Will start-up journalists hit the most important deadline?

April 23, 2009, will be an important day for journalism.

It’s 150 years since the birth of the Rocky Mountain News … and the deadline set by former staffers, who lost their jobs when the title shut in February, to attract 50,000 subscribers for their new online-only venture.

If they make it, inDenvertimes.com will launch in early May. But, surrounded by mountains as they are, asking readers to stump up some $3million in five weeks, in the middle of a recession, is about as steep as it gets.

What’s more, news this week that both advertising revenues AND online page impressions fell dramatically after the Finnish financial daily Taloussanomat folded its print edition can hardly be seen as an auspicious omen.

But there’s a difference.

The decision to make Taloussanomat web-only in late 2007 was made by a nervous management that lost sight of its market because its head was buried in red-inked revenue and circulation reports. The result, inevitably, was a lack of decision-making clarity. (more…)

Collaboration: Why it’s the key to breaking news

I pay close attention to Twitter trend trackers like TweetScoop (which feeds the Twitter tag cloud on this site) and the excellent newcomer Twist. A good list of other Twitter trackers can be found here.

One breaking news story over the last few days that had a seismic impact on the Twitter radar was sparked by Iowa Supreme Court’s decision to allow gay marriages.

It provided a great example of a switched-on newsroom using Twitter not just to follow the buzz surrounding this controversial issue, but to help create the public platform for comment and debate. And in so doing, the Des Moines Register doubled the daily unique users to its site. (more…)

Did social media come of age in G20 online coverage?

For a few tension-fuelled hours on the streets of London last night, Britain’s national press faced a new challenge. It wasn’t just a golden opportunity to show they could harness the power of social media content, but more a test to see if they were ready to be driven by it.

So lining up the BBC, Telegraph, Guardian, Times and Sky websites next to a hyperactive Twitter #G20 feed made for an evening of drama and, frankly, disappointment.

Those who went with the ebb and flow of content pouring in from journalists and the Twitterverse, using a simple dynamic platform for delivery, won hands down. The losers were those who, in the best newspaper traditions, tried to dictate content and form across static pages. (more…)