Nieman Reports

Fall 2009

Let's Talk: Journalism and Social Media

From blogs to vlogs, Facebook to MySpace, Twitter to Flickr, Delicious to reddit, words and images bounce around the globe, spreading wide and fast. Journalists are adapting to the ever-shifting terrain carved out of these conversations. In this issue they describe changes in how they work and what they produce, explore emerging ethical issues, and propose principles of active engagement. In Words & Reflections, essays touch on foreign news reporting, Afghanistan, netroots, objectivity, journalists’ political leanings, and Cold War spies.

Download PDF

Let's Talk: Journalism and Social Media

Fall 2009: Introduction to “Journalism and Social Media”

By Melissa Ludtke• Journalist’s Trade• September 18, 2009

Finding a Good Fit | Journalism and Social Media

What Is Journalism’s Place in Social Media?

By Geneva Overholser• Technology• September 16, 2009

‘Bringing our journalistic values to these environments that have captured the imagination of millions is one of the most promising ways we have of serving that interest.’ Read more

Social Media: The Ground Shifts

By Richard Gordon• Technology• September 15, 2009

Social networks serving as Web services, not sites, ‘create new challenges for journalists, news organizations, and media companies that are only now starting to embrace social media.’ Read more

Blogs, Tweets, Social Media, and the News Business

By Robert G. Picard• Technology• September 16, 2009

‘Merely because a technology is popular with some users and journalists does not mean that its use will be beneficial to the news enterprise as a whole.’ Read more

Technology Diminishes Journalists’ Value

Opinion• September 16, 2009

RELATED ARTICLE “Blogs, Tweets, Social Media, and the News Business” – Robert G. PicardIn May, Robert Picard wrote a piece in The Christian Science Monitor titled “Why … Read more

An Antidote for Web Overload

By Matt Thompson• Technology• September 16, 2009

With a hunger for explanatory guidance amid the raging storm of Web news flashes, a journalist stresses context to attract digital users. Read more

Digital Media’s Key to Success: Must-Read Content

By Brian Reich• Technology• September 14, 2009

In observing what enables some content creators to draw steady and good-sized audiences, lessons emerge about the common factors that make this happen. Read more

Dealing With Disruption

By Jon Palfreman• Technology• September 16, 2009

As digital media gets ‘better, faster and cheaper. … [there is] little time for long-established human institutions like journalism to adapt.’ Read more

Building Community | Journalists’ New Journey

What’s Old Can Be New Again—Assisted By Digital Media

By Steve Buttry• Journalist’s Trade• September 16, 2009

‘It’s not a digital update of the newspaper, but it is a digital update of the community connection role I first learned about as a youth in Shenandoah.’ Read more

Inviting the Rise of the Entrepreneurial Journalist

By Lewis DVorkin• Journalist’s Trade• September 16, 2009

True/Slant is modeling the newsroom of the future by empowering contributors to build their own digital brands—and by changing the role of the editor. Read more

Ours, Theirs and the Bloggers’ Zones: Compatible, Yet Different

By Shane Richmond• Journalist’s Trade• September 16, 2009

Over the years, creating community on the Telegraph’s Web site has come to mean a lot more than someone leaving a comment at the bottom of an article. Read more

A Photographer’s Journey: From Newspapers to Social Media

By Jim MacMillan• June 13, 2011

In this photo essay from the Fall 2009 issue of Nieman Reports, Philadelphia photojournalist Jim MacMillan discusses how social media helped his post-newspaper career. Read more

Reporting Relies on Questions: Now They Come From Readers

By Vaughn Hagerty• Journalist’s Trade• September 16, 2009

At MyReporter.com, StarNews readers get the conversation going by asking about what’s on their minds, and then reporters respond. Read more

An Explosion Prompts Rethinking of Twitter and Facebook

By Courtney Lowery• Journalist’s Trade• September 16, 2009

‘… this explosion was our “aha” moment in experiencing how social media, Twitter, in particular, opens up new possibilities in journalism.’ Read more

Earning Trust | Credibility Through Conversation

The 21st Century Journalist’s Creed

By Michael R. Fancher• Journalist’s Trade• September 16, 2009

A former newspaper editor urges journalists to ‘let go of the sense that we have control and recognize how much better public service journalism can be when we accept the public as true partners.’ Read more

The Public and Journalists: They Disagree on Core Values

By Esther Thorson and Michael R. Fancher• Journalist’s Trade• September 16, 2009

In considering the modern relevance of Walter Williams’s “Journalist’s Creed,” it was well documented that people who aren’t journalists held increasingly negative attitudes toward news organizations. For example, The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press … Read more

Why the News Media Became Irrelevant—And How Social Media Can Help

By Michael Skoler• Journalist’s Trade• September 16, 2009

‘Only the savviest of journalists are using the networks for the real value they provide in today’s culture—as ways to establish relationships and listen to others.’ Read more

Media Users, Media Creators: Principles of Active Engagement

By Dan Gillmor• Journalist’s Trade• September 16, 2009

In transforming ‘ourselves from passive consumers of media into active users … we’ll have to instill throughout our society principles that add up to critical thinking and honorable behavior.’ Read more

Creating Ethical Bridges From Journalism to Digital News

By Jan Leach• Journalist’s Trade• September 28, 2009

‘… what appears on Web sites and on blogs is not generally regarded as adhering to standards that govern legacy news organizations.’ Read more

Closing the Credibility Gap

By Scott Rosenberg• Journalist’s Trade• September 16, 2009

Web users have developed a set of tools for deciding what to trust online, and now journalists can learn from them. Read more

Blogging: Taking a Look After a Decade of Growth

By Jonathan Seitz• Journalist’s Trade• September 16, 2009

Scott Rosenberg’s book, “Say Everything: How Blogging Began, What It’s Becoming, and Why It Matters,” looks at the history of blogging and offers his opinions on what, after 10 years of existence, the medium … Read more

MediaBugs: Correcting Errors and Conversing

Journalist’s Trade• September 9, 2009

The Knight News Challenge describes Rosenberg’s MediaBugs project: All journalists make mistakes, but they sometimes view admitting errors as a mark of shame. MediaBugs aims to change this climate, by promoting transparency and providing recognition for those who admit and … Read more

Confessing Errors in a Digital Age

By Scott R. Maier• Journalist’s Trade• September 16, 2009

‘With accuracy as the foundation of media credibility, setting the record straight is essential to restoring trust that is eroded by errors.’ Read more

Nieman Reports

Fall 2009

Let's Talk: Journalism and Social Media

Let's Talk: Journalism and Social Media

Finding a Good Fit | Journalism and Social Media

Building Community | Journalists’ New Journey

Earning Trust | Credibility Through Conversation

Spreading the News | Impact and Engagement

Curator's Corner

By Bob Giles

Nieman Notes

By Jerry Kammer

By Jerry Kammer

By Alicia Anstead

Words & Reflections

By John Maxwell Hamilton

By Jonathan Seitz

By Jan Gardner

By John McQuaid

By Alex S. Jones

By Reed Richardson

By Murray Seeger

By James Ross