Category: mainstream media

How I run afoul of Washington Post’s social media rules—and why

Posted by: Stephen Baker on September 28

Now that BusinessWeek is for sale and my future here is uncertain, I’m cross-posting more than ever on my book blog. The way I see it, BW is the ship…

How a Kansas City columnist failed at PR

Posted by: Stephen Baker on August 28

There’s a lesson in the flap over the Kansas City columnist who struck out in his bid for a job in PR. Mike Hendricks sent an e-mail to a PR…

How errors at the New York Times get past editors

Posted by: Stephen Baker on August 03

As a mainstream journalist who works with editors and makes mistakes, I would like to weigh in on Alessandra Stanley’s error-ridden article in the New York Times. The best bulwark…

Problems journalists have when blogging

Posted by: Stephen Baker on July 08

Journalists, Scott Rosenberg writes, often have trouble understanding that the motivation of most bloggers is not money or global stardom, but simply self expression. He writes: It is very hard…

The New York Times’ edge in technology

Posted by: Stephen Baker on June 29

One of the biggest challenges for mainstream media is to get funding for innovative tech and data projects. Another is to attract tech brainpower. Why, after all, would top ranking…

Remaking the Boston Globe

Posted by: Stephen Baker on June 09

Trying to look at it from an employees’ perspective, there are two central issues surrounding the existential struggle at the Boston Globe. First, can it be saved? This is important,…

What’s wrong with WSJ social media rules

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 19

I was running around Europe last week and missed the news about the Wall Street Journal’s new social media guidelines. Now I’ve read them, along with critical responses from Fred…

Portfolio shutters: No joy for competitors

Posted by: Stephen Baker on April 27

You might think that those of us in business journalism would celebrate like an American Idol survivor when a competitor shuts its doors. Conde Nast Portfolio shut down today, and…

School Days: Openings for journalists?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on April 23

An L.A. Times editor launches next career in newspaper clubs for children.

Media analytics: We don’t know what to count

Posted by: Stephen Baker on March 24

Yesterday morning I was on a panel at the SAS Global Forum outside Washington, DC. We were talking about how Marriott and State Farm use analytics in their businesses. And…

Media crisis: Can’t get enough

Posted by: Stephen Baker on January 14

I don’t have to tell you how dreadful things are in this industry of ours. And yet, here’s a confession. If I woke up tomorrow and found out that, miraculously,…

Live on Saturday Night….glum news from GE?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on December 15

Here’s how my wife read the lede in the Wall Street Journal article this morning: GE Chairman and Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt takes to the stage…Saturday Night Live…to brief investors…

How does NewsCred measure cred?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on August 22

If you haven’t seen NewsCred yet, by all means have a look. It’s a very cool news site with applications that will become more interesting and powerful as more people…

Walt Mossberg reviews: Worth hundreds of millions?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on June 17

Just got this email: “A new study from the University of Miami and USC that finds that, on average, a bad product review by The Wall Street Journal’s Walter Mossberg…

Huffington and Jarvis on the future of media

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 21

For that blog cover redo we’ve been talking about for long months, we asked a number of bloggers to opine of the future of media. Here are the responses from…

Childhood safety and thinning ranks of journalists

Posted by: Stephen Baker on April 08

Interesting comments on my post about how we use cell phones to protect children, and move toward a surveillance society. One connects the idea to work, saying that good managers…

FREE!

Posted by: Stephen Baker on February 22

Wired’s Chris Anderson writes this month’s cover story on Free! (Not online yet) He talks about the relentless drive downward in price, as industry after industry succumbs to Moore’s Law….

Inquirer demands new name for baseball blog

Posted by: Stephen Baker on February 13

Philadelphia Phillies beat writer Todd Zolecki has one of the Inquirer’s top performing blogs, The Zo Zone. Now he says the paper wants a new name, because Zo Zone doesn’t…

Jon Garfunkel: Crowdsourcing a crutch for (some) lazy reporters

Posted by: Stephen Baker on January 16

Jon Garfunkel writes about post-facto editing, now often called crowdsourcing. He makes that point that journalists for big publications, who can get phone calls returned from powerful people and companies,…

How to get a job in journalism

Posted by: Stephen Baker on January 14

Step One: Read your prospective editor’s blog. Here are some other tips from John Robinson, editor of the Greensboro News & Record. (ex Martin Stabe). Most important: Blog and read…

Outsourcing fact-checking

Posted by: Stephen Baker on January 04

Joel Achenbach is blogging for the Washington Post in New Hampshire. I like the way he looks to his legions of commenters to chase down his facts: Mitt Romney may…

How the New York Times uses clouds

Posted by: Stephen Baker on December 17

One paragraph that didn’t make it into the Google cover described how the New York Times used Amazon’s cloud to great effect. The Times’ Derek Gottfrid blogged about it 6…

I’m a tech Rip Van Winkel, and here I come

Posted by: Stephen Baker on December 12

For months and months, I’ve been tied down with the oldest of old media projects, a book and a magazine piece. With all the secrecy and meetings and editing, I…

My letter to the editor of the NYT

Posted by: Stephen Baker on November 28

It felt funny writing a letter to the editor, which is such a careful and stilted process, when it’s so much easier to blog. But I try not to blog…

Print-only blogs

Posted by: Stephen Baker on November 20

Joel Achenbach, discussing the fading fortunes of the San Jose Mercury-News, comes up with a new idea: Print-only blogs. Here, let him explain it: These would be blogs, columns and…

Ethics: BBC and sound effects

Posted by: Stephen Baker on November 16

Britain’s Telegraph reports that the BBC introduced fake crying in a report about quintuplets. (ex Martin Stabe) Earth to BBC: Don’t you guys know how easy it is to make…

Crunching the numbers on TimesSelect

Posted by: Stephen Baker on November 07

Jon Garfunkel crunches lots of numbers in his attempt to see whether the New York Times’ much criticized two-year venture with paid content, TimesSelect, hurt traffic on the site and…

Scourge of 24-hour sports

Posted by: Stephen Baker on October 31

I used to sit through 25 minutes of boring local news just to get a five-minute fix of sports. Now I sit in a hotel room, and I think: I…

Can newspapers find life by serving up death?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on October 12

My Web wanderings led me to the Columbus Dispatch, which features a list of links for top stories. They include loads of sad news: * Ohioan killed in rocket attack…

Writing words for idle browsers

Posted by: Stephen Baker on October 12

Last Saturday night I was sitting in the living room with my wife. We had music playing, wine glasses filled, and I had the laptop to one side, where I…

Neiman Watchdog: sloppy attack on press

Posted by: Stephen Baker on September 21

There are plenty of unsubstantiated attacks on blogs. Here’s what I consider an unfair attack on the mainstream press. It’s a Nieman Watchdog commentary by Martin Lobel, a Washington lawyer….

Newspapers in 2020: Death of editors?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on September 08

Dave Morgan and Jeff Jarvis weigh in on the future of newspapers. My prediction: Editors will go the way of the linotype machine. Increasingly, human editing will be viewed as…

We could comply with all Web 2.0 mandates—and still fail

Posted by: Stephen Baker on September 05

I checked out the Bivings Report on the progress America’s magazines are making on a series of Web 2.0 benchmarks. (ex Romenesko) Long story short: We’re “behind” the newspapers in…

What’s Biz 2.0 mean for Fortune?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on September 05

Very sorry to see Business 2.0 disappear. It’s been a very good magazine. Now I’m thinking about what the arrival of 10 Biz 2.0 staffers will mean for Fortune. Will…

Blog study: Journalists have “new jobs”

Posted by: Stephen Baker on August 15

Just now getting to the Fusion PR survey about tech reporters and blogs. (ex Talking Biz and ITProPortal) Of course, most of them find blogs and social media important. The…

Earth to Linda: Our spoken opinions are never private

Posted by: Stephen Baker on August 13

Lots of criticism (and here) of NY Times Linda Greenhouse’s refusal to participate in a panel if it was to be televised. Apparently, she “didn’t want to have to modulate…

If the Times gets Freakonomics, what about everyone else?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on August 09

The New York Times won’t just be hosting the Freakonomics blog (which many of us will access through RSS). Freakonomics co-author tells the Observer that the blog will expand to…

Self-service mag subscriptions

Posted by: Stephen Baker on August 03

Rohit Bhargava wants coupons for magazines, so he doesn’t have to wait for the mail.

Why Washington is the town for Web 2.0

Posted by: Stephen Baker on July 31

Why Washington’s a bad place for journalism, and great for Web 2.0

The Facebook campaign to save Business 2.0

Posted by: Stephen Baker on July 23

Facebook campaign to save Business 2.0 is also a forum on future of magazine advertising

Interview: Talking to a machine

Posted by: Stephen Baker on June 04

The debate about the spoken vs e-mail interview grinds on, with Steven Levy and Jeff Jarvis taking their stands. Jeff may be right. Fairness and transparency argue for an e-mail…

How to monitor YouTube on the cheap

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 11

Jon Fine covers the bellyaching over YouTube, and how much companies are spending to monitor the site for copyrighted clips. I’m not sure it’s worth the bother. But assuming it…

Conspiracy theories in Nevada

Posted by: Stephen Baker on April 11

I’m in Las Vegas, reporting, and I read in the paper this morning that Gov. Jim Gibbons is repeating “a rumor” he says he’s heard that newspaper reports alleging sweetheart…

Why to plunge into journalism

Posted by: Stephen Baker on March 28

Jeff Jarvis asks for help for a keynote he’s going to give in Texas. The theme: Why it’s a good time to be a journalist. My ideas: 1) In stable…

New York Times: good and bad links

Posted by: Stephen Baker on March 25

Why don’t other New York Times columnists (and other media, for that matter, including us) follow Frank Rich’s lead and link to outside sources? Rich links as though he’s…

Forbes.com’s strategy: Foreign, local, videos and phones

Posted by: Stephen Baker on March 21

Jim Spanfeller, CEO of Forbes.com, just addressed the Folio Publishing Summit here in Chicago. Some notes: * Within the next 18-24 months, Forbes.com plans to launch local-language editions in German,…

How should companies hire bloggers?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on March 19

I’m on a panel tomorrow at a Folio Publishing conference in Chicago. The theme: What to Look for When Hiring Editorial Talent for Blogs, Webinars, and Social Networks. I welcome…

How journalists face the evolutionary test of lice

Posted by: Stephen Baker on March 09

I read in yesterday’s Times how our own evolutionary changes made life miserable for lice. (Here’s Science) The trouble was that as we descended from trees, we were losing much…

Thin skin in PR

Posted by: Stephen Baker on February 19

Catch the angry and defensive comments to David Pogue’s post about his pet peeve about PR. This one from JK hurt: What’s the lesson for reporters? Know exactly why…

Snow school closings: perfect for blogs

Posted by: Stephen Baker on February 14

How does a radio station inform an ice-covered metro area of 12 million about school closings? Very slowly. We listened to 1010 WINS at 6:40, and eventually learned that they’d…

Blinq returns to past

Posted by: Stephen Baker on February 12

Daniel Rubin, who writes the excellent Blinq blog at the Philadelphia Inquirer, announces that he’s shutting the blog and moving to a metro column. Lots of laments in the blog…

WSJ streams editorial meeting

Posted by: Stephen Baker on February 01

I just witnessed my first meeting of Wall Street Journal’s editorial page staff.( ex Mathew Ingram. Click the Opinion tab.) It’s worth six minutes, if you have it. Give the…

I got my hands on a tobacco-free Newsweek

Posted by: Stephen Baker on January 29

A special offer from Newsweek in today’s NY Times: The magazine promises “to provide tobacco ad-free editions to subscribers who request it.” I paged through my latest Newsweek and couldn’t…

Colorado paper blogs letters to editor

Posted by: Stephen Baker on January 18

Sitting in a little cafe in Boulder, CO, and I see the local Scripps Howard paper, Daily Camera, is putting the letters to editor it receives online, which will appear…

Media blogs: when to publish secrets

Posted by: Stephen Baker on January 15

One thing I’ve learned in two years as an MSM blogger. When we publish behind-the-scenes accounts of how our media sausages are made, the posts get picked up, read, commented….

How P&G skips the middleman

Posted by: Stephen Baker on January 08

The Wall Street Journal writes today about how P&G and other companies are setting up their own social-networking sites to reach consumers. Capessa, a P&G health features venture with Yahoo,…

Silver lining: Job offers pop up in Philly blog comments

Posted by: Stephen Baker on January 03

Dan Rubin blogs sadly as 71 colleagues at the Philadelphia Inquirer get pink slips from the new owner. This should serve as a warning to LA Times staffers who…

Joel Stein: Climbing off the Clue Train

Posted by: Stephen Baker on January 03

Lots of anger and derision surrounding Joel Stein’s combative op-ed in the L.A. Times, in which he snubs readers’ opinions. Edward Champion writes: “Adapt or Perish Mr. Stein. Op-ed…

Porn talk, apology, replay

Posted by: Stephen Baker on December 23

Anil Dash and Scoble discuss the Seagate CEO’s quote, and apology, about helping people download porn. Anil fears that this brush with outrage and hurt feelings might lead CEO Bill…

Why not publish every single letter to the editor?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on December 18

The New York Times receives about 1,000 letters a day, according to its letters editor, and has room for about 15. This is an immense unpublished resource of information, ideas…

BW writers duel over Zune

Posted by: Stephen Baker on December 08

Our colleague Jay Greene writes an article saying that Microsoft Zune is holding its own. As is the case with most of the stories we publish, not everyone on staff…

What should magazines do online?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on November 30

About a month ago I wrote about my growing stack of unread magazines. I’ve been whittling them down, and I’ve been enjoying it—much more than the time I spend on…

Google algorithms and newspapers

Posted by: Stephen Baker on November 06

I was flipping through the Sunday Times yesterday, and I came upon an advertising section for upcoming movies. Each movie had its own full-color page. These were advertisements were…

Disclosure: the rules are in flux for all

Posted by: Stephen Baker on November 02

Michael Arrington writes: We don’t fit into a neat little box like traditional media, who refrain from financial conflicts of interest with their readers and feel that they are…

Saving magazines

Posted by: Stephen Baker on October 31

Let’s just assume that you have a bunch of magazine subscriptions and have fallen behind in your reading. On recycling day (ie. today), your spouse comes up to you with…

Writing for an audience of one

Posted by: Stephen Baker on October 30

For years at BusinessWeek, I wrote for an audience of one. At least that’s the way I saw it. If an article pleased the editor in chief, it really didn’t…

TV Isn’t Dead

Posted by: Heather Green on October 24

It seems to me that for the most part, people use absolutist headlines on their posts to create a polemic. And for the most part, I just grumble. But here’s…

Are we entering a new Jazz Age?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on October 23

Are you jazzy enough? We grew up in an industrial age where big organizations operated like orchestras. Everyone played a defined role in rigorous, finely-synchronized ensembles. At least that was…

The buzz at Monaco: Netvibes

Posted by: Stephen Baker on October 20

The media conference in Monaco is just starting, but the biggest buzz so far surrounds Netvibes, the Paris-based company that is putting together do-it-yourself pages with unimaginable combinations of bells,…

How do editors build brands?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on October 14

Goodbye parties two nights in a row for BW colleagues, and I’ve got the headache to prove it. So I’ve naturally been thinking about job prospects for jettisoned journalists. I…

BusinessWeek makes staff cuts

Posted by: Stephen Baker on September 28

I got word that something was up in an e-mail. Then I called a friend, who it turned out had just gotten fired. This is 21st century life in our…

Do media companies have the math smarts to take on Google?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on September 20

Erick Schonfeld at Business 2.0 writes about the possibility of Time Warner spinning off his employer, Time Inc. The trouble, he says, quoting David Carr of the Times, is that…

Covering tragedies: A personal account

Posted by: Stephen Baker on September 12

Should the press cover people’s personal tragedies? No doubt, they sell papers and attracts viewers. But is there a reason to tell these stories, for the victims and their community?…

Voices from Calle Ocho: Washington Post V-casts

Posted by: Stephen Baker on August 06

I don’t use the video much on my iPod. It eats up the battery. But when I do watch, the video podcasts from The Washington Post are among my favorites….

Questions as Wonkette rises at Time

Posted by: Stephen Baker on July 28

As Wonkette prepares to take over as Washington editor of Time.com, here are some questions sure to be circulating among Time’s minions: 1) How much is she getting paid? 2)…

Vulnerability: Why journalists should blog

Posted by: Stephen Baker on July 22

Vulnerability. It’s a good thing. It’s what people need to establish healthy relationships, and it’s why journalists (among others) should blog. This thought occurred to me when I was…

An MSM pro writes obits in Philly

Posted by: Stephen Baker on June 30

People rag on newspapers, especially among the blogs. Let me share an example of MSM professionalism and society service: Obituaries. Last week I wrote an obituary for my father and…

Who pays extra to read Maureen Dowd and David Brooks?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on June 08

Tim Porter defends The New York Times for putting its opinion columnists (and archives) behind a paid wall, the so-called Times Select. His point: If newspapers have online production that…

Telcos mum on wiretaps—until they get sued

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 17

Now Verizon and BellSouth say that USA Today got it wrong on the wiretapping story. I went back to the original story to make sure that the reporters called…

Inquirer blogs Bonds’ at-bats

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 07

Anyone obsessively keeping up with Barry Bonds’ home-run march might want to check out the Philly Inquirer’s sports editor blog today. It’s snarky but knowledgeable commentary, with good pitch-by-pitch…

Why journalists should ask dumb questions

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 05

Yes, in a post yesterday I complained that journalists often don’t bother covering how things work. A couple of comments seconded the motion, accusing us of ignorance and worse. I…

Why journalists don’t cover how things work

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 04

For two days in Miami, I circulated in a large conference wearing a badge that said press. I didn’t see any others. This was a conference of operations research. This…

Reporters and the Eddie Haskell syndrome

Posted by: Stephen Baker on April 27

This post from Knoxville discusses the waiter syndrome: Judge people by how they treat others, not by how they cowtow to power. It reminded me of an article I read…

How Washington journalism is like the gossip sheets

Posted by: Stephen Baker on April 09

Jeff Jarvis notes the similarities between Washington journalism and the celebrity rags. This is true because both industries, Celebrity Inc. and politics, produce only one product: information. Access means everything…

NYTimes Describes Next Steps in its Redesign

Posted by: Heather Green on April 03

A chat with the folks at the NYTimes about the redesign and specifically the how they plan to develop the personalized My Times feature.

Should BW Online match Epicurious.com?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on April 03

All the talk I’ve been hearing about online strategies at mainstream pubs involves extending the franchise. And yet I read in today’s New York Times about the brilliance of Conde…

Iraqi bloggers in the mainstream

Posted by: Stephen Baker on March 31

I remember sitting at a blogger symposium 14 months ago and hearing New York Times Managing Editor Jill Abramson asking bloggers if they realized how much it cost to maintain…

Time Inc. puts blogs at center of strategy

Posted by: Stephen Baker on March 29

This WSJ story lays out Time Inc’s Internet strategy. To this BW staffer, it looks pretty familiar. BW too is tearing down walls between online and print staffs, prodding print…

What does Internet accountability mean for magazines?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on March 21

This was a question I faced throughout the reporting on the Internet advertising story: If advertisers are rushing into media that can measure the reach and effectiveness of their ads,…

Journal writer defends blogs—and points to his own

Posted by: Stephen Baker on February 27

WSJ’s Jason Fry gives a level-headed analysis of blogs. Says that while Technorati tracks some 27 million blogs, only one of ten are active. He also points to his own baseball blog.

The Multimedia Reporter

Posted by: Heather Green on February 15

A new twist on community journalism at the News-Press newspaper in Florida.

Plastic Wrapped Blogs?

Posted by: Heather Green on January 22

Musings on the follies of journalism awards season…

Achenblog sidesteps vitriol at the Post blog

Posted by: Stephen Baker on January 20

None of the comment vitriol at the Washington Post seems to be reaching the Joel Achenbach’s blog, where good humor prevails.

Baristanet, the local paper blog

Posted by: Stephen Baker on January 18

Baristanet is a good bloggy adjunct to the local paper in Montclair, NJ. But should it replace it?

Why we keep secrets in the mainstream press

Posted by: Stephen Baker on January 16

A primer on why a mainstream journalist would think twice before blogging during the reporting stage of a story—even if it’s not a scoop.

Blogging our stories would change this blog—for better or for worse?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on January 16

Should Blogspotting shift its focus as the two journalists write about other types of stories?

Times story on blogging misses productivity angle

Posted by: Stephen Baker on January 02

Times article on blogging misses the economic factors that drive mainstream media to blog

If a magazine is cutting staffers, can it afford to increase blogging?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on December 31

If a company is laying off workers, can it afford to dedicate more resources to blogging?

Jon Fine tells papers to ‘steal from Google’

Posted by: Stephen Baker on December 30

BusinessWeek’s Jon Fine urges newspapers to “steal from Google” and cut off their rival’s oxygen.

How I end up blogging about Dell in China

Posted by: Stephen Baker on December 21

BusinessWeek struggles to find a place in a blog for an outtake on a China story

When should journalists participate in a story?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on December 21

When should journalists take action in the stories they’re covering?

Conversation migrates from BusinessWeek java story

Posted by: Stephen Baker on December 13

Conversation about BW story on java is much livelier at Slashdot than under the original posting of the story.

Anchor blogger is reduced to travelogue

Posted by: Stephen Baker on December 12

NBC Anchor Brian Williams is a prolific blogger—at least today—but not a free one.

Zinio and the prospects for digital magazines

Posted by: Stephen Baker on December 03

Is Zinio, the digital magazine technology company, fish with feet?

Should we blog our first drafts?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on November 15

A BusinessWeek writer who is rewriting a story wonders if he should blog the first draft

Newspapers in trouble with youth? How about TV?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on November 04

A 17-year-old has trouble finding what he’s looking for on TV.

In praise of misunderstandings: How they can jumpstart a discussion

Posted by: Stephen Baker on November 03

How a misunderstanding on a BusinessWeek blog broke new ground on Ford

Philadelphia Inquirer: The grim face of downsizing

Posted by: Stephen Baker on October 31

Philadelphia Inquirer blog covers in detail the downsizing at the paper—and suggests how the franchise might reinvent itself

Forbes on blogs: Lowlifes have a new tool

Posted by: Stephen Baker on October 29

Forbes article on blogs: lowlifes have a powerful new tool

Inside view of AOL-Weblogs merger: Instant messaging a go-go

Posted by: Stephen Baker on October 22

Jason Calacanis describes AOL-Weblogs merger featuring torrents of AIM messages

Running blog stories late in the magazine

Posted by: Stephen Baker on October 17

Magazines like BusinessWeek aren’t yet in sync with the blog world—and it’s up to mainstream bloggers to fix that.

Nick Denton thoughts: Upon reflection

Posted by: Stephen Baker on October 13

Response to Nick Denton’s predictions about the fall of big media

Nick Denton says mainstream media is cooked

Posted by: Stephen Baker on October 13

Gawker’s Nick Denton predicts dire times for mainstream media.

Internet norms spread to mainstream magazine

Posted by: Stephen Baker on October 09

U.S. News moves shifts its print economics toward the Internet model.

Gawker and Weblogs show us where media is headed

Posted by: Stephen Baker on October 07

The success of Gawker and Weblogs Inc tells us less about the future of blogs than of mainstream media.

Which reporting can we trust?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on September 29

Media execs question the value of citizens’ reporting at a blogger roundtable in New Yorki.

NY Times vs. Yahoo: Who innovates faster?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on September 28

Yahoo and Google have a big leg up on traditional media, because they’re rich with engineering talent.

Unemployed journalists: Call Yahoo

Posted by: Stephen Baker on September 22

With dire forecasts for newspapers, job-hunting journalists will turning to Google, Yahoo and blogs.

On the Heels of the BW Best of the Web—The Onion

Posted by: Heather Green on September 21

Thye Onion’s Tech special report.

Which context is needed in news?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on September 17

Responds to Jay Rosen’s point about lacking context in news stories

Looking for reporters’ blogs on Katrina

Posted by: Stephen Baker on September 02

Looking for reporters’ blogs on Katrina to answer question: If reporters can get to the desperate, why can’t rescuers?

Objectivity: Does it have a place in blogs?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on August 30

A response to Jeff Jarvis’s call for death to objectivity in blogs.

The blogging life of the Eason Jordan story

Posted by: Stephen Baker on August 30

Discusses a table showing coverage in different media, including blogs, of the Eason Jordan controversy.

When to Blog

Posted by: Heather Green on August 23

Navigating when it makes sense to blog a story that’s being written

Q: Which side makes mistakes? A: Stop talking about sides

Posted by: Stephen Baker on August 23

When it comes to accuracy, fairness and accountability, blogs and mainstream are in the same boat: Each one earns its own reputation.

As interviews get blogged, open-source journalism could take off

Posted by: Stephen Baker on August 22

As sources start to blog interviews, as Mark Cuban did, reporters will have to change their behavior. But the process could lead to more open-source journalism.

Connections between mainstream media and steel mills

Posted by: Stephen Baker on August 20

Mainstream media could learn some lessons from the steel industry

Do we have a policy on citing blogs?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on August 17

BusinessWeek doesn’t yet have a policy on quoting from blogs, but there will likely be more and more blog quotes in the magazine.

Mainstream journalism’s productivity miracle: Online

Posted by: Stephen Baker on August 13

Publications boost productivity by driving more work online.

Technorati shows blogs clobbering big mainstream sites

Posted by: Stephen Baker on August 11

Technorati list shows leading blogs outranking big mainstream sites.

Correction in iFulfill story

Posted by: Stephen Baker on August 04

BusinessWeek error in iFulfill story

Ochman says she was misquoted in BW article

Posted by: Stephen Baker on August 04

B.L. Ochman says BusinessWeek story misquoted her

Change is speeding up, from Wonder Bread to the New York Times

Posted by: Stephen Baker on August 03

NY Times moves to integrate its online and print newsrooms, a process already underway at BusinessWeek

MIT’s open-source story brings bloggers in

Posted by: Stephen Baker on July 31

Open-source journalism at MIT’s Tech Review produces informative article, but lacks strong point of view

Should mainstream journalists blog?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on July 30

A response to the question of whether mainstream journalists should blog.

Newsweek rounds up blogs. Should others follow?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on July 26

Newsweek links to blog comments on its stories. Should BusinessWeek follow suit?

Blogs vs. Mainstream: Who’s sloppier?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on July 23

Sloppiness in a magazine article sparks more blog vs. mainstream debate. Baker argues that operations at mainstream publications can actually contribute to errors.

BusinessWeek bends banner for design

Posted by: Stephen Baker on July 22

BusinessWeek bends banner on cover, and introduces new online design channal

Calling All Citizen Journalists

Posted by: Heather Green on July 21

On Mainstream Media reaching out to citizen journalists.

Editorial processes: the magazine vs. the blogs

Posted by: Stephen Baker on July 19

A look at BusinessWeek’s editorial process, and the challenges it raises for mainstream bloggers.

Big staff changes at BusinessWeek

Posted by: Stephen Baker on July 18

Staff changes at BusinessWeek show growing importance of Online.

Bloggers Favorite Posts? Ones about Themselves, of Course

Posted by: Heather Green on July 15

In which we talk about how we are on a list of intro blogs compiled by the NYTImes.

Does the Blogosphere Kill Letters to the Editor?

Posted by: Heather Green on July 13

News & Record Letters to the Editor blog struggles with trolls.

Evolving from blog post to story

Posted by: Stephen Baker on July 12

A look at the changes as a blog post evolves into a story

Tug of war at BW between online edition and blogs

Posted by: Stephen Baker on July 08

New battles in journalism: BW editors tussle over whether an item should be blogged or placed on BW Online.

Seeing both sides of the Judith Miller case

Posted by: Stephen Baker on July 07

The judge in the Judith Miller case can send a reporter to jail—but shouldn’t ridicule her stand

Net to newspapers: Drop dead

Posted by: Stephen Baker on June 24

BW’s Jon Fine says that while newspapers have survived crises before, they’re facing the biggest one ever.

Brouhaha over citizens media pledge

Posted by: Stephen Baker on June 23

The journlist’s pledge at Bayosphere stirs controversy.

L.A. Times experiments with wikis

Posted by: Stephen Baker on June 18

L.A. Times experiments with wikis. Should BusinessWeek?

Should journalists blog their notes?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on June 17

Stephen Baker defends practice of blogging reporter’s notes—but only in certain cases.

Kurt Andersen needs a three-hour sit-down with Jeff Jarvis

Posted by: Stephen Baker on June 09

Kurt Andersen tells an NYU journalism student that he might develop ‘second-rate thoughts’ to publish on a blog

Craigslist founder willing to fund investigative journalism

Posted by: Stephen Baker on June 08

Craigslist founder Newmark tells BusinessWeek’s Blogspotting that he’s willing to fund investigative journalism

Inquirer moves toward blog world

Posted by: Stephen Baker on June 06

Philadelphia Inquirer gives reporters individual Web pages and puts them on the radio—a sign that mainstream media is working to come to grips with blogs and podcasts.

How spinning theories can get a blogger in trouble

Posted by: Stephen Baker on June 03

How idle speculation about Microsoft and Google produced an awkward moment for Blogspotting.net

Woodward and Bernstein, bloggers?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on June 01

Would Woodward and Bernstein be bloggers today? Deep Throat’s the better bet.

Click & Clack should be blogging

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 26

CarTalk’s column is yanked from Virginia paper. The Magliozzi brothers should turn to blogging.

Jeff Jarvis and Distributed Media

Posted by: Heather Green on May 23

Interview with Jeff Jarvis, the BuzzMachine blogger, on his new plans to work with the New York Times, write a book, help at CUNY, and work with a news startup.

Local News According to Blogs

Posted by: Heather Green on May 22

Food for thought in this ongoing debate about the future of local media: the News & Record in Greensboro, NC is running an opinion piece by a local blogger in…

End of the beat reporter

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 20

A media exec predicts the demise of the beat reporter—and the rise of higher-paid generalists who master new technology and reporting methods

How much are the Times’ archives worth?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 19

A report that the New York Times’ paid archives bring in $1 million of revenue—perhaps less than they’d make if access were free, and supported by ads.

Open-source journalism at MIT Tech Review

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 19

MIT’s Technology Review asks bloggers for help on major article

Dave Winer’s call for journalists’ disclosure

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 17

Dave Winer wants full-disclosure from journalists, but the reporters don’t necessarily have as much say as he thinks.

Bloggers covering local news—a French case

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 16

Can bloggers fill the holes in local coverage? A French example of a blogger sued by the mayor of a small city.

Challenges for mainstream blogging

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 15

Blogging at BusinessWeek and other mainstream pubs won’t take off in a big way until the companies introduce blogging internally—and free up more resources for blogs.

Can blogs cover local news?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 13

Can blogs report the local news that hard-pressed papers don’t cover?

Can MSM afford good bloggers? Kos responds

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 12

Kos swipes aside Howard Stern comparison and argues that top bloggers make more than most print journalists.

When blogs get scoops: Engadget and CNET

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 10

Should bloggers boycott CNET over alleged failures to attribute scoops to blogs such as Engadget?

Times listens to bloggers

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 09

New York Times ponders steps toward the transparancy and interactivity that bloggers have been clamoring for.

Daily Kos refutes Blogspotting prediction

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 09

Daily Kos tells Blogspotting that big media can’t afford to buy out top bloggers—and Blogspotting responds

‘Withering’ criticism of BusinessWeek story in Times

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 08

Withering criticism of a BusinessWeek cover in the Times—but not for the right reasons.

Open up, newspapers

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 06

Newspapers lose out on Net traffic by demanding registration too quickly

Corante president compares us to lunatics running asylum

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 05

Criticism of mainstream bloggers, including Blogspotting, from Stowe Boyd

Times moves toward opening archives

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 03

A strong sign that newspapers are realizing that archives are worth more open than closed….

Prediction: Mainstream press will open archives

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 03

The mainstream press should open up its historical archives to all comers

Tyranny of the laptop

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 02

Blogging threatens to extend work into every hour of our lives

Why we run comments through a filter

Posted by: Stephen Baker on April 30

BusinessWeek’s blogs check readers comments before posting them. This upsets many readers. But the policy is unlikely to change.

Mainstream media’s alleged strategy on blogs

Posted by: Stephen Baker on April 28

Is mainstream media interested in downplaying the power of blogs?