Before they head for home Wednesday, about three dozen participants at an investigative reporting summit in New York are likely to launch planning for new organization uniting the growing number of nonprofits producing investigative journalism. The new network, dubbed for now the "Investigative News Network," would be another significant step in the rise of nonprofit investigative journalism in recent years. Chuck Lewis, the godfather of so much in investigative journalism, called the initiative "truly historic." At a conference outside Tarrytown, N.Y., Lewis laid out a possible scenario Tuesday for how the network might take shape. Secure a planning grant that……
Month: June 2009
What is the investigative reporting summit about?
What exactly is the gathering of investigative reporting nonprofits, now under way in Tarrytown, N.Y., trying to achieve? Ostensibly, it's creation of an Investigative News Network — a coming together of the growing universe of investigative reporting nonprofits. As Bill Buzenberg, director of the Center for Public Integrity, said at dinner last night, "Imagine what a 50-state network (of investigative nonprofits) might achieve?" But as the conference swings into gear this morning, it's clear there are many different ideas of what the mission or missions of such a network might be. In Monday's opener — a fascinating round of introductions……
The United States of Optimism: Americans have always seen a remarkably sunny future for themselves and their country
The late 1830s and early '40s were a bad time in Missouri and most everyplace else in the U.S. People were broke and in debt after a boom in land speculation along the routes of new canals and railroads. In the bust that followed–what became known as the Panic of 1837–banks failed or cut off credit. One Missourian, a 36-year-old storekeeper and self-educated lawyer with a sick wife (a malaria epidemic had swept the Midwest) announced on a day in 1843 that he wanted to start over in the Oregon Territory: "I am done with this country," he said. "Winters……
Economist magazine still making a profit
While most other magazines are struggling, the Economist Group has once again posted profits during the troubled economic times. The magazine's website saw a 29 percent increase in earnings from January 2009 to March 2009. The publication did not maintain profitability without cutbacks, however. It has laid off about 130 of its employees over the course of the year to cut costs. You can read the post on PaidContent.Org's website here…….
Dumenco questions HuffPo’s journalism
Simon Dumenco of Advertising Age chastises the Huffington Post for tabloid journalism and its departure from reporting traditional news. He cited the example of the Huffington Post's decision to publish articles such as "Megan Fox Walks the Red Carpet," which draw numerous hits. Dumenco writes: "It likes to pretend that it's a respectable voice in the mediasphere, but it shamelessly pumps up its traffic by being just as trashy as, say, Maxim." Meanwhile, bloggers posting stories onto the Web sites get their information from other news organizations such as the BCC and the New York Times while these news organizations……
Online exclusive angers print readers
The Washington Post is hearing it from subscribers for its online-only posting a two-part article on the murder of Robert Wone. Subscribers argued that this was the kind of news they wanted to read, and online readers had the ability to read this story free of charge. The newspaper defended its decision not to post the article in print to save space for other articles in the newspaper. The author of the article, Paul Duggan, notes that online news posting offers a variety of advantages in comparison to printed news, in that it allows the writer almost limitless space to……
CircLab seeks revenue for customized news aggregation
CircLabs is currently developing software known as Circulate that will track its users' viewing habits and deliver news and ads tailored specifically for the user. The software monitors and transmits data back to the news service automatically allowing the news service to send customized news and advertisements. Users will have the choice of either enabling or disabling the tracking feature. CircLabs says it will permit local ad placement and allow companies to charge for news subscriptions. You can read the PaidContent.Org article here…….
News aggregator raises $2.5 million from investors
The brainchild of Patrick Spain and Michael Wolff, the news aggregation site Newser has successfully raised $2.5 million in startup money. The money comes primarily from individuals, many of whom were involved in Spain's previous endeavors. Currently, Newser has about 2 million monthly visitors and, despite receiving just a fraction of the traffic that Yahoo! and Google News get, is close to breaking even. According to its Web site, Newer is unique in that it compiles news from the top 100 news sources and provides readers with more comprehensive summaries of the stories being covered. You can read the article……
Niche site covers Phoenix’s light-rail
After his first start-up online news operation failed to gain traction, former newspaperman Adam Klawonn has received a $95,000 Knight grant with an extremely narrow focus: to cover Phoenix's new light-rail system. The Daily Phoenix, as it has been termed, will report on stories such as crime in the areas surrounding train stops. Businesses will also have a chance to be included in twice-daily text messages about their company. Klawonn still needs to secure additional funding for his project. You can read the Nieman Journalism Lab post here…….
Wikipedia to add video to its site
Wikipedia, the online crowd-sourced encyclopedia, is set to launch video on its pages. The site is hoping that more creators of content will make their videos accessible to the public domain. Until then, Wikipedia will feature content from the internet archive, which has 200,000 videos, Metavid, which stores congressional speeches, and Wikimedia Commons, which has 4 millions media files. You can read the post on PaidContent.Org here…….