Nieman looks at Journalism 2.0
The winter issue of The Neiman Reports, a quarterly publication from the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, is all about journalism in the age of the web, with a number of pieces by a variety of authors looking at everything from social media to print/web convergence (hat tip to Martin Stabe for the link). The essays include:
– “When the Web Feeds the Newspaper”
– “Inviting Readers Into the Editorial Process”
– “Myths and Realities of Convergence”
– “The Challenge of Community Building”
One I found particular well-done — although it won’t come as much of surprise to regular readers — was “Journalism and Web 2.0″ by Francis Pisani, a 1993 Neiman Fellow. He looks at the definition of Web 2.0, and the impact of things such as search engines and craigslist on newspapers and the way they do journalism on the web. He looks at Wikipedia, social news sites like Newsvine, bookmarking services like del.icio.us and the issue of citizen journalism.
Here are some excerpts:
– “Before the Web, storytelling was platform specific. Newspapers and magazines focused on text and photos, radio told stories with audio, and television dealt with moving pictures and sounds. Each platform has its tools and specialized skill sets, advantages and disadvantages. The Web forces these platforms to integrate. Today’s best media Web sites are multimedia productions combining text, stills, audio and video.” (from here)
– “The next day, I compared my words that had gotten into the paper with what I wrote for the blog. The blog entry seemed better than the newspaper story. It wasn’t much longer, maybe by 300 to 400 words, but those extra words contained some good quotes, some stylistic segues, and a little more color. It was, without a doubt, a better read.” (from here)
– “But is that online growth alone enough to save the journalistic enterprise? Heck, right now that revenue doesn’t even cover the cost of the newsroom, which runs about $12 million a year. So even if online revenues continue to grow at the explosive rate of 40 percent each year—and that’s a daring leap of faith—it will be more than three years down the road before there’s enough revenue to cover only the cost of running the news operation.” (from here)
– “Somehow, the craigslist community—its users and company—has constructed a culture of trust. Basically people feel they should treat others as they want to be treated. Where we start from on craigslist is in trusting people; then we give those who come into our community real power to self-police. We do light management but, mostly, we stay out of the way and let people set the tone of the site. Somehow this approach works.” (from here)
– “I used to post under my real name … but I felt like the only naked person at a clothing-optional beach,” wrote “Salty Dog” in a discussion of this issue at BlufftonToday.com. And for many people, posting under a pseudonym is a protective measure. “When your 13-year-old daughter picks up the phone and hears, ‘We’re going to burn a cross in your yard,’ … you change your attitude toward being ‘out there,’” wrote “Wiley Coyote.” (from here)
– “To paraphrase Andy Warhol, in the future everyone will be a journalist for 15 minutes. When crime victims can post wrenching accounts of assaults (and accompanying photos of bruises) and politicians bypass the press with Web-based campaigns, then the role journalists traditionally play is being usurped.” (from here)
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