Anlässlich des O'Reilly Digital Democracy Teach-In (vom 9.Februar 2004) diskutierten Dan Gillmor, Jeff Jarvis and Jay Rosen über "Gatekeepers No More" - resp. die Rolle der Journalisten im Wandel:
"Journalists think … we need to give people information so they can participate. But it is more likely that if people participate they will seek information. … Activity comes first, and journalists in this country made a big mistake long time ago when without realizing it they began not to care if people got engaged with the information, they cared only if they received the information.

This is a key concept that must be understood by newspapers, and especially by newspaper editors, if they are to retain their community relevance and authority. Interest is directly relational to involvement. Journalists need to follow more than lead. Truly listen to your community, and the content that will engage them will be clear.

Die transscribierte Präsentation gibt's hier.

Interessant in diesem Zusammmenhang auch der Kommentar von Tom Mangan, der wichtige Punkte ins richtige Licht rückt:

Nobody's listening to this stuff except other people like me, and like them. It's the echosphere of the blogosphere.

The echo is constant: the people who edit the news we consume are dullards who cannot see the wonder of blogs. They are blind to the magic of participatory journalism, the nirvana of two-way communication between newsies and their audience. (....)

In our preoccupation with the "out there" audience we've forgotten the "in here" one. You know, the people we keep telling, "wake up and listen to us, we get it." How come they haven't glommed onto the fact that blogs represent a logical online-news distribution model? I think it's because instead of talking to them, we've been talking to ourselves. We've been big on telling them to listen up, but have we been listening to them?

There is a deep, abiding resistance to blogging in most newsrooms, and it's something beyond the aversion to change. (....) In any case, if we want blogging to gain traction in newsrooms, we have to go deeper than the "they don't get it" bit that's sustained us thus far. The "out there" audience knows what's wrong but is powerless to fix it. The "in here" audience has suspicions of its own. They're not the only ones who have to listen up.
[Via PrintsTheChaff ]

Sehr empfehlenswert - Tom Mangans Weblog über die Zeitungs-Arbeit:
I'm the one to blame for this mess. If you're a newspaper editor or anybody else in the news biz you're apt to find interesting stuff. If you're a media critic you might glean insight into the thought processes of a working newspaperman.
PJNet hat ein Interview mit Tom Mangan zum Thema "Will Weblogs Make Copy Editors Obsolete?" geführt:

We have to be zealous in insisting we are the guardians of the newspaper's credibility, which is a kind of capital equipment we can't afford to squander. If we tell ourselves that blogs and other online chores are somebody else's job, that's what they'll become, but if all the news is online in the future, we won't be part of it.
[Via: PJNet und Prints the Chaff ]

Das World Editors Forum, Teil der World Association of Newspapers führt nun auch ein Weblog:
"editorsweblog.org - Practical issues and real solutions for working editors and senior newsroom executives"
Einzelne Rubriken sind u.A:
* Tabloid vs. broadsheet
* Converged or diverged? The multiplatform newsroom
* Is blogging journalism? How newspapers use the bloggers
* New readers: how to involve them
* What is newsworthy or how to reshape the future of the newspaper

Bisher ist das Ganze noch eher mager, wie Steve Yelvington bemerkt:

The aim, writes WEF director Bertrand Pecquerie, is "a cooperative weblog and a real international forum." WEF board members are supposed to be posting, but at this point -- admittedly, this is a new site -- Pecquerie seems to be the only one. And, curiously, readers are not invited to reply to the postings. As a result, it seems to me to be an old-style journalism effort that doesn't tap the potential of conversation within a broad-based community of editors.
http://wef.blogs.com/editors/

Michael Arrieta-Walden, Public Editor beim Oregonian hat neben seiner wöchentlichen Kolumne nun ein Weblog gestartet. Momentan noch als Experiment:

Welcome to the Public Editor blog. I am Michael Arrieta-Walden and as public editor of The Oregonian I seek to answer reader concerns and questions about the newspaper. My hope in starting this experimental blog is to address more readers, more often than my weekly column affords.
I want to hear your comments and questions about the news coverage in The Oregonian. Point out errors or questions of fairness and bias, but also deliver praise when deserved.
http://www.oregonlive.com/weblogs/publiceditor/

Daniel Okrent, Public Editor bei der New York Times hat den Schritt zum Weblog bisher nicht vollzogen und publiziert seit Jahresbeginn seine wöchentliche Kolumne: Week in Review: The Public Editor. (Aktuelles Thema: All the News That's Fit to Print? Or Just Our News?)
[Via Steve Outing - Poynter.org resp. JD's New Media Musings ]

Ebenso interessant in diesem Zusammenhang ein Artikel von Jay Rosen: A Public Editor for an Internet Public (November 03). [ Via PressThink ]

Interessanter Artikel in der Online Journalism Review über Pablo J. Boczkowskis neues Buch, das im April erschienen soll: "Digitizing the News: Innovation in Online Newspapers":

Journalists around the world have long agreed on a set of values that help define whether a story is newsworthy. But a new book about online news argues that these rules are in flux: "Newsworthy" is slowly being redefined online by an increasingly participatory audience.
OJR präsentiert Ausschnitte aus dem letzten Kapitel von Boczkowskis Buch zum Nachlesen: "Digitizing the News." - The Reconstruction of News in the Online Environment

Andrew Nachison Direktor des American Press Institute’s Media Center und "Auftraggeber" der WeMedia-Studie, ruft (vom 10-12.März - Newport Beach, California) zur "MediaMorphosis"-Retreat:

Forget everything you’ve come to expect from other conferences. MediaMorphosis is about enlightened participation, mutual discovery and cross-industry collaboration. No bloviating panels, canned presentations or PowerPoint outlines.

At this meeting, no One is as smart as Everyone. Each participant brings something to our roundtables.

The setting is intimate, the sessions collaborative. Participants join thinking-and-discovery circles where skilled facilitators move ideas and dialog from an inner circle of experts to an outer circle of participants. Conversations move inside-out, outside-in. There’s nothing linear about the thinking or the way we get at it, and the creative journey leads to rewarding, sometimes unexpected, destinations.

Leonard Witt hat Andrew Nachison zu "MediaMorphosis" interviewt: Media Center Thinkfest: Everyone Is Media.

Man darf gespannt sein.

[Via PJNet.org ]

"Cleveland Plain Dealer" Herausgeber Doug Clifton führt neu ein eigenes Weblog:

As a lifelong consumer of the written word displayed on paper, the prospect of talking to readers by way of a "blog" is a little unnerving. I've decided to tip toe into these electronic waters because I recognize that to ignore change is to be consumed by it. At The Plain Dealer we communicate with our readers a number of ways, the pages of the paper being the most obvious.
http://www.cleveland.com/weblogs/dougclifton/

Bereits weiter fortgeschritten ist man da bei der Spokesmanreview. Das Weblog heisst Ask The Editors und basiert auf dem "Sie fragen - Wir antworten"-Prinzip. Leider lassen sich beide Blogs nicht kommentieren.

[Via Cyberjournalist.net ]