Journalist as gatekeeper: Is that all there is?

Gatekeeping. This has to be the most (over) used description of what a journalist does that I’m hearing at the moment – gatekeeping. Conferences, blog posts, conversations……the G-word never seems too far away.

Even wikipedia accepts its connection to journalism:

“In human communication, in particular, in journalism, gatekeeping is the process through which ideas and information are filtered for publication. The internal decision making process of relaying or withholding information from the media to the masses.”

It’s cosy isn’t it? We, the journalists, can decide what’s good for you, the reader. Phew, we have a great and valued skill to bring to the world.

But there’s also something that makes me feel a bit uncomfortable about it, maybe it’s a bit complacent and assumptive which got me thinking about who keeps the gate for me, or how I gatekeep for my own sanity.

First there’s the things I don’t want to be subjected to – porn, gambling, material of a an abusive or corrupting nature. Largely I depend on software to keep these the other side of the gate and, largely, that’s successful.

Then there’s the things I want to find out about and for that I rely on my social network (Twitter, Facebook, Delicious), RSS subscriptions, Google alerts for certain subjects with some added serendipity via newspapers/magazines.

So yes, there are some journalist gatekeepers in here – the newspapers being the strongest of those examples – but, valuable though that activity can be, doesn’t this gatekeeping rather undersell what a journalist can bring to the world?

I think we’ve got a whole lot more to offer, skills which could be shared or put to good use in the new order that’s forming.

Just today a blogger within my Twitter network wanted to know where to turn for some libel advice – well a professional journalist friend might be a good start. All that legal training and practical experience could provide a repository of help to those writers and publishers coming from different backgrounds.

Then there’s fact-checking rigour, knowing where to go for information sources, an understanding of the institutions of public administration just to mention a few of the skills which we perhaps undersell in this gatekeeper/censor view of the world.

I’d be interested to hear from other journalists on this – what do you think is your most valuable attribute and how is it best utilised?

Roadtesting Tweetdoc to create an archive from #foj09

I decided to put tweetdoc through its paces today.  A service created by a Manchester developer that promises to answer a need – archiving tweets.

I wanted to keep a record of all the discussions around last week’s Future of Journalism Conference which I attended and blogged about.(Links to that coverage here).

The hashtag was #foj09 but those tweets will soon be lost forever along with some valuable points and contacts I might want to retrieve at a later date.

 The interface is simple to use with a quick registration process. There’s limited personalisation – a choice of headers (mine is “Twitter”) – but input is simple to follow with a basic title, description, date range.

The document created has a maximum of 100 tweets and shows them with the most recent first on a pdf document. See the results for yourself here: http://www.tweetdoc.org/View/417/Future-of- Journalism-Conference

It’s worth noting that the process does take a long time – I left my computer dealing with it after 25 mins, checked back at the hour point and then left it running while I went out.

(As an aside, I remain baffled by the icon at the top right of the user interface which looks like a women wrapped in spa towels?? but…)

Keeping and publishing tweets from an event on such a document will be a useful reference tool for journalists but maybe it could also become part of how such an event is reported, providing additional, unfiltered information for readers to dig deeper.

Join me at 1pm for questions about online journalism

Later today I shall be joining a live Q&A session about online journalism at the Guardian’s careers website.

It starts at 1pm and we’ve put a few hours aside to offer advice to anyone starting out on a career online.

Because of the never-ending diet of stories about newspaper cuts, closures and lay-offs (in fact I nearly headlined this brief signpost “So you still want to be a journalist?”) many people seem to think it’s time to turn tail and look for a different (more lucrative) career.

But I hope that isn’t the case.

Being a journalist is still, imho, one of the best jobs on the planet and there are a whole raft of opportunities opening up in the world of the web.

So, less of the doom and gloom. I’m looking forward to contributing to a discussion which focuses on the future.

If you have a question for me, or one of the other panellists (see the full list here) , please do join us later.

Paid work placements for TV geeks

This interesting development for paid work placements at North West digital companies came to my attention this week.

Companies are being offered £1000 for two months to take on creative coding talent identified via a new scheme aimed at giving recent graduates a step up onto the career ladder

The press release issued this week offers a rather bleak assessment of the market the region’s students are facing, and explains the thinking behind the initiative:

“This is a fantastic opportunity for graduates who, like everyone else, are due to feel the negative effects of the recession. With unemployment rising, and more universities offering creative media courses, competition for jobs is getting more and more fierce.

“Placement schemes like this will find and develop talent to strengthen the supply chain. Without schemes like this, recent graduates will have very little chance of making their way onto the first rung of the career ladder.”

It goes on to explain how this scheme will operate:

“Northwest Vision and Media, Skillset and Just-b. Productions have teamed up with the BBC for ‘b.TWEEN TV Platforms’, which will match final year graduates with businesses in the digital industry to develop multi-platform products

“With the broadcast landscape shifting, b.TWEEN TV Platforms will source young talent to help develop the next generation of products that combine TV broadcast with broadband capabilities

“Final year graduates with strong software skills will pitch their ideas for using existing web and broadcast technologies that will work on a TV screen. The winning pitches will then be linked to participating companies, who will manage the build of prototypes and then submit these back to the BBC later in the year for review.”

Lynn Kelly, Head of Skills at Northwest Vision and Media adds: “We understand that one of the biggest challenges for growing digital companies is finding the right talent to help them grow and this project has been designed to solve that challenge.
“We will seek and filter out the very best newcomers to the industry – that rare breed who can programme for the web with creative flair

“Not only will this allow companies to develop stronger links with the BBC and get access to new talent, but they will get them for free – Northwest Vision and Media will pay for graduates first two months at a rate of £1000 per month.”

Interested companies should e-mail kirsty@just-b.com with ‘North West TV platforms’ in the subject line. Deadline 31/08/09

Four legal dangers of links in articles and blogs

At this week’s DEN meeting, we were given a very informative legal briefing which ranged across the full spectrum of  privacy, contempt, libel and community issues.

Too much to go through in full so I’ve picked out these points which are worth sharing with the online world.

(Please bear in mind I’m not a lawyer, so if in doubt, consult someone with the suitable qualifications! )

While ensuring plenty of links is an essential basic of online journalism, for both user experience and SEO, there are issues in linking to be aware of;

* A linking convention of opening in a new window will not save us if we do link to something defamatory or otherwise unlawful. Placing the link could (untested) be seen as us actively pushing the user towards the material.
This also applies if we link to material for which we don’t hold the copyright. Obvious example of this would be a youtube vide with music within it. Linking or embedding the video means we could be liable for copyright infringement even though it’s not a package we initiated.

* Linking to a foreign site or article could lead to a contravention of a British court order. An example was given of an American report of a court case which was published in ignorance of a court order issued in the UK banning publication. A British site picking it up or linking to it was unaware of the order and assumed publication was safe because it was already online. Dangerous assumption.

* Never link into the archive for active cases. This effectively makes the material “live” again so that, even if the background was only housed in the archive, it removes contempt of court protection available for archive material.

* Be aware that the material being linked to could change from something safe to something less savoury. I always give an example of a porn site setting up when I’m teaching on this point and so was surprised to hear that this was a real scenario recently. A link to what started life as a ladies underwear business changed to a porn site when the initial owner went bust (no pun intended!).

Multi-media training sessions

With my training hat on, I’ve recently been planning some sessions. Looking back over them I thought these notes might prove useful to a  wider audience – perhaps for those attempting to arrange such things themselves.

If you’d be interested in hosting sessions similar to this for your organisation, please feel free to contact me.

 

1. Digital Away Day

Duration: Six hours.

Who’s it for?
Heads of departments and senior managers.

What’s the objective?

Bring management to a level of understanding of digital development in the newspaper sector.

What will be covered?

How the industry is moving with case studies from other newspaper groups.

An introduction to the new tools of journalism.

Challenges facing the organisation digitally. 

 

2. Video for reporters

Duration: One week.

Who’s it for?

Print reporters starting out in video.

What’s the objective?

To equip print reporters with the skills to shoot and edit “made-for-web” video packages.

What will be covered?

Camera skills; composition, audio, lighting, exposure, focus, tripod.

Content skills: differences with TV , what makes good web.

Editing skills: creating packages, using PremierPro.

 

3. Tools for newsgathering

Duration: 2-3 hours.

Who’s it for?

Newsdesk and reporters.

What’s the objective?

To educate newsgatherers in the host of digital tools at their disposal to track breaking news and generate story leads.

What will be covered?

Setting up personal RSS feeds to bring the news to you.

Tracking breaking news across social media.

Crowdsourcing.

Building your online contacts.

 

4. Better blogging

Duration: 2-3 hours.

Who’s it for?

Existing and wannabe bloggers.

What’s the objective?

Introduce some new skills to improve quality and quantity of output and grow audiences.

What will be covered?

The currency of linking.

Micro-blogging to extend reach.

Using social media.

Creating and distributing feeds of blog content.

Mo-blogging and live coverage.

 

Why put links in news stories?

Linking newspaper website content to outside sources always seems to throw up some challenges for journalists starting out in the online world so I thought I’d blog some tips and, of course, links on the subject.

While every blogger, online journalist and community editor knows that linking is currency as far as building, nurturing and keeping audience is concerned, newcomers to the online world often find it counter intuiative to “keeping” users.

In my experience the objections are;
1. Users might leave our site and never return.
2. We know everything there is to know on this subject so why would anyone need to go elsewhere.
3. It will make us look stupid if we’ve “missed” something.

And I know this experience is commonplace. Looking back at the comments left on the slideshow on regional newspaper activity I did back in May, linking was one of the hot topics for those responding.

At his blog, fellow links fan Craig McGinty points out that the BBC have taken on board the possibilities of linking with a project called BBC Topics which intends to include the best of external websites.

But even here, a quick look at the current Topics page for Gordon Brown only manages one authoritative external source – the Number 10 website.  Seems there’s a leap of faith still required here then!

I’ve recently produced the tips listed at the end of this post as part of my ongoing training work and would be glad of any further contributions or experiences in establishing a linking culture.

But, seeing as I don’t have all the answers on this subject (and, given the topic it would be ironic not to!) here’s some links to the best I’ve come across so far;

* Links as news, links as reporting.
* How and where to hyperlink in a news story.
* What is links journalism.
* Linking and SEO presentation.

My tips on linking
* It is advisable to restrict linking to credible/trusted sources and include a disclaimer on your site making it clear that your organisation is not responsible for external sources.

* When checking on external links, be aware that it is very easy for a private individual to change a web page from innocuous one to something more risky in response to the traffic your newspaper is now providing thanks to their improved Google rank.

* Links should be to the specific piece of information being mentioned. For example, if you are writing about a government consultation into children’s play, don’t just take the user to the general link for the department for education: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk instead take them to the actual consultation document: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/publications/fairplay/ This sort of deep-linking makes it easy for the user who will come to trust you as the most authoritative source of information on a topic.

* Bear in mind that if you had to register for a site in order to see the information, the user will have to do the same so provide instructions.
 
* It’s important to open links in a new window so that the user can remain with your site and to make it more obvious that the two sites are different.

* Decide a consistent style for the display of links commonly grouped together at the bottom of the story or elsewhere on the page.

* Blogs have made it commonplace to find links within the body text of the article. The same circumstances apply as above. The advantage is that users easily identify with the context of the link because the word, or words, are highlighted and underlined. The disadvantage to this approach is that users unaccustomed to online may find it a halting experience to click onto a new window part way through an article.

Oh, and finally, in answer to those three objections this post started with; 1. users will be more likely to return if the site is known to provide a comprehensive starting point, 2. unlikely that we know everything. No really, there’s some bright cookies who don’t work in newspapers and 3. you haven’t missed anything if you spotted it to link to it.