Save the Media

Tweet Updated: Be sure to check the links at bottom of post to other voices on this issue. This is an open letter to the Dow Jones and Co. in response to the rules it released to its staff at The Wall Street Journal and its other publications on how to use — or not use [...]

Tweet Here are some short-takes of  journalism-related finds from around the blogosophere: Targeted traffic: In some ways the old days of ignorance were bliss. You wrote a story. You assumed people read it. You were happy. Now, thanks to stats on blogs and online stories, you can find out how many (or few) people are [...]

Tweet I haven’t done short takes in a while, so here are some interesting finds from around the blogosphere: The value of small talk: Steve Yelvington has the best explanation I’ve read so far for the value of social media. He compares the gabbing over Twitter, for example, that so many find banal to the [...]

Tweet A colleague of mine asked today: “Is blogging  journalism?” She was helping her step-daughter write an essay, an assignment for a college ethics course. Two co-workers and I jumped in to answer the question to help my colleague assist her step-daughter. I found the question compelling because it goes to the very heart of [...]

Tweet I’ve come across some new Twitter tools that I’ve found useful as a journalist, so I’ve decided to compile a new post of my favorite tools for Twitter. (Read my earlier list of favorite Twitter tools here.) Blip.fm: A colleague of mine, @LauraTRyan, turned me on to this  great tool. It allows you to [...]

Tweet The Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s recent announcement that it’s ceasing publication of a newspaper — and going online only — is sad because of the jobs and lives impacted and what it means for the future of journalism. But I’m hoping the P-I’s online experiment can help us all learn a bit more about the revolution [...]

Tweet Today’s short takes focus on a common theme: improving journalism. Enjoy. Improving newspaper Web sites: Scooping the News offers five tips for make newspaper Web sites better: communicate with readers, link out, display readers’ comments prominently; explain more about the writers behind the stories and blogs; and don’t worry so much about design. I [...]

Tweet Dear readers, I switched to self-hosting this blog the week, and in the process it seems I lost some comments and few other things. Please know I did not delete you comments. I would never do that! Bear with me during the transition, as I improve this blog! Things will be back to normal [...]

Tweet Soon after I started my parenting blog, a smart colleague of mine tipped me off to Technorati.com. I quickly fell in love. Here’s why: Technorati is a site that offers both blog ranking and a search engine, but the really cool thing is it lets you find out immediately who is linking to your [...]

Tweet Your first step is to name your new blog. This can actually be tough for journalists, who are trained to come up with catchy headlines that have double meanings or use irony or nuance. That’s all part of the discipline. Problem is, those type of names don’t work great as blog names. Here’s why. [...]