April 20, 2007
An interview with Lee Horwich, senior assignment editor for USA TODAY‘s Washington desk, is serving as national editor for transportation, political editor, and a lead editor in redesignig print and online politics coverage for the 2008 election cycle.
By Andy Sternberg, 04/20/07 at 3:44 pm
Posted in News
Comments (1) • Permalink • Tell-a-Friend
April 20, 2007
The Orange County Register decided to allow comments on all its stories, but have had to deal with a lot of problems stemming from inappropriate user comments. Issues such as who will edit the comments, the question of censorship and whether comments should be allowed on every story.
This debate seems old, or at least common in news Web site circles. Not much new here, but still haven’t figured out an answer.
Maybe a newer angle is a question asked by Rachel Nixon from BBCNews.com: do you ask users what kind of stories they want or what they want to see covered?
Michael Sokoler of the Center for at American Public Media offered an interesting point of view: there’s a big difference between watching people respond to what we do and asking what they want us to cover? It’s hard to get people to say what they want without having them rely on traditional buzzwords to identify those topics - meaning things that are already covered.
He said there’s been a decline in relevance of the news, loss of connection between the public and the news media and it’s crucial to ask readers what they want to know about and to see and to create more of a partnership between the media and its public.
By Jessica Roberts, 04/20/07 at 2:19 pm
Posted in News
Comments (1) • Permalink • Tell-a-Friend
April 20, 2007
James F. Smith is the national political editor for Boston Globe and Boston.com.
By Andy Sternberg, 04/20/07 at 10:34 am
Posted in News
Comments (1) • Permalink • Tell-a-Friend
April 20, 2007
Immediacy is another mixed blessing in the news Web site world, where the speed of the medium can make the accuracy v. speed battle dangerous, but there is a certain amount of responsibility expected from users, the fellows suggested today.
Users no longer pick up one, or even two or three, newspapers and call it a day. They aren’t even watching the evening news at 6 p.m. and catching the follow-up five hours later. On the internet a user will look at your site, and check that information against a handful of other sites, at least.
Especially on “breaking” news stories, the discussion suggested that readers are expected to understand that there is a difference between “breaking” news and regular news - they will recognize that the information is new, perhaps incomplete, and subject to change as more reports become available.
Users are also expected to know the difference between blogging and reporting, and not to attribute the same level of authority to a blog as they would to a news story.
So it turns out journalists are not the only ones expected to adapt for new technology - the users have to do it too. And to be honest, they are probably way ahead of all the journalists on that anyway.
By Jessica Roberts, 04/20/07 at 10:18 am
Posted in News
Comments (0) • Permalink • Tell-a-Friend
This blog was written by speakers, fellows, and student reporters who attended the Knight Digital Media Center Election '08: Covering Politics in Cyberspace seminar.
April 20, 2007
Conference Photos, Links, and Coverage
April 20, 2007
Interview: Lee Horwich, USA TODAY
April 20, 2007
Readers talk back
April 20, 2007
Interview: Jim Smith, Boston Globe
April 20, 2007
The users’ side of the bargain
The Knight Digital Media Center is a partnership between:
© 2009 Knight Digital Media Center | Funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
RSS Feed