* Layoffs and shutdowns will continue to close down traditional newspapers and magazines. But the crunch will also affect new media outlets, who will find it just as hard to compete with the Google/Facebook advertising duopoly. * Anonymous funding from vaguely defined organisations will continue to flow into right wing and dubious groups around Ireland… Continue reading Media (and other) predictions for 2019
Tag: internet
More terms, more conditions
I had a look at the Irish Times android app terms and conditions a few days ago when it prompted me for an upgrade. For completeness, below are the access requests for some other Irish news apps. Short version: RTE and the Irish Independent look for the same call information as the Irish Times, the… Continue reading More terms, more conditions
Back to the future
From the New York Times and Washington Post comes news of yet another attempt to Fix Comments. Everyone wants to engage with audience, trouble is the results end up costing as many readers as they attract. But why are the comments so horrible? I’d argue a large part of the problem is it’s because every… Continue reading Back to the future
Terms and conditions apply
Update: Irish Times communities editor David Cochrane has pointed out that, while the main @IrishTimes twitter account does not engage with followers, many of the staff who have twitter accounts do engage. I’m happy to clarify that point. Data protection is boring. Obscure activist groups in Austria suing Facebook over their cookie policy, or yet… Continue reading Terms and conditions apply
Below the Line
Everyday, in every newspaper, editors go through correspondence from readers and pick the best for publication. Done well, a letters page gives a feel for public opinion, for which stories are striking a chord, and which arguments are winning. Put another way, user generated content is nothing new. Yet online, its has become almost an… Continue reading Below the Line
The decline and fall
News papers are in trouble, and it isn’t hard to see why. The figures published today by Independent News and Media (INM) tell their own story. The group puts a brave face on it, citing a 12% rise in online advertising revenue to €9.3m, and pointing to debt restructuring, but there’s a deeper problem. Sales… Continue reading The decline and fall
Freelance Forum is back
It’s Spring, and so the thoughts of freelance journalists old and new turn to the Freelance Forum. What do you, mean you haven’t thought about it yet? The Forum is a one-day event, now held twice yearly, providing freelance journalists (and aspiring student journalists) with information to better do their jobs. Brought to you by… Continue reading Freelance Forum is back
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing
It started when an Richard Downes took to the internet looking for people to talk about TOR (The Onion Router), software which allows internet users to protect their identity. Patrick O’Donovan decided to hop on the bandwagon. He issued a press release. Then he tried to message Downes privately. Others have already written about O’Donovan’s… Continue reading A little knowledge is a dangerous thing
Unintended consequences
If there’s one article worth reading at the moment, it’s How Laura Poitras Helped Snowden Spill His Secrets. Go on, have a read if you haven’t already. I’ll wait. What strikes me, though its never spelled out in that story, is how the NSA was the author of its own misfortunes. When Snowden first decided… Continue reading Unintended consequences
Guth: What’s in a name?
Why call it Guth? If there’s one question I get asked more than any other about Guth magazine, it’s why I called it Guth. The simple answer is, it’s an Irish word, and an Irish magazine, and unlike English words, most Irish words tend to be available. They’re less likely to be trademarked, less likely… Continue reading Guth: What’s in a name?