My students prepare their Street View presentation
The word “innovation” is often mentioned as a key ingredient in the recipe for survival in journalism. But do newsrooms really have the stomach for innovation?
In my experience, innovation happens two ways: behind management’s back or right in front, with their full, unwavering support.
The Chronicle was one of the first newspapers to podcast. That was accomplished because my colleague Benny Evangelista and I taught ourselves how to do it and began creating audio content without anyone at the company really knowing (we posted the podcasts on an external site).
When we finally got around to telling the big boss at that time — Phil Bronstein — to his credit he fully embraced our effort and cleared a path for us. With his support, our endeavor flourished and many in the newsroom felt encouraged to join in.
But a year or so later, with a different editor (who is no longer there), our efforts to innovate weren’t as easy. It was the year of a record number of homicides in Oakland, and a few of us decided to launch an ambitious multimedia package: audio, slideshows, video, a Flash interactive (most of which was considered innovative back then). I recall visiting the staff in the Oakland bureau, brainstorming with them, and heading back to the office excited and inspired by their willingness and enthusiasm to try something entirely new.
That fond memory is quickly followed by a morale-crushing one, in which I was later told that we couldn’t pull off this multimedia package because of the lack of resources.
In the end, we did it anyway (you can read more about that here). And it won several awards. But more importantly, it told a tragic story in a way that connected with many readers (based on the e-mail feedback).
The effort to innovate, amid shrinking budgets and staffs, can seem like an insurmountable challenge. Innovation takes time. Resources. Commitment. And the payback isn’t immediate, if there’s any return on investment at all. Oh, and there’s plenty of failure. Believe it. More than I care to admit.
But that’s the nature of innovation, and if the industry truly wants to take advantage of technology (and not be victimized by it), it has to find the time.
In that spirit, I spent about half of my class last night on a team exercise: come up with innovative ways to use Google’s Street View. Although this feature of Google Maps has been around for awhile, I still don’t see many news sites taking advantage of it. So I asked my students to develop their own journalistic uses of it. Each team of 4 was given an hour to research it, brainstorm and produce a Google Docs Presentation that they would narrate (live) in front of the class.
What they came up with was impressive. Their ideas included:
- Using Street View to scope out photo assignments
- For editors to check locations and descriptions of certain areas
- For comparison, be it before and after pictures or to compare the living conditions of one neighborhood with another
- To use as an interactive info graphic, by embedding markers on Street View with pop-up info
- To showcase crime areas (such as this popular robbery location and this homicide hot spot)
You can view one of the presentations they created below (I’ll try to add more when I have time):
Related to what was mentioned about the kidnapping case, check out this Mashable video of Street View that purportedly shows a van from the Antioch home of the kidnapper following the Google vehicle that’s taking photos of that neighborhood.
Separately, for my students …
Homework is due at midnight on Wednesday, Sept. 9 (put another way, it’s due by end of day Sept. 8). Please do the following:
1. Read these links:
SF Chronicle article on real-time search
NYT on study that measure chatter of news cycle
Old but I think still relevant Buzz Machine post on links
Michael Bauer’s blog on SFGate (esp. read the comments)
2. Comment on this blog post your ideas/reaction to readings (re: Bauer’s blog — tell me why you think it’s so popular, and garners so many comments).
3. E-mail me your pitch on what beat(s) you want to cover for the SFSU site. Describe how it will be distinctive from what other news sources do and include at least 3 specific ideas related to that topic. Include in the e-mail a sample blog post (make it good — pretend you’re applying for a job). If you’d rather put the sample post on an actual blog, that’s fine. Just include the link in the e-mail.
And remember, I’m almost always available for questions.
thanks a lot
Response to real-time search:
I don’t think that real-time searches are the way of the future or even something to rely on for a news source. They can be helpful to get perspective from people who are living through news events, such as the protests in Iran, but I think reliable news sources are the best and most informative place to read about news. With the new influx of real-time search websites, it could lead people to turn to these sites for their news instead of reading a newspaper. Twitter and Facebook are a good tool for social networking, but people are starting to rely on them solely for updates from their friends about news, which could lead to a new generation of people who rely less on traditional news sources and more on social networking.
Response to NYT on study that measure chatter of news cycle:
Blogs can be an important an influential aspect of news and can give major news media ideas for stories from some of the people who know the topic the best. It’s important for media to look at blogs, especially hyper local blogs, to see what the community is reporting to generate ideas for stories. Also, blogging allows writers and readers to discuss news topics in detail and give their perspective.
Response to Buzz Machine post on links:
I agree with the Buzz Machine post that wire stories should be utilized more so that media can use their resources to post unique stories that aren’t receiving coverage. The example of Anna Nicole Smith shows that mainstream media spend too much time focusing on topics that are being over covered and often times, although many different media report on one story, they often don’t offer any new angles. If each media source focuses on what they know best then people can get detailed and informed news from news sources that are most informed about the subject they are reporting about. Also, the media can save resources by not having to send reporters around the country and world for a story that has already been reported thoroughly.
Response to Michael Bauer’s blog:
Michael Bauer’s blog exemplifies the purpose of blogs and the interaction they allow with readers. Bauer uses his blog to focus solely on one topic, food, and readers who have an interest in this can target his blog and stay informed with the food world in San Francisco. His blog is very interactive in that he asks his readers their opinion and poses questions in some of his postings. He also uses reader’s comments and other articles to get ideas for blog postings.
real-time search: I agree that this is more of a good advertising technique then it is a news service. The problem is that it will have trouble being reliable to the factual extent journalists need. It may be a good thing to use if you want to use other people’s quotes. I can definitely seeing this being a challenge to the traditional standards of journalism.
Chatter Study: This study makes sense to me and was a little comforting that people still seem to be checking NY Times and other “serious” news sites as opposed to flocking towards the new blog. The study, however, also points to the growing power and popularity of blogs. To me I am worried from this that blogs as they sit now will over take “objective” journalism.
Buzz-machine: I think it makes a lot of sense that this is the new direction of media. There is so many sources of information that to expect someone to exclusively visit your site for all types of news is ridiculous. The Times should link the Anna Nicole Smith story because most interested in that story will not go to the NY Times but People magazine instead.
Bauer’s blog: I was very interested in this blog. It makes sense that people love this, it is juicy first off that someone can email him a complaint and he can just call the owner of that restaurant. This is also a perfect example of the increasing involvement ordinary people can have in their journalism in the modern era.
Real-time search:
My family is from Iran and I had family members living in Tehran and during the presidential election protest, my family was very worried about my grandmother, my aunts, uncles, and cousins. We couldn’t really talk to them about it over the phone as the phones were tapped in by the Iranian government. So the only way of finding out how things were going was through CNN and they were using Twitter.
In times like these, I find Twitter and other real-time search engines very helpful and convenient. There is something about people wanting to know things now and have everything on-the-go. I’m not so sure why, but I think its because we live in a world filled with advance technology, it makes the world a smaller place; an easier way to connect to people on the other side of the world.
Chatter of News Cycle:
Blogs are becoming really popular. Larry King even has one. I think news just doesn’t come from talking to people, but also about reading what people say on websites. Blogs are a great way to get a story idea, a good way to get a source. You get people’s thoughts and feelings on a certain view and that helps because it gives journalists an understanding of the community. And just like Twitter, blogs are becoming the place to be when something big happens because you get people’s first reaction instantly.
Buzz Machine:
I think every surviving newspaper is thinking of ways of how to cover the same story, but better or differently. But I also think that when it comes to stories on celebrities, it would be nice for the media to sort of down play it because there is only so much. When Paris Hilton went to jail, there was so much media hype around it. Media outlets were doing so many angles and others were sort of copying their competitors. And it was pretty much the same or similar information by the first week. What we can do (when it comes to big news stories) is maybe try to not to do similar stories as our competitors; we can mention it when necessary, but if news angles have already been done, what’s the point in doing it? Or maybe we can try to localize a story.
Michael Bauer:
When I read his blog, it’s pretty much what I see in most blogs so far. You write about something that is interesting, you put your thoughts down, and then you allow your followers to interact by responding to the blog and other people’s comments. Another thing that most bloggers do is they post something up (a link to a different story), write about their thoughts on it and then again, allow their readers to interact. I think that’s a good way for a journalist to promote his/her writing because they can easily get feedback from the readers and hopefully attention from employers.
Real-time search:
I have never used Twitter and I have barely experienced Facebook, but this real time stuff makes me more interested in using it. I definitely agree with the criticism that “just because a post is recent does not mean it is relevant.” For this reason I do not see real-time search engines becoming “the next big thing” The search engine would have to have an extensive algorithm, if that is the right word, that includes the relevancy of items and also sorts through spam. Also, the content on Twitter, though not necessarily reputable could be used as tip-off for a breaking news story.
Cornell Study:
This study might show how the most-repeated quotes are those that are outrageous or colorful. I want to know which story lines, arguably important based on their social impact, receive much less attention and why. I guess there are plenty of those instances and they may be harder to track. The study also proves that blogs can break stories first and it points to those blogs that succeed at this, such as Hot Air. In this instance, the study could be used for some sort of system for grading blogs based on their ability to release breaking news. Still, there is a chance that these commonly repeated phrases could be used in many different story lines. Thus, the story line cannot be defined by these common phrases or memes.
Buzz Machine:
His argument that newspapers should cover what they do best makes sense, but people also look to their local or community newspaper to cover national issues as they relate to them locally. If a major paper like the New York Times failed to report on the death of Michael Jackson because they thought the L.A. Times could do the story better, then they would be losing all those hungry eyes that still occasionally buy newspapers. I definitely dislike all the hype and over-coverage of celebrity news, but I don’t see how you could get the business side of the newsroom to not want to give at least some of their resources to these types of stories. On the other hand, linking your readers to stories that someone else can cover better gets your readers the best information and on the whole would make a news agency more competent at its service of delivering the news.
Michael Bauer’s blog;
I think Michael Bauer’s blog is so popular, because it is about food and dining out and San Francisco is full of foodies. People want to know everything about what they eat and they also prefer unique, service-oriented atmospheres. Some comments are exceptionally reflective and critical of Bauer’s posts and that means his readers are conscious of the quality of information they receive. I cannot think of any reason why his blog is popular other than everyone loves food and the fact that the blog is published via a major media outlet. Though, I could be missing something, because I never read blogs. One other thing to note though is that his posts are not your typical food/restaurant reviews and maybe that draws readers’ attention. The post about Kraft being sustainable would definitely make people want to read more since it is one of the largest producers of packaged food, a seemingly unsustainable industry..
Real Time Search:
I think the Real Time Search is a gimmick. It sounds good in theory but it also seems like you would get bombarded with spam and unimportant information. I liked what they said about how Google links you to sites that have not been updated for years and there should be definitely be a change there like getting rid of sites that have not been active.
Chatter of News:
Blogs are a very important tool in identifying peoples thoughts and opinions about certain subjects. You can get a generalized poll of peoples views on touchy subjects because lets be honest, people revel their personal feelings on twitter. But to take it a step further, I think using the blog as a tool to find why and how news travels is a very important study that hasn’t fully been realized.
Buzz Machine:
Newspapers are obviously going threw a rough time right now and are very confused. They are doing anything they can to stay above water. To judge them on covering a MAJOR news story like Smith just because they cant be updated to the second is completely asinine and only time will tell what happens to them.
Michael Bauer:
A textbook definition of what a blog is would be this post. Writes about an issue he had and then a bunch of other people who have stake in the matter respond. Other then that i have no real opinion of the matter.
Buzz Machine:
Personally I think linking is a lazy way of reporting. I think linking is good for attribution or other versions of a story but the point of journalism is to tell a story in a different way, with new information.
The benefit of news organizations linking to competitors sites is that the more versions someone reads, the clearer and accurate the information can be which could lead readers to know that the information they are reading is accurate and true.
NYT: I believe, and I hope I’m right, this trend of news stories appearing in blogs before appearing in news media sources is because many bloggers might not take the dedication that journalists take in reporting a story, talking to sources, properly attributing them, and checking their facts. Blogging is easy, anyone can do it. How accurate is it though? It can be very inaccurate. Journalists, while not licensed, are trained to get the “official story” which is what readers may want.
SF Chronicle:
I have to agree with the article’s view of up to the minute news and society’s want for it. Whether it’s the best way to go? I don’t think so. It takes too much time, too much searching for the reader, and constant… constant research and newsgathering for the news industry. Yes, news is about getting the latest information; however, in this economy where there are fewer reporters, the reporters on staff have more stuff to do with less time to do it in. The resources are certainly out there, the question is: is there time and enough “certified” people to do the research and report on it? People who twitter may not be the most reliable sources or people to get information from. Real time news is not always fully covered. While I think it’s a great way to get news, it should not be something to depend on.
Bauer: Bauers blog has a lot to offer in terms of food destinations. I like the fact that people really engage in the blog comments. They really have their two cents worth of a comment, and don’t just ramble on or argue about the topic at hand. Other comments on blogs or news stories turn out to be a fight amongst the readers who tend to go off topic and don’t make much contribution. It seems like Bauers blog may be popular for his first hand insight in his posts. He dedicates time to spending time to certain details that appeals to others. And he seems passionate about it. He writes what he likes to write about. That’s what blogging should be about. Feeling something passionate is part of the blogging experience.
Real-Time Search: I agree with the comment made in the article that “just because a post is recent, doesn’t mean it’s relevant.” I think Google should be careful not to loose credibility by focusing too much on real-time and linking up with Twitter. Perhaps Google should implement an option to ‘search most recent.’ But personally if I were researching a topic wand was looking to obtain useful and accurate information, and the search gave me a list of random blog posts and “tweets” that had been posted w/in the last 10 minutes – I would be a bit irritated.
But as far as individual sites focusing on real-time information streaming in, I think this can be beneficial to global awareness of what is happening, right now, in other places around the world
News Cycle: Blogs are essentially a source of chit-chat among a vast, vast number of people. But they really shouldn’t, in my opinion, be regarded as officially credible news outlets. Not to say that they cannot be a source of talking points, which is what this article is addressing. The research that the people at Cornell are doing just sheds light on the fact that blogs are a penetrating force in the world of gossip. BUT, they are fueled by real news sources; without the journalists reporting the news in the first place (through professional methods), the blogs would seize to exist since they do very little, or no, actual reporting themselves.
Buzz Machine: I think linkage is an effective tool for online publications, but should be approached with caution. The point that Jeff Jarvis makes, that with dwindling resources news-producers have to be creative, is a considerable point to be made. It may not be ideal to shadow our own work with the work of others, but in some cases, there is little choice. Our own hyperlocal blog that we are going to create is a perfect example, in order to make our site engaging and interactive, I think it is crucial to incorporate links to other sites. But I think it then becomes the journalist’s job to confirm the credibility of the sites being linked to; or disclose that the said site may be opinion-based or out-dated, etc.
Between Meals; Michael Bauer: I think the reason Michael’s blog is so effective and attracts so much attention is because he addresses his audience in such a direct way that it makes them feel like they are a part of the conversation. In the internet age, people don’t want to be talked at; they want to be talked to. In the latest blog, he even quotes a reader and went so far as to call the restaurant in question. He places emphasis on his audience, making them feel important. And lets face it, the internet is full of narcissists.
Real time search:
Real time search is a welcome new innovation in the growing culture of news and information. Real time search is basically the future of the internet. As internet speeds become faster and people are able to access information from anywhere they have a phone or wifi signal, people will demand their news to be updated any time they need it.
The integration of Twitter and Google is a very real possibility. I’ve used the trending topics of Twitter to find news. Surprisingly most trending topics have actually been relevant to the things I care about. Although Twitter has been a fairly reliable source of information, it shouldn’t be used as a final destination. Rather it should be used a sign pointing the reader in the right direction. There have been many times in which I opened up Facebook or Twitter and read someone’s status about a news story. Most of the time I’ll go to Google and do a search for the subject.
The integration of real time search and networking sites should be approached with care. I believe a model in which normal search results are still the main component, yet includes a sidebar in which shows real time search or trending topics. Otherwise a real time search for “Michael Jackson” would end in thousands of pages with the words “RIP MJ you will be missed.” The user would have to go through all those pages just to find relevant information.
Covering what you do best and linking to the rest is a great concept. Newspapers are getting smaller and cutting jobs. Unfortunately they have been asking staffers to do more with less. Which means asking certain staffers to extend their jobs beyond their own knowledge or specialties. This strategy results in uneven or incomplete coverage. If a website specializes in local news they shouldn’t be expected to be great at national or world news. In that case the website should link to other more capable sites so that readers can get a better understanding of the information they need. I read a lot of tech blogs and I believe they do a great job of linking other sites with more information. For the most part they have their own coverage of topics and gadgets, but for breaking news or gadgets that they can’t test themselves they link to other sites. They aren’t shy about referring to the blogs in which they get their information. For example at the end of an article the Gizmodo blog linked to several websites after a post: [Coroflot via Waylou via Craziest Gadgets via SlipperyBrick]”
Bauer’s Blog:
I think the popularity if Bauer’s blog is due to the fact that he involves his readers. He takes reader submissions and either features them or responds to them. This gives his readers an incentive to read and participate in his blog. Readers who do get their comments or information posted in turn share his blog with friends or family to sort of show off their bit of fame.
sfc: I like the idea of a real time search engine, but only if it directs to reliable sources. This seems to be a problem facing seekers of trustworthy up-to-date information in a world so reliant on social media for their news. For example, I recently spent a day thinking Jeff Goldblum was dead because all my friend’s facebook status updates said so. Reporters should never rely on twitter/facebook updates for sources. Absolutely nothing can replace actually going to the location to experience the event yourself. It is amazing how much exaggeration and opinion can fit in 140 characters or less.
nyt: It was no surprise to me to see that official news travels to blogs. It was interesting to me, however, to see how bloggers have influenced new sources. It is good to see that major news sources are investigating claims made by blogs. What I would like to know is if readers of the original blogs bother to read the news coverage of the topic later. I wonder if a reader would get bored with the same story and not take in as much information the second time around or if they maintain the opinion held by the original blog writer. I’m excited to see further research on this topic.
bm: I love the idea of specializing coverage within a credible publication, but because not many publications can afford to hire people to cover these events, they link to another site. This is leading to less diverse credible news coverage during a time in which humanity is tuning into the biggest, ever-updating social and information tool in the history of the world. This could be very bad.
bauer: I love Michael Bauer’s blog. I actually have it bookmarked. (That and “The Poop.” I’m not a mom, I just am a sucker for shameless pop-culture references and funny stories about babies.) Anyways, I think Bauer’s blog is popular for multiple reasons–the biggest one being that he has every foodie’s dream job. And every foodie in San Francisco can read his blog and gain a bigger insight into the Bay Area food and restaurant scene. I know this because I am guilty of it.
- Chatter of the News Cycle
This is very interesting research, and its value lies in understanding the readers, how quickly they react to news, who they tell first (their friends on facebook? the whole world through their blog?) and what avenues are used to pass on information.
- Do your best, link to the rest:
I really like the suggestions on this article. What happens when we try to cover everything is that we do not go in-depth on any one thing, and we stretch ourselves thin. Instead, we should think about all the stories that are not being told, either because of censorship or simply being overlooked, and focus on those, and let everyone else cover the big stories everyone is going to write about anyways. I believe there are two kinds of stories, those that are everywhere and one cannot avoid consuming (like the apt Anna Nicole example), and those that are rarely told, and are difficult to come by. It is important to never underestimate supposed little stories, as these can sometimes unravel into the greatest gems, and most of the time, they are more original. As journalists striving for originality, we should see where the flock is running, and explore the opposite direction. It seems almost wasteful to have hundreds of journalists sometimes covering the same event (especially in the case of celebrity news) while so many important things are being ignored.
- Michael Bauer
I think Bauer’s blog is successful because it relates to something quite universal. Food is part of every person’s life, everyday, whether or not we eat out often. He involves the readers by including their letters, and he talks in an informal tone that encourages conversation (comments). The universal quality of the topics and the informal tone set the stage for reader participation. It makes a blog feel like a community.
Some Thoughts…….
Real-Time Search = Entertainment
Tweets and Facebook status blurbs are usually not news, and even if there was a little speck of newsworthy information hiding amongst the thousands of causal posts, the integrity of that news would be indeterminable. It might be a practical joke, it might be real… who could know? So, as far as news goes, I don’t see any value in real-time search engines, other than the possibility of writing stories on them.
New York Times:
Well, a good study of the way people digest news, how it affects their lives, what they remember, how long they care, and what they care about would be a pretty interesting bit of reading. But to base that information on tracking certain key phrases or “memes” through their evolution through the web does not convince me that the study would be reliable. It is my opinion that not every great news story revolves around some “zinger” like “you can put lipstick on a pig.” The memes reflect high profile gossip, and not always news. On another note, it is interesting that bloggers are breaking some stories here and there.
Buzz Machine:
Undoubtedly, some linking may be in order. But Jeff Jarvis might be pushing this a little far. Certainly, having 50 different reporters research the same story is inefficient, but in news, efficiency is not always what your after. We like to think journalists are more concerned with truth than saving a buck. Re investigating and writing a news story is more than “a matter of pride and propriety” as Jarvis states, its about having multiple accounts and perspectives. Its sad that journalistic integrity is at the mercy of the economy, which at the moment seems to be acting a little irrationally, wouldn’t you say? Well, with that out of the way, there is some good that will come of linking. In fact, the NYT article previously mentioned had a link to the text of the Cornell study. An excellent use of linking, if i do say so myself.
Bauer’s blog:
Very lively. Very casual. A little rowdy. Bauer’s post about the ex-Sanfranciscan chef “dissing” the city sure brought on the comments. A little pointless, maybe, but hey, why not contemplate our San Franciscan image as a whole for a little while? It seems like a good point to reflect on. It’s nice to have a little breathing room–a diversion is healthy from time to time.
1. “Race is on for up to the minute search engines.”
Linking websites together for news sources such as twitter and blogs can create more real time perspective. People can be more into the news if they are able to upload pictures and blogs about an event themselves rather than having a single news sources edit it for them.
2. “Study Measures the chatter of the news cycle”
Blogs do sometimes pick up on information quicker than news stations. But sometimes people can be influenced if a blog person is biased towards something and reflects it on his blog. But on the other hand its a good way for people to make up their own minds and see what blogs they want to read or not.
3. “Cover what you do best, link to the rest”
Liveblogging creates more of a real time effect for readers. They feel as if they are there with the blogger rather than waiting until the next day for the newspaper or for the online website to upload a story. One important point that this article made was that people don’t get news from just one source. People check many news sources to get their information from such as blogs or national news sites.
4. “The woes of nabbing a reservation”
The comments on this article showed how people really are involved in voicing their opinion. If we have comments on our posts students will start to voice their ideas for others to make their own opinions. One poster named PdQuick said in response to ilovermont, who sided with the restaurant’s decision, that he hopes she goes out of business. From such a post a reader was able to see both points of view: from a restaurant owner trying to explain why such a decision was made and also from a customer’s point of view.
Real Time Search: I think it’s a great idea. Google has been top dog for so long and it’s been a long time coming for something like this to come along. Alternative news outlets are the wave of the future and I’m sure that this concept will do nothing but grow.
NY Times Study: The story didn’t really get in to the benefit of the research, what knowing the inner workings of the 24 hour news cycle would mean, or what we could apply it to. I’m guessing the people conducting the reseach aren’t so sure themselves what the results will lead to. It’s worth knowing though for sure.
Buzz Machine: This story is definitely still relevant. But we see more and more local newspapers and even city ones going with much more AP stories than ever before because of dwindling resources for news staff. Online it’s the same thing. Linking is the same thing as AP stories. It’s saying we couldn’t cover it, but here’s someone who did it. Or we couldn’t cover it as good as they could. It makes sense and is something that should definitely continue to evolve as news outlets online evolve into smaller and smaller niche markets.
Bauer: I think he gets a lot of comments because he’s got a fresh taste on eating in the city. He posts on a regular basis and his blog is featured highly under the Restaurants section.
Real Time Search: Real time search engines can be a good idea, but I always fear that the latest news that is up to date might not be accurate. Real time search engines can give basic information about something that is currently happening, but should not be relied heavily as the only source for news. Because it is in real time it is constantly changing and thus leaves room for a lot of mistakes if there aren’t any editors at hand checking the posts. Another problem that real time search engines might face, that SF Gate mentioned, is trying to filter out spam that might come up instead of an actual post.
News Cycles: It’s fascinating to see how far research has advanced that they can track the popularity of a news story online. This research is important especially for news publications that are slumping. I’m curious to know, however, how accurate the information would turn out at the end.
Buzz Machine: Part of what the writer of buzz machine is saying is true. it is important to ask what can you do best and report on that so the same story is not reported twice, but for some reason, I can’t see a news publication relying heavily on links. The format works well for blogs because they are based somewhat on opinions.
Michael Bauer: What makes his blogs so popular is that he includes the reader into his blog post. The blog about reservations included a letter he received from a reader and he was replying to the reader directly through the post. Readers respond better when they feel their opinions are taken into consideration, and Bauer does a great job of that.
Real Time News: Real time news can be have a positive and negative affect. The positive affect is that readers are consantly updated on the latest news as it occurs by the seconds, and are able to view others information on it as it happens as well. Basically, they have a wide range of updated news to choose from. The negative affect is that eveything happens so fast, and readers need to be aware that all information posted is not accurate. I feel that if people do use real time news as their fisrt source for information they should view other sites for accuracy.
New York Times: I know that bloggers chat and crtique things that have been discussed in the news, but i was amazed to find out how popular they have become with mainstream news outlets. I didnt know that a lot of news outlets are taking many of the topics from bloggers and using them for possible news stories.
Buzz Machine: Every now and then I feel that it is okay to use other links as references for a story, if it helps the reader grasps a better undrstanding, or if the information given was well written. On the other hand, I do no like the idea of a reporter using someones entire story just to get by without doing any research. I also feel that if the story is directly taken from another link, readers may not be interested in it because it would be over reported. If anything the reader should use the link as a reference and try to come up with a fresh alternative to the story.
Bauer: This blog posted by Bauer was very enlightening, even though he mentioned his facts were not completly accurate. I think he gained a lot of readers because it was something that interested the viewers personally, and it was something that many might have wondered about, but was just to ashamed to ask. I also liked how he brought the actual reader into his story and answered her question, with his opinion as well as an expert’s opinion. When things like such are done, it makes the readers feel a personal connection with the blogger, and it also ensures them that thier questions are being heard and taken into consideration.
-Real Time Search:
There is definitely a journalistic use for real time searching. Having access to newly published information is great for staying up to date with breaking news. Like we saw with the Iran elections, sometimes blogs and the like are the only way to tell others what is going on. The only concern that comes to mind is that of the users privacy.
-News Cycle:
There are a few interesting bits of info in this article. One statistic states that blogs follow news outlets by about 2.5 hours. The other point of interest that blogs, while not news breakers, often pick up on what issues gain mass interest on the web. Maybe a search engine that picks up on what most blogs are talking about will allow us to follow and focus on trends? (see above)
-Buzz Machine:
This is an interesting observation. I think that news outlets should continue to link to other articles, as long as it gives a different or deeper view of what the issue is.
-Bauer:
Bauer’s blog may have a large following because he engages his readers. Not only does he connect with his readers because they share a common interest, but he asks for feedback and talks about what they say often.