notes for session on future of on-line journalism and blogging

1. Future of Blogging and On-
Line Journalism
ideas for session during Blogging
The Future Summit in Cairo, 14-15
May 2009

2. Note: the ideas below are just guidelines, starting point
for discussion.

3. „The newspaper industry just gave away another free
meal, er Twitter: do they have any left?‟ Robert Scoble,
19/04/2009
http://scobleizer.com/2009/04/19/the-newspaper-industry-just-gave-away-another-free-meal-er-twitter-do-they-have-
any-left/
Meal left #1: their distribution.
Meal left #2 (partially eaten): their understanding of the
local community,
Meal left #3: they still have journalists who can be paid to
chew on something for a while
Meal left #4: objectivity and accountability.
Meal left #5: Systems for aggregating and archiving
information.
Meal left #6 (partially eaten): they have brands that many
people who are older, and therefore understand politics,
business, sports, news, influence, wealth, and many other
topics, love a lot more than Facebook or Twitter.

4. „The newspaper industry just gave away another free meal,
er Twitter: do they have any left?‟ Robert Scoble, 19/04/2009
http://scobleizer.com/2009/04/19/the-newspaper-industry-just-gave-away-another-free-meal-er-twitter-do-they-have-any-
left/
Meal left #7: They have news systems that are very robust.
Meal left #8: They have a room of curators.
Meal left #9: Sources. The San Jose Mercury News can get
into the Mayor‟s Office. I can‟t. Well, I probably could, but it
would take a while to figure out who to call, what the stories
are, who the gatekeepers are, etc. When I visited the Capital
I had a journalist as a guide. If I didn‟t have someone who
was familiar with the Capital I would never have gotten past
all the gatekeepers and I would not have been as effective.
Meal left #10: Relationships and an understanding of same.
Meal left #11: a newsroom.
Meal left #12: great opinion writers who understand the
news system a lot better than most Twitter users.

5. „The newspaper industry just gave away another free meal,
er Twitter: do they have any left?‟ Robert Scoble, 19/04/2009
http://scobleizer.com/2009/04/19/the-newspaper-industry-just-gave-away-another-free-meal-er-twitter-do-they-have-any-
left/
We are in the middle of moving to a real-time system for
EVERYTHING.
That is where we could work together. Why don‟t the geeks
and the last remaining news organizations create
something new?
http://friendfeed.com/search?q=citizen+journalism&from=scobleizer

6. Guest Post by Anita Bruzzese (USAToday.com) - What
Bloggers Can Learn From Journalists
December 15, 2008
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/guest-post-what-bloggers-
can-learn-from-journalists/
1. It takes time to gain trust.
2. You are what you write.
3. Use attribution.
4. Step away from the computer.
5. Look for the news peg.
6. Be consistent.
7. Precision is key.
8. Just get on with it.
9. Rewrite.

7. Did the Internet kill journalism?
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/271696
Paul Knox, chair of the School of Journalism at Ryerson
University in Toronto,
quot;[Mainstream reporters] have to figure out a way to make
social networking applications and tools part of their
newsgathering system and to really deal with whatever
comes down the pipe in terms of new applications and
incorporate it,quot;
“The State of the News Media 2009”, an annual report on
American journalism
'The public retained a deep skepticism about what they
see, hear and read in the media.'
'According to the Pew Research Center's State of the
News Media 2009 report, power is shifting to the
individual journalist and away from journalistic
institutions'
Dan Gillmor, director of the Center for Citizen Media, a

8. Technorati‟s recent „State of the Blogosphere‟ study;
(http://technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/)
„Bloggers are…
* Not a homogenous group: Personal, professional, and
corporate bloggers all have differing goals and cover an
average of five topics within each blog.
* Savvy and sophisticated: On average, bloggers use
five different techniques to drive traffic to their blog.
They‟re using an average of seven publishing tools on
their blog and four distinct metrics for measuring
success. „

9. Technorati‟s recent „State of the Blogosphere‟ study;
“From a journalistic perspective: Blogging and other conversational media are entering a
new phase when it comes to community information needs — they're growing up.
Traditional media are using these tools to do better journalism, and are beginning to
engage their audiences in the journalism. Entrepreneurial journalists are finding profitable
niches. Advertisers are starting to grasp the value of the conversations, and so on. The big
issues remain, including the crucial one of trust. Here, too, we're seeing progress. The best
blogs are as trustworthy as any traditional media, if not more. The worst, often offering
fact-challenged commentary, are reprehensible and irresponsible. But audiences are
learning, perhaps too slowly, that modern media require a more activist approach. We
need to be skeptical of everything, but not equally skeptical of everything. We need to use
judgement, to get more information — and to go outside our personal comfort zones.”
Dan Gillmor
Director
Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship
Kauffman Professor of Digital Media Entrepreneurship
Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communication, Arizona State University
startupmedia.org

10. Technorati‟s recent „State of the Blogosphere‟ study;
“The future of blogs will have arrived when you check your favorite blog for sports news in
the morning, instead of your local paper.”
Richard MacManus
Founder / Editor
ReadWriteWeb
www.readwriteweb.com

11. THANK YOU