PJNet » ConvergeSouth2007

Ruby Sinreich: We Need Journalism — and Blogs

Leonard Witt — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 04:01:34 +0000

Ruby Sinreich, a well know blogger, is founder of the progressive local politics blog OrangePolitics.org in her hometown of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She understands the limitations of mainstream journalism and thinks blogs can add to what traditional journalism lacks — but she still wants paid journalists to be around. Here are some key quotes from the video interview below: “…I hope there are always people who are able to get paid to give us quality information…journalism is going to have to evolve a little bit, develop more trust in what people say…I think there will always be some kind of journalists, but I don’t know if we’re going to have newspapers…we’re trying to fill in the personal knowledge that we have…local issues don’t always have a clear left and right…”

For more ConvergeSouth 2007 videos by Leonard Witt on the future of journalism , see:

1. Jason Calacanis Cold to Local Newspapers as Business

2. Buck the Trend; Start a Newspaper Now

3. Want Science News? Start Your Own Publication

4. Will Bunch Sees Different, Bright Journalism Future

Will Bunch Sees Different, Bright Journalism Future

Leonard Witt — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 04:22:25 +0000

Will Bunch, Philadelphia Daily News columnist, has been on a two-year journey to figure out the fate of journalism. At first it was out of self-preservation, but now he has come to see the future of journalism — and he is very optimistic. Here are key quotes from the video:

For any metropolitan newspaper to survive, we need to be part of the community…not be these faceless bylines…I call them citizens and not readers…I am very optimistic about the future of journalism…it’s going to be saved with a lot of turmoil…news organizations that are really stubborn and rigid and change-resistant, some of them are probably going to die…there are going to be opportunities for journalists, they are just going to be different…

For more on the future of journalism, see:
1. Jason Calacanis Cold to Local Newspapers as Business

2. Buck the Trend; Start a Newspaper Now

3. Want Science News? Start Your Own Publication

Want Science News? Start Your Own Publication

Leonard Witt — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 04:32:55 +0000

I have been running a series of videos on the future of journalism. At ConvergeSouth 2007 I did an interview with Anton Zuiker of the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area of North Carolina, home of the world renown Research Triangle Park. Zuiker says as local newspapers are less inclined to support their medical and science writers “there is a disconnect there, there’s a lot of science and technology and medical research happening, but it’s not getting a lot of press and coverage. So we are thinking about doing our own, Triangle Science Times…” They plan to aggregate news, but also do their own features, profiles and investigative reporting. So this is where I jump into the conversation and put in a plug for RepresentativeJournalism.org.

Buck the Trend; Start a Newspaper Now

Leonard Witt — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 04:20:16 +0000

In yesterday’s future of newspaper journalism video, Jason Calacanis said it was a business he would never get into. Today we hear from Kirk Ross, editor of the Carrboro Citizen, a North Carolina weekly newspaper and Web site started in March 2007. Ross is obviously enjoying it and he says they are making money. Here are a couple of key quotes from the video: “We’re strong believers in local journalism, local ownership…If you are familiar with the slow food movement, we’re trying to start the slow news movement…We’re going back to basics, we’re not trying to do the unusual; we’re trying to do the usual well…We actually wanted the newspaper to look a little like old school newspapers…The small community newspapers, they’re actually doing pretty good.”

For more on the future of journalism, see:

1. Will Bunch Sees Different, Bright Journalism Future

2. Buck the Trend; Start a Newspaper Now

3. Want Science News? Start Your Own Publication

Interview made at ConvergeSouth2007 by Leonard Witt.

Jason Calacanis Cold to Local Newspapers as Business

Leonard Witt — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 16:58:12 +0000

The key quotes here from serial entrepreneur Jason Calacanis about local newspapers are: “I wouldn’t want to be in that business…I’m not so tied to the idea that there has to be a local paper….Maybe a local blog is a better concept….Maybe a group of local bloggers having their work appear in one location is better. ”

Calacanis, CEO of Mahalo.com, a human powered search engine, and previously the co-founder of Weblogs, Inc. which sold for $30 million to AOL, talks about the future of local journalism. He thinks it is a tough business model

For more on the future of journalism, see:

1. Will Bunch Sees Different, Bright Journalism Future

2. Buck the Trend; Start a Newspaper Now

3. Want Science News? Start Your Own Publication

This is the first of six interviews on the future of journalism which I will be posting here; all made at the ConvergeSouth2007conference. Yesterday I mentioned the idea of Call Outs. Anyone have their own video interview on the subject they would like added to this conversation? Put it on YouTube or somewhere else, I’ll take a look and see if we can get it embedded here too. Tomorrow I will have an interview with Kirk Ross who is the editor the Carrboro Citizen of all things, a local start-up newspaper.

If I get really ambitious, I might try to turn all these raw interviews into an edited piece. It will be step up for me and part of the learning curve. It means finding time. Of course, this is where the crowd could really get involved. Sort of a group edit.

Getting Your Videos Viral

Leonard Witt — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 04:46:32 +0000

I am here at ConvergeSouth2007. I shot six videos about the future of journalism, which I will be releasing all week . Was just going to put it here next week, but now the folks from Current.tv and Crap.tv are saying to look to all the distribution sites to get maximum exposure. Sounds obvious, but in the past I have tended to keep them here. I want people to come to my site, but I am probably limiting the full exposure of my work. Now I have to rethink that idea. Want to learn more? Watch this video I shot with Saskia Wilson-Brown of Current.com on how to make your video viral.

Earlier today I was in a session with Wilson-Brown and Brandon Gross of Current.tv. Current.com if you have not been there recently is doing interesting and fun stuff. One is Call Outs. You could do it at your own site. You give your subject topic and then ask people to send in clips or photos as part of your subject matter. Basically instead of just you talking, everyone gets to share prospectives and stories.

ConvergeSouth: Day Two Social Networking

Leonard Witt — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 15:23:07 +0000

The panel is Elisa Camahort, Soni Pitts, and Ruby Sinreich.

Sinreich gives the five elements of a strong Social Network:

1. Strong social ties

2. Having a dense communication grid, a lot of ways to get in touch with other, RSS feeds, Twittering, or Flickr pages, at conferences.

3. Having a common story. Narrative you all experienced together. Common theme, the language is the same.

4. Shared resources, a place like Blogher, or sharing money, or grants in a certain movement.

5. Meta or sense of purpose. They are aware it exists, have a sense of membership. A sense of belonging and knowing what it is for. The right network and right sense of belonging.

Ed Cone talks about social networking in business at Wachovia’s 110,000 employees.