Continue reading »]]> I’m conducting a quick survey in advance of a presentation I’ve been talking into giving to Dublin Freelance NUJ members tomorrow on using social media.

Naturally, no presentation on social media is complete without reference to crowdsourcing, so this post is an attempt at garnering the Wisdom Of Te Crowd. What advice would you give to newcomers (in particular, freelance journalists) dipping their toes in the social media pool for the first time?

Should they blog, open a twitter account, or would Facebook be a better option? Is Google Plus a ghost town, or an exciting new development? Is LinkedIn worth it, or a haven for Make Money Fast spam? Or is social media simply an unproductive timesink?

Should posts and updates be limited to news (with occasional forays into identifying and contacting source) or should the also contain personal information? Should a journalist express personal opinions, or confine all their online communications to the strictly professional. Can a medium based on “conversation” ever be compatible with the professional obligations for balance, impartiality or neutrality? Are those Reithian concepts even valid any more, or part of an outdated “dead three thinking” mentality?

Answers on a postcard (or in comments below).

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Continue reading »]]> Last night, I asked a politician a question. And because I was on twitter, as was the politician, I asked it on twitter. The politician answered me, but was also annoyed that I’d jumped to conclusions by posting to twitter. I argued I was just asking a question, not making a statement, but 24 hours later I can see his point.

Today, I also asked a politician a question using twitter. Mindful of what had happened last night, I sent him a Direct Message. And he in turn answered by Direct Message. So far so good.

Then I started second-guessing myself. A DM is regarded as a private message. It’s a one on one exchange, not one to many. In journalistic terms, did that mean it was the equivalent of an off the record briefing, rather than an on the record quote?

As it turns out, it was an on the record quote this time. But I’m not certain everybody would take the same approach. And I’m probably not the only person who’s had the same thought. Then I thought of all those journalists second-guessing themselves, all those hours waiting for clarification.

New technology disrupts in more was than one.

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Continue reading »]]> I was asked to speak last night at “Crisis in Journalism”, an NUJ event for students. My brief was to give a perspective on life as a freelance journalist. RTÉ’s Colm O’Mongain spoke about broadcasting, Noirin Hegarty spoke about print and online, and Barry McCall gave an overview of the industry in Ireland.

Usually I’m the pessimist at these things, but I was a little chirpier than usual last night. I also rambled a bit, but one of the things that occurred to me is that the panel didn’t really have too much of a clue about the future. No one in journalism saw twitter’s potential five years ago, and people embedded inside journalism aren’t really best placed to spot the trends that will shape the future. We did things like speculate on whether newspapers will still exist in ten years, which kind of misses the point.

So I told the students to take anything we said with a grain of salt. We are stuck in our ways. They don’t have the preconceptions we have.

I’m a dinosaur. If you’re a student, keep an open mind about the future. You’re one of those nimble rodents who will survive the meteor.

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Continue reading »]]> I want facts. And that means that often, some of my most productive reading is on blogs.

Bloggers (unpaid, writing in their spare time, dismissed as hobbyists by “proper” journalists) produce the goods often enough to keep me coming back. Whether its Tony Humphreys‘ views on autism, a questionable advertising claim, or alleged social welfare fraud, the bloggers got there first, taking on the stories in the “mainstream” narrative.

Whenever twitter introduces me to a new fact-checking blog, I bookmark and add it to the list.

I’ve pitched variations on a fact-checking column several times (Simon McGarr suggested calling it Reality Check) with limited success. I’ve sold a few stories checking specific claims, but it remains a dream.

Today, I was chatting with Colin McGovern. We thought it might be a good idea to bring some of the fact-checking bloggers together.

Group blogging overcomes one of the problems with blogging. A single blogger fact-checking stories in her spare time can generate maybe one or two updates a week. Several bloggers working together can produce regular updates.

And let’s be honest, there’s a lot of raw material out there.

So would you be interested in joining Reality Check? Let us know.

PS: Since I’ve had a couple of inquiries, I should add that if you’d rather not have your name pubhlised below for all to see, I will happily accept any expressions of interest privately in email also: gerard@faduda.net

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Continue reading »]]> Yesterday, I asked the twitter machine for examples of Valentine’s Day themed press releases, just to see what the public relations industry was up to. The results are laid out below.

A postal campaign by SPARK, sending letters containing matchsticks to welfare minister Joan Burton, who “ignited the spark” in single parents across Ireland. They will also protest with a Valentine’s Day card at Leinster house. A second (gay rights) protest will highlight the March for Marriage.

A 10K Fun Run in Bundoran to improve heart health. Organised in conjunction with the Irish Heart Foundation. Hearts and Valentines, see?

A survey which says restaurant bookings are up. And given the economic news, it even mentions how restaurants are hiring extra staff for the occasion. Sponsored by a “leading restaurant website”.

A survey which says men are impressed by women who drive big cars. Sponsored by a car insurer.

A survey which warns that Valentine’s Day email scams are on the rise as cybercriminals do their best to hack your computer. Sponsored by an antivirus software company.

A survey says Irishmen are ugly. Sponsored by a website for “beautiful people.”

Guess which ones will be reported straightfaced as “Scientists have demonstrated…”

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Continue reading »]]> A week back, I wondered about the contradiction between two items I came across online. On the one hand, Kerry TD Brendan Griffin was reported as saying he had handed back half his salary, and would continue to do so. It took just five minutes to do so, he told the Irish Times.

On the other hand, in answer to a Dáil question, public expenditure minister Brendan Howlin said no deputy had requested a pay cut to the level of the average industrial wage.

Regular readers will appreciate I have a bit of a bee in my bonnet about TDs and the Average Industrial Wage. So I fired off a tweet and email to Griffin.

He responded within 30 minutes (after midnight on Friday, how’s that for efficiency?) to point out what I realised minutes after I’d written to him. Even on half salary, he was still earning above the average industrial wage.

It’s not the first time a minister has answered precisely the question asked in the Dáil, giving a slightly misleading impression as a result.

Meanwhile, the Sinn Féin TDs and senators I asked about the average industrial wage in October have still to reply to my question.

Dáil question

Continue reading »]]> Tuesday, John Murray held a phone-in to find a listener with the lowest bass singing voice in Ireland.

As a throwaway remark, voice coach Paul Moussoulides said research showed listeners of both sexes preferred male voices on the radio.

What research?

WomenOnAir founder Margaret E Ward spent some time looking for this frequently cited research.

It turns out what “everybody knows” is based on a single 1935 study of 80 listeners.

1935. Think about that. A time when Marlene Deitrich was considered a crazy rebel for daring to wear pants.

One study, 77 years ago. That’s why there are more men on radio?

Apple has a reputation for knowing what it’s doing. So why does Siri have a female voice? Or the Enterprise computer? And the Tardis.

“It’s much easier to find a female voice that everyone likes than a male voice that everyone likes,” says Stanford professor Clifford Nass. “It’s a well-established phenomenon that the human brain is developed to like female voices.”

That’s just one study. And it’s about technology, not radio.

But at least its contemporary.

So next time someone tells you something “everybody knows”, ask what exactly they know.

Especially if a man is telling you.

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Continue reading »]]> For a while, I’ve been toying with an column idea. Call it The Raised Eyebrow. Part Flat Earth News, part questioning conventional wisdom.

Last week, an editor agreed to a column. Depending on how it worked out, more might follow.

One idea came from a throwaway Prime Time line. “Sean Sherlock’s website was hacked”, apparently during Anonymous attacks in response to “Ireland’s SOPA“.

Anonymous targeted justice and finance, but I was unaware Sherlock’s website was hit, or when.

Then Magdagate happened, and I did that instead. The story ended up as a timeline, run in conjunction with Pat O’Mahony’s interview.

Meanwhile, I’d done some work on Sherlock’s website, to little avail.

His hosting company won’t comment on individual accounts.

The Department referred me to his constituency office.

Despite several messages, Sean never called back. Maybe he’s busy phoning Irish teenagers.

“I’ve given it to Sean, its up to him if he wants to call you,” a constituency worker said.

Sherlock’s website was attacked in one sense, of course.

Donncha O’Caoimh pointed out the site used copyrighted icons.

The site went down shortly after O’Caoimh blogged, and was amended version.

So, can anyone enlighten me on the Sherlock hack?

Sean Sherlock addresses the Dáil during the Copyright S.I. debate

Continue reading »]]> BBC News carries a story about a ‘Jack the Ripper manuscript‘, discovered in a museum two years ago and about to be published in book form.

But the ‘confession’ as described in the article sets off several alarm bells, not least that the purported author, James Carnac, seems never to have existed.

Two sections of the manuscript ‘describe the real-life killings; the third is “a very contrived, very poor fiction”.’

In other words, it sounds like no more than an interesting take on the notorious Victorian serial killer, a work of fiction written in the first person.

So far, so Blair Witch.

Unfortunately, the BBC report goes one further, reporting at length the opinion of “Ripper historian Paul Begg” speculating the ‘confession’ may be the real thing.

Begg doesn’t appear to be a historian in the conventional sense of the word, though he has produced several popular books on Jack the Ripper and other historical mysteries including the Mary Celeste.

So a guy who makes a living writing Ripper books is hyping the authenticity of a “Ripper diary”.

Nothing wrong with that, but why does the BBC find it acceptable to give him a free platform to sell his book?

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Continue reading »]]> I write. As a freelance, I hold copyright on those words. “Ireland’s SOPA” wants to protect those words. But copyright already protects them.

My words have been pirated a few times. The first time, articles were cut and pasted wholesale from a website and re-used.

Not by a pirate website, but by an old-established company. We eventually settled for a rather handsome sum.

More recently, a story I wrote was lifted by two media companies, and placed on websites.

One was outside the jurisdiction. The publisher sent me a very nice letter when I complained, which basically said he had no intention of paying.

The second was a media company in Ireland. The claimed they got the story from a different source. I know this to be untrue.

A story I wrote once appeared on a blogger’s site. When I contacted him, he apologised, and removed it immediately.

It’s not greedy teenagers who are pirating my work. It’s respectable old media companies.

My submission to the Copyright Consultation Committee argued that my problem wasn’t teenagers torrenting my precious words, but lack of a small claims court to resolve my issues with these old media companies. “Ireland’s SOPA” won’t help there.

[Image by Faduda. using background from Morguefile.com]