You can quote me on that: Advice on attribution for journalists

I have been meaning to post more of my old workshop handouts from No Train, No Gain to this blog. Unfortunately, I was prompted to post this one and another, about cheating, by a plagiarism incident at the Middletown Press. I encourage all of my Journal Register Co. and MediaNews Group colleagues to read this. [...]

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Our cheating culture: Plagiarism and fabrication are unacceptable in journalism

I have been meaning to post more of my old workshop handouts from No Train, No Gain to this blog. Unfortunately, I was prompted to post this one and another, about attribution, by a plagiarism incident at the Middletown Press. I encourage all of my Journal Register Co. and MediaNews Group colleagues to read this. [...]

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I’d like to see a study of the innovative projects inspired by Newspaper Next

Thanks to Justin Ellis of Nieman Lab for a thoughtful two-part analysis of Newspaper Next. He went into much more detail, with greater detachment, than I did in my look back five years later at N2. What I would like to see now is an analysis of the innovative projects inspired by Newspaper Next. In [...]

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Twitter succeeds in spite of lousy technology and service

Twitter has succeeded in spite of itself. As a concept, Twitter is brilliant, revolutionizing communication worldwide with its simple concept of sharing short messages. As a company, it continues to disappoint me with its mediocre technology and its poor customer service. Readers of this blog know that I am an enthusiastic and tireless advocate for [...]

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What are the ‘advantages of Foursquare’? Learning about engagement around location

As I was live-tweeting an interview of Foursquare General Manager Evan Cohen Tuesday, Joey Kulkin asked a good question: @stevebuttry What are advantages of 4sq again?— Joey Kulkin (@incrediblekulk) October 25, 2011 I promised an answer: I may blog about that: RT @incrediblekulk What are advantages of 4sq again?— Steve Buttry (@stevebuttry) October 25, 2011 [...]

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A guest post at Buffy’s World: Take responsibility for your professional growth

Thanks to Buffy Andrews for the invitation to write a guest post for her blog. I blogged with my advice that journalists should train themselves. I’m a big believer in the value of training for a news organization, and I am pleased that the Journal Register Co. is placing high importance on training as we [...]

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How do you attract interested local followers on Twitter?

An editor I have prodded to start engaging on Twitter is finding it fun and useful, “almost addicting.” But he said he said his local followers “remain disappointingly low.” I don’t get hung up on the actual number of followers, but you are going to get better engagement if you can connect with local people [...]

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Denver Post social media use delivers on mountain lion vs. kitty story

I’m learning lessons about social media nearly every day. But I learned long ago that few things touch people like photos of animals. The two types of learning come together in this story of a mountain lion, a Maine coon cat and some smart journalists at the Denver Post using an array of social media [...]

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A simple community engagement step: Share your daily news budget

Journalists like to keep their work secret, then make a big splash when they publish. Of course, those big splashes are rare. Mostly we’re covering routine or well-known news, which there’s no reason to keep secret. Perhaps we’d make a splash — even a little one — more often if we were more open with [...]

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Opening our Journal Register newsrooms to the community

Community engagement in a Digital First newsroom doesn’t mean sitting at a computer all the time. You also invite the public in to use your computers, drink your coffee and chat. Journal Register Co. newsrooms are working to open our newsrooms in a variety of ways. Our Newsroom Cafe at the Register Citizen in Torrington, [...]

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Advice for editors on becoming conversational on Twitter

Most editors using Twitter should try to be more conversational. They use Twitter primarily to post headlines and links to their staff’s stories. Posting links is a valid use of Twitter, but if that’s all you’re doing, especially if you’re just posting headlines with the links, you’re just getting started. Twitter has much greater value [...]

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Rockville Central calls it quits; Brad Rourke and Cindy Cotte Griffiths served journalism and their community well

I’m sorry to see Brad Rourke and Cindy Cotte Griffiths call it quits with Rockville Central. They served their community well with a lively forum for news and discussion. They were innovative, shifting their product from a website to a Facebook-only community. They were a delight to work with as one of the first members [...]

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