Cross-country partnership: Seattle, NYC
April 30, 2003
The Seattle Times and Long Island’s Newsday have an interesting partnership: they each promote each other’s online content when the Mariners and Yankees are playing each other. This week, for example, readers of seattletimes.com found this link, “Yankees-M’s coverage at Newsday.com,” and readers of Newsday.com saw, “The Seattle Times: Ichiro, Matsui Create Frenzy.”
Gates outlines vision of the future of news
April 29, 2003
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates told newspaper executives today new software will take on-screen reading “to a whole new level” and pave the way for people to read most of their news online. He demonstrated that software and prototypes of what digital newspapers might look in the future during a speech at the annual convention of the Newspaper Association of America in Seattle.
The prototypes showed editions of U.S. News & World Report and The New York Times that looked identical to their print versions, except that they were completely clickable and automatically reformated for different platforms, such as Tablet PCs and PDAs. Here are some excerpts from his speech that pertain to the future of news.
Read more »
WNYC.org: The Art of War
April 29, 2003
WNYC, New York’s public radio station, has built an impressive Web gallery, “The Art of War,” of
listener-submitted original artwork related to the Iraq war. Free-lance journalist Brian Wise writes, “It’s pretty fascinating just in terms of the sheer number and variety of artist responses — editorial cartoons, drawings, photos, Flash animations, and other types of art are included.”
Ernie Pyle goes online
April 29, 2003
Fifty-eight years after World War II reporter Ernie Pyle died while covering the war, Indiana University’s School of Journalism has begun republishing the Indiana native’s columns online at journalism.indiana.edu. Not only are new columns being posted once or twice a week until about three dozen are online — but an audio reading of each column is also being posted, and readers are given the opportunity of posting their comments.
News sites move toward ‘dayparting’
April 28, 2003
Traffic to all news sites drops off after the work day ends — but research shows that consumers do go online at night from home, just not for news. According to Minnesota Opinion Research Inc. (MORI), online users want news in the morning, entertainment content in the early evening, and shopping and classifieds information at night. So news sites are increasing practicing “dayparting” — promoting different editorial and advertising content during different segments of the day to better serve readers’ interests.
Read more »
Slate shows how to make money online
April 28, 2003
While Salon struggles to stay alive, Slate has done what no other Web magazine has done before: make money. In the first quarter of this year, Slate took in more money than it spent, The New York Times reports. Here are some interesting insights into how Slate has succeeded.
Read more »
Newsweek, WP and MSNBC renew deal
April 28, 2003
MSNBC.com, MSNBC Cable and NBC News, The Washington Post, Newsweek and Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive have renewed the wide-ranging deal they formed in 1999. Newsweek’s Web site will remain on MSNBC.com; MSNBC.com will continue publishing Washington Post content; Washingtonpost.com and Newsweek continue to have access to NBC News video; and Washington Post and Newsweek journalists will continue to appear regularly on NBC News and MSNBC Cable. “In the first 3 years of our relationship, Newsweek and MSNBC.com have proven that quality content is the essential ingredient for a successful cross-platform relationship, said Newsweek EVP and worldwide publisher Gregory J. Osberg.
Tips for covering SARS
April 26, 2003
You can count on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome — or SARS, as it’s become commonly known — continuing to be in the news and of high interest to your readers for some time. No matter what your beat, chances are there’s a SARS angle. Here are some handy sites. Plus a reader sends in this suggestion.
Deep Throat uncovered?
April 25, 2003
University of Illinois journalism students in Professor Bill Gaines class have sifted through reams of records to determine who they think the Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein source known as Deep Throat was — and determined it was Fred Fielding, deputy counsel to former President Richard Nixon. Argue all you want about whether their choice is accurate — but there’s no arguing the quality of the online presentation of the class work. Just like last year’s Finder’s Guide to Deep Throat (see CyberJournalist.net’s praise), the package is a good example of how to publish an investigative report online — including a detailed listing of all the evidence used, with links to some of the documents.
Newspaper shuts columnist’s Web site
April 24, 2003
After the Hartford Courant demoted columnist Denis Horgan to Travel Editor, he announced last month he was starting his own Web site at www.denishorgan.com and would continue posting commentary there. A very clever idea, and one that was received well by his fans. But the experiment did not end well.
Read more »