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futurejournalismproject: Reporting the News First is Not Most...

Sun, 16 Dec 2012 00:23:45 -0500

Reporting the News First is Not Most Important

As reports of today’s tragedy rapidly travel across the internet, we’re reminded once again of the importance of slow news, and how getting the facts right is far more important than getting the facts out.

We’ve said it before and we’ll do it again: Slow down the news. Misinformation taught us that during the Arizona Shootings, during the Supreme Court Ruling on Affordable Care Act, and when scandal gets hyped.

Dan Gillmor breaks it down here and here:

We all want to know what’s going on, and the bigger the calamity the more we want to know. Nothing is going to change that, and nothing should… But the advent of 1,440 minute news cycle (should we call it the 86,400 second news cycle?), which brings with it an insatiable appetite for something new to talk about, should literally give us pause. Again and again, we’ve seen that initial assumptions can be grossly untrustworthy.

We all know that the Texas shooter wasn’t killed during his rampage, as was first reported. That’s because the story was still fresh enough, and the saturation coverage was ongoing, when it emerged that he hadn’t been shot dead by law enforcement.

But we all “know” things that were subsequently found to be untrue, in part because journalists typically don’t report outcomes with the same passion and play that they report the initial news.

FJP: Today’s events continue to horrify us. The least we can do when we don’t know what to do is get our information right.

Image: Screenshot from Alissa Skelton’s Twitter.

Google, Le Monde Team Up to Train Tunisian Journalists

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:35:05 -0500

Google, Le Monde Team Up to Train Tunisian Journalists:

futurejournalismproject:

Google’s announced via their European Public Policy Blog that they’ve teamed up with France’s Le Monde to train Tunisian journalists:

In a single, magnificent moment, journalists in Tunisia liberated themselves from the shackles of censorship. They no longer were forced to regurgitate government propaganda and finally could write what they wanted. Instead, they were confronted with the challenges of freedom.

We are teaming up with the prestigious French newspaper Le Monde to help tackle this crucial challenge. Six Tunisian journalists are coming to Paris to work for three months in the Le Monde newsroom. The journalists will help cover daily news and the upcoming French Presidential election. Our hope is that they then will return home with new skills that will serve to construct a new, free but responsible professional press in Tunisia…

…At Google, we are aware of the need to work with publishers to smooth the transition not only from oppression to freedom, but from analogue to digital distribution. We are sponsoring a series of digital journalism prizes with Institut de Sciences Politiques, the International Press Institute in Vienna and the Global Editors Network in Paris. We also are the proud backer of Reporters Without Borders’ annual Netizen of the Year award.

futurejournalismproject: Who We Share on Facebook On Tuesday...

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 23:32:52 -0500

futurejournalismproject:

Who We Share on Facebook

On Tuesday Facebook released a 2011 top 40 list of the its most shared articles in the United States.

Coming in at number 1: Satellite Photos of Japan, Before and After the Quake and Tsunami from the New York Times.

Rounding out the list at number 40: Steve Jobs’s Patents, also from the New York Times.

In between are articles and videos such as Laughing Baby Loves Ripping Paper! (at number 30 from Yahoo) and Parents, don’t dress your girls like tramps (at number 4 from CNN).

While the sample size is small, we thought looking at percentage shares by company would be interesting. It’s not much of a surprise that familiar names dominate the list but we’ll dig around and see if we can get a larger sample and see what that might hold.

Photo

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 19:46:03 -0400

Photo

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 19:44:00 -0400

Farewell to Steve… Apple store, 67th & Broadway.

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 19:43:00 -0400

Farewell to Steve… Apple store, 67th & Broadway.

Photo

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 07:34:30 -0400

I  velib! :)

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 07:32:03 -0400

I  velib! :)

De terrasse en terrasse

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 07:31:00 -0400

De terrasse en terrasse

Photo

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 07:30:10 -0400

Des cafés, des cafés

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 07:29:21 -0400

Des cafés, des cafés

Des cafés à Paris…

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 07:28:05 -0400

Des cafés à Paris…

Yes to Palestinian statehood

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 02:51:36 -0400

Yes to Palestinian statehood:

theeconomist:

“We abhor the creeping delegitimisation and demonisation of Israel. But we also believe that the Palestinians deserve a state of their own. These two beliefs are entirely compatible. By his intransigence Mr Netanyahu has played into the hands of those who would destroy Israel. In blocking any Palestinian aspirations at the UN, America is helping extremists on both sides.”

thepoliticalnotebook: Mapping Stereotypes: A Hitchhiker’s Guide...

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 17:59:46 -0400

thepoliticalnotebook:

Mapping Stereotypes: A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Arab Spring. (Found on the ever-wonderful blog, The Arabist.) Larger version here.

theeconomist: Daily chart: which countries have the highest...

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 17:55:47 -0400

theeconomist:

Daily chart: which countries have the highest proportion of female graduates? In Estonia more than two-thirds of graduates are women. In Japan, by contrast, just over two-fifths of graduates belong to the fairer sex.

futurejournalismproject: Demographics of Social Media Users...

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 17:53:10 -0400

futurejournalismproject:

Demographics of Social Media Users (infographic)

thepoliticalnotebook: “Women will be ambassadors. Women will be...

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 11:39:23 -0400

thepoliticalnotebook:

“Women will be ambassadors. Women will be ministers.” said Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the head of Libya’s National Transitional Council in his first speech in Tripoli, said to cheering. He also stated that the Libyan government would seek to be one of moderate Islam, rejecting extremism but based on faith.

mariejoelle: New York will have its own bike-share system...

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 11:32:57 -0400

mariejoelle:

New York will have its own bike-share system starting in the spring of 2012. 10,000 bikes, 600 stations. Amazing.

Picture Marie-Joelle Parent

futurejournalismproject: Hello, Irene.

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 18:07:47 -0400

futurejournalismproject:

Hello, Irene.

thepoliticalnotebook: Revolution Mix (Music from the Uprisings...

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 10:08:47 -0400

thepoliticalnotebook:

Revolution Mix (Music from the Uprisings Across the Middle East). Since the beginning of the year, I’ve amassed quite a playlist of music from the revolutions. (Thanks to YouTube, Twitter, and bloggers like abudai and libyanana.) Mostly from Libya and Egypt. Mostly in Arabic. They are angry, emotional, powerful and beautiful. Here’s my collection of my favourites.

El General - Tunis Bladna. No Arab Spring playlist would be complete without this hard-hitting political rap anthem, “Tunisia, Our Country.”

Ibn Thabit - The Western Mountain. (Al Jabal El Ghrabi/ الجبل الغربي) This rapper has been revolutionary in his music since 2008. Lots of his songs are free on his website.

Amel Mathlouthi - My Word is Free. (Kelmti Horra/كلمتي حرة) This song is absolutely haunting. She also performed it live and unaccompanied at a sit-in in January in Tunis. Watch it here.

Mahmoud El Malky - Mother of the Revolution. (Um Athawra/ أم الثورة). Libyan, and one of my favourites. Military-style drumbeats mix with that crooning so emblematic of Middle Eastern rhythms. Composed by Yasser Farouk and written by Ahmed Khadry.

Ramy Essam - Our Revolution (Thawratna/ ثورتنا) This singer essentially provided the soundtrack for this year’s 18-day revolution in Egypt.

Arabian Knightz (feat. Lauryn Hill) - Rebel. This Egyptian hip-hop song was recorded during the first week of the revolution, but wasn’t leaked until the internet was re-opened. It samples the refrain from a Lauryn Hill live performance of her song “I Find It Hard to Say (Rebel).”

Khaled M. feat Lowkey - Can’t Take Our Freedom. Khaled M is the American-born son of two Libyans who fled Gaddhafi’s regime.

Ramy Essam - Irhal/Leave. (إرحل) This is probably the most classic of the songs of the uprising, melodic and full of the rhythmic protest chants that have resonated across the Middle East. Irhal. Yesqut Yesqut Hosni Mubarak. And Eshaab yuriid esqut ennazzam. Which I pretty much hear in my sleep these days.

Omar Offendum - #Jan25 Egypt. This Syrian rap artist wrote this as a tribute to the inspirational revolution in Egypt. And yes, the song title has a hashtag.

Amazigh Libyans Sing Around a Campfire. I don’t know the title of the song, or who sings it specifically. This is a video of a group of Amazigh fighters singing in their native language, which was heavily oppressed under Gaddhafi. There are provided Arabic and English translations.

Ibrahim Kashoush - Bashar Must Leave. This song could also be titled Up Your Ass, Bashar. The salty protest chant-style music earned Kashoush the title of songwriter of the revolution. Unfortunately, early this July, the Syrian regime expressed their displeasure with his lyrics by slitting his throat and dumping him in a river.

Kawy - The Monster of Yemen. (Wahash AlYemen/ وحش اليمن) I honestly don’t know much about this song. It’s one of the only Yemeni songs I know. But it’s some classic revolutionary rap.

Above: Cairo on February 1st. Dylan Martinez/Reuters