories. In doing so, they illuminate possibilities. In our continuing 21st Century Muckrakers series, our spotlight turns to investigative reporting about medical and health issues. Firsthand reporting experiences testify forcefully to the essential, yet challenging, role journalists play in alerting us to harmful situations. —Melissa Ludtke, Editor

• Newspapers: 5 Ways to Avoid Extinction, Woody Lewis –  Mashable

In a post titled “Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable,” Clay Shirky, who teaches interactive telecommunications at New York University, makes what many would consider a heretical statement: “Society doesn’t need newspapers. What we need is journalism.” It’s clear the newspaper business will never be the same. Here are five best practices publishers should consider to increase their odds of survival

Q: Taking notes? | P: Estão a tomar nota?