Tuesday, December 7, 2004
WIKINEWS POTENTIALCyberJournalist.net finds the newly-launched Wikinews lacking, but sees some potential in the site for collaborative investigative or enterprise reporting.
...so far the site consists mostly of rewritten stories based on what's been reported from the Associated Press and other news sites. There's already a glut of stories like that on most news sites across the Web, so it's hard to see Wikinews catching on and attracting any mainstream appeal based on that. However, Wikinews might have more potential as a space for nonjournalists to collaborate on original enterprise or investigative pieces. Imagine, for a moment, if Wikinews had been around when the CBS National Guard documents controversy had erupted. Rather than the story slowly spreading from blog to blog (or in addition to), a site like Wikinews might provide a central place for everyone to collaborate on investigating the documents, uploading relevant materials and continually advancing the story. Sounds great in theory, but I remember much of the "Rathergate" blog coverage as speculation, unsupported claims and conspiracy theory. Lots of noise; not much signal.
Wikis do have tremendous potential for journalism, either inside or outside the Big Media tent. But for sites such as Wikinews to gain traction (and, more importantly, credibility), there has to be a mechanism for ensuring that all that collaborative material is accurate and fairly presented. |
HELPING FREELANCERSTodd Maffin really does love radio and his blog, I Love Radio, is a great way of keeping on top of that medium. It's also a great place for those trying to get their work onto the air. His latest post, Pitching TIps by Email, is good advice for those pitching story ideas to the CBC — and also a pretty good, concise guide to writers emailing pitches to magazines and newspapers.
To paraphrase his three tips: the human touch counts, hook 'em with the subject line and keep it short. |
WIRELESS MOVIESAnother sign of the rapidly changing times from Boing Boing:
Rok Sako To Rok Lo, an Indian "campus caper" movie, will become the first full-length feature film to premiere on a wireless cellular network. On December 9, subscribers to India's Airtel service can sneak-preview a streaming version on their Edge-enabled phones. Theatrical release begins the following day. 10:36:05 AM LINK TO THIS POST |
Last update: 12/26/04; 7:03:40 AM .
