Recent Articles
Local People really is down to local people now then
It seems Local People was a pretty apt name for the series of websites currently run by Local World – because they will be responsible for ensuring its success now.
The company has confirmed that 25 freelance community publishers have departed because they now have “sufficient” users to allow the sites to sustain themselves.
Could The Guardian’s coffee shop idea help stave of the thirst for out of town bases in local news?
There’s every reason to believe the beancounters (excuse the pun) will be happy with the Guardian’s new coffee shop.
Social media has been awash with chatter about the new project, which is designed to be somewhere to pick up a brew as well as being a space for journalists to work from.
Flickr free-for-all keeps Yahoo firmly in the headlines
It’s been a pretty good few days for the Yahoo publicity machine.
First they nailed the acquisition of Tumblr – complete with the great “we won’t screw it up” soundbite – and now they’ve kicked their photographic rivals to touch with a new offering on Flickr.
Are labels preventing awards from showcasing diversity of Midlands media?
The nominations are out for the Midlands Media Awards and it’s great to see so many former students and colleagues up for the prizes.
But it was disappointing to see the ‘Blogger of the Year’ category looking strangely empty.
Actions will speak louder than words at Local World
Seems I’m not the only one who has decided to bid farewell to Stoke, with the news that the editor of The Sentinel, Mike Sassi, is also departing.
I met Mike on a couple of occasions during my time at Staffordshire University and, while it’s fair to say our thoughts on the role of digital in a newsroom were pretty opposite, it was always interesting to hear his well-informed views on regional news.
You’re not fooling anyone with your cut, paste, smoke and mirrors
Excuse the language, but as the quote says ‘never bullshit a bullshitter’.
As reporters we’re pretty good at spotting people who have ‘borrowed’ bits of our work. You know the sort, where the story has perhaps been given a bit of a makeover but turns of phrase stick out like footprints in the snow.
So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye…
Goodbye, I’m going home – a lyric from one of my favourite Oasis tracks of all time. It also sums up the situation I find myself in at the moment.
Back in December, I was interviewed for a job at Birmingham City University (BCU) and in January I decided to take them up on the offer. When I write it like that, it seems like such an easy, quick and painless move, but that doesn’t do justice to the scale of the decision I made.
Taking distance media lessons from wrestling stars John Cena and Stephanie McMahon
Anyone who follows me on Twitter might have sensed the pangs of jealousy flowing through some of my posts in the last few days.
This is mainly down to the fact I’ve been watching SxSW from afar as it celebrates 20 years of bringing together the interactive community.
Being aggressive about aggregation simply won’t work
Rupert Murdoch has long deemed news aggregators to be the enemy of profit. Much of his battle has been at the higher end of the spectrum, with Google in particular the target of his salvos.
At a regional level there are plenty of examples of aggregators springing up and few have thrived quite as well as TheYamYam and its younger brother TheStaffie.
Striking the personal v professional social media balance
Social media is a strange bedfellow for journalism. On one hand, it provides rich seams of content and endless interaction with reporters. But on the other lurks the danger of saying something with unintended consequences.
One presenter for a national TV channel has found himself in hot water this weekend after making reference to the Irish famine to a friend.