October 19, 2011

Poynter.org
Mallary Jean Tenore found that there’s a disconnect between journalists’ accessibility on social networks and their accessibility on news sites. “I’ve often been frustrated by how hard I have to look for journalists’ contact information on news sites — and by how few usable results I get,” she writes. “The problem partly stems from poor site navigation and design. But it also points to a larger philosophical question: How accessible do journalists really want to make themselves?” Here is what’s on Tenore’s dream Contact page:

* A list of staffers’ names, broken down by department.
* All staffers’ names linked to a bio that includes their most recent work, email address, phone number and Twitter handle.
* Staffers’ bylines on article pages also linked to this bio. (If the bylines don’t link to a bio, then ideally all article pages would include the writer’s email address, phone number and Twitter handle.)

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From 1999 to 2011, Jim Romenesko maintained the Romenesko page for the Poynter Institute, a Florida-based non-profit school for journalists. Poynter hired him in August…
Jim Romenesko

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