A return from the rapture

New duties at work have led to (an obvious) slowdown on the blog. Hopefully I'll find my rhythm again in a few weeks.Until then, here are some links to tide you over:

1. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg only eats the meat that he kills. He's taken to cutting goat and pig throats in a nod to sustainable farming. CNNMoney

2. NPR wants to know your platform preferences. NPR

3. "Long tails" in support of long tales online. Nieman Lab

4. AOL-Huffington Post announces a financial reporting team and a Canada-theme. Huffington Post (via LA Observed)

5. FishbowlLA co-editor Pandora Young said on Facebook that she got threats of legal retribution for reporting what people said about Finke. The "offending" post is here: FishbowlLA

6. Food writing, like all other forms of writing, is being changed by social media, Internet platforms, and dying newspapers. Poynter

7. You'll go broke going broke. Tribune Co. has paid $157 million to lawyers, bankers and advisers working on its bankruptcy case. WSJ

Four Monday

1. David Grann is a fascinating journalist. Slate makes the wise decision to profile him and his work. Slate

2. NPR has a digital strategy that supposed to help local stations. If you have the patience to read about it, click: Nieman Journalism Lab

3. If you "like" the New Yorker, they'll let you behind the paywall. Bloggasm

4. Privacy isn't all that it's cracked up to be ... online, anyway. Farhad Manjoo

Four today

1. Hello walls. The Belo-owned Dallas Morning News is charging for online content: Newsonomics; The New York Times is set to launch it's own paywall: MarketWatch; and Gannett now wants to charge, too: Bloomberg

2. James Fallows embraces inevitability. Atlantic

3. A way to rescue investigative pieces from stagnation? Nieman Journalism Lab

4. Actor seeks intern to help with new job hunt. Internships

Four today

1. It's about to get more crowded on Gmail. Searchengineland (via Nieman Lab)

2. I'm a little late on this... but Times food writer Mark Bittman is making his exit. NYT

3. The NYT public editor responds to LAT environmental editor Geoff Mohan over a story that questions the latter paper's mojo. Poynter

4. The man who bought a newspaper company with other people's money, and then ended up in bankruptcy court, doesn't want to be "the media's bitch anymore". LA Observed

What's ahead for MediaNews - and what's left behind

In the best of possible worlds, the shakeup at MediaNews that left company president Jody Lodovic without a job and CEO Dean Singleton with a (severely?) diminished role would serve as an object lesson in how moral cheapness leads to downfall; a final judgment on mass consolidations and layoffs divorced from any sense of journalistic mission, ethics or service; karma for all the dedicated journalists told their dedication was a childish distraction, and for all the readers told they must accept lower and lower standards under the same brand name.

But, I doubt such lessons will be learned. There are now two forces at work in MediaNews, and neither of them is reflection. The first will accelerate change, which is inevitable. The second will shape the change, which is worrisome.

The first force results from the removal of Singleton as CEO. The new directors are no less interested in moneymaking than he and no more interested in quality journalism. Yet, they come without the baggage and ego that clouds strategic decision-making.

The second force results from the removal of the baggage and ego that at least served as a check on the most drastic consolidation plans. The new board is not going to try to preserve a newspaper company, as Singleton has. This could be a benefit to innovation, creating a potential for a sane and creative digital strategy (which is sorely lacking in MediaNews). But this also removes a check on pain.

Martin Langeveld, a former MediaNews executive now at Nieman Journalism Lab, has an excellent post about what to expect, and he makes a convincing argument that Singleton no longer much of a hand in in the company:

While Singleton may have ideas for strategic consolidations, without Lodovic he lacks the necessary financial engineering savvy, and without control of the board, he can’t make anything happen. The new title for Singleton looks and feels like a face-saving ambassadorial position.

In other words, it is time to look beyond Lean Dean. He is not the future.

So, who is in charge and what do they want? Alden Global Capital is the group that now has board control of MediaNews, and the investment company has a deep financial interest in a number of other distressed newspaper companies, many of which might be ripe for a leveling consolidation. Again, from Langeveld:

Clearly, Alden is the outfit with the most skin in the game, having investments in MediaNews, Freedom, Philadelphia Media, Journal Register, Freedom, Tribune and Postmedia. (Incidentally, as a further extension of this network, JP Morgan Chase, which has been involved in the Tribune, Freedom and Journal Register reorganizations, is the largest stockholder at Gannett, with a 10.2 percent “passive” investment.)

With all these interrelationships among investors and “distressed” newspaper firms, it’s not hard to see why Dean Singleton might say that achieving some kind of “consolidation” will be a full-time job. Still, it seems unlikely that Singleton will get to pull the strings, when the money behind the interlocking investment structures is controlled by billionaire Randall Smith, Alden’s founder, who built his fortune through investments in junk bonds and distressed properties. Alden acquired most of its newspaper stakes through its Alden Global Distressed Opportunities Fund, which it launched in 2008 and which is now worth nearly $3 billion. Alden has offices in New York, Dallas, Dubai and Mumbai, along with a tax-haven presence on the Channel Island Jersey.

The beginning of the consolidation process is likely to be here in Southern California, with some form of merger between MediaNews Group's Los Angeles Newspaper Group and the Orange County Register, owned by Freedom Communications. But Alden also has a stake in the Tribune Co, which owns the Los Angeles Times. This could lead to a distribution partnership that serves as a basis for mergers in other parts of the country.

Again, Langeveld:

For example, in New England, a combination of MediaNews, Journal Register and Tribune would have properties in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts — totaling about 25 percent of circulation in those states, on a par with the current California partnership. On a countrywide basis, the companies in which Alden appears to have a stake and some degree of influence, as detailed above, have about 15 percent of all circulation and if fully merged, would be about 10 percent bigger than the current champion, Gannett.

Hopefully, we'll see more reporting on Randall Smith, the billionaire owner of Alden, and get a sense of where he wants to go.

Four in the morning

1. The Pearl Project has completed its investigation into the murder of Daniel Pearl. Key finding: "Twenty-seven men were allegedly involved in the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal bureau chief Daniel Pearl, but only four have been charged and convicted." The rest of the report is here: Pearl Project (found via LA Observed)

2. 25 essential writing tips you may or may not agree with. Guardian

3. NPR and its 1.4 million Facebook fans. Nieman Journalism Lab

4. The USC j-school news site Neon Tommy is having an open house "today from 3-4 p.m. in the West Lobby of the Annenberg School. All are welcome."

Four in the afternoon

1. The New York Times has named Carolyn Ryan as Metro editor. Poynter

2. The war against cliches in journalism. The Cutline

3. The city of New York will launch an internal social network to spur innovation. gov20

4. More thoughts on the downfall of Lean Dean. Ken Doctor

When you get beat by 'em, join 'em

The Associated Press had prevailed in its lawsuit against sued L.A. artist Shepard Fairey for the latter's use of an AP photo as the basis for his "Hope" posters of then-presidential candidate Barack Obama. Now comes word that the two sides have settled out of court, with Fairey agreeing to work on a series of Hope posters based on AP images. The two parties will share the profits.

Here's the AP announcement (via Nieman Journalism Lab):

In settling the lawsuit, the AP and Mr. Fairey have agreed that neither side surrenders its view of the law. Mr. Fairey has agreed that he will not use another AP photo in his work without obtaining a license from the AP. The two sides have also agreed to work together going forward with the Hope image and share the rights to make the posters and merchandise bearing the Hope image and to collaborate on a series of images that Fairey will create based on AP photographs. The parties have agreed to additional financial terms that will remain confidential.

How much time are you wasting?

A lot, according to Nieman Journalism Lab and Clay Shirky. So if you think you'll never find the time to write that novel, take a minute to read about what you might cut out here.

Social media and the social consequences

Most people involved in social media are trying to create a social network large enough to realize a meaningful payoff. But some, like political analyst Marc Ambinder, formerly of the Atlantic, have a network that's large, engaged and sometimes brutalizing. C.W. Anderson explores the upside and downside over at Nieman Journalism Lab.

Blogs about newspaper companies

Nieman Journalism Lab lauds Jim Hopkins at Gannett Blog for keeping a watchful eye on what is the largest newspaper chain in the United States and for offering other Gannett observers a virtual water cooler to gather 'round.

From the write-up (which notes he took a sanity break for several months last year):

And so, on Dec. 9, Hopkins resumed publication. Mindful of his yearning for a return to traditional journalism, this time he stuck to straight news, without the contentious tone of its earlier period. By setting a different tone on the news side, he felt that he could “dial down the volume of the anger” in the comments, and he has largely succeeded in this goal.

He has more actively monitored the comments, entering the threads himself to keep it focused, correct misinformation and prevent flame wars. “When people try to pick a fight, I don’t engage them. it’s tempting sometimes, but I think once, twice, and three times.” His personal life stays out of the blog these days. (You can find him on Facebook for that angle.)

-snip-

An innovation on Gannett Blog, inspired by the fact that comments were getting more pageviews than anything else on the blog, is the open-ended “realtime comments” post that’s always at the top of the page. It simply says, “Can’t find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum.” Hopkins refreshes that post once a week; it often garners more than 100 comments — far more than his typical posts do.

 The report has links to other blog watchdogs, including Lee Watch, the anti-McClatchy McClatchy Watch and guild-run MediaNews Monitor. Don't forget LA Observed, which isn't a watchdog blog per se, but keeps a watchful eye on the Los Angeles Times and its parent, Tribune Co.

A pro-am tool for getting public documents

Nieman Journalism Lab today profiles MuckRock, an online tool that's supposed to make it easier for anyone, including professional journalists, to retrieve public documents through from America's thicket of government agencies.

Not only does MuckRock help identify which agency has the record you might be looking for, but has a tracker to follow the grinding progress as that agency drags its feet in responding to your request.

From the Lab:

The idea was to build a service that anyone could use — a long-time journalist, a neighborhood blogger, or someone simply looking to get answers out of city hall. The value to bloggers or citizen journalists seems clear: Providing not just tools but guidance on the sometimes labyrinthian process of making document requests. But for journalists working at established media outlets, the pitch is a little more tricky. “We’ve kind of found our sweet spot right now is helping out anybody who’s at least that pro-am journalist or a community blogger,” said Morisy, who has written for the New York Daily News and Business 2.0. “But also the overburdened reporter who writes stories, blogs, tweets, and has to juggle investigations.” In theory, a new resource to help newsrooms expedite FOIA requests would be a help, particularly at a time when shrinking staff and rising demand on reporters may exclude investigative projects. In reality, experienced journalists are generally more comfortable undertaking FOIA requests themselves, if not for accuracy than to keep a story under wraps from competitors or the government itself.

Slapping down hits-based journalism

A study released today of online ad revenues found the stories that generated the most money for news sites aren't necessarily the stories that attract an explosion of clicks. The death spiral of Lindsay Lohan is less valuable to a news site than ongoing coverage of illegal immigration.

To capture the ad revenue, news sites need a system that matches ad content to news content. As Nieman Journalism Lab points out, this adds pressure on the news side to cover those issues that are more likely to attract advertisers:

It’s worth noting that the high-paying topics are united less by their hard-news nature than by their proximity to companies interested in hawking their wares. Immigration lawyers want their ads next to immigration stories; mortgage brokers and “Refinance now!” types want to be next to mortgage-rate stories; job sites want their ads on those Gulf-recovery-jobs stories. That makes sense, but it doesn’t do much for the sea of worthy news stories that won’t have an easy e-commerce hook. There aren’t many good contextual ads for Lohan court stories, but there also aren’t many for corruption investigations.

There are ways to protect editorial independence under a context-based ad system, and the numbers people are using to measure success shows content has value. However, some will read the study as more evidence for niche coverage, and the greedier news sites will undoubtedly begin to demagogue certain topics (immigration, for example) as a way to pull in money. Hopefully, though, a study like this shows that success in the news business means thinking more about content and coverage than fishing for clicks on a link.

Four today

1. eMeg Whitman, Republican candidate for California governor, is the 332nd richest person in the world and only one of 34 women to make the Forbes 400. Gawker

2. Getting a handle on the SEO slave-drivers in the newsroom. Nieman Journalism Lab

3. National Journal continues to beef up, hiring Patricia Wilson from Reuters as the deputy editor-in-chief. The news magazine was criticized for being too male dominated in its new hires. Poynter

4. Spot.us, the fund-raising news site, has a 10-month gig for a reporter/editor to cover "overlooked, quality-of-life issues across Los Angeles." Journalism Jobs (via LA Observed)

Going online vs. being online

In a piece at the Online Journalism Review, Robert Hernandez explains the difference between online journalism and journalism online. It's the difference between taking what you do offline and posting it to the web and using the web and its tools to create a new type of coverage. Here's how he explains it:

Journalism Online is what we use to lovingly call "shovelware," which is taking existing "legacy" content and posting it on the Web. We know that there is immeasurable value in having the paper's articles, radio show's podcast and TV show's newscasts available on the Web.

Text alone is perhaps the most powerful form of journalism on the Web.

But that is still Journalism Online.

What I do.... what I identify with... what I live and breathe is Online Journalism.

So, what is that exactly?

Well, it's hard to explain but I look at the latest technology and opportunities only available on the Internet and try to harness them for the advancement and distribution of storytelling and journalism.

I look at FourSquare and see how we can use that to find eye-witness sources in breaking news events. I look at photo gallery widget by TripAdvisor, meant for vacation snapshots, and see how it could enrich our coverage of, say, the World Cup.

I work with engineers and see how our crafts can work together and create new experiences. Like when we took RSS feeds from around the globe and mapped them for a Seattle Times project. It was based on the addicting, but somewhat pointless Twittervision.

Think of how more powerful our journalism becomes when we crowd-source. Add some technology, like CNN did by using Microsoft's PhotoSynth, and it captures a historic moment in a unique way.

Eventually, the two worlds will collapse into one, but at a point when this technology is so new, it makes sense to have people on the vanguard. The tension it creates is healthy, too; though the decimation of coverage by media companies that don't know which world to be in is obviously depressing.

(via Nieman Journalism Lab)

Four today

1. We are what we measure. CJR

2. Freakonomics is headed for radio. WNYC

3. The law and online aggregation. Nieman Journalism Lab

4. LA>FWD, a collaboration by Radio Bilingue and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, is scheduled to launch Sept. 16. LA Observed

NPR's Project Argo getting underway

National Public Radio's $3 million Project Argo will officially launch September 1. The idea behind the project is for national headquarters to invest in local news reporting that benefits both local affiliates and the national news shows. The money comes from Knight Foundation and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and is being used to create a network of local blogs (twelve so far).

One of the new blogs funded through Project Argo is at KPCC (or Southern California Public Radio, as the Pasadena-based station prefers to be called). The blog is titled Multi-American and is written by former San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Leslie Berestein Rojas. Here's how she and the blog are described:

Leslie most recently covered immigration on the U.S.-Mexico border for the San Diego Union-Tribune. She has retraced the steps of migrants along desert smuggling trails, investigated immigrant detention contractors, and told the stories of families left behind in Mexico’s migrant-sending towns. A native of Cuba raised in Los Angeles, Leslie has also written for Time, People, the Orange County Register and the Los Angeles Times. She has reported from Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.

Multi-American is both a news project and a discussion forum. It’s also part of a partnership between Southern California Public Radio and NPR involving a dozen public radio stations around the country, among them 89.3 KPCC, in which we’re experimenting with filling the gaps left in news coverage by a shrinking media industry. KPCC’s Jason Kandel is managing and editing the project.

Nieman Journalism Lab has a list of the other blogs around the country. There are two in San Francisco for some reason.

Twitter to become even more annoying

Twitter is hiring a sales team to sell advertising on the chatter site. CNET (via Nieman Journalism Lab)

Four in the morning

1. Journalism warning labels. Tom Scott

2. Toxic David takes on corporate Goliath. McClatchy

3. The other SXSW. Poynter

4. USC's Andrew Lih wants to "wikify" fact checking (if you think Wikipedia gets all the facts straight, you're gonna love this idea). Nieman Journalism Lab

Four in the morning

1. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is building a "newspaper" for your iPad and mobile phone. LAT

2. The science of the crime lab isn't so scientific. News Observer

3. Marketplace described as Twitter on radio (meant in a good way). Nieman Journalism Lab

4. Blogger goes inside Mexico's drug war. AP