Steve Myers
May 15, 2012
4:12 pm
Scott Kidder, director of editorial operations at Gawker Media,
said it was "desperate" that Adweek's website tried to get him to share a story on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ before he had read it.
Turns out, that was a bug; Kidder was supposed to have gone straight to the story, bypassing the Google Consumer Survey
that Adweek uses as a sort of information paywall.
Why? Because Scott Kidder hates market research and is on a one-man crusade to drive them out of existence — and with them, the entire free market system — by lying on surveys. (Sorry, I just channeled Hamilton Nolan; I'll pull back a bit.)
The real reason is that Google Consumer Surveys flagged Kidder as an unreliable respondent and decided not to show him the survey questions.
Paul McDonald, senior product manager and the founder of Google Consumer Surveys, explained to me via phone and email what happened.
(more...)
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Steve Myers
May 15, 2012
1:04 pm
Center for Investigative Reporting
Last week's
memo announcing Susanne Reber's departure from NPR, where she was deputy managing editor for investigations, didn't say where she was headed. Tuesday, the Center for Investigative Reporting announced that Reber has been named senior coordinating editor for multiplatform projects and investigations. She'll oversee its national, international and enterprise projects and will be in charge of its health and environment reporters.
The release from the Center for Investigative Reporting:
(more...)
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Steve Myers
May 15, 2012
10:56 am
CNN |
Walk your camera
Photographer
Stacy Kranitz has been traveling to Appalachia for a project called "
Regression to the Mean," in which she explores whether stereotypes accurately represent a place and its people. She said she was honored when someone from CNN.com contacted her looking for photo stories and expressed interest in her project.
But then she saw the photo essay. As first published, it opened up with an image of a burning cross at a Klan rally, followed by a snake-handler at a Pentecostal church. The introduction stated that she had spent months exploring "the everyday lives of Appalachian people."
Kranitz told Roger May, a documentary photographer and a
self-described "proud Applachian" that CNN had chosen only the images that confirmed stereotypes of the region:
I feel ashamed and humiliated for trusting CNN. I am stunned that they would take my work out of context. ...
I made clear to the editors at CNN that I was in the very early stages of the project and was not willing to make any claim that my work accurately reflected the Appalachian region. But they chose to make it sound as though that was exactly what I did.
I think people are rightfully angry. I am disgusted to see the words ”the everyday lives of Appalachian people” next to images of the KKK. That is a real insult to the region as is the reductive edit of my work and I understand why people are so offended by it.
CNN spokeswoman Erica Puntel said that CNN.com had chosen 16 of the 33 images Kranitz submitted, and that someone from CNN called to listen to her concerns. Puntel said by email:
[Kranitz] said that she had received a large amount of negative feedback and was concerned. She also said that she felt that the edit of the photographs did not represent her work in the way she had intended. (more...)
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May 14, 2012
6:07 pm
Obama: Sensationalized media sends young people negative messages
“This recession has been more brutal, the job losses steeper. Politics seems nastier. Congress more gridlocked than ever. Some folks in the financial world have not exactly been model corporate citizens. …
“No wonder that faith in our institutions has never been lower, particularly when good news doesn’t get the same kind of ratings as bad news anymore. Every day you receive a steady stream of sensationalism and scandal and stories with a message that suggest change isn’t possible; that you can’t make a difference; that you won’t be able to close that gap between life as it is and life as you want it to be.
“My job today is to tell you don’t believe it. Because as tough as things have been, I am convinced you are tougher. I’ve seen your passion and I’ve seen your service. I’ve seen you engage and I’ve seen you turn out in record numbers. I’ve heard your voices amplified by creativity and a digital fluency that those of us in older generations can barely comprehend. I’ve seen a generation eager, impatient even, to step into the rushing waters of history and change its course.”
“
President Barack Obama at Barnard College Commencement
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Steve Myers
May 14, 2012
1:40 pm
Time Techland
The latest rumor of a new Apple product prompted Harry McCracken to check the track record of Digitimes, the Taiwan-based website that frequently cites "industry sources" in passing along rumors of new products and features. Turns out Digitimes' crystal ball is pretty cloudy (which means it must not be made by Apple):
When it comes to the big Apple stories, it’s wrong most of the time. Sometimes wildly so. ... At least some of its sources appear to be so lousy that suppressing their scuttlebutt would make more sense than publicizing it — and partway through its stories, it sometimes stops hedging and starts stating the rumor as fact.
McCracken was able to assess the accuracy of 21 of 25 stories (the remaining four could turn out to be accurate) and found that
16 were completely or largely "off-base." His advice: Ignore Digitimes' stories unless you can confirm them. On a related note, did you hear about Apple's latest game-changer,
the iTV? ||
Related: David Cohn says everyone who can report substantially on tech industry is beholden to it |
Is tech blogging over, or entering a new golden age?
(Thanks to Sarah F. Kessler for pointing this out.)
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Steve Myers
May 14, 2012
11:30 am
The Charlotte Observer
Gerry Hostetler
wrote close to 2,500 obituary columns for The Charlotte Observer; on Sunday the newspaper published her last, about her own life. She was 76. Hostetler started working in the Observer's newsroom as a part-time obit clerk in 1978, and in 1991 she pitched the newspaper on an obituary column, "It's a Matter of Life." In her last column she explains (in third-person) her thinking:
"I would do an occasional obit-news story," Gerry said, "and they became quite popular. That prompted me to envision a column with more information and above all – more warmth."
She describes a life of hard work, including 20 years working two jobs. She also offers a bit of advice for journalists doing this work:
(more...)
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Steve Myers
May 14, 2012
7:02 am
There are three challenges in using social media content for reporting, as Storyful’s Mark Little has written: finding it, verifying it, and figuring out the best way to publish it.
In breaking news situations, reporters often rely on text… Read more
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Steve Myers
May 11, 2012
5:03 pm
Philadelphia Inquirer | JimRomenesko.com | The New York Times
Mike Armstrong reports that Greg Osberg stepped down as CEO and publisher of Philadelphia Media Network on Friday, "less than six weeks after the media company's purchase by a group of local owners." Osberg was brought in by a group of hedge funds that bought the company in a bankruptcy auction in 2010.
When the company was purchased by a group of local investors a month ago, they said Osberg "
will remain at the helm of the company."
Osberg will stay with the company to work on digital strategies and advertising. Robert J. Hall, the current chief operating officer, will take over as publisher and CEO. He has held the position before, according to Armstrong.
Osberg writes
in a memo to staff that he has achieved the objectives he sought: "to help stabilize the company as it emerged from bankruptcy, expand our portfolio of digital products and initiatives and identify and secure new local ownership."
Shortly after Osberg took over, he demoted Philadelphia Inquirer Editor Bill Marimow, who later left for Arizona State University.
The local owners brought Marimow back; he just finished his second week.
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May 10, 2012
6:03 pm
Horst Faas, AP photojournalist known for Vietnam coverage, dies at 79
“Horst was one of the great talents of our age, a brave photographer and a courageous editor who brought forth some of the most searing images of this century … He was a stupendous colleague and a warm and generous friend.”
“
AP Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll
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