5 tools Storyful recommends for social media monitoring and verification | Media news

The number of open-source tools and platforms that have emerged to help contextualise and verify information from social media has been one of the biggest developments in journalism in recent years.

"People are realising now that there's a wealth of sources and information out there to help you do a different type of journalism, and it allows stories to emerge from regions that may otherwise not have had that reportage or coverage," explained Malachy Brown, news editor at Storyful.

www.journalism.co.uk/news/5-tools-storyful-recommends-for-social-media-monitoring-and-verification/s2/a563015

A Lens to the Front | Roads & Kingdoms

Ahmed uses a small camera to shoot so he can easily dive in the rapid changes of scenario at the frontline. In this instance, he was being shot at in the middle of the night. And though Carini meets with photojournalists like Ahmed every day, he was still overwhelmed. 

Carini is the editor-in-chief of Metrography, the first and only independent photo agency in Iraq. Founded in 2009, the organization covers all 18 of Iraq's governorates from Al-Basra to Zakho. But its philosophy lies within its recruits: They're local, young, and have a deep-rooted knowledge of the country. Its members speak Arabic, Kurdish, Assyrian, Turkmen, and dozens of local dialects.

roadsandkingdoms.com/2014/a-lens-to-the-front

News Shooter | How to get ahead in video journalism – 10 tips for starting out from Webby award winner Pete Pattisson

In 2000 I got my first photos published in a magazine. Fourteen years later I won a Webby Award for my film exposing the treatment of migrant workers in Qatar, host of the 2022 World Cup.

Along the way I've learned a few things about what it takes to succeed (or at least survive) as a freelance video journalist. I certainly don't have all the answers, but I hope one or two of these tips may be helpful to some of you trying to break in to this most competitive of fields. 

www.newsshooter.com/2014/09/08/how-to-get-ahead-in-video-journalism-10-tips-for-starting-out-from-webby-award-winner-pete-pattisson

In danger and "on their own": The perils of freelance war reporting

In danger and "on their own": The perils of freelance war reporting

The execution of freelance journalist James Foley in Syria last week has brought new attention to stark realities of life as a freelance reporter covering conflicts in Syria and across the Middle East.

As they share poignant memories of a friend and colleague, many in the journalism community are urging a deeper consideration of the relationship between freelancers and news outlets publishing their work and a better understanding of the risks independent journalists take on to report from dangerous regions.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/in-danger-and-on-their-own-the-perils-of-freelance-war-reporting/

The 'World's Finest Citizen Journalist' Is Covering Iraq In Amazing Ways, And Plans To Expand His Website

The 'World's Finest Citizen Journalist' Is Covering Iraq In Amazing Ways, And Plans To Expand His Website

A Kickstarter funded citizen journalist site is making huge strides in its first two weeks of operation.

In the past week alone, Bellingcat claims to have located the spot where US photojournalist James Foley met his death, an ISIS training camp, and the true perpetrators of the 2013 Syrian sarin gas attacks in Damascus.

It's due largely the efforts of a former UK government admin worker named Eliot Higgins, who, since he was laid off in 2012, has been more commonly known online as "Brown Moses".

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/the-worlds-best-armchair-journalist-brown-moses-is-cashed-up-and-expanding-with-a-new-website-2014-8

‘Bellingcat’ Kickstarter Campaign Seeks to Unite Investigative Citizen Journalists

'Bellingcat' Kickstarter Campaign Seeks to Unite Investigative Citizen Journalists

Citizen journalism is more prevalent than ever with the upsurge in social media platforms. Now that so much information is available at our fingertips, it seems that reporters — both formally trained and novice — are even hungrier for accurate news.

A crowdfunding campaign by a man named Eliot Higgins has the goal of bringing together citizen journalists who are curious about hard news issues through an open-source website. His vision is for contributors all over the world to continue coverage of "Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Kurdistan, Nigeria, Jihadists, Shia armed groups, the UK phone hacking scandal, police corruption, and more," he wrote on Kickstarter.

http://www.mediabistro.com/10000words/bellingcat-kickstarter-campaign-seeks-to-unite-investigative-citizen-journalists_b28333

Citizen Journalists Collaboratively Map Conflict in Ukraine

Citizen Journalists Collaboratively Map Conflict in Ukraine

As technology changes, so do our abilities to engage in meaningful ways. In the case of the conflict in Ukraine, one of those ways is through the mapping of eventful incidents on LiveUAMap.com.

Citizen journalists began using the map, running on a platform created by a software team in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, after the ouster of former pro-Russia President Viktor Yanukovych. Contributions to the site are coded in red (for events favoring Russia and its supporters) and blue (for those on the side of Ukraine and its supporters). Twitter provides much of the avenue for input to allow for the recording of deaths, bombings, fires, and arrests. Photographs that illustrate the conflict, also taken by citizen journalists, are also included.

https://nonprofitquarterly.org/policysocial-context/24575-citizen-journalists-collaboratively-map-conflict-in-ukraine.html

3 Lessons Citizen Journalists Should Learn from BuzzFeed’s Plagiarism Scandal

3 Lessons Citizen Journalists Should Learn from BuzzFeed's Plagiarism Scandal

Last Friday, BuzzFeed fired "Viral Politics" editor Benny Johnson. The popular internet time-waster cited over 40 instances of plagiarism committed by the conservative-leaningcontent creator.

Putting aside whether those alleged instances of plagiarism were actually plagiarism, and ignoring the fact that BuzzFeed itself is based on taking stuff from all over the internet (aggregation, anyone?), what lessons can we learn from this episode?

http://watchdogwire.com/blog/2014/07/29/lessons-citizen-journalists-learn-buzzfeeds-plagiarism-scandal/

Citizen Journalists in Mexico Risking Death to Expose Cartels, Corruption and Media Blackout

Citizen Journalists in Mexico Risking Death to Expose Cartels, Corruption and Media Blackout

A team from Breitbart Texas traveled deep into the Gulf cartel-controlled city of Reynosa, Mexico to meet with one of the citizen journalists leading the effort. In a small secret room deep in the heart of this Mexican city, Breitbart Texas spoke with a man who lives under constant threats because of his effort to use social media in alerting his fellow citizens about "situations of risk". For security reasons, the man known as "Chuy" never shows his face on social media, but his twitter handle @MrCruzstar, has become synonymous with exposing information about the confrontations between the criminal organizations, the cartel members' names, their locations, and corruption in the government. "Chuy" can be seen only from behind in the Breitbart Texas video and he wore a ski mask in an effort to protect his identity.

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/07/30/Citizen-Journalists-in-Mexico-Risking-Lives-to-Fight-Cartels-and-Government-Corruption/

How to succeed as a video journalist | Philip Bloom

PHILIP: I have been a journalist for 25 years, 17 of those were working as a news cameraman in some bloody awful places but covering some incredibly important stories.

Just how important people like Christian (who has written the guest blog post below) are must not be underestimated. Without people like him and the countless others working in TV news risking their lives to make sure what needs to be told is told we would live in the dark ages and some of the most desperate plights of man, the injustices,  would never be highlighted and we would remain ignorant.

Yes, some TV news programmes are biased and their journalism can, at times  be questionable but I am a firm believer that these are in the minority. UK TV news for example is forbidden to be politically biased, unlike UK newspapers, although in reality it's not as easy as that. Anyway this is for a different post.

philipbloom.net/2014/07/30/how-to-succeed-as-a-video-journalist

British blogger Brown Moses launches new site to train others in crowdsourced reporting — Tech News and Analysis

A little over two years ago, the blogger known as Brown Moses was an unemployed father of one, with no journalistic training and no expertise in military weaponry or the Arab world, living in his flat in Leicester, a small town in northern England. Since then, Moses — whose real name is Eliot Higgins — has become a key source of information about the conflict in Syria and elsewhere, information he gathered by spending thousands of hours combing through YouTube videos and social-media accounts. Now he is launching a Kickstarter campaign to jump-start a dedicated website to teach others how to do the same.

gigaom.com/2014/07/14/british-blogger-brown-moses-launches-new-site-to-train-others-in-crowdsourced-reporting

Newspryng: crowdfunding for independent journalism | Media news

A new platform aiming to foster independent journalism and collaborative writing launched last week, with an in-built donation system to support journalists' work.

Newspryng is a new experiment incrowdfunding for journalism, helping freelancers publish their work and get paid for it.

"I wanted to explore whether we could replicate this model with a platform which anyone could contribute to," Matthew Chapman, the editorial lead behind Newspryng, told Journalism.co.uk.

www.journalism.co.uk/news/newspryng-crowdfunding-for-independent-journalism/s2/a557324

Newspryng: crowdfunding for independent journalism | Media news

A new platform aiming to foster independent journalism and collaborative writing launched last week, with an in-built donation system to support journalists' work.

Newspryng is a new experiment incrowdfunding for journalism, helping freelancers publish their work and get paid for it.

www.journalism.co.uk/news/newspryng-crowdfunding-for-independent-journalism/s2/a557324

How to open up citizen journalism in Africa beyond the smartphone minority | Media-network | The Guardian

Open journalism has turned all of us into experts, each with our own unique experience, skills and perspective that contribute to the global story. Guardian Activate Johannesburg was the first of its kind in Africa, focusing specifically on how innovations in technology can enhance journalism, increase transparency and make activism more effective. Looking back, what will it take to make open journalism a reality for South Africa and the continent at large?

www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2014/jul/09/open-journalism-africa-internet-smartphone?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Sarah Marshall — Advanced newsgathering using Tweetdeck

Tweetdeck is a powerful newsgathering tool. But are you using all the tips and tricks to mean you get to the story before it breaks? Do you know how to hone in to find key contacts?

Joanna Geary (@JoannaUK), head of news at Twitter UK, came in to the London newsroom of The Wall Street Journal on 17 June to share ideas and best practice.

She also gave this 'advanced newsgathering using Tweetdeck' workshop during the International Journalism Festival in Perugia.

sarahmarshall.io/post/90941979203/advanced-newsgathering-using-tweetdeck

BBC College of Journalism shares free training resources to the world

The BBC College of Journalism last week opened up their training website for free to a global audience. On it are a wealth of resources originally created for an internal BBC audience by some of its most experienced journalists. The college say the opening up of the site is a trial that will last at least 12 months.

There are videos and podcasts on basic three point lighting, safety with lights, how a TV news package is produced, self shooting video journalism, iPhone journalism, audio and many more.

http://www.newsshooter.com/2014/07/05/bbc-college-of-journalism-shares-free-training-resources-to-the-world/

Citizen journalism pioneer Brown Moses is launching a site for crowdsourced reporting — Tech News and Analysis

British blogger Eliot Higgins, who has become a self-taught expert in the crowdsourced verification of news under his alias Brown Moses, is planning to launch a site called Bellingcat that will bring together other citizen journalists and also offer tools for those who want to learn how to do what he does

gigaom.com/2014/07/01/citizen-journalism-pioneer-brown-moses-is-launching-a-site-for-crowdsourced-reporting

New Sources of Funding for Freelance Journalists | Rory Peck Trust

Finding funding for your latest project can be difficult and time-consuming. We created theSource of Funding pages to help under-resourced freelancers discover the variety of grants available, and to offer advice on how to apply for them.

We've had a great response from freelancers so far, and it's consistently one of the most popular resources on our site. There's a large number of grants availabe for freelancers. Our aim is to compile the most relevant ones and categorise them into region-specific or international sections.

https://rorypecktrust.org/rpt-live/June-2014/new-funding-sources

Latest Stories | Columbia Journalism Review

A hashtag made headlines again this week. #YesAllWomen was created in the wake of the Isla Vista shootings as a way for women to share their experiences of being threatened with male violence, particularly when they refused sexual advances. The hashtag has stayed on the list of US trending topics for several days--and led to dozens of second-day news stories and opinion pieces.

m.cjr.org/303546/show/86fee64c3f8828b271d79598912b4efb

The Journalist's Toolbox: Mobile Journalism Archives

This is a collection of mobile resources from Mike Reilley and the Poynter Institute's Regina McCombs, Dave Stanton and Damon Kiesow, as well as many others. A list of mobile reporting tools appears at the end of this page. Most apps are tailored to the iPhone but have versions available for many other smart phones, too.

www.journaliststoolbox.org/archive/mobile-journalism

How A British Blogger Became An Unlikely Star Of The Ukraine Conflict

How A British Blogger Became An Unlikely Star Of The Ukraine Conflict

Graham Phillips has won internet notoriety for his guerilla field reports from eastern Ukraine for Kremlin TV. Via Facebook: eurokharkiv

MARIUPOL, Ukraine — It was the bloodiest day yet in eastern Ukraine. On May 9, during Victory Day celebrations in the drab industrial seaside town of Mariupol, dozens of armed militants barricaded themselves inside a police station and exchanged fire with government forces. During the fighting, the building burned down. Pools of blood and singed bodies appeared in the street.

But how many people were killed? Local news reported two deaths. Ukraine's interior minister said 21 people died in the fighting. Human Rights Watch could only confirm seven deaths after visiting all four hospitals where the wounded were taken.

None of that seemed right to Graham Phillips, a roving Ukraine-based British blogger who films guerilla field reports from the conflict's hotspots for his own YouTube channel and has become a growing star on Kremlin-owned media. So he set out to investigate in the way that has made him a cult micro-celebrity in east Ukraine's crisis: interviewing angry people on the street for 90 seconds at a time.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/maxseddon/how-a-british-blogger-became-an-unlikely-star-of-the-ukraine

Tips from the Guardian for creating shareable content

Tips from the Guardian for creating shareable content

The Guardian looks to sites such as BuzzFeed and Vice to understand more about what makes content highly shareable, Laura Oliver, the outlet's social and community editor, UK, said at the London Social Media Summit.

"We take these guys very seriously," Oliver said, speaking at the event on Friday (16 May) organised by the BBC College of Journalism and the New York Times.

"We look at ways that we can learn from them [in terms of] formats, headlines, the type of content, how it's built, how shareable is it and what's going to make people share it."

She added that the Guardian also spends "a lot of time" looking at their own stories which have gone viral, and what factors may have contributed to their popularity.

Although she noted that "there's often a lot of things we can't control," she said there were three key factors that the Guardian had identified in content that was well-shared, both on social networks and other off-site sources.

http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/tips-from-the-guardian-for-creating-shareable-content-/s2/a556768/

How do you cost your work as a freelance multimedia/data/community journalist? 3 questions to ask | Online Journalism Blog

Costing up your work as a freelance in multimedia, liveblogging, data journalism, community management or SEO isn't straightforward. There's no simple answer to 'How much should I charge for this particular work?' because the field isn't standardised enough to have reliable rates.

onlinejournalismblog.com/2014/05/01/how-do-you-cost-your-work-as-a-freelance-multimediadatacommunity-journalist-3-factors-to-consider?utm_content=buffer477a4&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Interactive: Apps and tools for the mobile multimedia journalist | Media news

Here are the contents of the multimedia kitbag used on a day-to-day basis by Christian Payne, also known as his online alter-ego @Documentally.

www.journalism.co.uk/news/interactive-apps-and-tools-for-the-mobile-multimedia-journalist/s2/a556586

MediaWireWorld: France 24 works with thousands of citizen observers

MediaWireWorld: France 24 works with thousands of citizen observers

On Friday, Reporters Without Borders announced a new partnership with TORSERVERS.NET "to create and maintain 250 additional relays for the Tor network."

http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/249451/mediawireworld-france-24-works-with-thousands-of-citizen-observers/

5 lessons in start-up journalism from De Correspondent

5 lessons in start-up journalism from De Correspondent

Last April, Rob Wijnberg and Ernst-Jan Pfauth raised $1.7 million in crowdfunding for De Correspondent, a new, online-only publication

The idea was to go from 'the news' to 'the new'," said Wijnberg, De Correspondent's editor-in-chief, who was previously editor-in-chief of nrc.next.

He and Pfauth, publisher of De Correspondent and former online editor of nrc.next, said they had tried to change the direction of their previous publication and failed. Instead, they took the ideas they had tried to implement for their own project.

"I thought the conversations I was having with the people writing articles were more interesting than the articles they were writing," said Wijnberg, and resolved to create a new publication based around each journalist – or correspondent – the stories they can tell and the conversations they can create.

A year after securing a reported world-record in crowdfunding for journalism, Pfauth and Wijnberg shared the lessons learned from their experiences so far at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia.

http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/5-lessons-for-start-ups-from-de-correspondent/s2/a556629/

As it Happens: How live news blogs work and their future

As it Happens: How live news blogs work and their future

All the talk is of a crisis in the news media, but we sometimes forget that digital technologies can give us better journalism, too. A great example of this is live blogging. Everything from football matches to parliamentary debates are now routinely covered by a range of live blogs.

In a 2010 Polis report on networked journalism we hailed it as 'the new front page' and for some readers this is now the most visible part of their online newspaper. It is the bit where traditional journalism is transformed into a mixture of broadcasting and instant storytelling. It is a narrative form that can combine tweets, audio clips, photos, video and graphics. It can draw material from social media or direct sources. It can cite learned academics, rival reporters or citizen's emails. It's fast moving, interactive and very accessible.

http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/2014/05/02/report-launch-as-it-happens-how-live-news-blogs-work-and-their-future/

App for journalists: Hokusai, for recording and editing audio | Media news

What is it? Audio recording app with a surprising amount of features for professional editing, plus the ability to import clips from other applications.

Devices: iOS

Cost: Free

How is it of use to journalists? There are many audio recording and editing apps around, but not many do both of these things well.

For journalists producing interviews, podcasts or voiceovers, Hokusai makes it easy to record and edit audio on the fly thanks to its simple yet sophisticated functionality.

www.journalism.co.uk/news/app-for-journalists-hokusai-for-recording-and-editing-audio-/s2/a556574

Citizen journalism has role in new media landscape

Citizen journalism has role in new media landscape.

CLOSING down citizen journalism website Stomp may not solve the inherent issues in the social media era, as similar platforms will sprout up to take its place ("MDA responds to anti-Stomp petition"; last Thursday). 

http://www.straitstimes.com/premium/forum-letters/story/citizen-journalism-has-role-new-media-landscape-20140422

Appeals court says blogs are not only media, they're an important source of news and public commentary

Appeals court says blogs are not only media, they're an important source of news and public commentary.

It would be nice if the debate over whether bloggers are journalists could be put to rest, more than a decade after it first began, and especially after bloggers like Glenn Greenwald have not only broken news stories but won Pulitzer Prizes for doing so. But it continues — especially when it comes to the protections that bloggers are entitled to and whether they should be the same as those given to professional journalists, as I have argued they should be.

http://gigaom.com/2014/04/17/appeals-court-says-blogs-are-not-only-media-theyre-an-important-source-of-news-and-public-commentary/

News Shooter | Newsshooter interview: The state of online news video with Duy Linh Tu of Columbia J-School

US Newspapers and other online publications are currently in the midst of another wave of investment in video. But does this all makes sense? are they making any money from video? how large are the teams working on these videos? how do you define news video? and why the emphasis by many on the longer form?

http://www.newsshooter.com/2014/04/17/newsshooter-interview-the-state-of-online-news-video-with-duy-linh-tu-of-columbia-j-school/

5 Ethical Conundrums For Journalists In the Digital Age

5 Ethical Conundrums For Journalists In the Digital Age.

In the world of crowdsourcing and citizen blogging, many newsroom codes of ethics seem about as antiquated as fedoras. Some journalists are prohibited from voting, donating to political campaigns, or even volunteering — rules that stand in stark contrast to the first-person, subjective, anecdotal writing that permeates the web. But transitioning to a digital medium not only complicates existing ethical concerns, it also raises new ethical questions.

http://thefreelancestrategist.com/5-ethical-conundrums-for-publishers-in-the-digital-age/5547

18 Lessons Richard Kalvar Has Taught Me About Street Photography

18 Lessons Richard Kalvar Has Taught Me About Street Photography

Richard Kalvar is one of the contemporary masters in street photograph, and also a member of Magnum. I have always loved his quirky and observant street photographs, and am quite pleased how active he is– especially on Facebook and the Magnum Blog. I gained a lot of insight about his work and street photography through his various interviews online. Read more to gain inspiration from him!

http://erickimphotography.com/blog/2014/04/07/18-lessons-richard-kalvar-has-taught-me-about-street-photography/

From hyperlocal paper to Syria’s frontline – a snapshot of a photographer’s career

From hyperlocal paper to Syria's frontline – a snapshot of a photographer's career.

For photographer Sam Tarling, it all began with a prison newsletter.

"I was writing about some of the projects at Erlestoke Prison [where he worked in the admin department] and taking some photos, so I decided to send around a newsletter," explains the 28-year-old from Wiltshire. "It was very amateur, but it was a start."

From these humble beginnings, Tarling has taught himself how to become a professional photographer. Based in Lebanon, he now completes assignments for big name clients such as The Telegraph, Oxfam and Save The Children. "I learnt on the job," he explains.

http://wannabehacks.co.uk/2014/04/11/from-hyperlocal-paper-to-syrias-frontline-a-snapshot-of-a-photographers-career/

Turkey is a case study in the value of citizen journalists, thanks to the ones behind @140journos — Tech News and Analysis

The value that social-media tools like Twitter bring to journalism becomes even more obvious when they are used in countries where the traditional media is failing to do its job, and Turkey's @140journos group is a fascinating example of that at work

gigaom.com/2014/04/10/turkey-is-a-case-study-in-the-value-of-citizen-journalism-thanks-to-the-ones-behind-140journos

Grow Your Own Stories

Grow Your Own Stories.

It doesn't take the sharpest of trend spotters to work out that the ancient art of storytelling has been receiving some fresh appreciation. We've always valued a good yarn, but now more than ever it seems they're regarded as a precious commodity. Business leaders are leading by anecdote and allegory, and their employees are busily crafting their own career narratives. Meanwhile, social media has generated a myriad of story-sharing opportunities and an insatiable appetite for content. Big brands and TED-inspired keynote speakers know that the best stories have a special way of holding our attention, affecting us personally and making us more receptive to ideas. They're seizing their chance to turn these intimate moments of connection into moments of global recognition, magnifying the impact of a good story and extending its emotional reach.

http://www.scriberia.co.uk/journal/grow-your-own-stories.html

In the unverified digital world, are journalists and bloggers equal?

In the unverified digital world, are journalists and bloggers equal?

Teaching journalism in the 21st century is a little like packing a wardrobe for a month-long trip into a carry-on suitcase: You keep trying to squeeze one more thing into the bulging bag while praying that the zipper won't burst.

When I studied journalism in the 1980s at San Francisco State University, where I now teach, the curriculum was limited to print journalism. We learned how to report and write; we studied media law, history and ethics; and by the end of senior year, we felt reasonably well-equipped to work as reporters. Ah, those days!

http://theconversation.com/in-the-unverified-digital-world-are-journalists-and-bloggers-equal-24702

Course Remix: Meshing Reporting Skills and Multimedia Storytelling

Course Remix: Meshing Reporting Skills and Multimedia Storytelling.

Teaching journalism in the 21st century is a little like packing a wardrobe for a month-long trip into a carry-on suitcase: You keep trying to squeeze one more thing into the bulging bag while praying that the zipper won't burst.

When I studied journalism in the 1980s at San Francisco State University, where I now teach, the curriculum was limited to print journalism. We learned how to report and write; we studied media law, history and ethics; and by the end of senior year, we felt reasonably well-equipped to work as reporters. Ah, those days!

http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2014/03/course-remix-meshing-reporting-skills-and-multimedia-storytelling/

Ten Principles That Power Social Journalism | Storyful Blog

Does anybody else feel like the business of journalism just reached a tipping point?

I've absolutely no hard stats to back this up, but my hunch is that the number of established media brands making big, bold bets on social, mobile and video just recently exceeded those who are not.

Every day brings news of a fresh partnership between a pioneering start-up and a traditional media brand. Disruptive concepts and companies are being funded, acquired or partnered with at an exponential rate. The distinction between new and old is blurring at an equally rapid clip.

blog.storyful.com/2014/03/12/ten-principles-that-power-social-journalism#.UyF6ZawgHCQ

Relay introduces new features for mobile-first liveblogging | Media news

Relay, the mobile-first liveblogging platform, has announced upgrades including a function allowing reporters to add photos to an event via email, which has since been used in tests with Google Glass and NASA.

The US-government supported Broadcasting Board of Governors' (BBG) Office of Digital Design & Innovation (ODDI) released Relay as open-source software in December with the intent of recreating the liveblog for mobile.

"We know how powerful getting a great photo can be in journalism so we're excited to have that feature," Randy Abramson, director of audio and video products at the ODDI, told Journalism.co.uk. "The photograph is the most basic type of communication you can offer your audience; it's fast and you don't need a lot of bandwidth to transmit."

www.journalism.co.uk/news/relay-introduces-new-features-for-mobile-first-liveblogging/s2/a556071

Finding a journalistic niche to survive in - One Man and His Blog

There's something in me that loves working with really good journalists who have drilled down into a reporting specialisation and can ride the wave of their readers' enthusiasm for a subject. It doesn't matter how dull some of these subjects might seem at first glance; if you really roll up your neuro-sleeves and get stuck in, you can find what's fascinating and exciting in any subject at all - and that's an incredibly valuable skill to have right now.

http://www.onemanandhisblog.com/archives/2014/03/finding_a_journalistic_niche_to_survive.html


Sent from my iPhone

42% of Journalists and Bloggers Report Using More Multimedia

42% of Journalists and Bloggers Report Using More Multimedia.

As we prepared for the changes to PR Newswire for Journalists this week, we asked media professionals via LinkedIn and Twitter how their news content has evolved.

Half of the poll's respondents indicated the biggest change has been an increased focus on a story's popularity over news value. The second largest shift was in the importance of visual storytelling.

Forty-two percent of respondents indicated their outlets are using more images, videos, and other multimedia formats.

http://prnewswiremedia.wordpress.com/2014/02/20/journalists-and-bloggers-using-more-visual-storytelling/

Multimedia narrative and how to interview, structure, choose your medium, edit for sound, identify the story arc and more

Multimedia narrative and how to interview, structure, choose your medium, edit for sound, identify the story arc and more.

The new student of multimedia narrative may want to bookmark an archive on digital storytelling by Mark Berkey-Gerard, who teaches online journalism at Rowan University, in New Jersey. A Columbia Graduate School of Journalism alum who has won awards for innovative teaching, Berkey-Gerard logged resources and learning tools on a site called Campfire Journalism: Notes on Digital Storytelling. He wrote:

http://www.niemanstoryboard.org/2014/02/25/multimedia-narrative-and-how-to-interview-structure-choose-your-medium-edit-for-sound-identify-the-story-arc-and-more/

How to make a point: 11 tips for making better campaigning films

How to make a point: 11 tips for making better campaigning films.

Making a film that makes a point is a skill that is quite different from knowing about cinematography, and from writing a letter, an article or white paper. To make a good film - one that makes the audience agree with you or the point you're trying to make, you need to do it in the right way

These days, there's massively more opportunity to use video to get your point across. And when you've made your polemic production, you've got more chance than ever to get it seen. We'll talk about this later, but first, let's look at how to approach your campaign right from the start.

http://www.redsharknews.com/production/item/1447-how-to-make-a-point-11-tips-for-making-better-campaigning-films

The Top 4 Tips for Nonprofit Video Projects

The Top 4 Tips for Nonprofit Video Projects.

Jim Havey, Havey Productions

As a filmmaker with more than 30 years of professional experience, I have witnessed the ability of film to get to the heart of a message, faster, and more powerfully than any other medium. That is why I am passionate about helping nonprofits use film to their best advantage.

Here are my top four tips for getting the most out of your film projects to help reach your fundraising and branding goals.

http://www.fundraising123.org/article/top-4-tips-getting-most-out-nonprofit-video-projects

Verification Handbook Mixes Tools, Tips and Culture for Fact-Checking

Verification Handbook Mixes Tools, Tips and Culture for Fact-Checking.

Last week Twitter and CNN announced a major partnership with the data analysis startup Dataminr to shift the way journalists use Twitter as an early alert system for breaking news. Dataminr worked with CNN to fine-tune the algorithms they use, to help close the gap "between the eyewitness wanting to be heard and the journalist who wants to listen," according Twitter's head of news, Vivian Schiller, in a blog post. That gap is not just one of distance or time, but also one of trust.

http://stearns.wordpress.com/2014/02/07/verification-handbook-mixes-tools-tips-and-culture-for-fact-checking/

Learning from prize-winning journalism: how to cover a breaking news story

Learning from prize-winning journalism: how to cover a breaking news story

In Poynter's e-book, "Secrets of Prize-Winning Journalism," we highlight and examine 10 award-winning works from 2013 through interviews with their creators.

These works are inspiring. They're also instructive. Starting with the "secrets" shared with us by their creators, we've extracted some great lessons about how to learn to do better journalism, and paired them with questions to ask in your own newsroom.

http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/newsgathering-storytelling/234291/learning-from-prize-winning-journalism-how-to-cover-a-breaking-news-story/

10 Key Skills For Digital Journalists To Hone In 2014

10 Key Skills For Digital Journalists To Hone In 2014

With ever-evolving opportunities to discover and share stories on digital platforms, the need to keep digital skills up-to-date is vital for journalists.

In order to give journalists an idea of some of the main skills to be working on, we sourced ideas from the Journalism.co.uk newsroom and our Twitter community to compile a list of 10 key areas to consider.

We hope that the mix of skills, techniques and qualities listed below would help journalists to stay ahead of the game in terms of digital innovation, be able to harness the latest tools and techniques most effectively and create the best quality content for their audience.

http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/10-key-skills-for-digital-journalists-to-hone-in-2014/s2/a555503/

Vice News wants to take documentary-style storytelling to hot spots around the globe

Vice News wants to take documentary-style storytelling to hot spots around the globe

If there's a mantra for the team behind Vice News, it might be: Go where the story takes you. The soon-to-launch news channel from Vice is designed for the type of journalist who wants to strap a camera to her back and jump head first into a conflict zone. That's already taken Vice reporters to places like Sudan, Syria, and the Central African Republic, to report on violence inside the country's borders. When Vice News goes live this month, look for a lot more of that.

http://www.niemanlab.org/2014/01/vice-news-wants-to-take-documentary-style-storytelling-to-hot-spots-around-the-globe/

Do Citizen Journalists Need a Code of Ethics?

Do Citizen Journalists Need a Code of Ethics?

"A blog is not writing. It is graffiti with punctuation." This now famous and quite wonderfully dismissive line is delivered in the movie Contagion by Elliot Gould's character to Jude Law's character. In fact, according to a posting by blogger Tim Baran, graffiti may actually be more long-lasting than a blog, which is estimated to have a "shelf-life" of relevancy of a mere 12 hours. That's for a good blog, and even the worst graffiti takes longer than that to erase.

http://nonprofitquarterly.org/policysocial-context/23477-do-citizen-journalists-need-a-code-of-ethics.html

Expectations for digital journalists

Expectations for digital journalists.

For all the gloom and doom you hear about the future of the news business, new opportunities seem to pop up all the time. Take the job Holly Edgell has at WCPO, the Scripps-owned television station in Cincinnati, Ohio. She's the "community editor" for WCPO-Digital, a new position that puts her in charge of social media strategy and hyper-local digital news. She's also been charged with fostering the integration of web and TV content.

http://www.advancingthestory.com/2014/01/06/expectations-for-digital-journalists/

Mobile Journalism

Mobile Journalism

This is a collection of mobile resources from Mike Reilley and the Poynter Institute's Regina McCombs, Dave Stanton and Damon Kiesow, as well as many others. A list of mobile reporting tools appears at the end of this page. Most apps are tailored to the iPhone but have versions available for many other smart phones, too.

http://www.journaliststoolbox.org/archive/2014/01/mobile-journalism.html

First-Ever Guide to Online Media Ethics

First-Ever Guide to Online Media Ethics

I'm not sure about "first-ever" since news organizations worldwide have for several years been incorporating online media ethics into their codes, guidelines for good journalistic practice, or whatever they call their respective operating rules.

But I was delighted to receive it this week and thumb through its well thought out sections on news judgment and conflicts, transparency, sourcing ethics, knowing your audience, plagiarism, when problems arise, photos and art, and social media.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/magda-abufadil/first-ever-guide-to-onlin_b_4542245.html

To Follow: 20 Citizen Journalists Covering Human Rights in 2013

To Follow: 20 Citizen Journalists Covering Human Rights in 2013

The Human Rights Channel works to amplify videos that document human rights issues around the world. But how do we find those videos? One way is with help from our partners at Storyful, who find and verify social media when news breaks. Another important source is our Twitter feed. We follow dozens of community media outlets, activists, and human rights workers filming, sharing, and reporting news from their own communities, and we recommend you do too. We wanted to share some of the best citizen reporting on human rights issues.

http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2014/01/to-follow-20-citizen-journalists-covering-human-rights-in-2013/

Campaigns battle citizen journalists

Campaigns battle citizen journalists

Journalists claims to have standards, but the political operative is hard-pressed to see what those standards might be. The only real standard seems to be to wallow in scandal and controversy. The slightest bobble, misstatement or evidence of human failing by a politician is pounced upon by the journalist with the same glee as a cat pouncing on a mouse.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/campaigns-battle-citizen-journalists-101703.html

2013: A year in Twitter journalism

2013: A year in Twitter journalism

From Edward Snowden's big reveal to the Boston bombings, social media has become an established part of how news spreads and increasingly how it is sourced. In Twitter's S-1 filing prior to its IPO, the company listed a risk factor that "influential users, such as world leaders, government officials, celebrities, athletes, journalists, sports teams, media outlets and brands or certain age demographics conclude that an alternative product or service is more relevant" (emphasis added). We've seen no sign of that happening.

http://muckrack.com/daily/2013/12/30/2013-a-year-in-twitter-journalism/

Blood Photography Anyone? – by Greg Marinovich

Blood Photography Anyone? – by Greg Marinovich

I heard of yet another death of a journalist in Syria's civil war recently, via a tweet featuring a surreal image: a pair of bloodied cameras on a rough wood table, along with pita bread, a plastic water bottle-top and a container of what might be hummus.

This symbolic image of a war photographer's death was perhaps inspired by memories of photographs from previous eras, such as the fallen soldier's helmet atop his rifle marking a grave in an otherwise unremarkable field in an unexceptional corner of a remote land.

http://thephotobrigade.com/2013/12/blood-photography-anyone-by-greg-marinovich/