...was gotten by at b2b reporter. This is really worth researching, as Obama had said his mobile-using supporters would get the news of his VP pick first via text message. The message did go out, and the method was widely heralded as "breakthrough," but the media had already go Biden's nom out.
Paul Conley posted his take, with relevant links.
Thanks to Gawker for this take on Bill Clinton's "scumbag" moment and the means by which it was achieved.
While I'm all for reporters being upfront about their trade around people they want to quote, Hamsher makes two good points in this excerpt alone:
1. Clinton should have been a bit more aware
2. Journalists should be trustworthy for the benefit of the public (and even those they may make look bad) rather than their access.
Granted, I'm not fighting it out in the Dailies trenches on the American political front, so my view is ultimately ignorant and (let's face it) irrelevant. Still, it would be nice to think I could retain an ethic or two on the battlefield.
From Media Darlings to Public Enemy No. 1 in Five Years or Less is a nice piece by Simon Dumenco about the nature of blogging for a living and the threats thereof.
Gawker found these:
Happy Journalist.
Angry Journalist.
At press time, the Angry was winning in terms of post count.
Discuss?
Mr. D B Scott pointed me towards Toronto Life: Spectator, which he bills as the successor to the mag's Conrad Black trial blog.
Spectator will track "power" and "ego" in media (Canada's new Gawker? Not sure if I'd want that.)
Oh so very keen to read this.
Nate Anderson has a story/post on a new bill that would protect journalists from revealing their sources in the U.S. It may apply to bloggers as well (provided they make money doing their reporting).
Linky to post at Ars Technica.
BostonNOW appears to be a print news product that sources blogs and "citizen journalists" for content.
BoingBoing commentary and reporting. Great quote to find again: "Print versions of blogs - their slogan should be 'Bringing you yesterday's news tomorrow.'"
UPDATE
Just a few notes now that I've had exactly 5 minutes to go back and look at this site.
-stories are not dated on the front page. Datelines are found at the bottom of each story
-there are a few older stories still being ranked as "front page" (French election, for example, under the World heading). This could just be because of the presentation scheme (stories perhaps ranked by readers? most recent comments? I'm not sure).
-I find the headlines and decks confusing and mostly useless (which could just mean I'm not Bostonian)
-There is precious little news evident under the World and Nation headings; in order to find news there, you have to navigate a "most popular tags" interface, so news is not presented, but rather placed so readers have to go looking for it
This posting for BoingBoing is really more about politics and the horrible climate in Serbia, but it mentions the killings and attempting killings of a few journalists there.
"On April 14, at 2.50 a.m, in the center of Belgrade, two grenades exploded. They were planted in the bedroom window of prominent Serbian journalist Dejan Anastasijevic.
The first bomb burst early. The blast catapulted the second grenade into the street, into some parked cars and away from the sleeping bodies of Dejan, his wife and his fifteen-year-old daughter. This likely saved their lives."
and also
" As as a few aging Scorpions shuffle off to prison for their crimes of many years ago, Serbian civil society remains imprisoned by its worst elements. Journalist Slavko Curuvija was assassinated by Milosevic secret police hit-men, back in 1999. Our late premiere Zoran Djindjic was shot by state mafia in 2003. That doesn't even count the havoc wreaked by state-mafia complex on its own death-squad soldiers, from Chief Tiger Arkan, shot in 2000, through hundreds of underworld less known bombed in cars, shot in cafes..."
Today's Toronto Star reports that this week's nationwide raids on the Hell's Angels was "announced" by a blogger about a week ahead of time. Secret court documents were posted in late March. Peter Edwards reports in A section "Leaked on the Internet was a judge's order allowing federal authorities to seize the Hells Angels' fortified clubhouse on Eastern Ave. in Toronto, which was home to the largest Hells Angels chapter in Canada."
Patricia reminded me to read this story in Wired that concerns this online journalism project that deals with collaborative, online, "open source" reporting. Crowd-sourcing. That kinda stuff.
Fascinating reading really. I wonder how and when this will explode?
Associated link: NewAssignment.net.
Edit: July 9, 2007
-Wired just published this follow-up (reprinted from Assignment Zero) that gives a state of the union on the project under the headline Open-Source Journalism: It's a Lot Tougher Than You Think.
Edit: July 16, 2007
-Another follow-up entitled Did Assignment Zero Fail? A Look Back and Lessons Learned.
Semi-serious, semi-silly (much like the trial is bound to be), Toronto Life has built a new website/blog that will track the day-to-day of Conrad's circus down south. It has a running counter of his Lordship's legals costs and something called "Style Watch" that has me intrigued.
The site launches in the wake of the dummy site set up by Frank magazine called SupportLordBlack.com. It got media attention after Frank outed itself and published letters of thanks from the naive Lord Black, thank the site's organizers for their help.
This is only tangentially related to news media, but it's important enough that I want to remember it later.
Nicole Cohen (current editor of Shameless Magazine and all around cool friend of mine) wrote an intriguing post on Shameless' blog.
It concerns Facebook and our willing participation in new advertising schemes.
More chilling, however, is her link to this presentation on the connection betweenFacebook and the U.S. government... which could mean nothing, but could mean a lot. I haven't unpacked it all in my brain yet.
The BoingBoing post is rife with relevant links. I'll just link to that for further illumination.
