NewsTrust - Most Recent Stories

Four lessons from Flipboard’s reinvention for the iPhone

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Poynter Institute - By Jeff Sonderman - Dec. 07 (News Analysis) - The most popular news aggregation app for the iPad launches a new iPhone version Wednesday. Flipboard’s redesign for the smaller screen offers lessons in how publishers should tailor apps for the different needs of tablet and smartphone owners.

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Shirky: Many news orgs must choose between ‘radical restructure and outright collapse’

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Poynter Institute - By Julie Moos, Clay Shirky, Steve Yelvington - Dec. 03 (Opinion) - In response to an essay by Dean Starkman, NYU professor Clay Shirky has reiterated his belief that newspaper organizations are being disrupted at a rate that requires radical reinvention. Saying newspapers will provide a stable home for reporters, just as soon as we figure out how to make newspapers stable, is like saying that if we had some ham, we could have a ham sandwich, if we had some bread. We need to support the people who cover hard news, but when you see a metro daily for a town of 100,000 that employs only six such reporters (just 10% of the masthead, much less total staff), saving the entire edifice just to support that handful looks a lot harder than just finding new ways to support them directly.

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How news orgs are reaching millions through Facebook’s new apps

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Poynter Institute - By Jeff Sonderman - Nov. 30 (News Analysis) - It has been over two months since Facebook announced a new class of social news applications — ones that automatically share links to everything a person reads. Now we are learning more about the readership, strategies and effects of these “open graph” or “frictionless sharing” apps. Here are the six big lessons so far.

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Steve Outing envisions a future of news with automatic fact-checking

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Poynter Institute - By Steve Myers, Steve Outing - Nov. 14 (Opinion) - Steve Outing envisions a future of news with automatic fact-checkingPoynter.orgA few: “My news tools will fact-check every news story I read, highlighting mistruths, mistakes, bias, etc., and providing citation links to back up highlighted problem areas in the content. If a news story is analyzed as getting too low of a ...

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Why did journalists act as a pack in withholding names of Herman Cain’s accusers?

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Poynter Institute - By Kelly McBride - Nov. 09 (News Analysis) - Until today, media covering allegations of sexual harassment leveled against Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain have universally withheld the identities of the women, who did not voluntarily come forward. Then today, The Daily, Rupert Murdoch’s iPad publication, revealed the identity of one woman, in a flattering article that gives credibility to her claims. That prompted Business Insider and the Daily Caller to follow suit. Shortly after that, NPR confirmed with Karen Kraushaar that she is “woman A,” but she initially declined to say anything more.

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Could a better narrative save Obama’s presidency?

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Poynter Institute - By Latoya Peterson, Sarah Fidelibus - Aug. 10 (Opinion) - Last weekend, Emory psychology professor Drew Westen crafted a narrative for the op-ed section of The New York Times, in which he argued that President Barack Obama’s failure to shape a national narrative has led to a failure to enact progressive policies. Westen’s premise resonated loudly with the online audience. The column was the most emailed story on the Times site Sunday, and the Op-Ed was shared widely on Twitter — often with praise attached.

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7 mistakes journalists make when covering the debt ceiling debate (& how to avoid them)

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Poynter Institute - By Mallary Jean Tenore - Jul. 24 (Opinion) - This is a complicated story to report on if you’ve been fully immersed in it, let alone if you’re asked to cover it without much prior knowledge of the crisis. To help, we’ve collected tips from journalists at CNBC, Fortune and NPR’s Planet Money. Here are seven common mistakes to avoid when covering the crisis.

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As ‘Daily Show’ turns 15 years old, Jon Stewart’s best media criticism moments

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Poynter Institute - By Julie Moos - Jul. 23 (News Analysis) - The longest-running show on Comedy Central debuted July 21, 1996 — 15 years ago this week. Jon Stewart became host of “The Daily Show” in 1999, and has been commenting on the media ever since. Stewart, who has often been compared to broadcast news icon Edward R. Murrow, insists he is not a journalist but holds accountable those who are. Stewart and his staff are serious about media criticism, as they told Mallary Tenore in 2009. Here are highlights of the show’s media criticism through the years.

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Group takes credit for fooling AP, US Today with GE release

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Poynter Institute - Apr. 13 (News Report) - US Uncut says it posted the fake GE press release announcing that that the company would return its $3.2 billion tax refund. “This action showed us how the world could work,” US Uncut spokesperson Carl Gibson. “For a brief moment people believed that the biggest corporate tax dodger had a change of heart and actually did the right thing. But the only way anything like this is really going to happen is if we change the laws that allow corporate tax avoidance in the first place.”

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As government shutdown looms, 5 interactives explain the budget battle

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Poynter Institute - By Mallary Jean Tenore - Apr. 07 (News Analysis) - As the possible government shutdown makes headlines this week, news organizations have been creating interactive graphics to illustrate information about the budget in ways that traditional narratives can’t.

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Has Andy Carvin found the future of fundraising by using his personal brand to generate donations for NPR?

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Poynter Institute - By Mallary Jean Tenore - Feb. 11 (News) - Andy Carvin has spent much of the past 18 days curating news and information about the protests in Egypt, at times sending more than 400 tweets a day. Now he’s using his personal brand to generate donations to local NPR stations....Carvin said he “had no idea” people would take him up on the offer to donate to their local stations, but would like to think that they see what he’s been doing as a serious form of storytelling and journalism.

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How Gawker’s redesign subverts the scannable culture of the Internet it helped create.

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Poynter Institute - By Latoya Peterson - Feb. 08 (News) - It’s only Tuesday, and already it has been a tough week for Gawker Media. The popular blogging house announced its plans for a brand refresher back in December, part of Nick Denton’s grand vision to move “beyond the blog.” Unfortunately, the unveiling didn’t quite go as planned. After executing the new site design on Monday, commenters widely panned the new design.

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Truthsquad Shows We Can 'Crowdfight' Culture of Misinformation

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Poynter Institute - By Kelly McBride - Aug. 13 (Opinion) - There's a lot of evidence that suggests that people don't care about the facts anymore. For the umpteenth time, PoltiFact pointed out this week that the latest claim that President Barack Obama was born outside the United States is a big fat lie and that the video tape of Obama admitting his Kenyan birth is a doctored falsehood. Last week, a CNN poll pointed out that 27 percent of Americans believe the president was "probably" or "definitely" foreign-born. Politcal science researcher Brendan Nyhan has argued that many American citizens have bad information and -- even in the face of clear proof that they are wrong -- these citizens are unable to correct their misperceptions. The Internet has only made things worse, Nyhan says, because for all the good information out there, there is enough bad information to support any distortion.

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Poynter Online - The Biz Blog

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 09:24:53 -0700

Poynter Institute - Aug. 03 -

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A front-page look at Obama's first 100 days

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Poynter Institute - By David Shedden - Apr. 24 (News Analysis) - Wednesday, April 29, marks President Barack Obama's 100 day in office, a period of time that newspapers nationwide have been documenting on their front pages. To get a visual perspective of Obama's time in office so far, we've pulled some of these front pages, as well as front pages from Obama's inauguration, Election Day and from throughout his career.

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Google News Archive Search Shows Promise for News Organizations

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Poynter Institute - By Amy Gahran - Mar. 11 (Comment) - News is never just about what's happening today — it's also about context, including what led up to this moment in time. That's why lately I've been intrigued by the Google News archive search. This feature, introduced in September 2008, is worth a look — and may be worth considering as a way to make more money off your historical archives, or to augment current coverage.

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Ex-WaPo Editor Jim Brady to News Sites: Experiment More, Now

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Poynter Institute - By Steve Myers - Mar. 09 (Interview) - I think there are lots of sites doing interesting things journalistically, and I think there are certain changes to the media culture that I hope are with us forever — multimedia storytelling, treating our readers as partners, pushing content out versus waiting for people to come to our sites, as a few examples. But I think we could still be more adventurous editorially. Digital journalism is still the Wild West; the rules are still being made.

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Adapting Journalism to the New News Ecology

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Poynter Institute - By 85 Participants - Mar. 04 (Statement) - Principles identified by Journalism That Matters participants at Poynter Institute * If it's for the public good, it's good (who, what and how is less important) * Journalism is now entrepreneurial [edit] Part two * The new ecology is collaborative. We all have a role. * Fact-based information networking that inspires civic engagement * New news ecology must consider digital divide and multiple delivery systems to reach as many people as possible.

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Why the Rocky Closed & What its End Says About the Business's Future

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Poynter Institute - By Rick Edmonds - Feb. 28 (Opinion) - It's my job to be a dispassionate analyst of the media industry, but the sudden death of the Rocky Mountain News is hitting me hard. Not unexpected, but it all came down sooner, more abruptly than expected -- with some ominous implications for other ailing metros.

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The New Newstrust: Features, Insight from Community

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Poynter Institute - By Amy Gahran - Oct. 07 (News Report) - Newstrust, the online community that rates the quality of mainstream an independent news stories, just debuted several new features with its site redesign. I'll confess that until now I hadn't explored this site much because it seemed too cluttered and involved too much of a learning curve. But with the redesign, I think it's much more inviting and accessible. ...Which brings up another strength of NewsTrust: They're not just looking at mainstream news orgs, and they're not even limiting their ratings to news orgs at all. Instead, this site recognizes that news comes from many places, including blogs, comedy shows, and advocacy groups. It's interesting to compare how all kinds of news venues inspire trust -- or not.

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The Russert Backlash Begins

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Poynter Institute - By Al Tompkins - Jun. 16 (News Analysis) - The backlash is not about the highly respected Russert. It is about the hour upon hour that NBC and MSNBC devoted to coverage of his death.

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Seven Traits of Highly Effective Community Managers

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Poynter Institute - By Tish Grier - Jun. 13 (Opinion) - More often than not, most of the attention and money for community sites gets spent on a tool -- specifically, the community-building content management system (CMS). It's as if the person who will actually develop and manage the community is an afterthought. I recommend flipping this around...

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The Biz Blog- Some Good News Among the Bad

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Poynter Institute - By Rick Edmonds - Feb. 15 (Opinion) - So...The New York Times will eliminate 100 newsroom positions in 2008. The respected publisher of the Orlando Sentinel, Kathy Waltz, resigns and walks out the door. We won't dwell, though, on these latest episodes in the story of The Incredible Shrinking Newspaper Industry or its potent new sub-plot, Trouble in Zell Land.

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Which News Can You Trust Online?

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 22:07:24 -0700

Poynter Institute - By Amy Gahran - Jul. 17 (Opinion) - Credibility is a key concern in online media, especially to average net users trying to figure out which information they can trust. Yesterday the Sunlight Foundation announced a $10,000 grant to NewsTrust -- an intriguing online news rating service intended to help people identify quality journalism. According to Sunlight's announcement, NewsTrust's site and feed "feature the best and the worst news of the day, picked from hundreds of alternative and mainstream news sources. Sunlight's grant will provide an opportunity for a specific look at the U.S. Congress. Specifically, throughout the coming year, NewsTrust will search for quality journalism about our elected representatives, with a focus on accountability, corruption and transparency in Congress." ...That certainly seems to tie in nicely with Sunlight's cool wiki-based project, OpenCongress. What do you think of NewsTrust? Might a service like this really help people make decisions about credibility, especially when today's choices extend far beyond traditional news organizations?

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