-
The week in Knight journalism 9/8
New York Review of Books, Knight Chairs, New Business Models and more.
New Horizons: Michael Massing, a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books, follows up his August NYRB piece about the state of political coverage online with a broader look at the news industry today. He comes away especially heartened by what he sees in the burgeoning sector of nonprofit journalism, much of which has been catalyzed by Knight funding, as Massing points out. Along the way, he mentions a series of Knight-funded projects, including the Voice of San Diego, MinnPost and ProPublica.
-
Twitter takes on investigative journalism, defending public service broadcasting, an iPhone app for the citizen journalist and a university course on Twitter
Twitterverse supports long-term, professional investigative journalism
This week, Mother Jones' Clara Jeffery took the time to break down the real cost of investigative journalism. With questions circulating about the demise of newspapers and fears over a lack of long-term investigative journalism in favor of on-the-spot citizen journalist reports, Jeffery's analysis was perfectly timed. The investigator in question was Dr. Sheri Fink, funded by ProPublica. She investigated reports of New Orleans doctors euthanizing patients after Katrina-related flooding; the story broke last week with a multi-page spread in New York Magazine.The Gawker was quick to of the investigation's hefty price tag: $400,000:
-
[Source: KnightFdn on Vimeo]
In the video above, Knight Foundation Journalism Program Associate Jose Zamora and Journalism Program Director Gary Kebbel talk about what's new in the 2010 Knight News Challenge, offer tips on crafting your application, and plug the KNC blog, which all prospective applicants should take a look at.
-
Got a great idea for transforming the future of news? The 2010 Knight News Challenge is now accepting applications!
Regular readers of Pulse will no doubt be familiar with the many stellar projects Knight has funded in the past through the News Challenge. This year, the contest is back with a few excellent twists:
-
The week in news from Knight's journalism program
Prepare for the News Challenge: Last week brought a lot of focus on MSNBC's acquisition of Knight News Challenge winner Everyblock, but a key fact might have escaped our mention: the News Challenge is about to start once again!
Beginning September 1st, you are cordially invited to pitch us all your best ideas for transforming journalism. This is an opportunity not just to get funded by Knight, but also to do some focused thinking on a concept that might turn into your future business. A few lucky winners will get grants, as well as all the attention that being a News Challenge winner can accrue.
-
The Week in Tweets: 8/21/09
140-character conversations around the future of news: Mashable advises newspapers, HuffPo goes social, Revenge of the TwitPic and Hyperlocal news
Conversations in the Twittersphere on the future of news
Mashable gives advice to newspapers
Leave it to Mashable to produce this week's most-reTweeted article on the future of news. Vadim Lavrusik posted 12 Things Newspapers Should Do to Survive, advice that was quickly reTweeted like a stock ticker, over 900 times to date. What is interesting is that the post didn't seem to stir up strong sentiments among all those Tweets; the sentiment for the majority of reTweeters was universal approval of Mr. Lavrusik's advice.
Know what else is interesting? Technically, Lavrusik isn't a journalist yet. He's a student in new media at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism--and the Twitterverse seems to agree that this type of outlook is exactly what newspapers need to hear. Just one gentle correction:
-
Netroots Nation: While we've been focusing a lot on FOCAS 2009 this week, another big conference carried many portents for the future of the media as well: Netroots Nation.
Netroots Nation started four years ago as "YearlyKos," a conference organized by affiliates of the progressive blog behemoth Daily Kos. The event has significant heft for liberals: speakers this year included Bill Clinton, Valerie Jarrett and Howard Dean. Its very existence says something about the changing face of the media, given that it grew out of one of the vanguards of new media.
-
[Source: GroundReport.com]
As mentioned in yesterday's Knight Journalism roundup, the 2009 Forum on Communications and Society has been taking place this week at the Aspen Institute, and some of the most provocative video of the week is being streamed there. Full video from the conference is above.
Among the sessions that have generated the most significant reaction online has been Jeff Jarvis' presentation of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism's revenue models for news ecosystems. You can watch that session and other highlights from FOCAS below.
-
Everyblock acquired by MSNBC.com: If you follow many journalists on Twitter, you probably saw yesterday's announcement that Everyblock, one of the original Knight News Challenge winners, is being acquired by MSNBC.com. As Everyblock's News Challenge grant period ended in June, Adrian Holovaty and his crew had been searching for the best way to sustain their work beyond the grant. Adrian says being a part of MSNBC.com "means that we'll have resources to expand EveryBlock profoundly."
"We congratulate Adrian Holovaty on his accomplishment, and we’re especially pleased that his invention is available freely to anyone to address community information needs," said Gary Kebbel, Knight's journalism program director. "Adoption by the marketplace is a welcome sign of the impact of Knight Foundation’s media innovation strategy."
-
The Week in Tweets: 8/14/09
140-character conversations around the future of news: Rather to Obama: save the news!; a Non-Profit model for journalism; Can graphics save journalism?Rather to Obama: Save the news!
In an op-ed piece in the Washington Post this week, respected journalist Dan Rather made a plea for President Obama to appoint a commission to "address the perilous state of America's news media." Mr. Rather specified that his goal wasn't a bailout or governmental control of the media but rather a think tank to make recommendations for "improving and stabilizing" the rapidly-changing news industry. His urgent request:
We need a real and broad public discussion of the role news is meant to play in our democratic system of government and a better public understanding of the American news infrastructure's fragile condition. We need to know how things got this way and what we need to change.
Apart from a few scattered snarky responses, the majority of the Twitter commentary on Rather's eloquent plea was thoughtful pondering:
Pulse Blog Archive
- September 2008 (1)
- October 2008 (1)
- November 2008 (5)
- December 2008 (8)
- January 2009 (7)
- February 2009 (5)
- March 2009 (3)
- April 2009 (6)
- May 2009 (3)
- June 2009 (3)