Denim, Hard Cheeses and The International Symposium on Online Journalism

Denim, hard cheeses, wine, my wife JoAnna.  All things that improve with age.  Add the International Symposium on Online Journalism in Austin to the list.  This has always been one of my favorite events of the year because it combines professional and academic panels exploring the evolution of online journalism.  The conference entered its second [...]

This Year’s (News Production) Model

Experiencing Journalism: A new model for online newspapers Tom asked me to write a brief description of the book chapter I presented at his l New Media Theory (How far have we traveled) conference at Texas Tech April 16, 2010, so here goes: (Editor’s Note:  This was the first-place paper at the conference. Way to go [...]

Foraging for News: News Gathering as a Social Act

Anyone who has read this blog over time (IS there anyone who has read it over time?) knows I have an academic crush on the Pew Internet and American Life Project, which is constantly releasing interesting studies about how the public uses the Internet. I also have crushes on Michelle Obama, Kate Winslet and Congressional [...]

Journalists and Online Sources: No Ref Required

Without a doubt my favorite Christmas movie is “The Ref”, which puts the fun back into dysfunctional family holiday movies.   Cat burglar Gus (Denis Leary), after an attempted robbery goes awry, abducts a woman Caroline (Judy Davis) and her husband Lloyd (Kevin Spacey) who simply can’t stand each other. They bicker constantly, even when threatened [...]

Laying off the techies

I nodded in recognition when I read Regina McCombs’ latest blog entry on Poynter (“Power Struggles over Converged Newsrooms May Diminish Value of Web Sites”) about the layoffs of online staff at the Washington Post. She suggests that the targeting of multimedia folks in the latest rounds of cuts at news organizations is an indication [...]

Hi, I’m Tom, and I’m a slacktivist (maybe)

During the 1984 election I had the great fortune to be at Iowa State and be a part of the first-in-the-nation caucus. I was working actively for one of the minor candidates (the first of three straight elections where my candidate was eliminated by Super Tuesday). I attended regular organizational meetings (most of the workers [...]

Red Media, Blue media: Internet and polarization

The Battle between Blue State and Red State ideals is being played out on the lawns on Lubbock in advance of today’s election deciding whether or not packaged liquor can be sold in convenience stores throughout the city or remain restricted to the Las Vegas style strip (minus the gambling, prostitutes, and entertainment) located on [...]

Christmas in April: Internet in the 2008 election

Have you ever received a box of Christmas presents after New Years Day?  All the Christmas decorations have been put away (well, not necessarily in our house–that is what Groundhog’s Day is for) and you are thinking more about the national championship game rather than whether Aunt Edna will send you yet another reindeer sweatshirt [...]

Business Models: Are We Trying Hard Enough?

This is the second of two planned blog posts from the International Symposium on Online Journalism. It should come as no surprise that Steve Outing’s answer to the question of “Are we trying hard enough to devise a viable business model?” was a resounding no. He has been an outspoken critic of current proposals to [...]

“We don’t own the news anymore”

This is the first of two reports from the International Symposium on Online Journalism. To get a more extensive look what was said at this weekend’s symposium, go to the the Online Journalism Symposium Blog at or look for tweets from the symposium at #isoj David LaFontaine, co-owner of Artesian Media and author of the [...]

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