Tag: journalism
Five stories about the California Wildfires you probably missed October 22nd, 2017
You’ve probably heard about the massive wildfires in Northern California. You probably know that they’re huge, that over 50 people have died, and that some wineries have burned. You might have seen some pictures. Unless you’ve been following closely, though, there’s a lot you’re missing. The vast majority of the reporting has lacked context, been overly sensationalistic, or has outright ignored deeper, more complex stories. It’s far deeper than a story about a natural disaster.…
Uber and the Fourth Estate November 18th, 2014
Context: Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt On Journalists, The moment I learned just how far Uber will go to silence journalists and attack women. An old adage: “never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel”. Ignoring it, Uber shows they’re not just evil - they’re stupid. — @jacobian It’s more than an old adage, though: in targeting journos, Uber shows its utter contempt for even the concept of accountability.…
The sorry state of database journalism September 12th, 2007
I’ve been following with interest as Derek Willis explores Caspio, a sort of hosted data-driven web app tool for journalists. The following started out as a comment on his blog, but soon ballooned, so I’m posting it over here where it’ll have more space to breathe. Of course, for this to make any sense, you should read Derek’s articles first: Outsourcing Database Development, or the Caspio Issue (be sure to also read Caspio CEO David Milliron’s comments, too).…
Some guesses about the future May 31st, 2007
There’s a fun thread over at Poynter’s Online News mailing list about what the future might hold for digital journalism. I thought I’d post my contributions here as well: Steve Yelvington: For a project I’m working on, I’d be interested in projections, predictions or complete wildass guesses about the near future. Say, 2012, just five years from now. Hey, this sounds fun! Here are mine: The iPhone – that is, the iPhone and the millions of knock-off devices – changes everything.…
Ripped by Engadget March 5th, 2007
What a fun morning. The Daily Python-URL carried a link to an Engadget story featuring a picture of the OLPC from PyCon (Ian Bicking’s badge is visible in the background). Hey, doesn’t that picture look familiar? Yup, that’s right: Engadget ripped me off. That photo’s licensed under a CC BY-NC license, meaning that even if you pretend that Engadget’s use is non-commercial (on an ad-driven site it’s hard to say, really), without attribution they’re essentially guilty of plagiarism.…
How the news breaks November 8th, 2006
I swear, sometimes this programming thing is really just the digital equivalent of baling twine and duct tape. If you happen to be watching 6News in Lawrence last night, you’d have seen the election results crawling across the bottom of the screen: Pretty much par for the course in terms of local TV coverage… but do you have any idea how that information gets there? Let me break it down:…