Tag: web

Troubling (but not surprising) news about teen readers finding online news ‘troubling’

From Romanesko:

THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2008
Teenagers say reading online news is a stressful experience

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)

Posted at 5:30:24 PM

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.

Newspaper site traffic data

From Editor & Publisher online, citing Nielsen Online:

EXCLUSIVE: Our Monthly Top 30 Most Popular Newspaper Sites — ‘Newsday’ Pulls Ahead of WSJ.com

By the numbers:

Brand or Channel — Unique Audience (000) — Year-over-year % Change

NYTimes.com — 17,177 — 29.9%
USATODAY.com — 9,939 — 9.1%
washingtonpost.com — 8,478 — 11.2%
Newsday — 6,450 — 182.8%
Wall Street Journal Online — 5,409 — 109.0%

LA Times — 4,607 — (-6.4%)
Boston.com — 4,364 — 15.0%
Chicago Tribune — 3,891 — 14.0%
Daily News Online Edition — 2,956 — 23.2%
New York Post — 2,851 — (-5.7%)

SFGate.com/San Francisco Chronicle — 2,785 — (-30.9%)
Philly.com — 2,300 — 33.4%
International Herald Tribune — 2,250 — 14.9%
Village Voice Media — 2,224 — 70.6%
Chicago Sun-Times — 2,186 — 8.3%

Atlanta Journal-Constitution — 1,974 — 26.2%
The Houston Chronicle — 1,946 — (-18.6%)
The Seattle Times — 1,840 — (-19.3%)
DallasNews.com – The Dallas Morning News — 1,828 — 21.9%
Seattle Post-Intelligencer — 1,785 — (-0.1%)

The Politico — 1,672 — N/A
Orlando Sentinel — 1,522 — 78.6%
NJ.com — 1,455 — 40.1%
Azcentral.com — 1,435 — (-36.6%)
Baltimore Sun — 1,332 — 26.2%

MercuryNews.com — 1,315 — (-15.1%)
The Detroit News — 1,256 — 21.4%
The San Diego Union-Tribune — 1,180 — 10.4%
Detroit Free Press — 1,168 — (-22.9%)
The Washington Times — 1,161 — (-24.9%)

Weigh in: Does Newsday pulling ahead of WSJ surprise you?

More words of wisdom from journo-bloggers

As I hope is obvious by now, this blog is intended to be a resource for journalism students, in addition to discussing online journalism and The Miami Hurricane. Here are three links that are very insightful:

paulconley: Three job tips for students (Paul Conley)

Teaching Online Journalism » Getting (and keeping) a job in journalism (Mindy McAdams)

BuzzMachine » Blog Archive » A diploma and a blog (Jeff Jarvis)

A phrase that I’ve seen on various journalism blogs is “if you’re reading this, you’re already doing something right.” I’ll echo that sentiment and emphasize that students need to go further.

Jeff Jarvis‘ post is a compilation of comments about journalism students and blogs. You obviously read blogs. That’s good. Read more. Keep reading. Different j-bloggers give different time periods to read blogs. I think you need to read enough to get a feel for it. That could mean a couple days or a couple weeks. Whatever you feel comfortable with, as long as you do it.

Weigh in: What are you doing to become a better journalist?

Update: I’m putting the finishing touches on my Top Ten List of Tips for Journalism Students. Yes, it’s so close to completion that I’m now capitalizing and italicizing it.

Back in action…sorta

The newsroom was abuzz for the first time in more than a month.

Editors abound. Couches pulled out. Ideas overfloweth.

It was great to see everyone again after break for The Miami Hurricane‘s first staff meeting of the semester. Old faces and new faces, all ready to get back into action (please excuse the cliche).

Here are some of the topics we discussed:

  • Copyediting all possible content before layout, which will begin with first issue
  • Outlook for multimedia this semester and what role the multimedia editor and assistant multimedia editor will play
  • Preview of Web site overhaul, which will be a collaborative, semester-long effort; Art Director/Visuals Editor Will Wooten, Webmaster Brian Schlansky and I will take the lead, working with other staffers and Chris Delboni’s CNJ 442 class
  • New Sunday meeting structure
  • Outline of SG spring election coverage timeline
  • What everyone’s favorite color is
  • Adjustments to process for editorials
  • Emphasizing the importance of blogs and being connected
  • Highlighting that we are not just a newspaper, but a news organization

Weigh in: What would you like to see from the paper this semester?

It’s potty time!

Ok, so I’m in the mood for posting links tonight.

This story is one that’s not to be missed. I mean, how often does the New York Times write about toilets? It’s a great narrative. And I love the Star Trek references.

While the subject of this article isn’t the Man’s Bathroom (see video clip below), designed by Tim “The Toolman” Taylor, it’s quite a spectacle in it’s own right:

Greetings, Earthlings. Your New Restroom Is Ready.

I know what you’re thinking. Are they low-flow? According to the Times’ City Room blog, absolutely not: A Toilet That Uses 14 Gallons? Oh Gosh!

Dave Barry would have personally killed each one if they were low-flow. Of course, he had the news at 8:19 A.M. this morning, with an update at 2:48 P.M.

Here’s another NYT blog post on the chrome throne: New Yorkers, You May Be Excused: A Pay Toilet Opens

Weigh in: Would you use NYC’s new public potty?

Just for fun: As promised…