NYTimes.com: Romenesko Taken to Woodshed for, um, Not Much. And Then Resigns.
Friday, 11 November 2011, 15:43
David Carr: “Out in the civilian world, [Romenesko's] departure is, um, less than seismic. But to those of us who read and followed him, it seemed like an ill-advised way to end a run that was remarkable in all aspects: He was a proto-blogger, helping …
The Washington Post: A Gay Girl in Damascus and Lez Get Real: The lessons we learned
Friday, 24 June 2011, 11:53
"As journalists … We were taken in by both MacMaster and Graber, but we also tracked down the truth about both of their identities. What did we do wrong and what did we do right? Here are some of the lessons we learned."
The Electronic Intifada: New evidence about Amina, the "Gay Girl in Damascus" hoax
Monday, 13 June 2011, 12:24
"In a comment on that post, Paula Brooks, executive editor of LGR, gave two IP addresses which she said had been used by Amina to access LGR’s servers. The whois records for these IP addreses both have descriptions that indicate they are allocat…
The Washington Post: ‘A Gay Girl in Damascus’ comes clean
Monday, 13 June 2011, 12:19
"The Post on Thursday contacted Scott Palter, a board game creator from Minnesota who corresponded regularly with Amina on a Yahoo message group called “The Crescentland.’’ In a telephone interview, Palter said that he asked her several year…
NPR: The Two-Way: ‘Gay Girl In Damascus’ Turns Out To Be An American Man
Monday, 13 June 2011, 12:11
"The revelation came hours after NPR approached Britta Froelicher, his wife, with some evidence that connected her with Gay Girl In Damascus. Other news organizations appeared to be zeroing in on the couple, too. Over the past week, we've bee…
New York Times: ‘Gay Girl in Damascus’ Blogger Admits to Writing Fiction Disguised as Fact
Monday, 13 June 2011, 11:58
"Tom MacMaster, a 40-year-old graduate student … explained that he had initially created Amina, his Arab lesbian character, as “a handle” he would use when he wanted to contribute comments to online discussions. His aim, he said was to use t…
New York Times: Case of a Gay Girl in Damascus Blog and Sifting Syrian Fact From Fiction
Friday, 10 June 2011, 10:51
"[After] it was widely reported by news organizations that the blogger, who writes as Amina Abdallah Arraf, had been snatched off the street in Damascus on Monday, doubts were raised about whether the author of the blog had, in fact, been detained…
Guardian: A gay girl in Damascus – or a cynical hoax?
Friday, 10 June 2011, 10:10
"Despite the efforts of major news organisations, bloggers and enterprising individuals on the internet and Twitter, no one – journalist, activist, friend or Facebook contact – has been identified who has ever spoken to Araf face to face. Sand…
Bad Science: Why don’t journalists link to primary sources?
Tuesday, 22 March 2011, 11:40
Ben Goldacre: "Why don’t journalists link to primary sources? Whether it’s a press release, an academic journal article, a formal report, or perhaps (if everyone’s feeling brave) the full transcript of an interview, the primary source contai…
BabyBarista: Welcome to the re-launch of BabyBarista – keeping it free of charge!
Sunday, 30 May 2010, 15:56
"I have today withdrawn the BabyBarista Blog from The Times in reaction to their plans to hide it away behind a paywall along with their other content. Now don’t get me wrong. I have absolutely no problem with the decision to start charging. They can do what they like."
Out-Law.com: High Court ruling serves as a warning against any moderation of user comments
Wednesday, 21 April 2010, 13:14
"A blog owner can avoid liability for user-generated content that appears on his site without being checked or moderated, the High Court has ruled. But fixing the spelling or grammar in users' posts could lose him that protection, it said."
Journalism.co.uk: Local news blogger refused entry to coroner’s court
Thursday, 25 February 2010, 08:54
"VentnorBlog, the well-established Isle of Wight news blog, found itself thrown out of a coroner’s court on Tuesday. … Coroner officer Richard Leedham told Simon Perry of the VentnorBlog … that the coroner did not wish him to be in the court – as a journalist or as a member of the public. The Isle of Wight County Press was allowed to stay, however."
Colin McDowell: What’s Wrong With Fashion Journalism?
Monday, 4 January 2010, 08:18
"[Fashion] journalism as we have known it is dying, as new graduates from modern courses bring different agendas to the job and bloggers take over the field of immediate reaction. Things had to change, because journalism has allowed itself to become dependent on advertising revenues – which can, of course, be withdrawn if comments displease. Result: all commentary on any label with an advertising budget is now totally anodyne. Thank God for the bloggers who give an immediate and honest reaction which, let's hope, might some day also be an informed one (not always the case at the moment)."
BBC News: When is a secret not a secret?
Tuesday, 13 October 2009, 14:36
Nick Higham: "No injunction has been served on the BBC, but ever since the Spycatcher case in the 1980s, news organisations which knowingly breach an injunction served on others are in contempt of court – so the corporation too is bound by the Guardian injunction. But the lawyers in this case clearly reckoned without the blogosphere. In the anarchic, anything-goes world of the internet, where freedom of speech is a frequently heard rallying cry, injunctions banning publication of anything are unpopular. This one seems to have acted like a red rag to a bull."
