ReadWriteWeb: Facebook Wants to Be Your One True Login
Friday, 12 February 2010, 01:04
What happens when your news site's story about Facebook comes up first in a search for Facebook. You end up having to post things like this: "Dear visitors from Google. This site is not Facebook. This is a website called ReadWriteWeb that reports on news about Facebook and other Internet services. … To access Facebook right now, click here. For future reference, type "facebook.com" into your browser address bar or enter "facebook" into Google and click on the first result. We recommend that you then save Facebook as a bookmark in your browser."
South Wales Argus: Argus woman asks Newport – Is it OK to shop in pyjamas?
Monday, 8 February 2010, 10:26
"As a Tesco store's ban on shoppers wearing pyjamas polarised opinion, [South Wales Argus reporter] Natalie Crockett donned her pjs and took to the streets of Newport to test public opinion on whether it is acceptable to wear nightwear in public."
The Leamington Observer: How our quiche ID story went global!
Sunday, 7 February 2010, 22:25
This is how national news stories happen, apparently. "Christine … has had to change her name on Internet social networking sites due to random friend requests and seedy messages, said she'd now be quite happy for the quiche incident to be forgotten. … She told the Observer … 'It is quite scary when you get a reporter you don't know tracking down your mum, then stopping you in the street, particularly as I'd made no attempt to seek out national coverage.'"
New York Times: Publisher Lays Out Plan to Save Newspapers
Sunday, 6 December 2009, 22:00
Brilliant stuff. Axel Springer wants a a “one-click marketplace solution” for their online content: "What kind of content would come at a cost? Any 'noncommodity journalism,' [Axel Springer's Cristoph Keese] said, citing pictures of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy cavorting poolside with models at his villa in Sardinia — published this year by the Spanish daily El País — as an example. 'How much would people pay for that? Surely €5,' he said."
Sky News: Government Wants Online ‘Rogues’ Galleries’ To Show Public How Criminals Dealt With By Courts
Thursday, 3 December 2009, 17:40
Government wants to introduce online sentencing information for local areas. Peter Murray, vice-president of the National Union of Journalists, tells Sky News: "The point about journalism, as opposed to information provided by arms of the state, is that it's filtered through people who have all the ethical training, political background and experience. That filtering process is not there on a police or local authority website, so people committing a minor offence may find themselves victimised, or subject to vigilantism because people would have no means of determining the seriousness of the offence committed."
Comment is free: Why journalism needs paywalls
Monday, 30 November 2009, 12:45
Tim Luckhurst: "Today a newspaper innovation is launched that can help the free world's news industry to recover the prosperity it first achieved under Queen Victoria. Johnston Press, Britain's most prolific newspaper publisher with 286 titles, will place the online content of six of its local titles behind paywalls." Seriously?
Up Your Ego: Independent printing payments
Wednesday, 25 November 2009, 08:59
"The Independent Newspaper has an interesting way of making a bit of extra cash from their website – they’re restricting printing. … You get the choice of a ‘free print’ where you can make up to five copies using your home or office printer for free (with an ad). You can make an Instant print on your home printer with six or more copies from 25p to £1 per copy without ads. … Or you can have 50+ copies printed by them and sent to you within two business days, these cost 75p to £1.10 per copy – again with no adverts."
Press Gazette: Newspaper Licensing Agency to regulate web hyperlinks
Thursday, 18 June 2009, 16:50
"The NLA will be introducing a new form of licence from 1 September to regulate 'web aggregator services (such as Meltwater) that forward links to newspaper websites and for press cuttings agencies undertaking this type of activity'. … There is no attempt to regulate use of hyperlinks where that is not as part of a chargeable service, such as by private individuals or as the results of queries by internet search engines such as Google News."
New York Times: The Editors of Summer
Sunday, 10 May 2009, 23:02
"A curiosity of media softball is the on-the-field prowess of High Times, given that the publication is dedicated to the appreciation of marijuana. Since its founding in 1991, the team, known as the Bong-hitters, has been both feared and lionized."
The Observer: Don’t hold the US front page
Sunday, 26 April 2009, 07:11
Peter Preston on the Pulitzer Prizes (and the cultural divide between American and British journalism): "a headline-grabbing, tale everybody has to follow up fast [like British Press Awards Scoop of the Year Wossgate]? No awards even offered for that, which may be one reason why British sites do so well globally, with the Telegraph, Times, Guardian, Mail and Sun all outscoring the New York Times on unique user counts last month."
The Observer: Google is just an amoral menace
Sunday, 5 April 2009, 22:24
Henry Porter talks utter nonsense: "Google is in the final analysis a parasite that creates nothing, merely offering little aggregation, lists and the ordering of information generated by people who have invested their capital, skill and time. On the back of the labour of others it makes vast advertising revenues… Newspapers can of course remove their content but then their own advertising revenues and profiles decline. In effect they are being held captive and tormented by their executioner, who has the gall to insist that the relationship is mutually beneficial. Were newspapers to combine to take on Google they would be almost certainly in breach of competition law."
The Associated Press: Stolen cake sparks bank data alert in Germany
Sunday, 21 December 2008, 08:30
"Two couriers at a package distribution center stole a Christmas cake destined for a German newspaper and mailed in its place a package of credit card data, prosecutors said Friday. The mix-up triggered an alarm over lost bank customer details. A batch of microfilmed data including names, addresses and card transactions ended up at the Frankfurter Rundschau daily last week"
Out-law.com: ‘Feck’ is not an offensive word, rules ASA
Saturday, 13 December 2008, 11:36
"In contrast, the [Advertising Standards Authority] ruled last month that the word 'bloody' is an offensive word."
Scarborough Evening News: Scarborough retailers’ mixed reaction to cut in VAT – COMMENT ON THIS STORY
Tuesday, 25 November 2008, 16:48
OK, OK, I'll comment. No need to shout!
