News

Social media in ‘silent zones’: crimes against journalists and getting away with murder in realtime #EndImpunity

The recent murder of a Mexican citizen journalist who used social media to report on cartel activity has highlighted new dimensions in the killing of journalists with impunity: the exploitation of online virality by perpetrators, and the increasing risk posed to sources who ‘go direct’. Alice Matthews and Julie Posetti report.

#EndImpunity for Crimes Against Journalists (Free to re-publish)

The United Nations has designated the 2nd November as the ‘International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists’. It is important for an industry usually averse to introspection to acknowledge the deaths of journalists who have died in pursuit of the news that feeds our work.

Journalists: Write not just stories but $oftware too

Journalism operations are unduly heavily focused on distributing and monetizing content. They thus are neglecting a potentially lucrative business opportunity: creating and selling software for gathering and analyzing information.

Newly appointed Quartz Executive Editor S. Mitra Kalita on authentic journalism, smart audiences, global expansion, and the essence of a good headline

She broke new ground as the innovative Ideas Editor for Quartz and now S. Mitra Kalita has been announced as the new Executive Editor at Large of The Atlantic’s much vaunted digitally-native news site. In her new role, she has special responsibility for global expansion and ideas, according an announcement from Quartz Editor-In-Chief Kevin Delaney. Just ahead of her appointment, Kalita spoke to the World Editors Forum’s Julie Posetti at the International Newsroom Summit in Amsterdam.

NY Times, Axel Springer invest 3 million euros in Blendle

Dutch start-up Blendle, which has lined up nearly all the country’s newspapers behind a single, flexible paywall, has attracted a 3-million-euro collective investment from the New York Times of the USA and Germany’s Axel Springer.

“Is it possible to protect journalists’ sources in the digital age?”, survey asks

This is one of the key research questions underpinning a survey launched by the World Editors Forum today, as part of a global UNESCO-commissioned study into journalists’ source protection.

User Generated Content: time to consider the ethical conundrums as well as the opportunities

“Local police confirm there is an active shooter situation in a shopping centre… User-generated content is going to be the only source of content before your crews can get there. A producer identifies someone in the shopping centre. You can see that they have a good vantage point because they’ve already tweeted a photo of what looks like bodies on the ground. If verified this would be the first image from inside. How do you proceed?”

Five major lessons publishers can learn from Netflix

Guest post by Mirja Telzerow. (Editor’s note: the recent expansion in Europe of the hugely successful U.S.-based film service Netflix has triggered a debate as to whether the company’s business model carries lessons for the publishing industry. Telzerow argues that there are important lessons to be learned. An opposing view can be found here.)

Video: Interview with Mario García at #TAS14

At WAN-IFRA’s 7th Tablet & App Summit in Amsterdam, during World Publishing Expo 2014, designer Mario García picked up where he left off at last year’s event, with his focus on the two tempos in the newsroom: 24/7 and curated.

Your new mobile news habit – building loyalty and revenue

In the US and Europe, mobile growth is rapidly outstripping desktop. So why is it so often still a silo in the newroom? The New York Times and Aftonbladet have taken two very different approaches to solving this.