A false choice — and an excuse — for journalists: Better to be first or right?

An editor asks by email a question I hear often as journalists address the challenges of digital journalism: “Is it better to be first, or be right?” Three times recently, the editor said, his staff was beaten (not on breaking news), but the competition had major errors in its reports. “When we published, we got [...]

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Liveblogging workshop for Morning Sun newsroom in Mt. Pleasant, Mich.

We’re liveblogging about liveblogging again. My workshop this afternoon for the Morning Sun in Mount Pleasant, Mich., is about liveblogging.  Liveblogging workshop Here are some liveblogging examples from a 2009 workshop (some links are no longer live, but I will be using others today; I hope to post a fresher list of examples sometime soon). [...]

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‘Rules of the Road’: A conversation starter on digital journalism ethics

I am a frequent advocate of conversation rather than rules when it comes to guiding journalists in the ethical use of social media. But I give my enthusiastic support to Rules of the Road: Navigating the New Ethics of Local Journalism, released Wednesday by J-Lab and written by Scott Rosenberg. My primary criticism of “Rules” [...]

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Sports liveblogging tips

I led a discussion of sports liveblogging at the Oakland Press Tuesday. I asked on Twitter and facebook for some advice and examples. I got a few helpful responses, which I have collected here:

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AP offers some good social media advice, but not enough

You may have read this from me before about other news organizations: The Associated Press social media guidelines raise important issues but stop short of providing the excellent advice I would hope for from the AP. I won’t go into chapter and verse on the AP guidelines. They are an improvement on the fear-laden guidelines [...]

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Trentonian uses Google+ and other tools to cover apartment shooting

The Trentonian used Twitter, Facebook, community bloggers and the newest big-name social tool for journalists, Google+, to cover a shooting at an apartment building Thursday. I learned about the Trentonian’s excellent coverage while preparing for a Friday workshop at another Journal Register Co. newsroom, the News-Herald in Willoughby, Ohio. I quickly compiled an earlier version [...]

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Journal Register acquisition by Alden Global affirms digital-first strategy

The news companies I have worked for have changed hands a lot of times. Often the change was bad news. Yesterday’s acquisition of the Journal Register Co. by Alden Global Capital is great news. Since emerging from bankruptcy in August 2009, JRC has been owned by a variety of investors, our ownership future uncertain as [...]

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Visual.ly helps you visualize data (including my Twitter use)

I’m a great fan of data visualization, and it’s not something I have done much of myself (I can make an Excel graph). So I will be interested to follow Visual.ly, a fascinating new project that showcases data visualization efforts (check out Golden Parachutes and the History of Location Technology) and promises to develop and [...]

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Storytelling in journalism: No estoy muerta (I am not dead)

This will be a long post about storytelling in journalism. It starts with a story I wrote in 2000 that was never published. This was from a trip I made to Venezuela as a reporter for the Des Moines Register. In this version, I identify the Venezuelans I interviewed only by their first names. I [...]

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Does news judgment still have value as journalism changes?

What is the value of news judgment as a job skill today? That was the question that arrived by email from someone I have never met (I think; we might have crossed paths at a conference or seminar), but have interacted with on Twitter and in comments on my blog. The email is below, edited [...]

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Congratulations and thanks to Drew Davis, retiring from API

I offer sincere congratulations and best wishes to Drew Davis, who is retiring after eight years as president of the American Press Institute. When Drew scheduled an interview with me in February 2005, I presumed it was just a courtesy interview: he scheduled me for only an hour. The interview came at my initiative. I [...]

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Engagement, curation, content, branding: Buzzwords, yes, but also accurate

Journalists hate few things more than buzzwords. Many of us regard ourselves as guardians of the language (as if protecting the First Amendment and being watchdogs of the powerful weren’t enough guard duties). Buzzwords feel to many purists as some kind of assault on the language. Washington Post ombudsman Patrick B. Pexton writes scornfully of [...]

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