Attention All Journalists

According to an article by the Associated Press published yesterday… the Senate Judiciary Committee passed a Federal Shield Law in a 14-5 decision.

This decision makes it so that the bill will now be presented to the Senate for a vote… after which it must be passed by the House of Representatives, who already approved a different version of the bill.

This shield law, will make it so that all journalists have a legal right to protect their sources. The only exception to this rule is in cases of National Security.

Keep in touch for further coverage on the Senate and House vote of the Federal Shield Law.

Google Teams Up with The Washington Post and The New York Times

Today, The New York Times reported that Google will be launching what is being called the “living stories” project. The “living stories” project is a group effort by Google, The New York Times and The Washington Post that will take content from online news sites and make it so people can easily find related content pertaining to the news story in question.

Living Stories will update and post the most recent articles online in a list format from the time it was published. Unlike most news aggregators, the headlines will not serve as a link to the actual web page of the article. Instead it will link to a new site where the article is published with video and pictures, if available.

What is new about Living Stories is that it will also offer a timeline type feature, with which the reader can view previous articles on the same topic. Living Stories will also provide links to articles, opinions and op-eds that relate to the topic of the story you read.

While this is a major advancement in how aggregators present news, it will also cause more conflict in the attempts to monetize the internet. The New York Times and The Washington Post already publish their articles for free… and now they are publishing them on Google related sites along with their own web pages.

Both sites may lose money from this, because people will be more inclined to look up the story through Google. From this the amount of traffic on both NYTimes.com and WashingtonPost.com will decrease causing less people to view their advertisements.

This is the same fear the Rupert Murdoch explained when he pushed Google into taking off content from the Wall Street Journal. Now Murdoch is trying to strike a deal with Microsoft’s Bing.com to post articles from the Wall Street Journal in return for payment.

Aggregators, as a whole, are risky to the news environment and could potentially make it even more difficult for online journalists to make a buck.

New Media Ecosystem

If I was graduating this December, I would definitely look for a job as an online editor for a news website. While salaries for online editors are in decline (source), there is still a flourishing online market for news (source).

Michael Rosenblum, a successful businessman and journalist, previously responded to my questions on my blog and explained that the fate of print journalists in today’s society is “unemployment.” While this is a bit overzealous, he does have a point… the online market offers many untapped resources whereas print is slowly withering away.

During this time of economic crisis it is much harder to make a buck then ever before. However, if I was to graduate in December, I would choose to work online as opposed to print or broadcast.

The money at first wont be that appealing. However I know that as time progresses news sites will figure out how to monetize the internet thus eliminating the need for print journalism.

Online will also eliminate the need for broadcast journalism as well. This is because the internet offers multimedia functions that make it so I can film a news story and post a print story about the same topic simultaneously.

New journalists, like myself, may struggle at first trying to fit into the new media ecosystem because of the recession and all the layoffs at major news conglomerates. Typically the structure of layoffs go, “last hired, first fired.”

However, I like a few others, will not let the lack of money in the time of recession sway me away from doing my job as a reporter.

Discussion Points – Brian Farnham

Here are two major points from Brian Farnham’s visit to Barbara Selvin’s Journalism 24/7 class. (Farnham is the editor-in-chief of Patch.com)

1) Farnham explained that when deciding what town gets a patch there are certain factors. Such as median household income and top ranked high schools.

2) He explained that there is a sense of ownership and pride of the site, because site editors play a role as half journalist and half small business owners.

Discussion Points – Michael Rosenblum

Here are three major points from Michael Rosenblum’s visit to Barbara Selvin’s Journalism 24/7 class.

1) The internet wrecked newspapers… so now people should look towards the future and try to “own the web.”

2) Professional journalists need to embrace the business aspect… they need to have both a degree in journalism and an MBA.

3) All journalists try to sell their paper. It is very difficult to survive being completely objective.

Brian Farnham visits JRN 301

On Monday November 9, Brian Farnham will be visiting Professor Barbara Selvin’s Journalism 24/7 class. Farnham is currently the editor-in-chief at patch.com, a website dedicated to providing hyperlocal news, events, directories, maps, and reviews to specific areas in the tri-state region (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut).

Here are three questions I have come up with prior to this class:

1) What do you feel is the importance of hyperlocal reporting?

2) What differentiates patch.com from other local news sources (News 12, Newsday, other local papers, and their websites)

3) How do you view the balance between church (publication’s editorial staff) and state (publication’s advertising department) in a newsroom should be? How do you think it is in today’s society?

Michael Rosenblum visits JRN 301 Class

On Friday, November 6, Michael Rosenblum will be visiting professor Barbara Selvin’s Journalism 24/7 class. Mr. Rosenblum runs a training program of sorts called Rosenblum TV in which reporters learn to use more cost effective and time saving video production skills. Rosenblum TV has clients all over the globe within the news media. The website also serves as Rosenblum’s blog in which he writes articles and posts video about specific stories of interest.

Here are 3 questions I wish to ask Mr. Rosenblum:

1) Do you feel the internet and multimedia functions will eliminate the necessity for people to get information from television?

2) What do you feel is the fate of print journalism in today’s society?

3) How should websites monetize or make a profit off of print journalism?