The Year & Decade in Review: Top Media Stories from 2000-2009

		HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE DECADE
		Remember when plagiarism seemed like it would be the media problem of the decade? It was a big story at The New York Times (Jayson Blair in 2003), USA Today (Jack Kelley in 2004) and the Detroit Free Press (Mitch Albom in 2005), as well as other places. Then the citizen journalism movement gained tools and momentum. Blogging was slow to catch on at news organizations, where many considered bloggers rivals, but soon enough it was ubiquitous, along with podcasts. And finally, business problems loomed. Here are some other media highlights from the decade now ending. 2009: Who will pay, who will charge? As the chaotic revolution accelerated, the dominant question became: Who will support the process of producing news and who will pay for the product? 2008: Presidential campaign coverage was followed on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, blogs and multiple platforms as candidates and journalists spread information wherever voters looked. 2007: Rupert Murdoch bought The Wall Street Journal. Also this year: The iPhone and Kindle were introduced. 2006: Twitter was launched. Three years later, the microblogging service is used by 18 million people worldwide to share information. 2005: Adrian Holovaty’s Chicagocrime.org demonstrated data-driven publishing. In 2007, when the Knight Foundation introduced its News Challenge, Holovaty’s EveryBlock was among the first winners, with a $1.1 million grant. In 2009, Everyblock was purchased by msnbc.com. 2004: A “60 Minutes II” report on President Bush was discredited by bloggers; Dan Rather later resigned from CBS Evening News. 2003: “We the Media” recognized the interest that became “citizen journalism,” a development that enabled the popularity of blogs, Flickr, YouTube and other publishing tools. 2002: Google News was introduced. 2001: Wikipedia was launched and over the decade became a source of instant information for journalists and anyone interested in news. 2000: AOL and Time Warner merged. In 2009, they split.

This decade was one of tremendous change for media. This year was a particularly difficult one for journalism as news organizations struggled with declining revenue and increasingly fragmented competition.

• Daily newspapers closed or went online-only.
• Some papers were nearly shut down or sold.
• Papers went bankrupt.
• Jobs and journalism were lost.
• The conversation about whether to charge for online news content went from yes or no to when and how.
• The AP and Rupert Murdoch talked trash about Google.
• The government became interested in the fate of newspapers and journalism.

There were also signs of hope and progress.

• Jon Stewart held Jim Cramer accountable, tracked the debate about the media business and became “indispensable.”
• With Diane Sawyer’s move to ABC’s evening newscast, two of the three network anchors are now women.
• Startups created new homes for investigative reporting and new energy surrounded independent efforts.

Looking at the most viewed stories over the course of a year paints an interesting picture of how people use Poynter Online. It’s a news site. It’s a resource for improving skills and learning new strategies. And it’s a growing source of business analysis and practical guidance about how to use technology.

The lists below rank 2009 articles by their page views, with the most-viewed at the top of each list.

Top 10 Stories on Poynter Online

• Editor & Publisher Folds
  In a development emblematic of this year’s changes, the announcement that the newspaper industry’s longtime magazine was closing appeared first on Romenesko and then spread through Twitter, as a trending topic for several hours.
• The Next Big Thing in Online Type
  Originally published in 2005, this piece is frequently referenced by Wikipedia users.
  
• 50 Writing Tools Quick List of Podcasts
  Originally published in 2006, these podcasts are now featured in iTunesU, bringing people to this page.
• Late Editor Blames Three Key People for Newspapers’ Demise
  John Walter’s wife found this piece after her husband’s death and submitted it for publication.
• Chat: Frat House Meets Debate Club When It’s News and It’s Fark
  Many people came to this chat with Drew Curtis through Fark.
  
• Washington City Paper Editor Defends Cover Headline, Says “Sometimes the Truth is Vulgar”
  This story was also picked up by Fark.
• 100 Things Journalists Should Never Do
  Using Twitter, this crowd sourcing project highlights essential journalism principles and practices in 140 or fewer characters and will continue in 2010.
• Whicker on Jaycee Dugard Column: ‘I Wasn’t Insensitive’ about Kidnapping
  Columnist explains his approach after the discovery of a young woman held for many years.
• Brill’s Secret Plan to Save The New York Times and Journalism
  This original memo describes what would become Journalism Online.
• NPPA Winning Entries
  Best practices are an ongoing draw.

Top Technology Stories

• Gawker’s New Tiered Commenting System Rewards Quality Commenters
• Fark, USA Today Deal Demonstrates Aggregation’s Value in Link Economy
• 10 Best iPhone Apps for Journalists
• How Journalists Can Use Twitter Lists to Customize, Discover and Curate
• BlackBerry or iPhone, Which is Better for Journalists?
• In the E-mail Era, Who Owns the Interview?
• Power Struggles over Converged Newsrooms May Diminish Value of Web Sites
• How Journalists Can Use Google Voice to Improve Their Reporting
• High Cost, Low Quality Plague Newspaper Video Efforts
• Twitterfall: A New Twitter Tool for Journalists

Top Business Stories

• Why the Rocky Closed & What its End Says About the Business’s Future
• Atlantic‘s NYT Story Flunks Basic Math (and Editing)
• API Report to Exec Summit: Paid Content Is the Future for News Web Sites
• Why Ann Arbor Will be the First City to Lose its Only Daily Newspaper
• Online Focus Is Working for Christian Science Monitor
• New York Times Considers Foundation Funding for News
  
• Potential Baltimore Sun Buyer Dubious About Newsroom Purge
• What’s Next for the Boston Globe After Union’s ‘No’ Vote?
• Circulation Declines Driven by Cost-Cutting, Price Hikes, Voluntary Pullbacks
• Want to Make a Killing on Wall Street? Buy Newspaper Stocks

Top 10 Romenesko Stories

• Editor & Publisher Folds
• Washington City Paper Editor Defends Cover Headline, Says “Sometimes the Truth is Vulgar”
• Brill’s Secret Plan to Save The New York Times and Journalism
• Las Vegas Paper Gets Revised Subpoena, Will Give Feds Information About Two Web Posts
• MediaNews Execs: We’ll No Longer Give Away All Our Print Content to Web Users
• Read the “Future of Newspapers” Transcript from Charlie Rose Show
• White House Correspondents File Another Complaint about Background Briefings
• Chicago Tribune Goes After Sun-Times with Retooled Sports Section
• TV Critics: Jim Cramer Should Have Stayed Home
• J-prof Uses Satellite Images to Calculate That 800,000 Attended Inauguration Ceremony

Other Top Stories

• New Camera Angle on Obamas Focuses All Eyes on Inauguration
  
• How to Use Skype to Broadcast Live Shot
  
• ‘Daily Show’ Producers, Writers Say They’re Serious about Media Criticism
• How One-Man-Band Journalist Handles Multiple Roles Reporting, Shooting, Editing Video
  
• Editorial Cartoonist Pres.: NY Post Cartoon a ‘Misfire’
• Journalist’s Survival Guide: What to Do Before the Ax Falls
• Kansas City Star Columnist’s Job Inquiry Backfires, Lands Him on Bad Pitch Blog
• Journalists’ Facebook Pages Reveal Struggle with Neutrality, Free Speech
• Chat: The Ethics of Posting Mug Shots Online
• Iconic Video from Tehran Protests Demands New Skills of Journalists

What will be the top media stories of 2010? We’ll be watching Google, the Associated Press, mobile, Twitter, e-readers/tablets, independent news sites. You tell us: what media stories will you be following next year?