September 2011

Flaherty’s tax crackdown letter reported widely in Canada, ignored in U.S.

September 26, 2011

When the Canadian finance minister dutifully writes a letter to major American newspapers, Canadian media report it like it’s a big deal. That isn’t necessarily the case. These stories need to be followed up. Media coverage in mid-September made it sound like Jim Flaherty was riding to the rescue of Canadians affected by aggressive new [...]

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Building the second screen: Don’t let the big newsrooms scare you off

September 25, 2011

I’m a big fan of the so-called “second screen.” I rarely watch sports or any major televised event anymore without my iPhone in hand running Tweetbot. The crowd and their comments always make it more fun. So one of the first sessions I flagged at ONA 2011 was Live Events: Building the Second Screen, with [...]

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How to tell if a news photo is real, or too good to be true

September 24, 2011

Richard Lam’s photo of Vancouver’s Riot Kissing Couple is now world-famous, but in the hours following the Stanley Cup riot plenty of people doubted the image’s authenticity. It seemed to good to be true: One of the things I love about the annual ONA conference is that you always learn about tools you didn’t know [...]

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Google News introduces standout tag to credit the best original work

September 24, 2011

Google created some buzz (pardon the pun) this weekend at the Online News Association conference in Boston by announcing a new “standout tag” designed to give Google News love to the outlets who deserve it. You identify your best original work by including the tag in the HTML header (but no more than seven times [...]

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Links I liked this week, Vol. 3

September 24, 2011

Every weekend I round up a few links that caught my interest as they drifted past during the previous week. Many are related to digital journalism and writing, but they may also touch on my other interests like sports, music or life in Vancouver. Here’s the third installment: An interesting take on why journalists love [...]

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In Boston: Where are the Bruins fans?

September 24, 2011

I am in Boston. I’m here for a journalism conference, and while I’ve been excited to visit one of the great American cities, I’ve also been a little apprehensive about returning to the scene of the Vancouver Canucks’ slaughter. How would it feel to see Boston Bruins jerseys in the streets? How would it feel [...]

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I get why Jack Shafer is applauding media bias

September 21, 2011

Fairness. Balance. Accuracy. These have been three pillars of journalism for as long as I’ve thought about it. I endorse fairness. To me, that’s all about treating sources ethically and making sure you don’t cause unnecessary grief for people who don’t deserve it. Accuracy is essential. Get it right. A fact is a fact. Balance [...]

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Links I liked this week, Vol. 2

September 17, 2011

Every weekend I round up a few links that caught my interest as they drifted past during the previous week. Many are related to digital journalism and writing, but they may also touch on my other interests like sports, music or life in Vancouver. Here’s the second installment: Steve Buttry puts together the ultimate list [...]

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Why sports teams will never do what it takes to rid themselves of media competition

September 16, 2011

Jason Fry argues in a post making the rounds that we’re entering an era in which sports journalists will compete for audience directly with the teams they cover. What Fry writes is true, and has been for some time. It’s hard to find a local newspaper website that offers a richer multimedia experience than that [...]

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Sending postcards from your mobile phone: Monthly fee or micropayments?

September 14, 2011

When I first learned about Postcardly, I thought it was brilliant: You email a photo and message from your mobile phone to your Postcardly account, and they turn it into an actual postcard and physically mail it for you. I went to their site and signed up quickly, and then something stopped me in my [...]

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