in Journalism and Mass Communication
AOL sent out an email to its movie writers today informing them that they will no longer be paid. The email goes on to encourage those same freelance writers to continue working for free.
What do you think about AOL and its current handling of writers/managers? Post a comment below.
From Miguel Heft and Matt Richtel from New York Times, March 28 – Facebook is hoping to do something better and faster than any other technology start-up-turned-Internet superpower.
Befriend Washington.
Facebook has layered its executive, legal, policy and communications ranks with high-powered politicos from both parties, beefing up its firepower for future battles in Washington and beyond. There’s Sheryl Sandberg, the former Clinton administration official who is chief operating officer, and Ted Ullyot, a former clerk forSupreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia who is general counsel, among others. The latest candidate is Robert Gibbs, President Obama’s former White House press secretary, whom Facebook is trying to lure to its communications team. Read More
From Michael Kelley at Media Bistro on March 28 – Periodically and with increasing speed, the Internet goes through a transformation, which is today being defined by digital video. Thanks to innovative communications providers, the continued expansion of broadband and availability of faster download speeds to anyone with an Internet connection, video is now the new frontier on every device. Many are rushing to get a piece of the “action” and now, just like a growing community, we need to build the proper infrastructure to measure and value digital video. Read More
A new online publishing house, called The Atavist, brings original reporting, long-form, non-fiction stories to mobile readers like the iPad, Nook and Kindle. It was started by a freelance writer for Wired, Even Ratliff, and Nicholas Thompson, an editor at the magazine.
Videos, links, and images are fused with text to create a complete story experience in the demand/digital age. There are only three stories currently available but their website lists a number of writers that they have lined up for upcoming publications. You can check out their site here or read the NYT article about them.
Recently Amanda Hocking, the self-publisher who sold millions of copies of her books through Amazon and Barnes & Noble websites, signed a deal with St. Martins for her next series of books (you can read the short NYT article about it here). The bigger story in this though is whether or not self-publishing is just astepping stone to signing book deals with major media companies, or is self-publishing a viable alternative to the big companies?
Hocking said she’ll benefit from the deal by not having to manage herself (hiring an editor, running the business aspect of things) and be able to focus on her writing. She’s probably right, and only she knows what she can handle. But for all those out there trying to get their work published, do you think self-publishing is the way to go, are traditional publishers still necessary, or like Hocking is a mix of both the best avenue?
From the Editors at CJR in March/April 2011 issue - Washington beckons as a land of opportunity for journalists today, at least in the realm of high-cost subscription news. We’re cheering, but wary, too. A new unit of Bloomberg News is hiring 150 editorial staffers, essentially doubling the size of its DC bureau, to provide detailed coverage of federal legislation, regulation, and government spending. Politico has hired another forty or so journalists for its new “pro” brand, a high-priced news service that will write fast and furiously about every major and minor happening in energy, health care, and technology policy and politics. National Journal last April offered buyouts to all of its hundred-plus editorial employees, but has been on a hiring spree since then to bring on nearly fifty new journalists. Meanwhile, CQ Roll Call, moving beyond the staff shakeout that followed the combination of the two Washington policy stalwarts in their September 2009 merger, is also launching new services and hiring fresh talent. Read More
The Journalist’s Resource website is a project by the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education. The site describes itself as:
Journalist’s Resource is designed to promote knowledge-based reporting. The site provides access to scholarly reports and papers on a wide range of topics. Journalist’s Resource provides the user with a brief Overview of each study, Teaching Notes and links to other relevant material.
They have an instructor’s guide section on the site that helps educators use the site, with information on how the information is organized, how it can be used and also a list of journalistic problems.
“Journalism as a whole — and media as a whole — are moving to a growing reliance on freelancers.” That quote came from Rob Steiner, director of the journalism lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs, earlier this month on “The Agenda” (a Canadian public affairs show).
Steiner says that journalism employers – and media in general – are looking to knowledgeable freelancers for content as opposed to full-time general assignment reporters. He mentions that colleges and universities need to recognize the idea of the entrepreneurial journalist and the fact that students graduating from J-schools will need to market themselves in their specific area of expertise.
Do you agree with Steiner that J-schools need to change how they’re preparing future journalists? Do you think there is even a shift at all towards more freelance reporting?
By Vivian Martin, Central Connecticut State University
Like their counterparts at large universities, faculty in smaller Journalism and Mass Communication programs are challenged with integrating multimedia storytelling and social media into their curriculum. The task is configured a bit differently than it is in larger programs though, so a priority for the Small Programs Interest Group (SPIG) continues to be programming that helps members respond to the need for changes in curriculum and teaching. After surveying our membership in 2008, we had a pretty good blueprint for how to proceed, and we have hit on a few things that seem to work. [Read more...]
Twitter has rolled out a new feature called Fast Follow: text “follow [account]” to 40404 and you’ll immediately start getting that account’s tweets via SMS—without ever signing up for Twitter >>> Four ways to use Fast Follow
