News and links from around the internet focussing on citizen journalism. Curated by @ukcameraman
Here are a few ideas for the mobile journalist's holiday wish list as news production increasingly relies less on expensive, high-end cameras and laptops.
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/media-lab/mobile-media/231559/what-mobile-journalists-should-have-on-their-holiday-shopping-lists/Step-by-step guide for using your digital SLR to make quality video
With digital SLR cameras becoming more and more popular as replacements for standalone video cameras, this book helps photographers become better videographers and shows videographers how to incorporate DSLRs into their work. The book includes an overview of the DSLR video tools and process and shows how to establish camera settings for effective capture, light a scene, get sound, and achieve the film look. The book also offers the basics on editing footage into a final product using common video editing tools.
A reporter's experience covering a parish council meeting earlier this month exposed an apparent gap in government guidelines on live blogging.
Stuart Littleford, editor of the Saddleworth News, asked for permission to do live tweets from a special meeting of Saddleworth Parish Council, called to discuss controversial plans for a new school.
The chair, councillor Graham Sheldon, agreed. But he called for a vote after another councillor objected, claiming that Littleford should have given the council one week's notice about his plans to tweet.
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/content/know-your-rights-journalists-dont-need-permission-live-tweet-council-meetingsPeople can submit breaking news, business, politics, entertainment, technology, travel & tourism, photo gallery, cuisine, gadgets, and sports.
This free app lets you submit articles, photos, audios and videos of breaking news stories and any interesting news around you.
http://www.appszoom.com/android_applications/multimedia/ivision_ilbpq.htmlTwitter: a dangerous place for journalists?
Twitter is a good example of a social media network tool that can make journalism much more efficient and also more open. It improves journalists' connective potential, both to gather news, opinion and attention but also to disseminate their own content and improve the profile of their brand. But like any new technology or media innovation, it has dangers as well as delights.
I usually write a lot about the opportunities of networked journalism, but here are some of the possible negatives when using twitter.
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/2013/11/27/twitter-5-dangers-for-journalists/Speaking at the NCTJ's Journalism Skills Conference at Bournemouth University, a panel were asked to give advice to journalists, particularly those entering the field.
The panel featured Peter Bale, vice president and general manager of CNN International Digital; Pete Clifton, executive producer for MSN UK; and Liisa Rohumaa, a journalism lecturer at Bournemouth University.1. Build your own brandJournalists were encouraged to work on building a brand, rather than just being an entity of the news outlet they work for.
http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/5-tips-for-new-journalists-in-digital-journalism-world/s2/a555239/Reporters Without Borders hails the United Nations General Assembly's adoption of its first resolution on the safety of journalists and the issue of impunity and on the creation of an International Day to End Impunity for crimes against journalists on November 2.
Adopted today by consensus by the Third Committee, this resolution meets calls that Reporters Without Borders has been making for years, in particular, in connection with the United Nations Plan of Action, and which it reaffirmed after the recent tragic death of two French journalists in Mali.
http://en.rsf.org/un-general-assembly-adopts-26-11-2013,45512.htmlAlmost a year has passed since the Delhi gang rape turned the world's attention to the treatment of women in India.
The Dec. 16 rape and subsequent death of the 23-year-old physiotherapy student was covered widely by international news outlets and spread quickly over social media, mobilizing Indians to take to the streets in protest. In response, the government swiftly convicted the rapists and passed an anti-rape bill that imposes harsher punishments on sexual offenders—a set of efficient, rapid-fire actions that may have been influenced by the degree of attention the case received.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/rights/india-rape-crisis-citizen-journalismWhat are the key tips to shooting great news photography? This video by award-winning Reuters photographer Damir Sagolj, an experienced Asia hand, shares his seven ideas on how to shoot news photos that engage audiences and tell a great story.
http://www.the.me/7-golden-photojournalism-tips-by-a-reuters-chief-photographer/In the fast-paced evolution of digital journalism, it is essential to get to grips with the social media landscape around you. Pioneering website editor Jon Bernstein will lead a day-long workshop to teach you how to get the most out of your online tools.
From understanding the basics of social media and their applications in journalism, to the fine art of online editing, this workshop is ideal for established and emerging journalists alike. It will also appeal to anyone in a communications role who truly wants to understand the power of social media.
http://ejc.net/events/article/storytelling-for-the-editSyrian government troops are targeting media centres and news providers, Reporters Without Borders has warned after the killing of a citizen journalist and the destruction of premises belonging to two media centres within a week.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/11/media-workers-targeted-syrias-north-20131120191637735923.htmlThe festival has been extended to a whole week this year and over the seven days you can enjoy 10 feature length films and 21 short films from 18 different countries, including seven UK premieres.
An integral part of the festival will be the post-film panel discussions. These will give filmmakers and audiences a chance to discuss the films, the feminist issues raised by the films, and wider issues of women's representation behind and in front of the camera. Panellists will include directors of the films we are showing, academics, critics and women's rights activists.
http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2013/11/london_feminist_film_festival_2013Right now there are three major efforts under way to rethink journalism ethics for our changed media landscape. The Online News Association and the Society for Professional Journalists have both launched ethics discussions with their members, and the Poynter Institute recently published a majorbook on "The New Ethics of Journalism."
Poynter is using the occasion of the book to jump-start a broader conversation about truth and trust in the 21st century, the first event of which happened this week in New York City. Sponsored by PBS MediaShift, craigconnects, the Ford Foundation, American University's School of Communication andNewsCred, the event featured a panel of journalists and academics from the New York Times, BuzzFeed, Huffington Post, NYU, AP, and the Seattle Times. There were some great discussions on sponsored content, the nature of truth versus facts, and the intersection of reporting, opinion and activism. But I won't get into those here. Instead, I want to talk about the one theme that seemed to undergird the entire evening: journalism's relationship with its community.
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2013/11/considering-ethics-for-anyone-who-commits-acts-of-journalism/After writing about citizen journalism for 5 full years, from the time when almost no one knew the term – citizen journalism, till now – when it's inevitable part of the media, we can definitely say that it was an interesting journey.
We had great pleasure of doing 33 email interviews with people who are related to citizen journalism through their work – new projects, websites, programs, applications, webinars, books, training … List is really impressive and long.
http://www.newsmeback.com/blog/personal-opinion/citizen-journalism-today/The future is mobile, and mobile is the cornerstone for a series of events at AUT this week exploring mobile technologies in film, education, business and creativity.
Films from all across the globe will be displayed at the third International Mobile Innovation Screenings this week, showing the amazing filmmaking that can be done just off a smartphone.
http://www.idealog.co.nz/blog/2013/11/show-week-future-mobile-filmmakingFor a political party with a belief in the power of the market, the Coalition's climate change policy is a thoroughly disappointing piece of work. Direct Action does not address the source of our carbon emissions and may be based on incomplete scientific research.
Not that Australians would know this, given the lack of scrutiny from mainstream media.
http://nofibs.com.au/2013/11/18/can-citizen-journalism-end-silence-direct-action-errol-brandt-e2mq173-reports/TVE (Television for the Environment) presents the videos of 14 finalists in its global environmental film competition.
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2013/11/12/14-inspiring-1-minute-films-about-the-environment/There is no quicker way for old institutions to look irrelevant than to insist on their relevance. Today the Australian did just that by publishing an editorial not only bragging about its superiority, but underlining the "path to ruin" that is (other) journalists using Twitter.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/13/so-twitter-is-ruining-journalism-reallyWhen it comes to making a documentary, many filmmakers have similar questions. And when it comes to getting answers to those questions, very few people are more qualified than Faith Fuller. She is a seasoned documentary producer and she stopped by filmmaking stuff to answer some frequent documentary questions.
http://www.filmmakingstuff.com/making-documentary/Exploding logo of the United Russia party. A still from the video that got a Siberian blogger in trouble with the law. YouTube screenshot.
Regional authorities in Russia are cracking down on local opposition bloggers, persecuting them for alleged "extremism." On November 6, 2013 Andrey Teslenko, a blogger from the Siberian town of Novoaltaisk,announced on his LiveJournal blog [ru] that he was approached by police who questioned him about a video called "Let's remind the crooks and thieves about their 2002-Manifesto," which appears on his page [ru] on the social network VKontakte.
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2013/11/10/regional-bloggers-targeted-for-extremism-by-russian-police/Too often newsrooms consist of "wooden desks with a computer, mouse and keyboard, and a printer in the corner," Robb Montgomery, a journalist who worked on developing the lab, told Journalism.co.uk.
http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/designing-a-mobile-first-newsroom/s2/a554706/A young acquaintance was applying for an online reporting job at an internationally renowned news organization.
But the interviewer did not focus on the job candidate's articles. He wanted to know more about the metrics of audience engagement with the candidate's stories -- time spent, social sharing, search traffic.
http://ijnet.org/blog/why-journalists-must-use-social-media-promote-their-workOn the afternoon of October 31, U.S. newspapers began reporting evidence of an Israeli airstrike targeting Hezbollah-bound missiles in Syria that occurred the night before. It was a big story—indicating that Israel was continuing to flout international law to prevent Hezbollah from getting weapons.
The related report, published today, states that out of the 589 journalists from the UK who took part in its worldwide 2013 Social Journalism Study – carried out by Cision and Canterbury Christ Church University – 96 per cent interact on social media "on a daily basis", and 92 per cent do so on Twitter in particular.
http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/study-96-of-uk-journalists-use-social-media-each-day/s2/a554687/Three young journalists from developing countries have been shortlisted for a prestigious press award.
The reporters, two from Africa and one from India will be flown to London for the UK Foreign Press Association Award
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/content/three-young-journalists-shortlisted-uk-foreign-press-association-awards