WikiLeaks wins ‘outstanding contribution to journalism’ award
by Lynn Herrmann (Guest contributor/Digital Journalist)
WikiLeaks was awarded a Walkley Sunday night for its outstanding contribution to journalism, commended by judges for its revelations in the war on terror to “diplomatic bastardry” and noted the “site’s commitment to the finest traditions of journalism.”
The prestigious Walkley Foundation has awarded whistle-blower Wikileaks its Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism award, stating: “WikiLeaks applied new technology to penetrate the inner workings of government to reveal an avalanche of inconvenient truths in a global publishing coup.”
Were it not for WikiLeaks, according to Walkley Trustees, many of the world’s major publishers were able to take advantage of the secret cables released by Wikileaks, giving them “more scoops in a year than most journalists could imagine in a lifetime.”
On Monday in Hong Kong, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange addressed journalists via videolink from England, where he remains under house arrest. Speaking to the News World Summit, he called the Internet “the most significant surveillance machine that we have ever seen,” noting the tremendous amount of information people are willing to give up about themselves online, Agence France Presse reports.
During his 40-minute address, Assange criticized mainstream media, the Washington political machine and the banking industry.Regarding the US Department of Justice’s whistle-blower investigation into WikiLeaks for releasing sensitive and embarrassing document, including the now-famous and equally disturbing Collateral Murder video, Assange noted “The United States government does not want legal protection for us,” according to AFP.
Assange punctuated his address when the conference moderator asked if the WikiLeaks founder was a member of the journalism profession. “Of course I’m a goddamn journalist,” Assange responded, in what AFP called “affected frustration.”The Walkey Foundation’s broad aims “are to support and encourage professional and ethical journalism and promote and reward excellence in the Australian media,” according to its website.
Journalist proposes to girlfriend via newspaper column
by Armando Tamayo (Guest contributor/Digital Journalist)
South Carolina newspaper reporter Nick McCormac asked his girlfriend to read his column on Tuesday morning. He decided to ask for the hand of his girlfriend in a non-traditional way: through a blog post.
McCormac, who wrote for the SC’s The Item, didn’t cover state or political news for the said column he simply titled, “A story of boy meets girl“. He instead wrote about his own tale with a girl he met a year and a half ago. McCormac wrote on his post: “No matter what I do or what I say, no words could ever justifiably describe how I feel about you. But there are six words that come awfully close. Whitney Bragg, will you marry me?”
Bragg read his column on her computer while McCormac looked nervously for her reaction. The couple was getting ready to leave for their respective work. In an interview with Daily News, McCormac said, “My stomach begin to drop as she took a few seconds to respond…finally, she started flapping her arms and turned around and had tears in her eyes.”
McCormac said he thought of the marriage proposal idea through his column a month ago while coming home from a military reporting conference. The column he said would be something he can keep for a very long time and something he can show his friends and family.
“I’m a lot better at writing than I am at speaking. Ever since I’ve become a professional writer, I’ve looked at it as something really unique,” he said on the interview. “Me being the sentimental sap I am, I wanted something that I could hold onto.”
In The Item column, McCormac described how he met Bragg, who just happen to came along with his long-lost-friend’s girlfriend in a bar. He described how he then saw Bragg as “…a sweet girl with a slight smile and blonde hair who resembled a young Meryl Streep.”McCormac described himself as a hopeless romantic “Like John Cusack as Lloyd Dobler inSay Anything (1989) boombox blasting Peter Gabriel and all.” He writes, “Words are my profession. They’re my living. My job is to take the most complex, complicated and confusing situations and describe them in a concise and simplistic manner.”
McCormac said that the response to his column was overwhelming from friends, families and readers. He said he celebrated the occasion by going to work and then answering messages from his future in-laws. “My battery on my phone is about to run out with people tweeting, emailing and calling” he said.
The column of McCormac was linked into a post by Steve Myers, a managing editor at Poynter.org, a journalism site. Myers playfully wrote “She said yes! …. (Alternate universe: McCormac asks Bragg if she read his column, and she says … No, why?) ”
This article was originally published on Digital Journal
Survey: Two-thirds of Americans wouldn’t miss their local newspaper if it vanished
A surprising survey result revealed 69 percent of Americans agreeing with the statement that if their local newspaper no longer existed, it wouldn’t have a major impact on their ability to keep up with information and news about their community, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism and Internet & American Life Project.
The survey further found Americans learn about current affairs from a wide array of sources. The majority (64 percent) of American adults “use at least three different types of media every week to get news and information about their local community—and 15% rely on at least six different kinds of media weekly,” the survey’s press release stated.
A previous report by Pew called State of the Media 2011 discovered “more people said they got news from the web than newspapers. The internet now trails only television among American adults as a destination for news, and the trend line shows the gap closing.”
Worth noting is good old-fashioned talking with your neighbours. Around 55% of all U.S. adults get local news and information via word of mouth at least once a week, the survey revealed. “Adults age 40 and older are more likely to prefer word of mouth as a source for local politics, local government activity, housing and real estate, zoning, and social services.”
Of the 79 percent of Americans who are online, the Internet is the first or second most relied-upon source for 15 of the 16 local topics examined in the survey. Cellphones are fast becoming a preferred platform to read the news: nearly half of adults use mobile devices to get local news and information.
Turning to citizen journalism and community involvement, the Pew study found 41 percent of all adults can be considered “local news participators”, meaning they comment on articles, contribute their own info via social media or write articles about their community.
It’s not all gloomy news for print publishers. The study writes, “Newspapers (both the print and online versions, though primarily print) rank first or tie for first as the source people rely on most for 11 of the 16 different kinds of local information asked about—more topics than any other media source.”
TV news outlets can see a silver lining here too. Breaking news continues to be TV’s bread and butter. “Among all adults, 55 percent say they rely on local TV for breaking news, compared with 16 percent who say they rely on the internet and 14 percent who rely on newspapers,” the survey found.
The results in this Pew report are based on data from telephone interviews conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International from January 12 to 25, 2011, among a sample of 2,251 adults, age 18 and older.
Photo courtesy Flickr user (michelle)
Al Jazeera top exec resigns after WikiLeaks cable exposure
by Lynn Herrmann (Guest Contributor/Digital Journalist)
After eight years as director general at Al Jazeera, Wadah Khanfar on Tuesday announced his decision to step down, and follows release of WikiLeaks documents suggesting the news agency, under US pressure, modified coverage of the Iraq war.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Khanfar said his resignation “has to do with the fact that I have completed my eight years at the management of Al Jazeera.” He went on to add eight years was enough time for any leader to give his energy to such an endeavor.
An Al Jazeera spokesman noted: “Wadah Khanfar had made outstanding contributions to Al Jazeera and journalism worldwide. We all recognize his commitment to courageous reporting and want to continue to build upon those achievements.”
However, several leading news organizations suggest the WikiLeaks cable is connected to Khanfar’s resignation.
The Associated Press reports Khanfar “was in constant contact with the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency” in response to US complaints Al Jazeera was providing negative coverage of the Iraq war, and promised to modify such coverage.
CNET News reports the alterations in coverage, according to the leaked cable, involved removal of images of injured children from an online story in which witnesses provided accounts of US military action in Iraq. The cable came from the US embassy in Doha, Qatar, where Al Jazeera maintains its headquarters.
The cable references “problems” the US government had with Al Jazeera in “double-sourcing in Iraq; identifying sources’ use of inflammatory language; a failure to balance of extremist views; and the use of terrorist tapes.”
Also noted in the cable is Khanfar’s suggestion the website piece in question had “been toned down” and that he would “have it removed over the subsequent two or three days.”
In a note to Al Jazeera staff on Tuesday, Khanfar said: “Al Jazeera gained the trust of its audience through consistently speaking truth to power, and channelling peoples’ aspirations for dignity and freedom,” Al Jazeera reports.
This article was originally published on Digital Journal [Link]
Digital Journal launches Global Editorial Meetings, story meetings opened up to public
Our sister site, Digital Journal, made a big editorial announcement today. To keep you up-to-date, we’ve included a press release below:
Digital Journal today announced a new community newsroom initiative aimed at widening the scope of news covered globally, and involving the public in the news creation process.
Dubbed “Global Editorial Meetings,” these online chat story meetings are open to the public and hosted on Digital Journal.
“Every news organization has story meetings,” said Chris Hogg, CEO of Digital Journal. “But traditionally they happen behind closed doors, with a selected group of individuals deciding what everyone should be reading. We want to change that to see how editorial direction will shift by opening up these meetings to the public. Starting this month, our Global Editorial Meetings will allow everyone to share details on what kind of stories we should be covering, and what stories are going unnoticed in the press.”
As a hybrid news network that combines professional journalists with citizen journalists and bloggers, Digital Journal has always taken a forward-thinking approach to journalism. The company has successfully crowdsourced thousands of story ideas from a large and growing contributor base and held liveblog workshops on journalistic practices. With Global Editorial Meetings, Digital Journal is going one step further to open up these meetings to give an editorial voice to literally everyone.
In the Global Editorial Meetings, Digital Journal staff members and editors will chat live with readers, journalists, bloggers, photographers and passionate news junkies about important stories and topics from their city, province/state or country.
Conversation will focus on multiple geographies and news verticals, and particular attention will be focused on stories the public believes are being under-reported.
After these Global Editorial Meetings are complete, Digital Journal will use feedback and input to assign stories to thousands of Digital Journalists around the world. The company will use its Assignments technology to create, track and organize a massive editorial project to provide the public with content it wants.
The first Global Editorial Meeting will take place on July 11 at 9 a.m. (Eastern time), and the second will happen July 21 at 2 p.m. (Eastern time). A third Global Editorial Meeting will take place on July 28 at 8 p.m. (Eastern time). The live chat conversations will use Cover It Live and anyone can participate.
To participate in a chat, visit the Digital Journal Global Editorial Meetings group and click on the blog post for the day(s) you wish to attend. You can set a reminder for yourself on the embedded chat widget inside each post.
“Our goal is to get our finger on the pulse of the world,” said David Silverberg, Managing Editor of Digital Journal. “Combining the public’s voice with the Digital Journal platform to create, assign and publish content is a really powerful marriage. We hope to be able to get a much better sense of what people find important, and then deliver that information to Digital Journalists who can make sure those voices are being heard by providing coverage of all those topics.”
“Digital Journal is recognized as a pioneer in the news industry for bringing in everyday people as reporters,” said Hogg. “We want to continue to lead by example, and so we’re opening up our newsrooms and giving the public a forum in which they can be heard.”