December 19, 2004, 10.19pm • 19 comments » • 3,498 Views

Weekend notes

Catching up on good practice this weekend, I see a bunch of developments that indicate still further the whole online journalism/citizen reporting phenomenon is really picking up steam; people are starting to produce some remarkable things.

• Wilmington, Delaware, may have a population of just 72,664, but the website of its local newspaper, The News Journal, produces a three-minute, television-style video news round-up twice daily that makes it “the front-running newspaper in terms of video on the web“. A television anchorwoman was brought in to edit and front these special packages, which include footage shot by newsroom staff. Looks like the newspaper is no longer… a newspaper. (Editor & Publisher via Cyberjournalist.
• PressThink article I need to read on how participatory media are revolutionising newspaper news in Greensboro, NC. (via Gillmor.
• Confronted with a judge’s order banning TV cameras from the Scott Peterson trial, KCRA-TV got creative when reporter Edie Lambert sent quickfire text messages from the courtroom direct to television screens using her laptop and AOL Instant Messenger. Example IM: LIVE TEXT MESSAGE: “Juror eleven winked at sharon rocha” “Foreman looked at sharon rocha as he sat down” (via Cyberjournalist)
• Howard Kurtz has reported on the coming development of Backfence, a micro-local collaborative news website expected to launch in other areas later on. I like the name; it could go far and is founded by two heavyweight journalists.