Studying the intersection of journalism, interactive communications and public discourse
On Sunday, Dec. 8, 2013, I appeared as a guest on WFSB-TV’s “Face the State,” a political news talk show hosted by Dennis House. We discussed media coverage of the one-year anniversary of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School and the recent release of the 911 recordings from that terrible day. WFSB Channel …
A class action defamation lawsuit filed against three Connecticut news outlets has been dismissed by a federal judge. U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea rejected Lorraine Martin’s claim that archived online news articles detailing her 2010 arrest on drug charges on the websites of The Connecticut Post, The Stamford Advocate, and The Greenwich Time — …
Here are a few more insights from Patch folks who were recently laid off, and from a couple of editors who are still working in Connecticut. “I think the layoffs were done too quickly, too thoughtlessly, and without enough input from those who know the area. But, that’s pretty typical of Patch’s approach.” “One thing …
Now that AOL has laid off 40 percent of the Patch workforce, those of us concerned about the local news landscape in Connecticut want to know what’s going to happen to the state’s 67 Patch sites. Which sites will be shut down? Will AOL partner with existing Connecticut news organizations or independent news purveyors to …
A glimpse at the online comment management systems being used by various news organizations, as of July 2013:
ESPN this week becomes the latest major news organization to rely upon social media to help civilize its online comments. Starting Wednesday, ESPN.com’s 25 million active users will have to log in through a Facebook account if they want to participate in online conversations on ESPN.com stories. Patrick Stiegman, editor-in-chief of ESPN.com, said by phone that three …
I discovered a new metric today from Google. As I tried tweaking some of the webmaster tools for this website – mariekshanahan.com – I spotted a link in Google Webmaster Tools labeled “Labs -> Authorship.” If you use any Google products regularly, you likely have a Google account. As such, all your Google-based activities are …
While on Spring Break in Florida this week, a University of Connecticut basketball player was arrested and charged with trespassing. Too bad. Lots of college kids do foolish things on Spring Break. (I know I did.) But because the student in question is a member of the UConn Men’s Basketball Team, this minor incident is …
How 13 years of online “bits-conditioning” turned me into an aggregation machine. But what I really need to do is write ‘articles’ CUNY Professor Jeff Jarvis caused a stir within journalism circles when he first floated the idea that the “article” should no longer be considered the goal of journalism, rather, “as a value-added …
Digital media organizations are being included in defamation lawsuits with growing frequency. Many of these lawsuits claim that reputations are being damaged by anonymous commenters, who use the easy and ubiquitous power of the Internet to publish and disseminate lies, insults and libelous characterizations. The outbreak of cyberlibel litigation stems from the explosive distribution of …