Innovation in College Media

(image courtesy Stock Exchange)

Welcome, friends and neighbors, to the third monthly Carnival of Journalism, a compendium of wonders from various corners of the world. For more explanation, check out this page.

I am your host this month, so let's get started. This post will be updated frequently, so check back for more journalistic goodness.

• Paul Bradshaw posts an article he wrote for journalism.co.uk about the changing tools and approaches in local newspapers, with interviews and links to various local papers and their experiments. He adds a second post about things he'd do to introduce journalists to Twitter.
• Alfred Hermida highlights the BBC's adventures in mobile reporting. "This is not a case of either or. It is about considering what is the most suitable way to tell a story, rather than simply repurposing content produced for one medium for another."
• Charlie Beckett writes about the rise of the new class of citizen photojournalists (CPJ?) - the Public Paparazzi and how it could affect the future of news photography. "... It may mean that the actual aesthetics of news photography will change as the public starts to privilege ‘amateur’ imagery over the professional."
• Jack Lail (Boss Hogg couldn't survive blogger's buzz) lays out the ways bloggers are keeping local political feet to the fire: "... the year of intense focus has shown that citizens empowered with the tools of the digital era will on occasion raise their voice to question and examine in a very journalistic type role."
• Wendy Withers muses on the trouble of reporting in a digital era, and the case of Anonymous v. Scientology. "There is too much information out there for journalists to handle, and many reporters take what’s happening in the cyber world at its face value."
• In Is that a Student Journalist Multimedia Survival Kit in your pocket?, Dave Lee ponders what a new student multimedia survival kit might look like: "It’s time the ‘pen and notepad’ rule had a makeover for the Web 2.0 era. There’s more than just pen and paper these days. Journalists are creating web content on the road."
• Meanwhile, David Cohn sets out a clear case for journalists to explore social bookmarking: Social Bookmarking for Journalists 101: "The higher quality your links are - the higher your level of editorial service and the more readers will come back for tasty hyperlinks."
• Yoni Greenbaum argues for more open access to newspaper staffs in Don't hide from your readers: "In my perfect newspaper world, readers would be able to engage newspaper staffers via email, instant messaging and/or chat rooms."
• Will Sullivan gives us 6 reasons you should volunteer for a journalism organization or college newspaper right now. I think that says it all.
• Doug Fisher muses about recent posts from student journalists - From the mouths of students: "What I'm hearing -- and not just here but on other student blogs I read -- is that they are as confused as most j-schools and newsrooms are right now. But they are expecting us to lead them."
• Erica Smith has a handy by-the-numbers look at U.S. newspapers using Twitter. I'd be interested in seeing some numbers about frequency of use.
• Ryan Sholin talks about inventing journalism: "Keep these three variables in mind — community, facts, narrative — and you can tell your story in any medium, using the technology and tools of your choice."
• Andy Dickinson goes for the visual with his video guide to video strategy. Our first vodcast submission, I do believe!
• John of Scribblesheet describes some of the steps he's been taking to create a community for online publications. Short answer: it takes work.
• Adrian Monck proclaims loudly that the decline of newspapers has nothing to do with journalism. Read the whole thing, a smackdown to some conventional wisdom these days. "The problems journalists are confronting are to do with the changing social habits of people who once purchased newspapers and were thus appealing to advertisers."
• Pat Thornton takes newspapers to task for neglecting the podcasting potential in Podcasts can drive traffic for newspapers: "Many newspapers have shied away from podcasts because there hasn’t been a lot of revenue in them. The problem isn’t the format, but rather newspaper podcasts themselves. Most news podcasts, especially from traditional news sources, aren’t very good."
• John Hassell, the latest entrant in the caravan, points the way for news outlets struggling with comments in You've written a story. People commented. Now what? "Seems like we’re missing an opportunity here — a chance to be less institutional, more open and approachable."
• Adam Tinworth rethinks mainstream media blogging in the wake of the Max Gogarty controversy. Who's Max Gogarty? Go read and find out.

That should just about wrap up this month's carnival. Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to check out the carnival next month, when it will be hosted by Will Sullivan.