There are four fantastic reasons to be active on Twitter, according to noted "tech evangelist and skeptic" Sree Sreenivasan: to find new ideas, trends, and sources; to connect with an audience in new ways; to bring attention to your work; and to enhance your personal and professional brand.
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In one of the concluding sessions yesterday at The Poynter Institute's…
By Chelsea Sheasley
@csheasley
What’s the best thing a reporter can tell their editor about new data tools? They’re F-R-E-E.
Anthony DeBarros, senior database editor at USA Today and Matt Stiles of NPR’s news applications team shared their top picks for the latest free tools at IRE 2012’s “Free tools panel.”
You can see their list broken down by categories, here.
Via Poynter:
- Feb. 9, 2012: Gannett offers buyouts for up to 665 newspaper workers.
- Nov. 21, 2011: Booth Newspapers announced 543 layoffs (though they were eligible to re-apply for about 200 new jobs with MLive Media Group).
- June 21, 2011: Gannett lays off about 700 workers from its newspapers division.
- Feb. 23, 2010: ABC News lays off 300 to 400.
- Oct. 30, 2009: Time Inc. planned to cut about 540 jobs, after 600 the year before.
- March 9, 2009: McClatchy announces 1,600 coming layoffs, 15 percent of the workforce.
- Jan. 30, 2009: A.H. Belo announces 500 cuts at the Dallas Morning News, Providence Journal and Riverside Press-Enterprise, after 413 buyoutsmonths earlier.
- Dec. 4, 2008: Gannett wraps up cuts totaling a reported 2,184 across many papers.
- Nov. 7, 2008: EW Scripps cuts 400 jobs.
- Aug. 14, 2008: Gannett memo announces 1,000 job cuts affecting 600 people.
- June 2008: In one bloody week, about 900 newspaper workers lost jobs.
I started interning at the Texas Observer last week, and I am working on a personal essay for which I needed some figures from the FBI. I’ve been in contact with the San Antonio office since late last week waiting on the information. I’ve been following up with them constantly, but then I read that members of the Zeta drug cartel were arrested in connection with money laundering through U.S. horse races.
As expected, my contact told me they are tied up with the investigation. Unfortunately, I can’t get the figures I need from anyone else, so I guess that means my story is on hold for now.
My deadline looms ahead.
Pinterest and an online newspaper married and had a baby. Then, Rebel Mouse was born.
Rebel Mouse is the newest web service bringing your social life together. Syncing your Facebook and Twitter feeds, Rebel Mouse creates your own homepage that updates itself each time you post something on the social media outlet you decide to connect to your account.
Here’s my profile:
The web service is still in beta phase, but I’m excited to see where it will go. You can reserve your spot in the Rebel Mouse world by signing up on their website. You’ll be added to a waitlist, but the wait for a confirmation email is not long.
Former Huffington Post CTO Paul Berry is the creator of Rebel Mouse. He recently told Mashable that Instagram and Tumblr will soon be integrated into the service as well, but what about WordPress?
After three men, including two Auburn University football players, were killed in a shooting near the university, the student staff of AU’s The Auburn Plainsman was called in to work overtime for what could possibly be the biggest story they may cover as student journalists.
John Carvalho, faculty advisor for The Plainsman, wrote a column detailing how these student journalists dropped the student and covered the shooting like true journos starting with Andrew Yawn, community editor of the paper, who spent the night at the crime of the scene.
Andrew headed to bed after his article, and other students began to arrive at The Plainsman office. Ben Croomes, summer opinion editor, showed up with his sister, Rebecca Croomes, who is not on The Plainsman staff this summer but came anyway to help take photos. TJ Harlin, campus editor, also arrived, along with Nathan Simone, social media editor. John Holtrop, sports editor, called from his early-morning job at a local golf course (Maybe college students work harder than we think) and promised to join them when he got off work at 10 a.m., having worked since sunrise. Graphic design editor Rachel Suhs and summer photo editor Danielle Lowe also pitched in.
Carvalho writes how The Plainsman staff took charge and strategized as a team tackling the shooting from all angles and teaming up with fellow staffers instead of preoccupying themselves with claiming a byline.
Despite the unfortunate deaths of these three individuals, it’s interesting to see how these students did what we all wish we could have done in that moment: react, cover and write.
And there, alongside veteran journalists with fatter paychecks and more experience, The Auburn Plainsman staff showed themselves to be equal to the task.
To follow The Plainsman’s ongoing coverage of the shooting and its aftermath, click here.
It’s always great to see coverage of Latinos as dom in the New York Times front page: Latino Growth Not Fully Felt at Voting Booth
The Texas Tribune continues with its coverage of the Democratic and Republican conventions in Texas this weekend: Texas Democrats Elect First Hispanic Chairman
Muck rackers Pro Publica informing the public: Five “Stand Your Ground” Cases You Should Know About
And if for whatever reason you still haven’t read Emily Deprang’s cover story in this month’s Texas Observer, sit down and read it now. It’s on the longer end of stories, but it is worth every single word: Life on the List
The recommendation of this blog comes on the heels of its end. Editor Real Talk joins the ranks of GIF-centric Tumblr blogs that have risen to fame lately. This one specifically focuses on the tales of being an editor through response GIFs including “When someone asks if I like my job”, ”When A veteran journalist finally joins Twitter”, and one of my favorites:
While the editor of Editor Real Talk has been fired (whose response is chronicled in GIFs as well as the last post of the site), enjoy pages worth of journalist humor.
