While I’m recommending movies, I’d also give The Most Dangerous Man in America an A+, 5 stars, two thumbs…whatever. If you’re at all interested in journalism or the First Amendment, do not miss it.
Category: Journalism
Shift from print
Internet overtakes print in news consumption among Americans.
Between this report and the Post Office’s request to cut home delivery, it would seem as though we are in the midst of a huge shift away from print. I wouldn’t say that it is going away, but this begins to highlight the importance of a number of issues in information freedom (neutrality and access to name two). The architecture of physical information has certain values we may want to ensure are carried into the digital world. If those in power were able to control what appeared on the page at the touch of a button, imagine how different the world might look.
Those darn networked jurors
Wisconsin has become one of the first states to offer guidelines that judges can use to instruct jurors. I haven’t been able to find the guidelines online, but their announcement included another interesting tidbit.
The instruction does not, of course, help judges who are dealing with journalists and citizen bloggers in court. Live blogging during trials has raised concerns in Wisconsin and elsewhere. In mid January, a Florida judge ordered a Jacksonville newspaper reporter to stop blogging during a high-profile murder trial because the judge found the typing to be distracting the jury.
If trials are truly open to the public, what legitimate concern can their be for reporting on the judicial process?
Most valuable -digital- asset
AppleInsider | NYT execs struggle over iPad edition subscription pricing – rumor.
Here’s an interesting rumor about debates over the electronic subscription model at the Times. Most interestingly:
The news follows another recent report that some publishers are skeptical of Apple’s iPad business model, which sees the company giving 70 percent of revenue to content providers, but not sharing any personal information about subscribers. Those in the publishing world, particularly in newspapers, view that information — called “their most valuable asset” — as crucial for selling advertising.
This is an important distinction between print and digital. Newspapers know their audience well enough to tell advertisers about the demographics of their readers. This is why you see all of the “high end” ads in the Times. If they don’t have access to this information, it could have grave implications for the funding model of free and low-cost online journalism.