THE BLOGGING JOURNALIST

Unpaid Bloggers

Dave Parrack made the following observation in June 1, 2009, post at Tech.Blorge headlined Arianna Huffington wins while her unpaid bloggers:

One of the biggest Web sites which has managed to build huge traffic on the back of unpaid writers is The Huffington Post, a politics and news blog run by Arianna Huffington.

Parrack said, “According to AdAge, Huffington is soon to be awarded the Fred Dressler Lifetime Achievement Award from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications. So, a school which trains journalists is rewarding someone who expects journalists to work for free.”

If you expect to be paid, work out the terms in a written contract before writing one word for a publication.

Technorati Tags: The Huffington Post,Dave Parrack,Unpaid Bloggers

Do Some Bloggers Influence Shoppers’ Purchasing Decisions?

The Chicago Tribune’s Sandra M. Jones reported June 2, 2009: “When it comes to purchasing decisions, chat rooms and bloggers aren't as influential as you may think.” For more, see “Friends still rule for shopping advice, survey finds.”

Technorati Tags: Blogers,Sandra M. Jones,Chicago Tribune

TBJ Blog Notes

May 26, 2009, was the first day of blogging for Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Henry Unger. His blog is called The Biz Beat. Welcome, Henry.

San Francisco, California-based Jim Hopkins, publisher of the Gannett Blog, which “ has no formal affiliation with Gannett Co.,” will cease publishing his blog on October 1, 2009. See Hopkins’ May 26, 2009, post headlined “Going fishin' | I'm now handing in my notice” learn why. It may surprise you. Then again it may not.

On May 26, 2009, Universe Today’s Fraser Cain reported: “I just got an email out of the blue from former CNN anchor Miles O’Brien letting me know about a recent blog post at True/Slant about the recent repair of the Hubble Space Telescope. It’s a great article, go read it and then dig back through the archives. I think the first article is here.” See “Miles O’Brien is Hubble Blogging Over at True/Slant.”

Recommended: Poynter Online writer Will Sullivan’s May 27, 2009, E-Media Tidbits post headlined “Chicago Tribune Launches New 'Huffington Post Meets Facebook' Blog Network.”

Mark Potts at Recovering Journalist also has a take on The Tribune’s new venture. See “The Future is ChicagoNow.”

Agence France Presse: Susie's Big Adventure in Saudi Arabia has turned a little dark: the US expat's chirpy blog on life in the kingdom with a Saudi husband has been blocked by the country's censors.”

Steven A. Smith over at Still A Newspaperman: “When I quit The Spokesman last October, I was confident I would find a new job within a few months. Well that hasn’t happened. Since beginning my serious job search in March, I’ve found the opportunities few and far between.” See “On Being Unemployed.”

Technorati Tags: TBJ Blog Notes,Bloggers

A Few Assumptions About Blogging

Andrew G.R. has a May 26, 2009, post at The Blog Herald headlined “Bloggers Must Always Assume Everything.” I highly recommend it.

Technorati Tags: The Blog Herald,Andrew G.R.

If People Really Want Newspapers, They Will Pay for Them

In a May 25, 2009, editorial headlined “Newspapers’ future,” the Financial Times (FT.com) told its readers  “With each month, newspapers look less like a business and more like a lost cause.”

The specialty publication, which claims to be doing well with online subscriptions, added:

The crisis is acute in the US, where some newspaper groups are in Chapter 11 bankruptcy and there are questions over the long-term future even of venerable titles such as The New York Times and The Washington Post.

FT.com ended the editorial with this: “Perhaps some of the reporting done up to now by for-profit papers will in future be funded by foundations or trusts. But the industry should not lose faith in the free market. When people really want or need something, they will pay for it, one way or another. If today’s publishers cannot convince their readers to do so, they will be overtaken by others that can.”

Technorati Tags: Financial Times,Newspapers,Newspapers' Future

The Observer: ‘Will Philadelphia be the Place Where the American Newspaper Dies?’

“The American city of Philadelphia “is running in a race no one wants to win: which major US city will be the first to lose all its daily papers?” Paul Harris of the TheObserver of London told that publications readers on May 24, 2009. In a long post headlined “Will Philadelphia be the place where the American newspaper dies?”, he noted:

Los Angeles, Boston, Detroit, San Francisco, Miami, Denver and Newark are just a few of the other reluctant participants. The impact of losing all newspapers in these cities is potentially profound; many fear it would be a blow to American democracy. They worry that the watchdog role the press has played will be removed. The bedrock on which much of civic society has been built since colonial times will start to crumble. Yet one of these cities could lose all print news within a year.

Harris said, “You can choose metaphors to illustrate how technologically outdated newspapers have become in a media landscape dominated by blogs and the internet. They are vinyl records in an iPod world; videotapes in the era of DVDs and Hulu; typewriters in the face of the laptop. They are an old technology no one wants, needs or, increasingly, seems to care for. Certainly not in Philadelphia, where both the Inquirer and the Daily News are in bankruptcy.

Technorati Tags: The Philadelphia Daily News,The Philadelphia Inquirer,The Observer of London,Paul Harris

Monday, May 25, 2009 Headline Roundup

Winnipeg Free Press: ‘Here's the scoop -- bloggers read newspapers, too!’

African Bloggers Conference set for August 13-16, 2009, in Kenya 

Bloggers on the Bus—Get in the Back

Crowe finds journalistic truth in Hollywood

Towards A Unified Theory Of Drudge

Bill aimed to protect journalists introduced in Wisconsin

Terry Madonna & Michael Young: Memorial Day warning for newspapers

Technorati Tags: Blogging Journalists,Bloggers,Blogging

The Food Blog Code of Ethics

I didn’t know a food blog code of ethics existed until I read Henrietta Roussoulis article about it  in the Sunday, May 24, 2009, Independent online. Writes Roussoulis:

So, the blogosphere is up in arms over a new Food Blog Code of Ethics (http://food ethics.wordpress.com), urging bloggers to "follow the rules of good journalism". Whether such a code is needed is moot, but one thing's for sure: food blogging is serious business.

If you are curious about the code and interested in food blogging, see “Bites: Every blog has its day... "

Technorati Tags: Food Bloggers Code of Ethics,Henrietta Roussoulis,The Independent

The Wall Street Journal’s Advice to Bloggers

The Wall Street Journal reported May 21, 2009, that “Bloggers are increasingly getting sued or threatened with legal action for everything from defamation to invasion of privacy to copyright infringement.” See “Bloggers, Beware: What You Write Can Get You Sued. Writes M.P. McQueen:

In 2007 -- the most recent data available -- 106 civil lawsuits against bloggers and others in social networks and online forums were tallied by the Citizen Media Law Project at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, up from just 12 in 2003.  There have been about $17.4 million in trial awards against bloggers to date, according to the Media Law Resource Center in New York, a nonprofit clearinghouse that tracks free-speech cases.

McQueen noted that, “Many lawsuits are thrown out of court or settled before trial, but not before causing headaches for the accused.”

I highly recommend McQueen’s article. It offers something for bloggers to reflect on.

Technorati Tags: Bloggers and Defamation,M.P. McQueen,The Wall Street Journal Online

U.S. News: ‘How to Earn Money as a Professional Blogger’

Kimberly Palmer at U.S. News & World Report blog posted an article on May 19, 2009, you might want to read. It’s headlined “How to Earn Money as a Professional Blogger.”

Technorati Tags: Professional Blogger,U.s. News & World Report. Kimberly Palmer

The Symbiotic Relationship Between Bloggers and Journalists

Recommended: Salon.com blogger Glenn Greenwald’s May 18, 2009, post headlined “The myth of the parasitical bloggers.” Writes Greenwald:

One of the favorite accusations that many journalists spout, especially now that they're searching for reasons why newspapers and print magazines are dying, is that bloggers and other online writers are "parasites" on their work -- that their organizations bear the cost of producing content and others (bloggers and companies such as Google) then unfairly exploit it for free.

Greenwald, who lives in New York and Brazil, said, “The reality has always been far more mixed than that, and the relationship far more symbiotic than parasitical.  Especially now that online traffic is such an important part of the business model of newspapers and print magazines, traffic generated by links from online venues and bloggers is of great value to them,” he explains in the wake of the Maureen Down plagiarism debate.

Technorati Tags: Glenn Greenwald,Salon.Com,Blogger-Journalist Symbiosis,Maureen Dowd's Plagiarism

Will FTC Issue Ad Guidelines for Bloggers?

“This summer,” the Federal Trade Commission “is expected to issue new advertising guidelines that will require bloggers  to disclose when they're writing about a sponsor's product and voicing opinions that aren't their own,” BusinessWeek reported May 19, 2009. See “Blogola: The FTC Takes On Paid Posts.”

According to the publication, “The new FTC guidelines say that blog authors should disclose when they're being compensated by an advertiser to discuss a product.”

Technorati Tags: BusinessWeek,Federal Trade Commission,Bloggers,Advertisers,Bloggers and Product Reviews

A Good Roundup of Opinion on Ambassador John Huntsman

U.S. President Barack Obama’s May 16, 2009, announcement that he had appointed John Huntsman, Jr., Utah’s Republican governor, ambassador to China generated a diversity of opinion from bloggers. The Blogometer, “a daily report from The Hotline taking the temperature of the political blogosphere,” has a good roundup of opinion offered by liberal and conservative bloggers  See “5/18: Huntsman Goes To China.”

Technorati Tags: The Blogometer,The Hotline,John Huntsman,Bloggers,Barack Obama

Bloggers, John Yoo and The Philadelphia Inquirer

Recommended: The Philadelphia Citypaper’s May 18, 2009, post “The Inquirer editorial page sounds off on bloggers. Ugh” and Philebrity.com’s May 18, 2009, post headlined post “Day 6 Of Inky Boycott Reveals: People Will Blame Bloggers For Anything, And, Natch, PW Still Sucks.”

The posts are response to Philadelphia Inquirer editorial page editor and opinion columnist Harold Jackson’s May 17, 2009, post headlined “Uproar over Inquirer's Yoo ignores opinion page purpose,” which is about the protest and criticism that erupted when The Inquirer hired former Bush Administration Justice Department lawyer John Yoo to write a column for the paper.  Jackson notes that Yoo is “the former Bush Justice Department official who penned memos legitimizing torture of terror suspects.” Some critics say Yoo shouldn’t be given a platform to espouse his view. See “Why is John Yoo Writing for the Inquirer?”

“Unfortunately,” Jackson writes, “most of the critics of our contract with Yoo have their facts wrong.

“But that happens when your information comes from those bloggers who never let the facts get in the way when they're trying to whip people into a frenzy to boost Web site hits,” he charged.

“It's a shame that one blogger who disseminated poor information is actually a full-time journalist for a sister publication in The Inquirer building.”

Technorati Tags: John Yoo,Harold Jackson,Philadelphia Inquirer,Philadelphia City Paper,Philebrity.Com