All a Cub Reporter Needs Is a Scoop and an iPhone (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

The New York Times ^ | August 30, 2009 | CLAIRE CAIN MILLER

[abb]

A Web site for local news hopes to fill the growing void in professionally reported local news by recruiting citizens armed with iPhones as reporters.

The site, Fwix, will release an iPhone application this week that enables its users to file news updates, photos and videos, live from the field. The items will appear on Fwix’s year-old Web site, which also collects links to local news articles from newspapers and blogs in 85 cities.

“We believe we are the real-time local newswire,” said Darian Shirazi, Fwix’s 22-year-old founder.

Many local news Web sites are sprouting up, relying on sources like police reports and neighborhood bloggers to supplement dwindling local newspaper reporting. But most provide an incomplete picture of a reader’s town.

Fwix, which is backed by BlueRun Ventures, hopes reader submissions about a fire, car crash or new restaurant down the street will fill in the picture. Peter Krasilovsky, who studies local media at the research firm Kelsey Group, said he was skeptical that enough people would actually send in news reports.

Still, user participation has jumped for other sites when they offer mobile apps. When Citysearch let people write local business reviews from their phones, there was a sharp increase. People are more likely to submit content to a Web site in the moment, said Dinesh Moorjani, who runs mobile for Citysearch.

Of course, people are already using Twitter for on-the-go news updates, but news gets lost amid tweets about the cat and plans for dinner. Mr. Shirazi said Fwix would offer more relevant updates. Its software ranks items based on whether other users submit articles that mention similar events and locations and if the person was at the scene, information it gleans from the iPhone’s GPS location data.

snip

[abb]

Matt Drudge said eleven years ago:

Anyone With A Modem Can Report On The World Address Before the National Press Club by Matt Drudge, June 2, 1998

http://www.libertyroundtable.org/library/essay.drudge.html

[abb]

ping

[abb]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/business/media/31paper.html?ref=business
Owner of Orange County Register May File for Bankruptcy

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-newspapers31-2009aug31,0,2148939.story
Story not all bleak for newspaper industry’s outlook

http://www.newsandtech.com/issues/2009/Sept/09-09_uniontribune-pagination.htm
U-T, at last, bids paste-up adieu

http://adweek.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=The+Delicate+Balance&expire=&urlID=409620942&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.adweek.com%2Faw%2Fcontent_display%2Fnews%2Fmedia%2Fe3i8a16efbe1212c66b8fcc2e1a233c0224&partnerID=3620
The Delicate Balance
Have once-powerful glossy editors fallen from fashion?

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5grLXgJvfAlgjwVNnpIYWDmQjI8iAD9ADS4KG4
Newsstand sales of US magazines drop 12 percent

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hN2YSP-U8q-z2lyu7J0KgX_hxxRQD9ADSVJO2
Circulation at leading US magazines for first half

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/business/media/31carr.html?ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=all
You’re Gone. But Hey, You Can Reapply

http://www.minnpost.com/braublog/2009/08/31/11211/what_does_the_star_tribunes_new_board_say_about_its_future
What does the Star Tribune’s new board say about its future?

http://www.startribune.com/local/56275087.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUs
New board of directors proposed for Star Tribune

http://journalinquirer.com/articles/2009/08/31/page_one/doc4a97e2769e42d990029540.txt
‘At best plagiarism, at worst outright theft,’ one newspaper publisher says; Courant covers towns with other papers’ reporting

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/business/media/31newsday.html?ref=todayspaper
Newsday Rejects Ads by Verizon, Now a Rival

http://www.courant.com/news/breaking/hc-courant-aggregation-statement-0829,0,1621524.story
Courant Reviews Aggregation Policy

[abb]

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090830/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_internet_at40
As Internet turns 40, barriers threaten its growth

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0df31226-958d-11de-90e0-00144feabdc0.html
Hachette chief hits out at e-books

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2009/08/24/daily79.html
New layoffs imminent at SF Chronicle

http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSTRE57R34X20090828
Court rejects FCC cable ownership limit

http://www.rbr.com/tv-cable/16713.html
News Corp. pressing for WWOR-TV renewal

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/02888152-958b-11de-90e0-00144feabdc0,dwp_uuid=811b60ba-8da8-11de-93df-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1
Sacrifices made in hunt for new model

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-08-30/can-yahoo-save-the-news/?cid=hp:beastoriginalsR2
Can Yahoo Save the News?

[Zakeet]

Newsstand sales of US magazines drop 12 percent

1. Cosmopolitan — 1,616,908 (down 7.8 percent)

2. People — 1,319,350 (down 12.77 percent)

3. Woman’s World — 1,175,550 (down 8.31 percent)

4. First — 1,066,167 (down 9.29 percent)

5. Us Weekly — 843,479 (down 2.98 percent)

6. In Touch Weekly — 745,123 (down 17.67 percent)

7. O, the Oprah Magazine — 693,054 (down 5.58 percent)

8. Family Circle — 673,286 (down 22.55 percent)

9. In Style — 625,589 (down 20.13 percent)

10. Star — 601,115 (down 14.29 percent)

11. National Enquirer — 591,269 (down 11.14 percent)

12. Glamour — 589,665 (down 14 percent)

13. Men’s Health — 503,929 (down 9.87 percent)

14. People Stylewatch — 497,608 (down 2.85 percent)

15. Life & Style Weekly — 478,788 (down 7.82 percent)

16. Good Housekeeping — 468,661 (down 17.68 percent)

17. Woman’s Day — 410,147 (down 22.38 percent)

18. Weight Watchers — 399,337 (down 10.37 percent)

19. OK! Weekly — 398,360 (down 20.41 percent)

20. All You — 394,363 (down 2.85 percent)

[theFIRMbss]

>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/business/media/31paper.html?ref=business
>Owner of Orange County Register May File for Bankruptcy


You do know, don't you,
that you can make a hot link
out of just a name:

Owner of Orange County Register May File for Bankruptcy

[abb]

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/338901-Primetime_Ratings_Daytime_Emmys_Hit_Record_Low_On_CW.php
Primetime Ratings: Daytime Emmys Hit Record Low On CW
Delivers 0.5 rating/2 share in demo, averaging 2.2 million total viewers

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/338904-Free_Press_Calls_on_FCC_to_Open_Inquiry_Into_Cable_Market_Competition.php
Free Press Calls on FCC to Open Inquiry Into Cable Market Competition

http://www.buzzmachine.com/
What crisis?

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Magazines_22/Magazines_take_a_beating_at_newsstands.asp
Magazines take a beating at newsstands

http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/
Monday, August 31, 2009
Newspaper ads tracking to $10B sales drop
In round numbers, total newspaper advertising sales are likely to drop by $10 billion in 2009, which would put them roughly one-third lower than they were in the prior disastrous year.

http://newsafternewspapers.blogspot.com/
Can newspaper publishers survive this revenue freefall? Perhaps, if they embrace a digital future.

[abb]

Is there a short cut to do that? I had always used that <a href= thingy. It was always faster to cut an paste the url and title rather than the other.

[abb]

http://www.dnronline.com/sports_details.php?AID=40381&CHID=3&sub=
A Brave New Media? College Hire Official \’Sports Writers\’

[Nervous Tick]

This is way cool.

The last step in demolishing the dinosaur media is to replace the news aggregators (”newswire”) like AP and UPI with “open source” aggregators.

It’ll take time and effort, but it looks like they’re well on the way. Buh bye MSM.

[Nervous Tick]

>> 2. People — 1,319,350 (down 12.77 percent)

That one, particularly, makes me smile.

[theFIRMbss]

http://newsafternewspapers.blogspot.com/2009/08/can-newspaper-publishers-survive-this.html
Can newspaper publishers survive this revenue freefall?

---------------------------------------------------

Can newspaper publishers survive this revenue freefall?

---------------------------------------------------

< a href="http://newsafternewspapers.blogspot.com/2009/08/can-newspaper-publishers-survive-this.html" > Can newspaper publishers survive this revenue freefall? < /a >

[theFIRMbss]

>This is way cool

It makes me nervous.
Real reporters have great skills.
So do editors.

Look at AOL
and Facebook and Twitter. Those
"user content" streams

are not exactly
defined by skillful users.
To my eyes that world

will be easier
to manipulate than what
we are killing off.

[SevenofNine]

Hey ABB what about Twitter I remember when Jakarta Bombing went down I was on it when that story went down nobody cover it until hour later when CNN broke into CNN International on their channel
Fox just say with O’Reilly show

[Nervous Tick]

>> Look at AOL and Facebook and Twitter. Those “user content” streams are not exactly defined by skillful users.

True. You have a point.

But look at Free Republic as a counterexample. I would love to put a camera and a notepad and a newswire in the hands of most Freepers. You’d get some great reporting and analysis.

I guess I see it like this: I would rather wade through a ton of ore to pick out the honest gems, then to have nothing but slick professional faux baubles foisted on me by a duplicitous press.

As you your comment that “real reporters have great skills; so do editors”, I agree, but there aren’t that many of them. In the WH press corps for example, Jake Tapper is the only one that stands out as a cynical, hardboiled REPORTER (as opposed to a rabblerouser or a Bambi syncophant).

FRegards

[abb]

To my eyes that world will be easier to manipulate than what we are killing off.

Only momentarily. The greater sourcing power of the 'net will tend to quickly undo any rumors or erroneous 'first reports.' That is done here at FRee Republic 24/7/365.

[theFIRMbss]

>But look at Free Republic as a counterexample

I was, believe me.
But look how the forum's changed
in two or three years.

Buttoned-down thinking
on all manner of topics
often gets drowned out

in name calling and
bizarre personal attacks.
And for each Freeper

who does some research
or even clicks a few links
there are many more

who just toe some line
buzzing up their pet issue.
Even a forum

as large as FR
can get tweaked and invaded
by groups with a cause.

If it happens here--
and it does, with some success--
a 'net based future

will be a future
defined by populism.
For better and worse.

[theFIRMbss]

>Only momentarily. The greater sourcing power of the 'net will tend to quickly undo any rumors or erroneous 'first reports.'

Both the Left and Right
and many of the fringe groups
have lots of think tanks.

Almost anything
can be 'sourced,' 'documented'
and made to sound smart.

It makes me nervous.
There's only so much checking
anyone can do.

[abb]

It behooves us conservatives to learn the new media and harness the new tools available to us. I see a repeat of what happened when movable type was invented 500 years ago. Freedom and knowledge increased by several orders of magnitude on a worldwide scale.

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

Please keep putting the full URL and the article title. It’s easier to copy and paste to other threads.