Molding Young Minds at UALR High School Journalism Day

Much thanks to the Sonny Rhodes and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock for inviting me to speak during two sessions of UALR’s annual Journalism Day event, which took place Thursday.
Andrew DeMillo of The Associated Press gave the event’s keynote address on “Why Journalism Matters,” and other session leaders included Frank Fellone of the [...]

Frank Robins III, Former Owner and Publisher of the Log Cabin Democrat

Frank Robins III, the former publisher of the Log Cabin Democrat, died on Saturday at the age of 80. You can read his obituary on the Web site of the newspaper he once owned here. The newspaper’s article on Robins appears here.
Robins was my wife Laura’s uncle. I didn’t get to spend much time with [...]

The FTC to Hold Hold Workshops on Journalism in the Internet Age

First, there was John Kerry’s Congressional subcommittee hearing on “the Future of Journalism.” And now, the Federal Trade Commission is set to hold two days of workshops in December on journalism and its survival in the Internet age:
Though some may be uncomfortable with government oversight of any aspect of journalism, the F.T.C. seems to be [...]

And That’s the Way It Is

1916-2009
Video: First CBS Newscast | Kennedy Assassinated | King Assassinated | Man on the Moon | More

Lock Down: The Democrat-Gazette Takes Free News Off the Web in Northwest Arkansas

It had to happen sometime.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette announced Sunday that, starting Aug. 5, its northwest Arkansas newspaper edition will no longer offer free access to print edition stories on the Web. Like content on the state edition of the paper at ArkansasOnline.com, NWANews.com will be accessible to paying subscribers only.
Publisher Walter Hussman, who’s been praised [...]

Department of Bad Ideas: Let’s Ban Links to Save Print!

A U.S. Appeals Court judge, Richard Posner, blogs about the non-future of newspapers this week and floats the idea that — get this — banning links and paraphrasing copyrighted material might be necessary.
From the blog post:
Expanding copyright law to bar online access to copyrighted materials without the copyright holder’s consent, or to bar linking to [...]

Sour Grapes: TMZ and the Michael Jackson Scoop of the Decade

After Hollywood gossip Web site TMZ first broke news of Michael Jackson’s death last week (beating the LA Times by about an hour), there’s been lots of analysis and criticism and hand-wringing about what this says about new media versus the traditional mainstream press.
Min Online rounds up recent thought on the matter:
This weekend the L.A. [...]

Online Journalism Tools and Generational Conflicts at AABP in Minneapolis

The WiFi at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Minneapolis is a little wonky (making me eager for iPhone’s new tethering abilities), so I’m tapping this entry out via my handy WordPress app. This summer’s annual conference of the Alliance of Area Business Publications has been interesting, with sessions on social media, search engine optimization, online [...]

In Sunny Minneapolis at the AABP Summer Convention

Beginning Thursday, I’ll be in Minneapolis at the annual summer conference of the Alliance of Area Business Publications. The organization represents 70 publications that deliver customized regional business news to more than 1.2 million business pros in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Australia. Members include the Los Angeles Business Journal, the Crain’s family [...]

Twitter Makes the AP Stylebook

Journalism style mavins taken note. Twitter is now part of the Associated Press Stylebook:
06/11/2009
AP Press Release
New edition of AP Stylebook adds entries and helpful features
NEW YORK — Twitter, the social networking tool that has turned millions of people around the world into instant micro-bloggers, has made it into the 2009 edition of The [...]