Is there any credible criticism of link journalism?
I’m working on another column for the American Society of Newspaper Editors’ quarterly magazine. The theme of the column will be about link journalism — how to do it, why to do it.
Part of my premise is that it’s been with us longer than the web has been around. How often have we heard an NPR Morning Edition anchor interview a reporter for another news organization who is at the scene of a major news event? Isn’t that just a form of “link journalism”?
At my news organization, we’ve incorporated link journalism into several of our sections, including politics, religion, sports and some of our blogs such as the Conversation about Race. We’re using the Publish2 tool to make it happen. If you know of other tools, I’d love to hear about them.
I’m challenged to find any reasons not to practice link journalism. Beyond the pedestrian concern about linking to stuff that’s not credible (and I don’t think anyone advocates that), why wouldn’t you do more linking? Has anyone heard a good reason not to?
Interesting stuff I saw online, Mar. 24 to Mar. 30
Here’s some of the stuff I thought was interesting while stomping through the Internet from Mar. 24 through Mar. 30:
- Newspapers Fail To Harness Readers' Social Power – MarketingVOX – From Gartner Group: "In the face of declining circulations, falling offline and online revenue, and competition from digital sources, newspapers have not taken adequate steps to integrate social media tools into their content management 'ecosystem,' the report said, adding that the most important task for newspapers now is to prioritize the integration of social media into a current or future content management system."
- Top 20 Ways to Share a Great Blog Post – Mashable: "Luckily, there’s no shortage of ways to spread the word. Blogs, social networks, instant messenger, and mobile phones are some of the many ways to let others know about the best content on the web."
- Using Social Media to Reach Young Readers – Nieman reports: "We also realized that her story would be of great interest to the community and her college-aged peers in particular, most of whom don’t read the daily newspaper. So we had to find different ways of reporting and bringing the story to them."
- Newspapers: 5 Ways to Avoid Extinction – "Following these five business practices may not solve all the problems. Each newspaper has its own personality, formed by the relationship between its journalists and readers, and governed by forces that extend beyond the marketplace. It’s up to each publisher to consider the options and make decisions. Doing nothing is not an option."
Monsanto has healthy attitude in its blog start
My colleague Jeffrey Tomich wrote about Monsanto Co.’s entry last month into the blogosphere — and social media — with its launch of “Monsanto According to Monsanto.” I think Jeff did a great job of representing a variety of points of view as a major corporation adopts social tools to participate in the discussion about its issues.
For years, environmental and food activists have made good use of YouTube video and Facebook to skewer Monsanto in the blogosphere. Now, the biotech giant is turning the tables.
The company’s blog, Monsanto According to Monsanto, made its debut Feb. 10, and it is the company’s latest tool to engage critics on hot-button issues such as food labeling. The title spoofs a documentary by French journalist Marie-Monique Robin that has been viewed more than 47,000 times on YouTube.
I cringed slightly with one point expressed in Jeff’s story, that of Nora Ganim Barnes. The story says she “has studied corporate use of social media at the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, and urges companies to not let online criticism go unchallenged.”
No quarrel there. As one public affairs manager, John Combest, said: “There was this big conversation going on (on the Internet), and we weren’t a part of it.” Read more
Interesting stuff I saw online, Mar. 21 to Mar. 24
Here’s some of the stuff I thought was interesting while stomping through the Internet from Mar. 21 through Mar. 24:
- Clive Thompson on the Taming of Comment Trolls – A couple of the comments on this story might be more interesting than the item itself: "The challenge Obama faces in allowing conversation at the digital White House is obvious: trolls. Discussion-thread veterans will tell you that politics attracts more vicious, raging, insult-hurling trolls than almost any other topic."
- Economist Blames Twitter for Down Economy – Professor Martin Schmeldon of Harvard Business School recently released research findings that suggest excessive Twitter use may have caused the current economic downturn.
- The rise and fall of social media (according to mainstream media reportage) | higher ed marketing – The seven phases of mainstream media coverage of social media, illustrated with a chart.
- Xark!: 2020 vision: What's next for news – Wow. An incredibly comprehensive outline for trends and ideas to look out for in the next generation of news. A reading assignment, but worth a look.
On the ideal of real names on story comments
Joel Kramer
Last week, the Nieman Journalism Lab featured a piece by Joel Kramer, former editor of the Minneapolis Star Tribune and founder of MinnPost.com. Buried deep into the piece, Kramer writes this of reader comments on his site: “Those who want to leave a comment must register, and their full real names are attached to their comments.”
There is no doubt that signed comments — rather than anonymous — would elevate the level of discourse on our web sites. A segment on WNYC’s “On the Media” last week even taught us the name for “how cruel people can get, given a little anonymity on the Internet. It’s called ‘online disinhibition effect.’”
Kramer’s site isn’t the only one that says it requires real names for reader comments. Former Gatehouse Media digital publishing director Howard Owens requires them on his blog. One of my readers noted in an earlier post that the Downtown St. Louis Residents Association uses software called Disqus (and Facebook Connect) to require real names. The Nashua Telegraph web site also uses Disqus.
In spite of that, I haven’t been able to figure this out: How, really, do you require real names? Even Facebook can’t prove I’m not who I say I am, if I’m required to register there. When Howard Owens and I exchanged comments about this on his blog, he acknowledged that it would be tough for a large-volume site to guard against fake names.
I asked MinnPost.com how they do it. Read more
Kurt's Tweets- Realizing how woefully out of touch I have been with this part of the county. (@ Saint Louis Bread Company) http://4sq.com/5z5Bfh
- Just had my first Gmail phone call -- with my parents -- and the quality was fantastic. Wow. http://tcrn.ch/a8GndI
- Another day, another interview. Fingers crossed. (@ Saint Louis Bread Co) http://4sq.com/avGImL
- Helping my son learn the first 20 elements on the periodic table. Disturbed by how many more elements there are since I studied this stuff.
- Giving blood. (@ St. Martin's Episcopal Church) http://4sq.com/aiWuEk