I really like how Poynter is approaching their site redesign, it provides a good model for how TheMiamiHurricane.com, and others, should go about it.
Here’s a video from Poynter’s YouTube channel:
For more information about their redesign, check out the Poynter Online – Poynterevolution page.
From Romanesko:
Romenesko Misc. | Northwestern Media Management Center
While the 14- to 18-year-old participants in a Northwestern-sponsored study [PDF] describe time spent on YouTube or social networking and music downloading sites as a treat or time-out, they describe their online news experiences as stressful or a reminder of the world’s dangers. “We found teens are unlikely to follow serious news online, but that they will click on news stories that appeal to them when they find them on other sites,” says Michael P. Smith, executive director of Northwestern’s Media Management Center.
> News organizations’ websites are not a prime destination for teens (RI)
This isn’t very surprising, but it should make us stop and think about teens and their news consuming habits. That’s not to say, “Well, we better just post all Britney, all the time.”
No. News organizations need to find a way to remain relevant to younger audiences without compromising the quality of their coverage. Do I have the answer? Unfortunately, I do not. If I did – as the line goes – I’d be out there trying to make money off it.
Weigh in: For my peers, how would you characterize your online news reading habits?
Other news:
Also from Romanesko, an interesting CJR article that discusses bloggers organizing and being paid for their work: Blogonomics. As you likely know, most news organization don’t pay their staffers to blog.
Maybe I should have called this post “Romanesko Round-up.” Nah.
Definitely add Romanesko to your RSS reader.
I posted this last week about a Chinese blogger who was beaten to death. Here is an update on the case from David Barboza, a New York Times business reporter based out of Shanghai:
Bloggers Push China to Prosecute Beating Death
It’s encouraging to learn that “[c]ity officials in Tianmen in Hubei Province in central China are being punished and investigated for their role in the killing of the man, Wei Wenhua, the general manager of a construction company, and the beatings of five villagers during a dispute on Jan. 7, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported.”
As a side note, I had the pleasure of meeting David when I was in China last summer on a UM study abroad trip. Here is a story I wrote about him.
Here’s a breaking news story I reported Tuesday night, thanks to an item from Romanesko:
Communication dean finalist for spot at Syracuse University (The Miami Hurricane)
This was the first local reporting of the story, which broke in Syracuse. It has more background and the first public comment from Grogg.
The University of Miami‘s Knight Center for International Media named its two chairs this morning:
Joe Treaster (left) formerly of The New York Times, and Rich Beckman formerly (right),of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Their appointment comes almost one year after the Knight Foundation announced a $10 million grant to the school.
Here is the UM press release, here is a letter from the NYT’s business editor and below is a video of the press conference:
We’re on our first deadline of the semester, so I’ll add more to this post after we finish. Stay tuned.
UPDATE, Jan. 17 @ 9:58 P.M.: Both of these guys look like great additions to the School of Comm. Their words at press conference were very encouraging.
Check out two of Beckman’s projects from when he was head of visual communications at UNC:
The Ancient Way (about elders in Galicia, Spain)
Chiloé Stories (about language of native people on Chiloe Island, Chile)