henrikharsbo.dk

Falling News

News reduced to icons. That is the main idea behind Falling Times which grabs headlines from news sources all over the world and translates them into icons.

It is a rather despondent experience to visit the site. The black background and the many icons associated with pain and death paints the picure of a news media focused on disaster and conflict. I know this to be somewhat true but cannot help thinking that the choice of iconography and colors also help twist things in that direction. But I guess this is okay since the site is an art project and not a journalistic endeavour.

What is interesting about the site is that users can contribute to the choice of icons by attaching their own key words to them. In that sense it should be possible for a collective audience to determine what icons will be shown with what headlines.

Paper On The Web

A comparative analysis of printed newspapers and their online editions in 16 European countries arrives at the following (rather sad) conclusion: There's is no real difference between the print edition and the Web Site!

The study was carried out by researchers in various countries and collected by two Dutch scientists who find that 70 percent of the important online news stories are identical to stories in the printed paper. They write:

»There is little, if any, new online reporting to be found in the main quality online newspapers in Europe; at least not on the front pages. There are, for example, very few hyperlinks inserted in news items -- which would have been an obvious way to improve traditional ways of reporting in an Internet fashion [...] The logic and culture of print publishing remain largely intact online,«

Kaboom! There you have it!

The report bases its findings on research carried out in 2003, which is kind of a long time ago. But I think that the findings are very much true of the situation today at least here in Denmark.

Via Danish Web Site: eJour.

Technorati: Newspaper|News

Why Newspapers Are Too Slow

Most newspapers are still not doing all they can to make a shift into the digital era. The fact is that a lot of traditional papers and magazines still treat their online editions as somewhat of a stepchild.

Meanwhile a generation of technology savvy teenagers are coming of age while loving the web, short messaging on their cellular phones, writing and reading blogs etc.

Hypergene MediaBlog has an interesting perspective on the news organizations' lack of innovation when it comes to digital news:

"(...) the greater threat to the longevity of established news media might not be a future that’s already arrived; it might be their inability to do anything about it. Bureaucratic inertia, hierarchical organizational structure and a legacy mentality have paralyzed many news organizations from developing a meaningful strategy in this dynamic information age."

As obvious as this notion may seem I think it is important to remember when traditional news organizations try to develop a strategy for the future. It is simply not enough to launch a blog or some other gadget. The organization (from top to bottom) has to really believe in it.

Technorati: Newspapers |Media|Journalism

Wake-Up Call To Mainstream Media

They create, they publish and they rule the web! Who, you might ask. The newspapers? The network stations? The ad agencies? Nope, I'm talking about American teenagers half of which today create and share their own media creations online.

According to a survey from Pew Internet Studies a mind-boggling 57 percent of US-teens who use the Internet have a blog or web page or have posted original artwork, photography, stories or video online.

»Teens are often much more enthusiastic authors and readers of blogs than their adult counterparts. Teen bloggers, led by older girls, are a major part of this tech-savvy cohort,« writes Pew on its web site.

Wake-up call to Mainstream Media: Hello, you're looking at your audience of the not to distant future! They wont be satisfied by web pages that read like a book. And forget about trying to tell them what to think. They want to form and communicate their own opinion. In short: They're not taking any non-interactive cr..

So get your act together and communicate in a fashion that appeals to this web savvy audience!

...End of wake-up call :-)

Technorati: Blogs |Media

Grave Robbers Hit The Frontpage

The guys at Wikinews are probably not going to love me for pointing this out! But today the alternative news site once again shows us that it is truly alternative by giving yet another strange story top priority.

I am of course talking about the story: UK guinea pig farm to close after owner's family grave robbed. A strange tale which begins like this:
»A forty-year-old British guinea pig farm is to close after a six-year campaign of intimidation by animal rights extremists culminated in the remains of the family's dead mother being dug up and stolen...«

A tragic story for the family involved, no doubt - - but does it really belong on the front page of the news site among headlines like: Israel completes Gaza strip, West Bank pull-outs and Draft constitution pushed into Iraqi Parliament.

I've argued for a stronger system of prioritizing news at the Wiki site before, so I wont do it again ;-)

Technorati: Media |Journalism |Wikinews

Another Odd Choice From WikiNews

Friday was another terrible and violent day on planet earth. More than 80 people died in a blast at an Egyptian holiday resort, London police shot and killed a man suspected of being connected to the Underground bombings and on the streets of Beirut a bomb went off near a restaurant.

All of those stories were published by the main stream media news sites of the world - and by WikiNews. However on a day like this WikiNews also found the following story worthy of front page mentioning: Many horses in Sweden lack passport.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: if WikiNews wants to be taken seriously as a credible news source it has to find a way to prioritize the news. Odd stories like this one may be important (who am I to argue about the validity of a story about horse passports) - but there's no way it should make it to the top of the front page of any international news site.

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for a site like WikiNews. As a matter of fact I want it to succeed. I simply don't believe in the "everybody-write-everybody-decide" system for a news site. In my opinion WikiNews could be a much better site with a few editors in charge.

Technorati: Media |Journalism

Gutsy Journalism

What the heck is citizen journalism, anyway? Steve Outing offers a pretty good definition with his 11 Layers of Citizen Journalism.

Outing's 11 layers outline a continuum spanning from main stream media opening up to public comment at one end and the radical no-editors-only-citizen-reporters approach at the other end (seen at sites like WikiNews ).

Personally I think layer no. 10 is both the most viable and interesting one. Here Outing presents the idea of a news site comprised of reports by professional journalists directly alongside submissions from everyday citizens.

»It's this vision of citizen journalism complementing and adding to professional journalism that is so compelling -- at least in theory. Few news organizations have the staff manpower to cover everything that their readers are interested in, but by tapping the volunteer (or cheap) resources of the citizenry, a news organization can potentially provide coverage down to the Little League team and church-group level, as well as offer better and more diverse coverage of larger issues by bringing in more voices and perspectives,« Steve Outing writes.

Unfortunately no news organization has yet had the guts to test this approach. One of the reasons probably being that professional journalists find it difficult accepting reporting from ordinary citizens alongside pro writing.

Nevertheless, I think this combination of pro and citizen-writing is where web journalism will be heading in the future.

Technorati tag: Media |Journalism

Slow Down WikiNews

In a response to my latest post WikiNews Good or Bad, Erik Moeller writes:

»There are many examples of stories containing original reporting on the [WikiNews] site«

I would have to disagree with you on that Erik. As of April 28th this year WikiNews had only 10 stories containing original reporting (which is the latest tally I've been able to find). While most of those stories are examples of really good citizen reporting and indeed note worthy I still think that WikiNews is copying too much from other sites. It is as if the site is set on producing headlines as fast as much bigger news organizations. I would argue that this is a wrong turn.

»Even a story that is a synthesis of news content published elsewhere is not without value, though,« writes Erik Moeller.

Maybe, but I just don't see what the added value is then.

In a related comment Dan100 points to the fact that the many established media sources that WikiNews rely on is the strength of the news service. He writes:

»Read any one news article on an event and it could be biased, could be missing important information, or could be plain wrong.

On WN, we can draw on _all_ the available sources of information, meaning our articles are free from bias, contain more info than other individual articles, and are more accurate because of all the fact-checking we do.«

First of all there is no such thing as "free from bias" - it is just not humanly possible to grasp and present an event totally without subjectivity i.e. bias. In stead I think fairness, accuracy and openness should be standards that separate credible reporting from untrustworthy reporting.

Secondly I respect the fact that WikiNews writers unpaid and on their own time sift through news from other sites. But this does not mean that the stories they use aren't the work of well intentioned fact checking journalists. Most professional reporters on sites like BBC, CNN etc. do in fact check other sources and news sites before releasing their story. It's part of their job. The only difference is that they often don't document it by stating their second hand sources. It is one of the strong traits of WikiNews that the sources are always presented with the story.

My critique of WikiNews is not a critique of the idea of an alternative news site. But the way WikiNews is evolving I just don't see why I shouldn't go to any other openly available news outlet to get my news. In order for the site to be a real alternative to established media I think it has to gear down its pace and go for more original reporting.

Technorati tag: Media |Journalism

WikiNews - Good Or Bad?

Grass root journalism? Is WikiNews really an example of true alternative reporting or is it just the work of a bunch of people who lift interesting stories off other sites, rewrite them and submit them to the collaborative news site? Upon closer inspection frighteningly many of the WikiNews stories seem to stem from other well established news sites like BBC, Reuters and AFP.

What is in fact the definition of grass root and citizen journalism? Most of the stuff that fills my screen when visiting WikiNews these days is news I might as well go get at some other media site. It simply mimics the top down communication of "old" media. There is no real original reporting.

I'm slowly changing my opinion of the site.

Technorati tag: Media |Journalism

News of the Weird: Nurse Glues Boyfriend's Eyes Shut

Who said grass root reporting is always strictly serious? On a much different note (than the previous post), this is one of Wednesday's front page stories on WikiNews:

»A nurse from Sunderland in the United Kingdom superglued her (now former) boyfriend's eyes shut when he would not stop paying attention to swimsuit clad women while the two where on holiday in Malta.

After an argument, the boyfriend, Disc Jockey Lee Scullion (31), went for an afternoon nap in their hotel room. When he woke up, he discovered that he could not open his eyes and that his watch was glued to his wrist. Glue was also smothered over his lips and nose as well as on his eyelids. In addition, his girlfriend Laura Dunn (26) is reported to have smashed Lee's £650 ($1,128.47) digital camera, while he is said to have burned her passport.

Laura Dunn, who is currently working in a care home, said "he wouldn't give me the attention I deserved" and that she "decided to teach him a lesson to remind him not to look at other women." She also said she hoped her career would not be affected by the fight.«

Truly a bizarre story. But not front page material, if you ask me. I've noticed however that WikiNews quite often carries "news of the weird" stories like this on its front page. This is one of the weaknesses of a collaborative news site where no editor calls the shots. Ultimately too many stories like this may hurt the fragile image of this generally well intentioned news site.

Technorati tag: Media |Journalism