The BBC's best practices for verifying user-generated content

The BBC's best practices for verifying user-generated content

Social media have set the stage for newsrooms to tap into user-generated content for their breaking news coverage. But the easier it becomes to gather content from users, the harder it can be to verify, especially on deadline.

The BBC's UGC Hub has been sourcing, checking and verifying, and distributing content since its inception in 2005, and has had to shift its approach over the years. Some of the latest BBC stories to include UGC content were Typhoon Haiyan, Nelson Mandela's death and the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

http://ijnet.org/blog/bbcs-best-practices-verifying-user-generated-content

Can a journalist also be an activist?

Can a journalist also be an activist?

Can a journalist also be an activist? When Halifax Media Co-op journalist Miles Howe was arrested Nov. 26 for the third time by New Brunswick RCMP, many questioned if he was indeed a journalist. Howe was reporting about SWN Resources' exploration for natural gas near the small community of Rexton and the Elsipogtog First Nation, which claims the land.

http://j-source.ca/article/can-journalist-also-be-activist

Top 10 Investigative Journalism Books of 2013

Top 10 Investigative Journalism Books of 2013

Contrary to the conventional wisdom, investigative reporting is plentiful within American journalism. That is especially true in the realm of books, despite the much decried conglomeratization of publishers.

Following the economic meltdown of 2008, a pile of financial whodunits was published examining various aspects of the collapse. There's no such readily identifiable trend this year so let me simply present my list of the top 10 investigative journalism books of 2013.

http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/article/103039/Top-10-Investigative-Journalism-Books-of-2013.aspx

4 Do-It-Yourself Digital Distribution Platforms

When you don't want to work with a traditional distributor -- or when they don't want to work with you -- digital self-distribution is an option for sharing your finished film with the world.

Expect each of the DIY services below to take a cut of your streaming or download revenue, but the math isn't always simple, so we asked each company direct questions about their business and why a documentary filmmaker would want to use their service over all the others.

http://www.pbs.org/pov/filmmakers/diy-digital-distribution-platforms.php#.Uq60KrsgHCQ

Citizen journalists animate a virtual high street for independent living support and conversation

Citizen journalists animate a virtual high street for independent living support and conversation

Access Dorset TV (ADTV) is developing a virtual high street where a team of citizen journalists will help disabled people, older people and carers share opinions share opinions and experiences, provide each other with support, and also review products and services.

http://socialreporter.com/?p=2781

Relief Volunteers Share Stories from Typhoon-Hit Philippines

Relief Volunteers Share Stories from Typhoon-Hit Philippines

Almost a month has passed since super typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) hit the central part of the Philippines. Many towns were completely devastated by the storm surge which killed more than 5,000thousand and left millions homeless.

Typhoon survivors initially complained about the slow arrival of food, water, medicine and other urgent aid. Remote towns couldn't be reached because of bad roads and other logistical problems. Responding to criticism, the national government assured the public that it is doing everything to extend assistance to all disaster victims.

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2013/12/06/relief-volunteers-share-stories-from-typhoon-hit-philippines/

Do journalists need Photoshop skills?

Do journalists need Photoshop skills?

A couple of weeks ago I was sat at my desk trying to produce a front cover for a magazine that I'm making for my final year degree project. The first thing I wanted to do was source an image for the cover, and subsequently get rid of its background so that the person was merely a figure in the middle of the page. I soon realised that this wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be, and after an hour or so playing around with the 'Instant Alpha' tool on my MacBook, I wanted to know if there was a quicker way – and one that didn't require forking out for the latest version of Adobe Photoshop with money I just don't have.

http://wannabehacks.co.uk/2013/12/06/do-journalists-need-photoshop-skills/

Four ways crowdfunding for news is going to change journalism

Four ways crowdfunding for news is going to change journalism

Democratizing patronage for the news isn't simply about rejigging the Kickstarter model for journalism.

It's about looking at the nature of the business models for news that have worked in the past, and figuring out how to use technology to transfer the power and effect of the business model and value exchange implicit in patronage for news from the few to the many. This is what happened when the Internet transformed media by democratizing publishing and advertising, taking the ability to broadcast a message or story to as many people as would listen from the hands of a very few with printing presses and making it something that anyone could do, and be paid back for doing.

http://muckrack.com/daily/2013/12/05/four-ways-crowdfunding-for-news-is-going-to-change-journalism/

5 Reasons Vice And BuzzFeed Are The New Face Of Journalism

5 Reasons Vice And BuzzFeed Are The New Face Of Journalism

There's still a misapprehension that young people aren't interested in news. That's not true; they're just not interested in the way it's been told over the past decade. Bar a few exceptions, newspapers were broadly slow to adapt to digital - relying too much on sustaining loyalty from their existing readerships, rather than targeting the tech-savvy generation that succeeds it.

"There's a lot of nonsense talked about young people not being interested in news," says Vice's UK MD Matt O'Mara, talking at the CMA summit in London. "They are."

http://digitalmedia.strategyeye.com/article/GztcKyCkPM/2013/12/05/insight_vice_buzzfeed_and_the_phoenix_of_new_media/

10 social media lessons from Swedish Radio

10 social media lessons from Swedish Radio

Public service broadcaster Swedish Radio (Sverige Radio) has a range of local and national stations serving particular age and language groups, which reach 5 million people every day, or 7 million every week, according to senior staff at the organisation. In a country of 9.5 million, more than half of the population listen to radio daily.

Three years ago Swedish Radio made a significant shift, focusing on social media to build the brand and encourage listening.

During a recent visit to Sweden, Journalism.co.uk discussed social strategy with three key people at Swedish Radio, which has a staff of nearly 2,000 and 40 radio stations.

http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/10-social-media-lessons-from-swedish-radio/s2/a555306/

Top apps for journalists shooting video on mobile

Top apps for journalists shooting video on mobile

Whether reporting breaking news, conducting interviews in remote locations or going undercover, shooting video on a mobile device is an increasingly important skill for today's digital journalist. Mobile devices are convenient and portable, and they often produce surprisingly high-quality video.

For Nepalese multimedia journalist Rajneesh Bhandari, mobile means the ability to shoot and produce quick, cheap videos when compared to those shot with full-frame high definition cameras. He uses an iPad and iPhone.

http://ijnet.org/stories/top-apps-journalists-shooting-video-mobile

Filmmaker's Journey: A Conversation with Dimi Nakov

Filmmaker's Journey: A Conversation with Dimi Nakov

Filmmaking is a dream career and a difficult journey. I recently interviewed New Zealand's Dimi Nakov, a filmmaker, to find out about his journey in film, and where it has taken him this far.

1) Dimi, your love of film began when you first received a stills camera at a young age, do you feel that filmmakers today don't understand the value of film as much as they should? Thank you Ric. It would be impossible for me to put everyone in the same box and speak for everyone else's values when it come to this amazing craft.For me making movies is a way of life, not a job, It's who i am. I still remember it like it was yesterday how happy I was when my grandfather gave me a small manual stills camera. It was s Zenith, black and white, 24 frames of film. My grandfather was a teacher and as well as teaching mathematics, physics and chemistry he also ran photography workshops, which I attended. I remember how fascinating it was to develop photos on my own and see how the white paper transformed to the still I had taken a week earlier. It was like magic for me back then. This experience stayed with me and it's the core of my passion.

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1064803/

Afghanistan: filmmaker's experience embedding with soldiers in 'living hell'

Afghanistan: filmmaker's experience embedding with soldiers in 'living hell'

Anthropologist and filmmaker Chris Terrill, the only civilian to have won a Royal Marines green beret, was on the front line in Afghanistan at the same time as the Marine A incident took place.

Not only that, he was embedded with the marines at the same place as it occurred – a remote patrol base deep in the Helmand valleys and set in what was described at the time as "the most dangerous square mile in the world".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/10483702/Afghanistan-filmmakers-experience-embedding-with-soldiers-in-living-hell.html

Writing for the web

Writing for the web

When writing for the web, tell the story upfront. For it to work across all possible platforms and devices, it needs to be told in essence in the first four paragraphs, around 70 words:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/journalism/skills/writing/article/art20130702112133610