Gothamist: Changing the way people receive their news

by Brian Henderson
On a typical day, a visitor to Gothamist.com can find sports scores, convert information, New York news, or just get the latest updates on the city's mysterious maple syrup smell. Editor Jen Chung and partner Jake Dobkin's sites are changing the way that people around the world are getting news. The sites, owned by Gothamist LLC, integrate blogging and Web 2.0 with some traditional reporting to give residents of fifteen different cities on four continents quick, easily digestible news content. Gothamist sifts through local news sources to give readers what it believes to be the most important stories of the day while taking advantage of the internet's ability to provide new information immediately. The blog is a successful model of the balance between professional and citizen journalism online.
-Interested in Brian Henderson's article? Contact him at bch2109@columbia.edu

Current TV takes video blogging a step further

by Lexi Matsui
Taking YouTube.com one step farther, Current.tv broadcasts the average Joe's videos on television. Launched on Aug. 1, 2005, Current is slowly becoming youth culture's best kept secret. Perhaps the most innovative aspect of the company, which aims its content at audiences aged 18 to 34, is its famous viewer-created content (VC2). On the site's "Watch and Vote" section, viewers can upload their own three to seven-minute podcasts, which are then voted on by other users. The top-rated videos are then aired on the company's television station, which reaches an estimated 30,000 viewers. Those podcasts that make it onto television award the creator $500 for their first and second selection, $750 for their third, and $1,000 for subsequent submissions.
-Interested in Lexi Matsui's article? Contact her at amm2188@columbia.edu

The Vlog Revolution

by Ahmed Shihab-Eldin
In “The Vlog Revolution,” Ahmed Shihab-Eldin explores vlogs and video blogging. He speaks with Geek Entertainment TV founder Irina Slutsky and vlog celebrity Steve Garfield about the rising popularity of vlogs and the vlogger’s motivations. While some hope to bring about social change, others are in it for the fun. Bottom line, vlogging is so easy and everyone should give it a try!
-Interested in Ahmed Shihab-Eldin's article? Contact him at ars2157@columbia.edu

Bloggers Beware: Internet libel lawsuits--What the blogosphere can learn from its most sued blogger

by Bess Kargman
For nearly a decade, Luke Ford has been chronicling the porn industry on his blog. Now, he's the most hated guy in porn. In "Bloggers Beware: Internet libel lawsuits--What the blogosphere can learn from its most sued blogger," Bess Kargman interviews Ford and his pro bono attorney, Justin Levine. It turns out that most bloggers don't realize the legal dangers lurking in the blogosphere--the past few years have turned up almost 50 "blogsuits" and the number keeps growing.
-Interested in Bess Kargman's podcast? Contact her at brk2101@columbia.edu

Blogs: Getting The Scoop

by Stephanie Merry
Are blogs increasingly beating mainstream media to the punch? With cases such as Comedy Central's scoop on Donald Rumsfield's resignation or even the falsified military documents that led to Dan Rather’s resignation, it seems so. Or, are these cases mere anomalies? Whether bloggers see themselves as journalists or not, they certainly serve as influential catalysts, complicating the role of mainstream media. Stephanie Merry explores the how of it all in this article, "Blogs: Getting the Scoop."
-Interested in Stephanie Merry's article? Contact her at sam2178@columbia.edu

YouTube: A Place to Break Television News?

by Victoria Baranetsky
This October Columbia University received national media coverage after students disrupted an on-campus speech being given by Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist. CTV news, the weekly Columbia Television Station, became the only source to obtain video footage of the event and immediately posted its coverage on YouTube.com. The video pioneered YouTube into the realm of an online supplementary news source, after its recent purchase by Google.
-Interested in Victoria Baranetsky's article? Contact her at vdb2003@columbia.edu

Bronx Blogger: What One Reporter Learned From Blogging the Yankees

by Paul Suwan
A traditional newspaperman, Peter Abraham of the Westchester Journal News in White Plains, N.Y., has been learning to take his craft online through blogging. Abraham, who covers the Yankees, started a blog on his paper's Website in February, and his timely coverage and sharp insight have earned him considerable popularity. He has even been featured in Newsweek. Abraham is currently experimenting with podcasts, video and better photography to keep pushing his work to the next level.
-Interested in Paul Suwan's article? Contact him at pss2121@columbia.edu

A Tricky Business: Corrections in Online Stories

by Stephanie Merry
Handling corrections in online stories can be a tricky business. Stephanie Merry reveals the lack of standards and consistency in online corrections and discusses their importance with Craig Silverman, who runs the blog "Regret the Error" and who insists that tiny mistakes can make a big difference in the way an audience views the media. She speaks with Ombudsmen and journalists to offer examples of the different ways corrections are made in leading publications.
-Interested in Stephanie Merry's article? Contact her at sam2178@columbia.edu

Hector Feliciano Makes the Leap from Print to Blogging

by Lorenzo Morales
The leap from print to online can be difficult at first but eventually liberating, as Lorenzo Morales discovered in his profile of Hector Feliciano, a renowned investigative journalist who has worked in print for more than twenty years and recently made the jump to the online world. Feliciano contributes to "El Boomeran", a federation of blogs on Latin American letters owned by one of the biggest Spanish publishers, and sees the Internet as an opportunity to reinvent old forms of communication.
-Interested in Lorenzo Morales' article? Contact him at lam2164@columbia.edu

"Blogsuits" What Effect will Libel Threat Have on the Blogosphere?

by Bess Kargman
Bess Kargman's podcast explores the power of the blogosphere and the rights and responsibilities that come with this power. Kargman interviews Robert Cox, founder and president of the Media Bloggers Association, along with two First Amendment Attorneys, Mark Randazza and Julie Hilden, about "blogsuits" and their potential implications on citizen journalists. (Click play below to preview Bess Kargman's podcast)
-Interested in Bess Kargman's podcast? Contact her at brk2101@columbia.edu