Poynter Online

HBO's "Reporter" tries to calculate the elusive value of Kristof's work

Washington Post | Time | Philly Daily News | Boston Globe
"Reporter," which debuts Thursday night on HBO, "asks its viewers to consider the world and all its problems, only without newspapers that will pay journalists to bear such global witness," writes Hank Stuever. "Even the reporter himself [Nick Kristof], sitting in his office in the Times's fabulously expensive skyscraper, can only guess at the question of his own extinction." || Time's Kristof Q and A. || Reviews from Ellen Gray and Sam Allis.

The Future of Paid Online Content

Membership: GlobalPost, Press+ April Test Worth Watching
Newsonomics, Feb. 17, 2010

Ken Doctor looks at the paid content membership model with GlobalPost and Journalism Online's Press+ system.

CNBC signs Faber to new contract after losing Gasparino

Daily Finance
Jeff Bercovici hears that CNBC veteran reporter David Faber was being courted by ABC News and Bloomberg TV. He notes that ex-CNBCer Charlie Gasparino "seems to have decided that a decrease in exposure was worth it for a new contract [with Fox Business] that reportedly pays him in excess of $1 million a year." 
> "I always wanted to work for Fox," says Gasparino

Brides magazine, The Knot step up their rivalry

Wall Street Journali
Emily Steel reports Conde Nast is doubling Brides' frequency, making it a monthly, and is introducing more digital services. The Knot, which operates the most-popular wedding Web site, also is doubling the frequency of its print magazine, to four times a year.

The 25 most influential journalists on the left

The Daily Beast
Tunku Varadarajan's list includes Frank Rich, Jon Stewart, Eric Alterman, Arianna Huffington and 22 others. || Earlier: The most influential conservative journalists.

Why Plagiarism Continues & What Writers, Editors Can Do About It

By Kelly McBride

In the first years post Jayson Blair, it seemed like there was a new plagiarism case every month or so. In newsrooms big and small, young reporters -- as well as long-time editors -- got caught by savvy readers, or their victims. For a while, it seemed like plagiarism, along with fabrication, would be the journalism problem of the decade.

Then the bottom fell out of the news business and we started talking more about survival than standards. But plagiarism never really went away. Two high-profile cases, one this week and one last, brought back flashbacks of the summer of 2003, when Blair and several others were exposed. 

First, editors at the Daily Beast suspended, then accepted the resignation of, their chief investigative reporter Gerald Posner. Second, editors at The New York Times suspended, then accepted the resignation of, business reporter Zachery Kouwe. 

Both cases followed a similar pattern. First, an outside journalist pointed out the questionable copy. Jack Shafer of Slate exposed Posner. Robert Thomson of The Wall Street Journal, alerted the Times' to Kouwe's problematic story.

In both cases, when the reporters were confronted, they readily acknowledged their work was flawed and said they were dumbfounded or stunned by the revelation. Then, in both cases, a closer look at their work revealed more stolen words.

Posner and Kouwe said they were completely shocked and baffled by the additional allegations. They each blamed their systems of research and note-taking. They blamed the "warp speed" at which they must work. They blamed the Internet. (Jack Shafer lists the "dirty dozen excuses" plagiarists use.)

This is how it goes.

Plagiarism may have faded from the headlines in the latter part of the 2000s. That doesn't mean editors everywhere stopped catching it and letting people go. If anything, plagiarism became a more mundane, run-of-the-mill crime. When editors call me to seek advice after catching one of their own stealing the work of others, I tell them about the drill. 

It goes like this: You confront the writer with the evidence and see what he or she says. Then you suspend him pending a deeper investigation. Then you randomly go back and check his work. But before you do that, you tell him that you're going to do a check and ask if you're likely to find anything else. Of course he will tell you, "no." But nine times out of 10, you're going to find something. It's not hard. You just drop distinctive phrases from their copy into Google. Then compare the publication dates and time stamps.

Plagiarism will continue to flourish on the Web. It's a crime that will be committed by veterans and novices, by professionals and amateurs. Here are some simple tips for stopping this unoriginal sin (a phrase I first read in a column written by Roy Peter Clark, who got it from someone else.)

If you are a writer:

• Do not cut and paste information from other sources into your notes pages. Instead, create bullet points where you synthesize the information in your own words and note the original source.
• Before you start to research, write. In the middle of your research, write. Expressing your own thoughts and using your own words will force your brain to flex the self-expression neurons, rather than the repetition neurons.
• Develop your own voice. Too much information on the Internet is simply repeated. Even if you aren't doing any original reporting, you can find original expression.
• Do original reporting. It's hard to duplicate the work of others when you have the knowledge to say it better.
• Attribute any information. If you found it, say how. If you read it somewhere, say where.

If you are an editor:

• Require your writers to attribute.
• Learn the style and voice of your writers. When you see something that seems unusual, check it out. 
• Even if the copy is published directly to the Web, go behind and read with a critical eye.
• Ask writers to explain their reporting and research processes.
• Coach all writers, including those with a lot of experience, to make their work transparent. Always assume the reader is asking, "How do you know that?" and answer the question in the copy.

CEO Schmidt: Google a 'mobile first' company

PC Magazine
Noting the mobile Web adoption rate is eight times what it was on desktop PCs, Google CEO Eric Schmidt told the Mobile World Congress (MWC) on Tuesday that developing technologies for smart phone use was a top priority for the search giant. Schmidt told the Barcelona crowd during his first MWC keynote that mobile device sales would soon surpass desktop PCs and that in some countries the majority of Google searches already occur on cell phones. Schmidt also calledmobile a better advertising platform than the desktop Websaying, "With a mobile device we know where you are so we can offer much more enhanced localized opportunities." 
>Google now a 'mobile-first' company (Telegraph UK)
>Google this: The future is mobile (Clyde Bentley)
>Google flaunts Android sales growth (New Zealand Herald)
>Google CEO preaches 'mobile first' (Computer World)
>Chart of the Week: Mobile Internet Devices Outsell Computers (Practical eCommerce)

Overcome Inexperience When Applying for Jobs

Q. I'm a recent college graduate who has worked hard and been lucky to have great newspaper experiences: prestigious internships with real responsibilities that resulted in good references. My current (and, I hope, last) internship is beginning to wind down, and among the jobs I am applying for are positions at large, well-known news organizations. 

None of the jobs had a minimum experience requirement, but given the state of the market, I'm sure I'm competing with newspaper veterans with many more years in the business.

Do I address my relative lack of experience outright in a cover letter -- saying essentially that, while I know I'm younger than most applicants, I'm a passionate reporter and a hungry, hard worker who could bring fresh and innovative ideas and compete at a high level? 

Or do I let my work speak for itself, hope they're willing to take a chance on someone young and promising and make sure I have a persuasive argument ready when they raise the age/experience issue? 

Elizabeth

A. Do not address your lack of experience in the cover letter. You will sound defensive.

Lead with your best stuff and don't sweat the competition.

You have some skills and talents that your competitors don't, so use your cover letter to describe those. These days, when everyone has a hard time finding work, veterans feel they are being kicked to the curb for newcomers with digital skills and lower wage needs. Newer journalists feel they can't compete with legions of experienced competitors.

We're all running a little scared. Instead, apply with confidence (but cross your fingers).

E-mail Joe for answers to your career and job-hunting questions.

Coming Friday: When independent financial journalist Michelle Leder sold her footnoted.org business to Morningstar, she found a way to keep doing what she loves. Find out how in tomorrow's column.

Some Scientists Say Athletic Performance Has Peaked

Have athletes gotten as fast as they are going to get without cheating? Figuring out the answer to this question could lead to a good weekend story. 

Despite high-tech equipment, nutrition and multi-million dollar training centers, researchers say we have bottomed out and that we are not setting as many records in track and field and other events these days. There may even be evidence that without doping, you won't see many new records in this year's Olympics. I wonder what athletes in your town think of this. Have we peaked?

 The Los Angeles Times reported:

"A French researcher who analyzed a century's worth of world records concluded in a recent paper that the peak of athletic achievement was reached in 1988. Eleven world records were broken that year in track and field. Seven of them still stand.

"That paper and others published in the last two years suggest that the Olympic motto -- Citius, Altius, Fortius(Faster, Higher, Stronger) -- is becoming an anachronism.

" 'We saw a strong evolution of performance during the past century,' says study author Geoffroy Berthelot, a researcher at INSEP, an internationally respected school and research institute for athletes in Paris. 'Then in the 1990s we started to see a decrease in performance. Now, there are a lot of events that don't show any progression at all.'

"In track and field, Berthelot found, peak times have not improved in 64% of events since 1993. In swimming, performances stagnated in 47% of events after 1990, rising again around 2000 when new high-tech swimsuits proven to improve performance were introduced.

"Achievement appears to have plateaued throughout the sports world. Records in winter sports -- which are, in general, younger than many summer sports -- are still on the rise, but in ever-smaller increments, says Carl Foster, director of the human performance laboratory at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, and past president of the American College of Sports Medicine.

" 'World records are indeed flattening,' he says. 'The likelihood that a world record occurs is becoming less and less.' "

The story mentioned a study that says athletic performances have become stagnate since peaking in 1988.

iPad, Google may cut Kindle market share by 55%

WSJ / Electronista
Apple's iPad and a Google tablet effort will likely reduce Amazon's share of the e-books market from 90 percent to 35 percent by 2015, according to a Credit Suisse analyst. But, Spencer Wang notes in a report issued Tuesday, that while Google, Apple and Amazon may split e-book sales, Amazon's revenues are likely to grow due to the overall expansion of the market.