The Way Forward

This is a rare bird: a sensible, non-sneering journalism-of-the-future piece, and it includes a role for copy editors. Skip down a few paragraphs for the English translation. H/t Jay Rosen for finding it. I keep saying that there has to be a way to bring over some newspaper values--that is, standards of accuracy, elimination of bias as much as possible, quality writing, etc.--to new ways of doing journalism that doesn't piss on traditional journalists.

Counting on You

OK, all you mathphobic newsroom folks. Educate yourself in the privacy of your living room.

Influencing the Messengers

This is a rather disturbing Washington Post story about a White House policy of trying to influence journalists and what we saw of protests at events involving George Bush.

... "The rally squad's task is to use their signs and banners as shields between the demonstrators and the main press platform. If the demonstrators are yelling, rally squads can begin and lead supportive chants to drown out the protestors (USA!, USA!, USA!). As a last resort, security should remove the demonstrators from the event site."

Advance teams are advised not to worry if protesters are not visible to the president or cameras: "If it is determined that the media will not see or hear them and that they pose no potential disruption to the event, they can be ignored. On the other hand, if the group is carrying signs, trying to shout down the President, or has the potential to cause some greater disruption to the event, action needs to be taken immediately to minimize the demonstrator's effect."

Journalists' LinkFaceSpace

Folio magazine reports on a plan to establish a social networking site for journalists.
Scott Karp and Robert Young introduce Publish2.

Scott Karp, former managing director at Atlantic Media and author of the Publishing 2.0 blog, and blogger Robert Young, formerly of GigaOM have announced Publish2, Inc., a social network and news aggregator devoted specifically to journalists.

Participants will be able to capture information that appeals to their interests and collaborate with other journalists in a private context.

Journalists will also be able submit content, similar to the aggregator site Digg, and create their own personal profile page that can feature links to their work.

Wired Pen says that the site, while designed for traditional journalists, also provide membership for “serious” bloggers (not yet defined).