Category Archives: online journalism

NUJ ADM: Digital Convergence: How should we respond?

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Probably the most interesting part of the weekend’s NUJ annual conference was a fringe meeting on digital convergence. Speakers included Cardiff University’s Dr Andy Williams on his research into Trinity Mirror’s online strategy, The Guardian’s Len Mulholland, BBC News Online journalist Paula Dear, NUJ NEC member Adam Christie, and NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear.

Below are video clips from the event, but here are the bullet points:

  • Trinity Mirror makes more money, spends less, employs fewer, circulation drops
  • The Guardian invests in its website and training, but the web staff are often marginalised when decisions are made – for instance, when the political print team went ‘web-first’ for a conference the web journalists (who had already been web-first) were not consulted as to how they might adapt as a result.
  • There is also concern about short-term contracts for those on more ‘experimental’ projects such as vodcasts.
  • The main issue for journalists on the BBC’s website is 24/7 working patterns and the rota that goes with that.
  • News management admit they don’t have a clue what they’re doing. The NUJ is seeking to set up a commission on convergence to help establish best practice and lead the process of convergence (more on this in later posts).

Introduction (chair: Jemima Kiss)

Dr Andy Williams

Len Mulholland, Guardian

Paula Dear, BBC

Finally, go to this page to download audio of Jeremy Dear.

Blogging the NUJ annual conference

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For the next four days a team of student NUJ members will be blogging the annual conference. The conference is taking place in Birmingham, as the organisation celebrates its centenary (the very first conference took place here).

Anyway, full disclosure: I’m helping the students to run the blog, which is at http://100yearsofnuj.wordpress.com/ – there’s also a Flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/nuj100/, and a wiki at http://nuj100.wiki.zoho.com/. It’ll be interesting to see what the students – who have quite a mix of skills and experience – will make of it.

Conference: the impact of convergence and integration on journalists and journalism

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From NUJ Active:

One-day conference – Integration: The Big Conversation starts here…
An NUJ conference looking at the impact of convergence and integration on journalists and journalism will be held on Saturday 5th May in London. The NUJ wants to hear your views on the integration of new technologies in the media: the key challenges and also the lessons to be drawn from the good and bad practice already taking place. Find out more about the conference by clicking here.

Places are strictly limited so book early to ensure you don’t miss out! Email campaigns@nuj.org.uk

The NEC has produced interim guidance notes on the key issues facing members in the convergence of print and digital newsrooms. To access these click here

Members at Johnston Press have negotiated an enabling agreement for the introduction of New Media at Yorkshire Post Newspapers. A copy of this agreement is available here

Students launch kids’ news website

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A group of third year students on our journalism degree are running a live website all week. 4 You is aimed at 11-16 year olds and the group are finding writing for the audience hard.

Melissa Marshall, fashion and features editor for the group said: “We are only in our second day of the website but already it is pretty stressful! The hardest thing is trying to write stories that our target audience will be able to digest easily and will actually find interesting; but so far it’s been a great experience.”

Melissa is working with four other final year students – Richard Green, Eliot Mullett, Matthew King and Daniel Bardell – to update the site with breaking news. Each student has a specialist role, ranging from website designer to section editors.

In addition to the news items, the website has a news blog, editor’s blog and a sports blog, where readers are able to interact with the 4 You team and discuss different stories.

To make the site even more interactive, the team have set up message boards and are in the process of recording audio and video both for the blogs and for stories.

But as news editor Eliot Mullett states, this hasn’t been easy: “The more interactive we want to become, or the better we strive the website to be, the less time we seem to have in our editing role.

“Take Tuesday for example: I spent most of it sorting out the technical side of the website and helping the other guys do theirs. But when I finished for the day I hadn’t actually posted any stories at all!”

The students will not only be producing a live website, but also a magazine offering a more reflective angle on the news, as well as numerous features that are of interest to children.

Elliott says the team welcomes any comments or criticism about individual news items or design.

Rocketboom may charge for shows

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Advertisers aren’t interested in 200,000 users, reports MarketWatch:

“So, how does Rocketboom keep the lights on? Baron says the video blog has become kind of a loss leader and a promotional device for the real money. Like a blog, he says he has established the Rocketboom team as experts in using video on the Web. “We get consulting opportunities, conferences give honorariums. For us, there are many off-shoots.””

Media website editors network site – a plug

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“Online resource and discussion area for media website editors” the Digital Editors Network gets a plug in the latest Press Gazette letters page. It’s pretty quiet at the moment, both in terms of posts and comments, and it’s not clear whether media website editors have been invited to post to the site, or only comment (I’m guessing the latter). As word gets around (and I hope I’m helping here) it may be one to watch, particularly with regard to Johnston Press.

Express relaunches online, Star to follow

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Express website 19 April 07Journalism.co.uk reports on the relaunch of the Express, with the Daily Star to follow, including:

  • “unique content and an archive which allows readers to search past stories and the community areas of the site.
  • “a string of blogs from its Sunday and Daily journalists.
  • “MYExpress facility that enables users to have their own space on the site. This area can be to personalised by filtering some content, such as weather and horoscopes, and uploading pictures. It will also be possible for users to browse through other users’ profiles.”
  • And “a deal had been done with a video supplier and that video and podcasts would be added to the mix in the coming weeks once the initial launch was completed.”

Sounds pretty good for a Desmond-owned publication (not difficult, admittedly), although in reality it’s a website that looks like it was created by someone who was once told what this web 2.0 thing is all about, but wasn’t really listening. Or, in other words, new media through an old media hack’s eyes.

The blogs are basically opinion columns (no links), I can’t find the “community areas”, and of course there’s no video yet. MYExpress is the most impressive – I can imagine Express readers too dazzled by MySpace social networking away with other Disgusteds, although there’s not much to it apart from a blogging service, personalised homepage and ability to search other profiles. Oh, and the online journalists are ghettoised in a separate team.

Anyway, welcome to the 21st century, Express.

Students revel in video

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Last week I had the tall task of introducing students to online video in barely three hours. Thankfully they were thoroughly engaged in the subject – particularly enjoying the examples I showed (most of them in my previous post on four types of video journalism.

In order to get them using the editing software (rather than Avid I picked something free that anyone can download – Windows Movie Maker) I sent them out to record video diaries for their blogs, with the emphasis on movement, personality, and mise en scene.

The draft results indicated they’d got the idea. I’m waiting to see the finished versions but below is Felicity’s reflections on being Communities Correspondent (Polish & Jewish), which is nice and breezy for 20 mins’ work and shows good use of movement (if not great audio at the start):