“Society does not need newspaper. What we need is journalism”

Posted on by
Reply

There is no precise moment that marks the border, but it was like a shade, like a slow slide from one world to another. We  can’t  remember exactly the event that caused the revolution or the time in which can we realized this, but if we look back, we show that all references have changed. What we need is a contemporary newsroom to describe this revolution.
The typewriter against the personal computer, the strict division of roles: reporter, photographer, cameraman, yesterday, and today crowd journalism and journalists street video maker. Especially yesterday a broadcast communication (one to many) and now a pattern of dialogue (many to many) determined by social media, based on feedback and sharing.
The point, however, is what Clay Shirky sums up in an article in 2009 (1) that with incredibly clear analyze the future of information and concluded with: “Society does not need newspapers. What we need is journalism”.

Continue reading →

No Computer in the Newsroom? You could end Democracy

Posted on by
Reply

The risks posed by computer illiteracy in the news operators

“I’m a journalist, not a computer geek”.
Nevertheless, you use a computer all day long.

“I write news, not programs”.
Well, maybe sometimes you should read those news you write.

“You can’t read a newspaper on a display”.
Who cares? I can read news.

“Computer news reading is way off into the future”.
You damn moron! (or “you bloody bugger” if you rather fancy a sort of British flavour) You’re already extinct and you don’t even know it!

“I like the smell of paper and ink”.
What are you? A fetishist?

Those above are lame answers to lame questions. However, they picture one thing well enough: the sad reality you can see in press offices all over the world.  I’m sorry, let me briefly introduce myself. I am a professional journalist. I have been writing for weekly newspapers for all my work life. I also have an ongoing passion for computers and information technology. Continue reading →

Websexuals: Content Strategists best friends

Posted on by
Reply

In 1997, Faith Popcorn (who was defined by Fortune “the Nostradamus of Modern Marketing“) wrote “Clicking: 17 trends that drive your business and your life“. In that book she identified 17 “personas” who fit in a twentieth century changing world. A few weeks ago I browsed that book looking for some hints about web behavior patterns, but even if there were lots of great references and described habits which fitted in a web-reader/surfer/diver profile, no wonder that in 1997 the internet scenario was very different from today. Then I started from scratch and about 10 days later I was in office at my desk and found myself saying “Kudos” to Alessandro for a post on his blog and I was “gently” sharing it. Then I said “…despite we are both in a heterosexual relationship, others may think we are web-homosexuals”. Along came the spark: Websexuals! We are websexuals: this is a new trend. Continue reading →

Made for paper, live on web: five questions on how to preserve editorial dignity of an online newspaper

Posted on by
Reply

If your contents are imported on web from an editorial system or a dtp tool, the main problem is that whoever write a text, doesn’t really write a content: he writes an “article”! This means that journalists work in a very narrow-sighted environment: they write for the paper pages. It is self evident that every single item in a page is built to enhance the editorial glory of the page itself: nice lines between articles, boxes, borders, fonts; they are important and can dramatically improve the overall page aspect. But what will happen when the content is eradicated from the page and goes live on the web? Continue reading →