News

Media Spot Me: a ‘start-up for journalists to discover people to interview’

Put very simply, the daily work of a journalist involves the gathering, processing, and finally the distributing of information. In order to corroborate their particular lines of inquiry, journalists find themselves needing to approach experts in a variety of fields such as politics, economics, culture, and sometimes highly specific areas of scientific discovery. However, seeking out these contacts and building long-term relationships with them can prove trickier said than done.

BBC allegedly uses students as ‘human shields’ in undercover North Korea trip

The London School of Economics expressed outrage after learning tonight’s episode of BBC’s Panorama, “North Korea Undercover,” was filmed during an unofficial school trip. In late March three journalists posed as LSE employees and accompanied 10 students into the country, normally inaccessible to foreign journalists.

Questions raised about Blog Del Narco

Hailed as “the most important site in Mexico” a new report suggests popular Blog Del Narco might not be so original afterall.

Rue89’s Blandine Grosjean emphasises the importance of reader participation

Editor-in-chief of Rue89, Blandine Grosjean, gave a masterclass on 11 April at Sciences-Po’s journalism school in Paris, providing a fascinating insight into the workings of the French news website. Her talk focussed on the importance of reader participation at Rue89 through three main elements of the website: “témoignage” (witness reports), “porte-monnaie” (readers divulging their financial information), and “commentaires” (the reader comment system).

With $90m Pulse acquisition, is LinkedIn becoming ‘the newspaper of the future’?

LinkedIn’s gone a long way from being just a virtual resume pile. After what CEO Jeff Weiner called “a transformative year” in 2012, the company has cemented itself in the media industry, most recently with Thursday’s $90 million purchase of news reader Pulse.

Journalists in Burundi and Kuwait suffer setbacks

One country borders Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The other lies in central Africa. While both small in size and scope, Burundi and Kuwait are making headlines for passing harsh media laws severely limiting journalist freedoms.

Pageviews determine some reporters’ paychecks; will journalism suffer?

More publications are basing reporters’ and editors’ salaries on business metrics such as pageviews, unique visitors and ad sales — but what will that mean for journalism?

Le Monde will withhold Offshore Leaks information from the French government

On the sixth day of a series of revelations from the international media circuit concerning the world of offshore fiscal fraud, a minister of the French government appealed to “the press” to hand over the data upon which their investigations are based.

Tumblr axes multimedia news blog Storyboard

Tumblr CEO David Karp announced this week that Storyboard, its high-profile blog of original content, would be shutting down after one year.

Media reactions to the death of Margaret Thatcher – ‘misapplied death etiquette’?

The crucial question being posed by media columnists and bloggers in the wake of Margaret Thatcher’s death is a moral one, concerning the tone adopted by newspapers in their reactions to the death of such a controversial public figure.