Are there really only six essential books on online journalism? {UPDATED}: Now 9

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I was looking to draw up a list of ten essential books on online journalism – but it seems to me that there are really only six (updated to 8, September 2010).

Have I missed something? Let me know. In the meantime, here are my six 8 essential reads for online journalists:

  1. For a different angle on the whole shebang: Gatewatching by Axel Bruns: not the most famous of books – perhaps because it is so far ahead of its time. Gatewatching looks at peer to peer publishing, and non-traditional news organisations: the likes of Slashdot, Kuro5hin, and Wikinews, among others. An essential read for an insight into how news reporting can be organised completely differently. See also: Digitizing the News by Pablo Boczkowski.
  2. For an authoritative history: Online News by Stuart Allan: a refreshingly rigorous look at some of the most famous moments in online journalism – Rathergate; 9/11; Drudge. Helps supply the reality behind the mythology. See also: Online Journalism by Jim Hall.
  3. For an essential challenge to your basic journalistic values in the new media age: Online Journalism Ethics by Friend & Singer: poses the questions we should all be asking ourselves, and is brave enough not to supply the answer.
  4. For the definitive guide to citizen journalism: We The Media by Dan Gillmor: doesn’t sit on the wall, but then Gillmor would be the first to point out that objectivity is dead. Not to be confused with the also very good We Media by Bowman & Willis (online only).
  5. For a good introduction to the basics of writing for the web I will obviously now recommend The Online Journalism Handbook by Liisa Rohumaa and I. Also good: Digital Journalism by Mark S. Luckie which brings up to date some of the techniques first introduced in Journalism Online by Mike Ward, which is still worth reading. And Convergence Journalism by Janet Kolodzy and Convergent Journalism by Stephen Quinn focus specifically on multimedia. Also, download Journalism 2.0 (PDF) by Mark Briggs (thanks to Steve Yelvington in the comments for reminding me about this one).
  6. For a guide to interactive storytelling: Flash Journalism by Mindy McAdams: covers the ideas behind good multimedia interactives as well as the practicalities.
  7. ADDED SEP 2010: On community management, 18 Rules of Community Engagement is a great introduction.
  8. ADDED SEP 2010: On the enterprise side of things, Funding Journalism in the Digital Age (reviewed here) is a great introduction to the range of business models and experiments.
  9. ADDED JULY 2011: For a vital grounding in search engine and social media optimisation: The Search by John Battelle, beefed up with Click by Bill Tancer and The Facebook Effect by David Kirkpatrick.

PS: I maintain an ongoing list of useful books for online journalists at My Amazon Associates store. If you’re in the US, you may prefer the Amazon.com version.

UPDATE: It’s very true that blogs are a better source of up to date information and reflection on what’s going on now. Check out Shane Richmond’s list on must-read online journalism posts.

Are there really only six essential books on online journalism? {UPDATED: Now 9}

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I was looking to draw up a list of ten essential books on online journalism – but it seems to me that there are really only six eight nine.

Have I missed something? Let me know. In the meantime, here are my six 8 9 essential reads for online journalists:

  1. For a different angle on the whole shebang: Gatewatching by Axel Bruns: not the most famous of books – perhaps because it is so far ahead of its time. Gatewatching looks at peer to peer publishing, and non-traditional news organisations: the likes of Slashdot, Kuro5hin, and Wikinews, among others. An essential read for an insight into how news reporting can be organised completely differently. See also: Digitizing the News by Pablo Boczkowski.
  2. For an authoritative history: Digital Journalism by Jones & Lee is very comprehensive and worth reading in full. See also: Online News by Stuart Allan.
  3. For an essential challenge to your basic journalistic values in the new media age: Ethics for Digital Journalists poses the questions we should all be asking ourselves. See also: Online Journalism Ethics by Friend & Singer.
  4. For the definitive guide to citizen journalism: We The Media by Dan Gillmor is seminal: it doesn’t sit on the wall, but then Gillmor would be the first to point out that objectivity is dead.
  5. For a good introduction to the basics of writing for the web, multimedia and data journalism I obviously recommend my own book The Online Journalism Handbook written with Liisa Rohumaa. Also good: Online Journalism: The Essential Guide by Lashmar and Hill; and Digital Journalism by Mark S. Luckie.
  6. For a guide to interactive storytelling: Newsgames by Bogost et al covers the development of interactivity in storytelling, and game journalism in particular.
  7. On community management, Richard Millington’s Buzzing Communities is a key book.
  8. On the enterprise side of things, Funding Journalism in the Digital Age (reviewed here) is a great introduction to the range of business models and experiments. On a more practical level The Entrepreneurial Journalist’s Toolkit by Sara Kelly is better.
  9. For a vital grounding in search engine and social media optimisation: The Search by John Battelle, beefed up with Click by Bill Tancer and The Facebook Effect by David Kirkpatrick.

PS: I maintain an ongoing list of useful books for online journalists at My Amazon Associates store. If you’re in the US, you may prefer the Amazon.com version.

UPDATE: It’s very true that blogs are a better source of up to date information and reflection on what’s going on now. Check out Shane Richmond’s list on must-read online journalism posts.

Ego boost for the week (oh, and nine other bloggers)

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Adrian Monck has compiled a top ten of “the UK’s finest journalism bloggers” based on blogroll links. Here it is:

  1. 194 Roy Greenslade
  2. 165 Paul Bradshaw
  3. 119 Shane Richmond
  4. 73 Robin Hamman
  5. 66 Jemima Kiss
  6. 65 Andrew Grant-Adamson65 Martin Stabe
  7. 61 Richard Sambrook
  8. 49 Seamus McCauley
  9. 46 Simon Waldman

Does this merely demonstrate what an incestuous lot we are? That only the BBC, Guardian and Telegraph have time to allow staff to write about what they’re doing? That it’s time to start linking to other people on my blogroll? That Adrian has too much time on his hands? Of course we’ve been here before. Answers on a postcard, please.

Blogs e Jornalismo Investigativo: O debate amador-profissional

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Na segunda parte de meu capítulo de livro, dou uma olhada nas críticas dirigidas tanto a blogueiros quando a jornalistas profissionais. Qualquer correção, informação extra ou comentários são bem-vindos. [This is a Portuguese translation of Blogs and Investigative Journalism part two. Thanks to Gabriela Zago]

O debate amador-profissional

Blogs têm atraído críticas de uma variedade de fontes por serem suscetíveis de mobilizar multidões (Allan, 2006), por conter opiniões doentias ou viciadas, por ser uma “cadeia de eco”de vozes homogêneas (Henry, 2007), pela falta de rigor editorial, e como representantes do crescimento do “culto do amador”. Continue reading →

Blogs e Jornalismo Investigativo: Blogs e Jornalismo

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A seguir você encontra a primeira parte de um capítulo de livro sobre Blogs e Jornalismo Investigativo. O trecho introduz blogs em geral e sua relação com o jornalismo. Qualquer correção, informação extra ou comentários são bem-vindos. [This is a Portuguese translation of Blogs and Investigative Journalism part one. Thanks to Gabriela Zago]

Blogs e Jornalismo

Perguntar se “blogs são jornalismo” é confundir forma por conteúdo. Blogs – como websites, papel, televisão ou rádio – podem conter jornalismo, mas podem não conter. Eles são plataformas, embora – como outras plataformas midiáticas – sigam determinadas convenções genéricas. Como em todas convenções, elas possuem vantagens e desvantagens para o jornalismo, e é o que este capítulo objetiva tratar. Continue reading →

Washington Post Facebook app – the sequel

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Washington Post Facebook appThe Washington Post have followed up their playful Facebook app Compass with the more functional newsTracker – and it’s very good indeed.

Not only can you specify which topics you want ‘fed’ to your page – but you can also include custom searches (which is why mine has no current matches – they’re very specific).

The ‘Hot News’ tag cloud is nice – but the ‘Friends’ Search Terms’ really takes advantage of the social element of Facebook technology – although it does raise possible privacy issues (Blog Friends does a similar thing very well).

Add the application here.

Read Rob Curley’s blog entry on the tool here.

An open letter to Roy Greenslade: Why I’m not leaving the NUJ

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Dear Roy,

For someone who believes in the merits of the web conversation, your decision to leave the NUJ strikes me as strange.

You say you

“cannot, in conscience, go on supporting this crucial plank of NUJ policy when it is so obvious that online media outlets will require fewer staff. We are surely moving towards a situation in which relatively small “core” staffs will process material from freelances and/or citizen journalists, bloggers, whatever (and there are many who think this business of “processing” will itself gradually disappear too in an era of what we might call an unmediated media).”  Continue reading →

Web culture “degrades valuable things”? A rant at David Leigh

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Today’s rant is addressed to investigative reporter David Leigh, a person I respect enormously but who makes the typical mistake in the latest Press Gazette. of mistaking new media for old media:

He said that web culture “degrades valuable things” such as “the idea of discrimination, that some voices are more credible than others, that a named source is better than an anonymous pamphleteer (that’s what they used to call bloggers in the 18th century, when they published, for example, the politically dangerous Letters of Junius.) The notion of authoritativeness is derided as a sort of ‘top-down’ fascism. I fear that these developments will endanger the role of the reporter.” Continue reading →