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The Industry

  1. Behind the News — October 25, 2012 11:00 AM

    HuffPost launches a platform for user-generated reporting

    “Firsthand” to premiere “a new type of comment”

    By Hazel Sheffield

    An October 1 editorial from Arianna Huffington announced The Huffington Post’s latest development in user engagement: Firsthand. Developed using a reporting platform called Ushahidi, Firsthand invites users to contribute words, images, or video to show how issues track across geographical areas. For its first month, Firsthand is appealing to the Huffington Post community for stories on mortgage refinancing and foreclosures.

    ...

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  2. #Realtalk — October 25, 2012 06:50 AM

    Managing your archive

    What to do with the clips from assignments gone by

    By Ann Friedman
    Here's a topic from Getting Shit Together 101: writing samples. How does one correctly mail them, hard-copy style? Is sending several pages of newsprint and whole magazines containing articles unacceptable? I'm imagining my fat yellow manila folder landing in some immaculate 15th-floor office and spewing out pages of newsprint, and an executive assistant grumbling, "Who the hell sent a packet...

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  3. Between the Spreadsheets — October 24, 2012 03:15 PM

    A data dream team

    One example of how academic researchers and journalists can work together on data projects

    By Anna Codrea-Rado

    Data journalism and information visualization is a burgeoning field. Every week, Between the Spreadsheets will analyze, interrogate, and explore emerging work in this area. Between the Spreadsheets is brought to you by CJR and Columbia’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism.

    Data journalism is often a collaborative process. When Nathan Matias, a research assistant at the MIT Media Lab Center for...

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  4. The Kicker — October 23, 2012 04:20 PM

    Pulitzer Prize Board announces three new members

    Steve Coll, Quiara Alegria Hudes, and Aminda Marques Gonzalez to join

    By Hazel Sheffield

    Columbia University announced today that three new members are joining the Pulitzer Prize Board.

    Steve Coll, who has worked at The New Yorker since 2005, the playwright Quiara Alegria Hudes, and Aminda Marques Gonzalez, an executive editor at The Miami Herald, are the latest additions to the board since Stephen Engelberg of ProPublica joined in May.

    “They represent excellence from...

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  5. The Kicker — October 23, 2012 12:50 PM

    Let Detroit do what?

    New interest in an old Op-Ed

    By Mike Hoyt

    What is the most viewed story on The New York Times website right now?

    It's an Op-Ed piece from nearly four years ago, November 18 2008. The author is one Mitt Romney, who may regret the headline: Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.

    The reason, of course, is that the piece came up in Monday night's debate, followed by a...

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  6. Behind the News — October 23, 2012 11:20 AM

    BBC in crisis over a shelved pedophile investigation

    Newsnight accused of a coverup after they dropped the case

    By Hazel Sheffield

    When it emerged, a year after his death, that popular UK television personality Jimmy Saville may have molested hundreds of girls, his headstone was torn down and plaques placed in his honor around the country were defaced and then removed. Now the controversy has spread to Savile’s former employer, the BBC, since it emerged last week that an investigation into...

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  7. The Kicker — October 22, 2012 06:20 PM

    ‘Hi, Mark!’

    The Newspaper Guild welcomes The New York Times's new CEO

    By Sara Morrison

    Mark Thompson began work today as the new CEO of The New York Times, and the Newspaper Guild was there to greet him:

    The guild has been in negotiations with NYT management since the union contract expired over 18 months ago, and relations between the sides have only become more acrimonious. Last February, guild members lined the hallways outside...

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  8. Behind the News — October 22, 2012 06:50 AM

    Artists from around the world to report for new site

    Creative Times Reports will publish dispatches from abroad

    By Hazel Sheffield

    A new website, Creative Time Reports, gives artists from around the world a platform for commentary and analysis on current affairs. The site, which launched on October 11, is the latest initative by Creative Time, a 40-year-old nonprofit that commissions and presents socially conscious art projects.

    “The impetus for doing this goes back to Creative Time’s mission that artists...

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  9. The Kicker — October 19, 2012 05:41 PM

    Pass the #popcorn

    ICYMI: Matt Sullivan's announcement pits Felix Salmon against Foster Kamer

    By Sara Morrison

    According to a recent Pew study, 15 percent of adults online use Twitter — 8 percent daily. I’ve yet to see a study confirming this, but I’m pretty sure most of that 8 percent are journalists. Journalists love Twitter, whether using it for writing, conversation, or fighting. And I love to watch—and judge—the sparring.

    If you see a #JournoTweetFight that...

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  10. Minority Reports — October 19, 2012 06:50 AM

    Covering the candidates on women

    As Obama and Romney try to secure the female vote, reporting quality varies

    By Jennifer Vanasco

    In her column, Minority Reports, Jennifer Vanasco analyzes how the mainstream media covers social minorities.

    During the second Presidential debate this week, both President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney spent significant time playing to women voters, acting on the perception that Romney is closing the gender gap in the final weeks before the election.

    Most news organizations did the expected...

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  11. Behind the News — October 18, 2012 03:48 PM

    Newsweek is dead … long live Newsweek?

    The end of its print run may not be all doom and gloom

    By Sara Morrison

    As has been reported all over the place today, Newsweek/The Daily Beast editor in chief Tina Brown and CEO Baba Shetty announced that, after 79 years, the final print version of Newsweek will hit newsstands on December 31. As of the new year, the magazine will transition to a digital-only format called Newsweek Global, available via paid subscription.

    To many,...

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  12. #Realtalk — October 18, 2012 06:50 AM

    The tweet life

    How journalists can reap the benefits of Twitter without falling into its traps

    By Ann Friedman
    How can I get more Twitter followers? —Gabriel Arana

    Twitter has become indispensable for journalists. Not because it’s the best place to find sources (though it can be useful for that) and not because it leads to the most productive conversation (though it can be quite inspiring), but because it’s the profession’s digital watercooler. Admittedly, the logic is kind of...

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  13. Behind the News — October 18, 2012 06:50 AM

    Study shows UK newspapers are still sexist

    78 percent of front-page articles are written by men

    By Hazel Sheffield

    The UK media is still dominated by sexist stereotypes and run by male journalists, according to a front page story in the Guardian on Monday. Using figures from a new study released by Women In Journalism, the Guardian created an infographic from data gathered by analyzing nine UK newspapers over the course of four weeks. In that time, across titles,...

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  14. Between the Spreadsheets — October 17, 2012 05:00 PM

    More than a photograph

    The best data visualizations aren't always online

    By Anna Codrea-Rado

    Data journalism and information visualization is a burgeoning field. Every week, Between the Spreadsheets will analyze, interrogate, and explore emerging work in this area. Between the Spreadsheets is brought to you by CJR and Columbia’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism.

    When it comes to numbers, sometimes less is more. Peter Ørntoft's data project for the Danish Design School — which...

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  15. Behind the News — October 17, 2012 06:50 AM

    Technology gives deaf journalists more options

    It's easier than ever to interview sources, says freelance journalist Lisa Goldstein

    By Janice Arenofsky

    When Pittsburgh journalist Lisa A. Goldstein signs onto an instant messaging program, the 39-year-old freelancer is doing so not only to communicate in real time on the Internet, but also to converse visually. As a deaf journalist working in a hearing world, she does everything she can to ease communication.

    “There’s no better time to be a deaf journalist,” she...

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  16. The Kicker — October 16, 2012 05:30 PM

    Fisching for attention

    CNN didn't need to give anti-gay activist Bryan Fischer airtime

    By Sara Morrison

    You'd think there would be little to criticize about Southern Poverty Law Center's "Mix It Up at Lunch Day" project, designed to teach children tolerance and prevent bullying in schools by asking students to "connect with someone new" during lunch on October 30. But American Family Association found a way! The nonprofit association, which SPLC designated as an anti-gay hate...

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  17. Behind the News — October 16, 2012 03:50 PM

    CMJ hosts a panel on ‘Music Journalism Exploded’

    Editors from Billboard, MTV, and SPIN contribute

    By Hazel Sheffield

    Every October, New York City welcomes a circus of music industry professionals for a week of conferences, showcases, and parties called the CMJ Music Marathon. The event opened with a panel on music journalism.

    “Music journalism has exploded into a million tiny pieces,” host Benjamin Wagner, senior vice president at MTV News, said in his introduction. “The playing field...

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  18. Behind the News — October 16, 2012 03:38 PM

    Stories I’d like to see

    Electoral legal minefields, baseball contracts, and airline woes

    By Steven Brill

    In his weekly “Stories I’d like to see” column, journalist and entrepreneur Steven Brill spotlights topics that, in his opinion, have received insufficient media attention. This article was originally published on Reuters.com.

    1. The Election Day legal battlefield:

    We need all kinds of coverage of the legal Armageddon that we may face on Election Day and the morning after.

    Assuming...

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  19. Behind the News — October 16, 2012 06:50 AM

    Santa Barbara is getting a nonprofit investigative newsroom

    A Knight grant is funding the launch of a new journalism initiative

    By Hazel Sheffield

    A few years ago, a small team of journalists based in Santa Barbara, CA, starting sharing ideas on how address a gap in investigative coverage in their hometown. Now that gap is about to be filled thanks to a two-year, $500,000 matching grant from the Knight Foundation. Next year the Santa Barbara Journalism Initiative will launch the city's first nonprofit,...

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  20. Behind the News — October 15, 2012 11:00 AM

    MSN.com launches news service

    MSN News is built for Windows 8 and Internet Explorer 10

    By Hazel Sheffield

    It’s only three months since Microsoft sold its stake in MSNBC.com, the news site it produced for 16 years in partnership with NBC, but the computing giant has already announced that it will launch a news service called MSN News with the release of Windows 8 on October 26. After that date, visitors to MSN.com will see a blend of...

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