the earley edition

Decline, yes. Fall? Maybe not.

dave.earley@gmail.com (Dave Earley) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:08:37 +0000

Given the timing, this post may seem like a response to Round 4 of Public Broadcasters vs Rupert Murdoch, otherwise known as ABC managing director Mark Scott’s speech at the AN Smith Memorial Lecture in Journalism the other night. It’s not. Instead, it’s a response to a journal article that was published three months ago.

Geoffrey Barker wrote a scathing attack on journalism and newspaper managers in July, reminiscent of Jason Whittaker’s appraisal a few months ago on his blog, importanceofideas.com, where he lambasted the entire managerial hierarchy of Australian print media.
In Barker’s essay, The Crumbling Estate, written for the Griffith Review, he presents 10 trends he says are “throttling the life, authority and influence out of newspapers”.
He rightly asks:

“whether the declines in circulation and revenue result partly from decisions by companies’ managers who, desperate to ensure newspapers’ survival, have embraced a range of practices damaging to the craft of journalism”.

Summarised, Barker’s 10 trends killing (newspaper) journalism in Australia are:

Managerialism displacing journalism as the dominant newsroom culture
Perpetual efforts to cut costs and staff
Changing work habits cutting journalists off from outside world
Young journalists less likely to see the job as a vocation and more of a stepping stone
Journalists out-gunned, out-thought, out-paid by armies of communications advisers
Cost-cuts that lead to buying more content from notable international papers
Avoiding difficult issues and highlighting sensationalist material, emphasising sex and sport
Breakdown in separation between editorial and advertising
Little sustained investigative journalism
Downplay coverage of foreign and national news in favour of local news

Indicative of the relative lack of technological progress made by Australian newspapers, Barker says:

“the strategic decisions made by newspapers to defend themselves against technological change and economic difficulties have only worsened their situation”.

and:

“despite their vigour, newspapers are increasingly at risk from their misguided attempts to save themselves”.

On having recently left an Australian newspaper, I can say there is clearly truth in the statements about newspapers not embracing technological change. At the same time, however, I am quick to defend those involved in the production of newspaper websites, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

Variously, newspapers are increasingly aware and openly acknowledging that they must be news “outlets” or companies, not just news “papers”. In that recognition, they are admirably going about the work of catching up on years of pig-headedness (and I’m being generous there – not all who are trying to catch up are necessarily working hard in the right direction). Years ago people were trying new things – promising things that had the potential to blossom into new media production experiments that, while not necessarily game changing, would have at least been industry leading.

At fault in that lost potential is not online news teams, who I think genuinely want nothing more than to grow and better inform their audience in exciting and innovative ways. Rather, an industry downturn combined with management’s perceived lack of value in pursuing new platforms or distribution ideas and other decisions like those mentioned by Barker – particularly staff cutbacks or hiring freezes – are at fault. With staff cutbacks, online teams are largely limited to moderating comments and producing image galleries of scantily clad women, instead of implementing additional content of constantly refining quality (the only thing that might be worth paying for?).

It’s positive, as it should be, that Barker sees the Australian newspaper industry as redeemable. In what way can it redeem itself? Well, that’s the trick question. And by redeem I mean make money while at the same time doing the work that can again be called that of the “Fourth Estate”.

UPDATE
Related reading and a superfluous explanation (that I’ve had to retype on my iPhone after losing half of it just before publishing the post):

On the way to catch my flight to Sydney early Wednesday morning I was reading John Birmingham’s piece in The Monthly, Mash-up: A short history of the media future.

During the flight I read The Crumbling Estate, mentioned above, and wrote the majority of this blog post as a kind of summary before going off on a tangent that kept a somewhat less than tenuous link to Barker’s essay topic.

It wasn’t until exiting the plane – and after having written this – that I started to read Jason Wilson’s New Matilda piece, News Corpus Christi (which prompted the despondent tweet below) and then Mark Scott’s speech on the Decline and Fall of the Rupertan Empire.

Some may have seen the below tweet, written immediately having read Jason Wilson’s piece. No offence intended towards either Jason or John, who I both admire and respect, but I felt I had just read a nearly carbon copy article by both men. The arguments, the examples, the conclusions – they all read the same and reminded me of all the similar “ponderings” I’d read before. And so I tweeted:

“Talk talk talk.We all keep saying the same things re future of journalism #foj. slightly #jaded :(

Mr Scott’s words were slightly more uplifting in their ushering of fantastical visions of our future utopia. And in reference to the tweet, it is not lost on me that I what I have written proposes nothing new and is far less erudite than what either Jason or John have written. But there you go. I may later talk about how I have never had to consider the business side of our glorious media future, being but a mere minion. It’s a reality I will now likely have to consider.

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Value Archived News

dave.earley@gmail.com (Dave Earley) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:00:53 +0000

With all the talk about whether the content of newspapers is of a quality the public will be willing to pay for online, it took a search of our paper’s archives recently to remind me that … it is. It’s not necessarily the quality of the individual story (although that’s obviously there), but of the narrative – the archive – that presents an ongoing and valuable commodity.

A mistake of mainstream media has been to ignore and devalue that content.

So if there’s going to be a paywall, maybe it should be for archived content. Not just archived material that you can do a text search on, but a powerful database of related, interwoven “smart” content. At the moment that’s largely unavailable. Allow users to follow the background story, or stories, that give context to the current revision, whether that history is contained in text, image, audio or video content.

As such, it equally applies to any media, or content creator, but this particular post approaches it from the mindset of print.

I had reason to search NewsText, a database of newspaper archives, for the entire history of the Queensland Government’s lobbyist issue, where former government ministers were representing lobbying firms on development projects. During the search I saw clearly the linear progression and connectedness of these articles across months, even years, all presented chronologically. It’s there without tags or related story linking, just a regular text search. Where the authors were different, and in some cases even the publication, the full story still unfolded.

But that linear value is completely lost, both in the newspaper because it isn’t possible, and online when it isn’t utilised. In the newspaper it’s only possible to read each article as a standalone piece, without reference or even knowledge of the wealth of background to the story, or the ongoing work a publication or journalist has devoted to covering that story.

There is the capability to do it online but, in most cases, it’s not being done. People can currently pay for this archival content, with access to historical textual news searches through services like NewsText or Lexis Nexis, but the ability to do that should be provided online from the originating news source.

And why not monetise it?

It’s not like it’s a service offered now and, like academic articles, it could provide a story précis or the context in which the search terms are contained. Some kind of context would help the consumer decide if they want to pay for the entire article, or a sequence of related articles and/or other media content.

If it’s done it shouldn’t be prohibitive to pay for articles. Ease of access is the barrier to overcome, and anything over just a few cents per article would quickly become prohibitively expensive.

You only pay $1.69 AU ($0.99 US) for a song on iTunes, and the whole point of that purchase is to have a product you can use (listen to) again and again. Most people who purchase an article don’t intend to use it over and over again. It’s a one time, single use purchase – generally for reference only and a cheap price should reflect that.

It’s wrong that newspapers and other content creators didn’t start doing this much earlier, or adopt the best practices of somebody who has figured it out. It’s not just another “related articles” plugin, although it includes that, but a seriously robust system that makes the archive useful. Content on news media sites is archived online but, if it wasn’t for Google, it would be nigh on impossible to actually find it.

Everyone has failed at converting content to the web and leveraging the value of their archives. Not just mainstream media. Everybody.

The Pear Analytics Twitter “babble”

dave.earley@gmail.com (Dave Earley) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:36:52 +0000

This is just a collection of relevant links about the study that claimed 40% of Twitter is just “babble”. To be clear from the outset, the study is flawed, or full of crap.

Had anyone read the original blog post, it would have been plainly obvious the Pear Analytics study was just a shill for some Twitter attention management company who promise to remove all that pesky “babble”.

MSNBC outed it on August 14 as a crock, three days before general mainstream media picked it up.

Stephen Dann tore it apart on his blog, giving a scathing breakdown of each failure in methodology. Pear Analytics employee Sarah, who worked on the study, responds at length in comments – confirming the study was a crock.

Stilgherrian wrote on it in Crikey today.

And from Greg Williams and Derek Barry came these links on Twitter.

Trivial tweeting was written as part of an academic discussion on July 2, well before the Pear Analytics study. It’s by Cornelius Puschmann from the department of English Language and Linguistics at the University of Duesseldorf.

Finally Danah Boyd wrote Twitter: “pointless babble” or peripheral awareness + social grooming?

As an example of things that could be categorised as News on Twitter, one of the arguments above contained a link to the original Hudson River tweet. The reason I include it here is because of the popularity of the image – the accompanying Twitpic is closing in on half a million views.

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The business model for news is not being saved

dave.earley@gmail.com (Dave Earley) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 07:13:55 +0000

The newspaper business model will not be saved with the introduction of paywalls because it is a rejection of the newspaper business model. The current model, entirely based on advertising paying for news, is in the process of being left behind by those who would defend it. It is worrying that users will now be made to pay for news simply because marketing departments are unable to make online advertising work.

The central argument, that users need to pay for news to recoup costs, is an effective raising of the white flag. It’s an admission that, unlike at Google, the media industry is bereft of ideas about how to make online advertising profitable. This extends to the entire industry, all of whom are discussing the merits and timetables of a user-pays model. It just so happens that the News Ltd announcement has thrust that model back into the spotlight.

It reminds me of a rant from David Cross in the outtakes of Arrested Development: “If you can’t market that kind of show and get better ratings, then maybe the problem doesn’t lie here, maybe it lies with marketing”.

In The Australian’s Media and Marketing section on August 10, Mark Day said a paywall would allow newspapers to wrest back control of their business model. How? The way the music industry did, through the “grim enforcement of copyright, uniform action by the music companies and technological advances such as the iTunes micro-payment systems”. The music industry business model was all but destroyed by online, and rather than bludgeoning users to return to the good old days, they instead bow to the consumer who is willing to pay, but demands to control how, when, and what they pay for.

I disagree completely that “the [music] industry was able to wrest back control of its product”. The music industry was dragged kicking and screaming to its knees, finally relinquishing control to a micro-payment model after consumer outrage put a gun to their head and forced the issue. Introducing a user-pays model isn’t about wresting back control of the news product at all, and you could not pick a worse example of an industry to emulate than the music business.

As an aside, in the music industry consumers have always paid for the product. In the news industry, consumers have never paid for the product, advertising has. The cover price of a newspaper wouldn’t cover the cost of the ink on its pages.

Surprisingly there were a few things I agreed with Mark Day about (despite the column’s title, Bloggers may howl, but cash for content makes sense), like his examples of the three strands of news (happening, manufactured, investigated) and what kind of news people might be willing to pay for. It’s a valid argument, and one industry people are having everywhere, but I do wonder if it’s the sense of inevitibility that is now driving the debate. Now that the introduction of pay-per-view content seems inevitable, everyone is expending cognitive energy on the issue, speculating about how the paywall could work, or what content people are willing to pay for. This, instead of developing a model where advertising still pays for news.

Whether it was the classified “rivers of gold” or advertising on the page, the news industry has for some reason given up on that model working online. I find it inexplicable that nobody in the news industry, across the globe, can figure out how to make advertising work online. Google are just smarter, I guess.

No less than the president of media at Thomson Reuters, Chris Ahearn, recently penned a piece titled, Why I believe in the link economy

Blaming the new leaders or aggregators for disrupting the business of the old leaders, or saber-rattling and threatening to sue are not business strategies – they are personal therapy sessions. Go ask a music executive how well it works.

From Mark Day’s Bloggers may howl, but cash for content makes sense

It is clear a free internet has the power to wreck the economic model of newspapers and news-gathering itself. But the irony is, if that were to happen, the most valuable elements of news — that which is investigated, tested and credible — would disappear because of a lack of funding. Ultimately, that serves no one. Society would be the loser.

We do a disservice to society by making that valuable and important news inaccessible, by telling society that, unless you pay, we will withhold the information that informs your understanding of the machinations of government and the economy.

Related reading:

I first started writing this post over a week ago. The biggest addition since then is the Associated Press plan for content charging online, assessed by Nieman Journalism Lab after they got hold an internal AP document labeled, “AP CONFIDENTIAL — NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION.”

AP’s Online Strategy » Nieman Journalism Lab
Why I believe in the link economy (Chris Ahearn, President, Media at Thomson Reuters)
Will Rupert Murdoch Lead Way for Paid Online Content? – TIME
["the pay wall would have destroyed them. Or cured them"]
Economics for CEO dummies – The Future of Journalism – Open Salon
["He made an unfortunately apt comparison between a stale bagel and his newspapers"]
Pitfalls of the pay wall | Knight Digital Media Center
["Before they jump into charging for content, news organizations must bypass the quality journalism argument and answer these five questions instead"]
Rupert Murdoch’s move to charge for content opens doors for competitors | Media | The Guardian
Economists on pay-per-view online print news – Terry Flew from QUT

UPDATE:
Last week I tweeted about an article that literally took the words out of my mouth in relation to this blog post.
Five Key Reasons Why Newspapers Are Failing | SPLICETODAY.COM
The first point there illustrates this post:
1. Consumers don’t pay for news. They have never paid for news.

Twitter threatens legal action against third party developer

dave.earley@gmail.com (Dave Earley) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:08:25 +0000

A third party Twitter developer in New York has discovered the hard way that Twitter may now be playing tough, threatening to aggressively “take whatever steps are necessary” to protect their rights. Lawyers representing Twitter have demanded the developer deactivate his website, transfer the domain to Twitter and cease using the API or any reference to “Twitter”.

Yesterday mytwitterbutler.com owner and Twitter third party developer Dean Collins arrived home to find an email from lawyers claiming to represent Twitter, demanding he cease operating his website and hand over the domain because of his “violation of Twitter’s Terms of Service (”TOS”) and spam rules, and your infringement of Twitter’s trademark rights”.

His website is designed to help users auto-follow people when certain keywords appear in their tweets. Many in the Twitter community frown on auto-following that generates masses of spam, but Collins is vehemently denying misuse, and said he’s using the Twitter API in accordance with the rules.

“Basically they were saying we want you to hand over the domain, stop using and selling your software, and never use the API ever again,” Collins said.
“I think twitter are forgetting how they got so popular in the first place. There are 3000 applications out there all using the Twitter API, all using the rules they gave us.”

In their letter of demand, the lawyers have suggested that use of the word “Twitter” in Mr Collins’ domain will confuse users into thinking his product is affiliated with Twitter.

Twitter is concerned, however, that your use of My Twitter Butler and the related domain may cause confusion in the marketplace by suggesting that you and your site are somehow affiliated with Twitter, or are endorsed, sponsored, or approved by Twitter, which would result in an infringement of Twitter’s valuable trademark rights.

In light of the above, we must demand that you immediately:

1. deactivate the MyTwitterButler.com website;

2. transfer the MyTwitterButler.com domain to Twitter;

3. comply with Twitter’s TOS and rules, which includes stopping your aggressive and automatic following and offering techniques and software for others to aggressively or automatically follow; and

4. stop all use of the My Twitter Butler name, the TWITTER mark, or any other name, logo, or domain name that includes TWITTER or any confusingly similar term.

Twitter’s success has been built on the back of thousands of third party developers who have taken the API beyond what its founders could have ever imagined, and some in the Twitter Dev community have questioned if this is the beginning of the end for open development using the Twitter API.

Mr Collins said he attended a Twitter-hosted event for developers six months ago, where about 200 developers listened to Twitter representatives give examples of how the API could be used.
“Auto-follow was the second example they gave,” he said.
“I’m just using their publicly defined API.”

Some will argue Mr Collins has been warned, as the case is not without recent precedent. At the beginning of July, TechCrunch reported that Twitter had been getting touchy about using the word “Tweet” in applications. While it seeemed to be cleared up that “tweet” was okay, “Twitter” is still supposed to be a no-go for applications.

In a blog post, Biz Stone later said they encouraged the use of the word Tweet, but:

“If we come across a confusing or damaging project, the recourse to act responsibly to protect both users and our brand is important. Regarding the use of the word Twitter in projects, we are a bit more wary although there are some exceptions here as well.”

A quick search by Collins found dozens of third party Twitter applications that used the word Twitter in their domain or application, and he wondered if he was just one of many to receive letters from Twitter’s lawyers yesterday.
“It will either turn out that I’m just one, or it’s a big deal and 30 to 40 are being taken down tomorrow.”

If Twitter succeeds in forcing mytwitterbutler.com owner Dean Collins to deactivate his website, transfer the domain to Twitter, and stop using any reference to Twitter, the future of other hugely successfull third party Twitter applications like twittercounter, twitterfall, twitterfeed and DestroyTwitter could also be in jeopardy.

Read the letter from Twitter’s lawyers in full at mytwitterbutler.com/I’m_Being_Sued/

How much unique content is out there?

dave.earley@gmail.com (Dave Earley) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 06:16:44 +0000

Last week Rupert Murdoch announced that News Corporation would push ahead with the introduction of pay-per-view online content. Since then there have been suggestions Fairfax would follow, and the Boston Globe’s boston.com has also started to head in that direction.

My question is, “How much unique content is out there?”

The arguments in favor of paywalls have largely focused on the value of unique content that is produced by media outlets. I would like to see an objective analysis and review of unique content. I can only assume some sort of exhaustive analysis has informed the direction we are all being pushed towards.

I had already put this question to journalism academic Julie Posetti earlier in the week in an email, but Murdoch’s comments prompted me to ask the question again publicly.
Are there any in-depth studies looking at unique content in newspapers or their online sites, and what do those studies conclude?

On Thursday night, ABC’s Lateline Business reported plans to introduce paywalls at all News Corporation outlets by next year’s Northern summer. In a recorded teleconference Murdoch is heard saying that, to make a paywall work, News Corp would need to “make our content better and differentiate it from other people“.

RUPERT MURDOCH: We just make our content better, and differentiate it from other people and I believe that if we are successful, we’ll be followed by all the media.

Watch the video or read the transcript of the three-minute Lateline Business report on their site.

Or listen to what was said by just Rupert Murdoch here:

The wording used sounds more like a statement of future intent – this is what we must do – but much of the paywall argument to date has focused on the unique content that newspapers and their online sites are currently giving away for free. I think using the Wall Street Journal as proof of concept is a bit flawed, because it is very different to a “paper of record”. If WSJ are generally targeting a specific market with market-related content, then they could be described as a niche publication. Is a paper of record that covers the gamut of local, national and world news able to drill down and provide unique content? That is, content that won’t be easily found elsewhere, and provides value to the reader.

I’m hoping a study exists, or some clever postgraduate student is currently working on it. It would be illogical to discuss the possibility of making people pay for unique content without a thorough assessment of the quantity of same.

An interesting one that just popped up yesterday in The Australian’s Media & Marketing section was that subscription paid off for one site after just three weeks.
Subscribers turn profit for NZ site | The Australian

UPDATE:
To be perfectly clear on this, I don’t see a paywall working as a flat entry fee for the entirety of a masthead news site. It’s no secret that the internet’s disruption to the traditional business model is choice. People will only pay to get *exactly* what they want. Niche markets…you’ve heard it all before.
If there has to be an argument for paywalls, then the case of the WSJ is illustrative: people are willing to pay for premium industry insight and business-critical information. In Australia that might similarly translate to the business section of the paper, or quality reporting on state politics.

But then again, it might not. The biggest threat to the paywall will be free quality content available from places like the ABC and BBC.

Back from the dead

dave.earley@gmail.com (Dave Earley) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:16:29 +0000

After two weeks in exile, the dark wilderness of a suspended website, the earley edition is back online.

The saga of my troubles was documented in a public Google doc – so if you care to read about it, feel free.

I’m still not sure if I have entirely fixed the issue that caused my site to be suspended. It was suggested I delete all the old Wordpress files and build up again off the existing MySQL database. Long story short, I started a new Simple Script Wordpress installation, but used their import option to import the old blog …pretty sure that didn’t quite do what I wanted, missing the crucial step of deleting all the old, and probably degraded, Wordpress files and starting fresh.

So I could have brought any associated issues back, but for now it’s all back online

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501 Australian Journalists and News Media People on Twitter

dave.earley@gmail.com (Dave Earley) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:08:00 +0000

This list was originally contained in the post, Australia’s Top 100 Journalists and News Media People on Twitter. That post has been trimmed back to just 100 Twitter accounts to more accurately reflect the post title.
The original list has been reposted in full here, with even more additions taking it beyond 500 Twitter accounts listed.
Read on…

That (original) post title is utter bollocks and mere linkbait. This list does not in any way rank influence, importance or interest, and it contains far more than 100 journalists.

There have been a few lists of Australian journalists on Twitter (see end of post), but this one is a little different, and much larger. I have classified as journalist anyone who produces content for online or traditional media and, as you’ll see, some people who are simply involved in the selling or promoting of news media. So really it’s more of a list of Australian media people on Twitter It’s also not a complete list of Australian journalists and people in the news media industry on Twitter because that number has exploded in the last few months. It’s getting to the point where I would be surprised if there’s a journalist who DOESN’T have a Twitter account, and so I’ve stopped keeping track. I’ve stopped looking for more. I’m hitting publish.

LC Smith Corona Typewriter

Allowing for “new” or “digital” media, I was always going to include photojournalists, videojournalists, datajournalists, and designers (where I could find them) alongside writers, producers, presenters, and editors. It makes for an ambitious and ridiculously long list, but they are who I see as the news media: all the people involved in distilling and producing content that goes beyond recording observations of the every day. Admittedly there are many very good bloggers who under that description should be included, but the list is big enough as it is. I do not rank any sort of “influence”, this is just a list. Read on. Jump straight in or skip to the bottom for a bit more blurb and references.

NEWS LIMITED

The Courier-Mail

@djfcm David Fagan – Courier Mail editor
@jg_rat John Grey – online editor
@ViralAgent John O’Brien – sub-editor and Mac columnist
@bartman6 Chris Bartlett – online editor
@lyndalcairns Lyndal Cairns – online editor
@jendudley Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson – Technology reporter and blogger
@earleyedition Dave Earley – general news and police reporter
@felicitymoore Felicity Moore – Sub editor and parenting blogger
@readfearn Graham Readfearn – Environment reporter and blogger
@annacaldwell Anna Caldwell – police reporter
@jodieobrien Jodie O’Brien – police and courts reporter
@ironsider Robyn Ironside – crime editor
@patricklion Patrick Lion – state political reporter
@cmrosemary Rosemary Odgers – state political reporter
@nataschamirosch Natascha Mirosch – Food feature writer
@thejobblog Amanda Horswill – CareerOne editor
@johnstonec Craig Johnstone – state political editor
@emilyeverywhere Emily Jade O’Keefe – Courier Mail blogger (also Triple M radio)
@brizbands Candice Bridger – entertainment and music blogger and vlogger
@poppymasselos Poppy Masselos – headstart editor, integration team
@terryoconnor Terry O’Connor – online editor
@alisonsandy Alison Sandy – city council reporter
@shopblog Paddy Hintz – Journalist, shopping blogger
@therealrocky123 Neale Maynard – online editor
@barringtond Barry Dick – courier mail online sports editor
@michaellund Michael Lund – feature writer
@petewallis Peter Wallis – photographer
@mickwray11 Michael Wray – joined Twitter while chief police reporter, since left to Hong Kong
@ursulaheger Ursula Heger – transport reporter
@ajdicko Alex Dickinson – MX reporter
@chesterrod Rod Chester
@NatGregg Natalie Gregg
@melbris Melanie Christiansen
@dwabriz Dennis Atkins
@lisayallamas Lisa Yallamas
@waggachap David Costello
@jensent Torny Jensen – mX reporter

news.com.au and/or News Digital Media (NDM)
@cowspanker David Higgins – Editor news.com.au
@rodpeno Rod Peno – Social Media Producer at News Digital Media
@penbo David Penberthy – editor of The Punch, former editor of the Daily Telegraph
@colgo Paul Colgan – Managing Editor of The Punch
@_tors Tory Maguire – Deputy Editor of The Punch
@_leo_s Leo Shanahan – staff writer, The Punch
@lucyjk Lucy Kippist – The Punch
@imacri Irena Macri – multimedia producer
@diversionary Simon Wright – designer
@aramadge Andrew Ramadge – technology reporter
@newsbee Lanai Vasek – business owner editor
@agitated Chris Agiasotis
@chrisrhyss Chris Rhyss Edwards
@newsian Ian Rakowski
@schneiderk Kate Schneider – travel reporter
@myleswearring Myles Wearring – entertainment editor
@chelsea_mes Chelsea Mes – business reporter
@taylordane75 Lee Taylor – travel editor
@aysha Aysha Leo – multimedia producer
@coogeecoup Alison Godfrey – journalist
@felicityh Felicity Hetherington – afternoon news editor
@lincolnarcher Lincoln Archer
@edmundtadros Edmund Tadros – business editor
@ericdot Eric Auld – designer
@gogaino
@nocreditbob
@newslab Charles Brewer – photographer – who also has
@letterstoharry
@sydfilmfestival
@jeanti Jeanti St Clair – the original news.com.au foray into Twitter? Her last tweet was in May 2007
@ozfashionweek – as above
@vidiva Vida Redoblado – News Digital Media PR
@c41 Pete Ottery – designer at news digital media
@timburton
@ccoaster2002 Andrew Banks – editorial promotions at news.com.au
@dnazaroff Diane Nazaroff – multimedia producer
@askbossy Kate de Brito – Ask Bossy blogger
@chris_deal Chris Deal designer
@trentenda James Harris – news digital media SEO manager
@alhaigh Alastair Haigh – News Digital Media, Mastheads Lead Designer

QUEST
@korenhelbig Koren Helbig – Albert and Logan News
@idrinktang Dan Tang – Albert and Logan News
@lukeroyes Luke Royes – journalist Southern Star
@foodiegirlie Wendy Hall – food writer at City News (Brisbane) and chief sub at Quest

The Australian
@mclayfield Matthew Clayfield – journalist
@chris_griffith Chris Griffith – multimedia journalist
@sarahelks Sarah Elks – Brisbane-based journalist
@gerardhenderson Gerard Henderson – fake?
@overingtonc Caroline Overington
@meadea Amanda Meade – Media journalist
@sally_jackson Sally Jackson – Media journalist

Other News Ltd
@tburton Tim Burton
@matthew_hall Matthew Hall – Sun Herald
@joe_hildebrand Joe Hildebrand – Daily Telegraph blogger
@cate3221 Cate Swannell – Gold Coast Bulletin journalist
@sueGCB Sue Lappeman – Gold Coast Bulletin
@saline Samela Harris – Adelaide Advertiser
@chrisreports Chris Pepper – adelaidenow, Adelaide Advertiser
@buck_ers Brian Buchanan – online operations manager herald and weekly times
@tabloidterror Ros Reine – Sunday Telegraph gossip columnist
@scottpape Scott Pape – financial columnist and blogger
@jen_bennett Jennifer Bennett – Wentworth Courier reporter
@adamjoseph1 Adam Joseph – Herald Sun Marketing Insights Manager
@mattpinkney Matt Pinkney – Herald Sun online editor
@lukedennehy Luke Dennehy – Sunday Herald Sun
@heraldsunscoop Megan Miller
@rodsavage Rod Savage – AdelaideNow editor
@MarPar Maralyn Parker – Education columnist for The Daily Telegraph
@andrewfenton Andrew Fenton – Film Writer and Magazine Journalist with News Ltd, based in Adelaide.

Return to top of list

FAIRFAX

Brisbane Times
@bigtruck Dan Sankey – managing editor
@JohnBirmingham John Birmingham – blogger
@heidi75 Heidi Davoren – morning producer
@phillutton1 Phil Lutton – sports editor
@katherinefeeney Katherine Feeney – journalist and blogger
@georgiawaters Georgia Waters – journalist
@lilhack Melissa Singer – news editor
@karlsikora Karl Sikora – marketing manager
@scottjmcasey Scott Casey – reporter, multimedia editor

Sydney Morning Herald
@brandstand Julian Lee – media and marketing news
@carlosmonteiro Carlos Monteiro –
@valeriekhoo Valerie Khoo – enterprise blogger
@annabelcrabb Annabel Crabb –
@ashermoses Asher Moses – technology journalist
@joelgibson Joel Gibson – indigenous affairs reporter
@aclennell Andrew Clennell – state political editor
@engalvo Nick Galvin – journalist
@curious_scribe Glenda Kwek – journalist and multimedia
@arjun_aus Arjun Ramachandran – journalist
@ronerdos Ron Erdos – online marketer
@simonthomsen Simon Thomsen – Good Food Guide co-editor and restaurant critic
@jo_co Joanna Cohen – film writer
@joannasavill Joanna Savill – SMH food journalist writer editor (Good Food Guide)
@brontegirl Kimberley Porteous – multmedia editor.
@hornery Andrew Hornery – gossip columnist – editor of Private Sydney
@geerob Georgina Robinson – reporter

Other Fairfax
@paulwiggins Paul Wiggins – editor and longtime Australian content manager at Testy Copy Editors
@matthew_hall Matthew Hall – Sun Herald blogger
@lucasng Lucas Ng – search and analytics director fairfax digital
@mfantini – Margarida Fantini – fairfax digital
@melinashanks Meline Cruickshank – fairfax digital
@kuns Mike van Niekirk – editor-in-chief online – fairfax media
@annacico Anna Cicognani – fairfax digital
@amstrad Darren Burden – Director of News and Sport, Fairfax Digital
@dalemccarthy Dale McCarthy – head of digital strategy at Fairfax Digital
@ebaral Edward Baral – Group Marketing Manager for Fairfax Business Media
@liamphillips Liam Phillips – chief of staff watoday.com.au
@DailePepper Daile Pepper – style editor watoday.com.au
@chrisberg Chris Berg – sunday age columnist
@suzannecarbone Suzanne Carbone – The Age, Diary columnist
@jvdouglas – IT and business journalist with BRW
@eliotfish Eliot Fish – freelance games journalist, the Sun-Herald
@leongettler Leon Gettler – business management blogger The Age
@artsjourno Nicholas Pickard – theatre reviewer for the Sun-Herald and feature writer for Crikey
@nikhiljn Nikhil Jain – Online Marketing Manager, Fairfax Digital
@miafreedman Mia Freedman Essential Baby blog, columnist Sun-Herald and Sunday Age
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ABC

@abcmarkscott Mark Scott – managing director
@mishaketch Misha Ketch – Media Watch journalist
@mariekehardy Marieke Hardy – triple j breakfast
@myfwarhurst Myfanwy Warhurst
@kteej Kaitlyn Sawrey – triplej Hack journalist
@rosieryan Rosanna Ryan – online journalist, new media tutor at QUT
@nic_macbean Nic MacBean – journalist
@rjcooke Richard Cooke
@farlster Edwina Farley – abc rural reporter
@calebcluff Caleb Cluff – abc rural producer
@paulverhoeven Paul verhoeven – triplej
@awrd Andrew Davies – radio national producer (Future Tense, previously The Media Report)
@leighsales Leigh Sales – ABC Lateline presenter
@bruceyeah Bruce Collier – iView developer
@marcfennell Marc Fennell – Triple J film critic and ABC Local Radio
@kingleonard Leanord King – internet video specialist ABC news online
@garykemble Gary Kemble – abc journalist and blogger
@abcarticulate
@adambspencer Adam Spencer
@doctorkarl Doctor Karl
@valentine702 James Valentine
@leighsales Leigh Sales
@triplejtvdoctor Lindsay McDougall
@triplejtheking Richard Kingsmill
@vijaykhurana Vijay Khurana
@abcpool ABC Pool
@triplejbrekkie Triple J – Breakfast
@triplejdools Triple J – Dools
@jhouseparty Triple J – House Party
@triplejmornings Zan Rowe – Mornings
@shortfastloud Triple J – Short Fast Loud
@triplejsr Triple J – Super Request
@junearthed Triple J – Unearthed
@triplejhack triplej Hack
@triplejmag Jenny Valentish- jmag editor
@dellvink Amanda Dell – 612 Brisbane
@colvinius Mark Colvin – Presenter of PM, ABC Radio
@arliedouglas Arlie Douglas – Toowoomba rural radio reporter ABC
@lucethoughts Lucy Carter – triple j News Journalist,
@Peter_F_Ryan Peter Ryan – ABC Business editor
@tonywalker Tony Walker – Manager Digital Radio at Australian Broadcasting Corp
@rosiefantail Mel Campbell – private account. Also
@ftpathzeitgeist and
@the_enthusiast
@rynobi Ryan Egan – Producer/Presenter – Tech Stream (technology program), ABC Radio Australia
@grahamcairns Graham Cairns – ABC NewsRadio Web Producer
@bryceives Bryce Ives – coordinator Heywire, ABC Radio
@dt_downunder Dan Taylor – Producer, Developer
@philliprsmith Phil Smith – Saturday Breakfast for ABC Brisbane
@tanwatt Majella Watt – ABC Brisbane
@michaelturtle Michael Turtle – ABC Youth Affairs Reporter, occasional triple j newsreader
@tech_stream – Tech Stream – ABC Radio australia presented by Ryan Egan
@arliedouglas – Arlie Douglas – ABC rural radio – Toowoomba

ABC keep an “official” list of ABC Twitter accounts here, including all ABC Local accounts http://www.abc.net.au/services/twitter/accounts.htm

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OTHER MEDIA – organised

Crikey
@greenj Johnathan Green – editor
@sophblack Sophie Black – deputy editor
@andrewjcrook Andrew Crook – politics
@rgcooke
@firstdogonmoon – cartoonist
@margaretsimons Margaret Simons – Content Makers blog
@bernardkeane Bernard Keane – canberra political correspondent
@stilgherrian – I don?t consider myself a ?journalist?, but have sometimes used ?writer?.
@pollytics Pollytics Crikey blog
@rbbrown Ruth Brown – journalist
@elerimai Eleri Harris – journalist
@LiteraryMinded Angela Meyer – literary blogger, Bookseller+Publisher writer/ed assistant
@stephenmayne Stephen Mayne – Crikey founder, now @mayneReport

AAP
@ozy1962 Mike Osborne – editor (sydney)
@osbornep Paul Osborne – Brisbane bureau chief
@aapbrisbane Angelina Harper-Erini – Brisbane deputy bureau chief
@selinaday Selina Day
@migueldsouza Miguel D Souza
@aapcanberra – not being used yet
@aappicdesk – picture desk
@lmarti Lisa Martin – reporter

SBS
@foraggio Toby Forage – executive producer SBS sport online
@miketomalaris Michael Tomalaris ? SBS Sports presenter & Tour de France commentator
@valerioveo Valerio Veo Head of News & Current Affairs Online
@marshallheald Marshall Heald ? SBS Head of Digital
@shalailah Shalailah Medhora ? Multimedia Journalist ? SBS
@debsm Debs Majumdar ? Multimedia Journalist ? SBS
@Sonya_gee Sonya Gee ? Current Affairs Producer SBS & multimedia artist
@drKeir Keir Smith ? Technical Lead, SBS Online
@sam_ikin Sam Ikin ? Reporter, SBS World News Australia

CBS Interactive Australia
@wendy_hogan Wendy Hogan – Managing Director & Vice President
@bhaverty Brian Haverty – Editorial Director
@renailemay Renai Lemay – editor ZDnet.com.au
@randolphramsay Randolph Ramsay – Editor, GameSpot AU
@dobes Chris duckett – ZDNet.com.au, Builder AU and BNET Australia.
@troy_martinAU Troy Martin – Commercial Director, Media – CBS Interactive AU
@MlyB Emily Baxter – Marketing Director
@screelman Sarah Creelman – PR & Marketing Manager – Consumer & Entertainment, CBS Interactive

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OTHER MEDIA – unorganised

Some of these probably belong in a group above

@emmakenton Emma Kenton – General Manager, West Australian Publishers
@bjj4me Rinaldo De Paolis – Digital Operations Manager at West Australian Newspapers Limited
@dylanmcevoy Dylan McEvoy – The West Australian Online Editorial
@AdamAndJones Adam Jones – Freelance film writer/critic for The West Australian
@hughjm Hugh Martin – GM APN Online @wazl Warren Lee – CEO APN Online
@theburgerman John Bergin – Deputy Director of Digital News, Sky News Australia
@owenjay Owen Jacques – Daily Mercury, Mackay, business, resources, council journalist
@newsed Simon Holt – group news editor Cumberland and Courier newspaper groups
@chrisberg – editor IPA review, Sunday Age columnist
@harleyd Harley Dennett – news editor, Sydney Star Observer
@kalgoorliekid Nick Rynne – journalist Kalgoorlie Miner
@kerryn_manifold Kerryn Manifold – journalist thedaily.com.au
@paulajoye Paula Joye – magazine editor
@thetowncrier Jason Whittaker – managing editor at Trader Business Media – ACP magazines
@kateedwards Kate Edwards – makes movies for @atnmag
@kerryfinch Kerry Finch – writer
@mikeh101 Mike Hanley – Business writer, magazine journalist, AFR Boss magazine
@genrobey Genevieve Robey – editor Wotnews
@djackmanson David Jackmanson – Brisbane Blog
@natecochrane Nate Cochrane – Editor in Chief of ITNews, former IT editor of the Age.
@danwarne Dan Warne – online editor apcmag.com, freelance SMH
@bruff Nick Broughall – gizmodo journalist
@renailemay Renai LeMay – ZDnet.com.au news editor
@riskybusiness Patrick Gray – podcaster and ZDnet.au journalist
@tara_g Tara Grimshaw – video journalist
@cameronreilly Cameron Reilly – ceo the podcast network
@derekbarry Derek Barry – journalist
@jessmcguire Jess McGuire – defamer.com.au
@engochick Suzanne Tindal – ZDnet.com.au journalist
@mumbrella Tim Burrowes – media and marketing journalist
@tonyblackie Tony Blackie – brw.com.au
@sarahprout Sarah Prout – owner/director Sprout Publishing
@bruff Nick Broughall – tech journalist, gizmodo.com.au
@duncanriley Duncan Riley – editor the Inquisitr
@zarabee – PC Authority editor
@stacyfarrar Stacy Farrar – editor Cumberland Newspapers
@justiniannews Richard Ackland – editor and publisher online law journal Justinian
@swandives Georgina Swan – consumer interactivity manager at CHOICE magazine
@GlitterAshen Ros Page – Choice journo.
@grahamy Graham Young – chief editor Online Opinion
@vquinn Valens Quinn – journalist and MD of Gadget Group
@bronwen Bronwen Clune ceo and founder of norg media
@danwalsh Dan Walsh – editor Kwoff.com.au
@rod3000 Rod McGuinnes – managing editor new matilda
@madeinmelbourne – editor Green magazine, The Pun and the Pundit
@ebaxter Elissa Baxter ebaxter editor of, Go magazine, Freelance journo, blogger
@paulhansford Paul Hansford – football journalist, FourFourTwo
@csimps0n Campbell Simpson – tech journalist and reviewer at goodgearguide.com.au
@katekendall Kate Kendall – online editor marketingmag.com.au
@imtimhanlon Tim Hanlon – Assoc Editor Gizmag
@huntzie Andrew Hunter – Head of News, Sport and Finance at ninemsn
@rachelhills Rachel Hills – editor ninemsn
@charispalmer Charis Palmer – Editor Online Banking Review
@jenniferESt Jen Storey- writer for Online Banking Review
@faldo David Field – online editor atomicmpc.com.au
@jcmc Jessica Crouch – Editor, president of @synmedia
@sethyates Seth Yates – CTO of Independent Digital Media, previously CTO of Fairfax Digital
@mikedobbie Mike Dobbie – Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA)
@jonty98 Jonathan Este – MEAA journalist
@claireorourke Claire ORourke – MEAA organiser
@mjcp Matthew JC Powell – Editor of MacTheMag and writes for crn.com.au
@dr_nic Nic Healey – Managing Editor at Future Publishing
@mediahaze Rachael Bolton – staff writer, Mediaweek
@michscav Michelle Scavone – medical editor/journalist for MedConnect
@Tim_Coronel Tim Coronel – publisher, Bookseller+Publisher magazine
@mgorey Michael Gorey – Editor of The Border Watch
@princessfluffy Nikki Bradley – Producer at Fox Interactive Media (MySpace IGN AskMen)
@guymosel Guy Mosel – FHM
@SecretsHQ Michelle Matthews – Publisher of Deck of Secrets guides and contributor to Qantas Travel Insider website, Sunday magazine (News Ltd) & others
@cecilialindgren Cecilia Lindgren – News journalist by trade. Commercial Manager @ AIMIA
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FREELANCE

known to be freelancers or describe themselves as such

@gusworldau Angus Kidman – IT journalist
@alexkidman Alex Kidman – IT journalist
@ssharwood Simon Sharwood – freelance tech writer
@bengrubb Ben Grubb – TechWiredAu, freelance for news.com.au
@pocketmojo Anthony Caruana – freelance tech journo – The Age, Macworld, APC, PC Update
@paulzucker Paul Zucker
@markhjones Mark Jones – australian financial review, freelance tech writer
@Warlach – produced stuff for The Age, SMH, BRW, The Fin Review and The Australian
@tomatom Ed Charles – food and business journo
@riskybusiness – Patrick Gray – podcaster and writes for ZDnet
@davezed Dave Zwolenski – journalist
@musojourno Denis Semchenko – in comments requests to be known as writer (Rave magazine, Brisbane), journalist and music write
@sclepj Simon Jones
@cankles Brendon Chase – freelance digital media producer
@ncaross Nick Ross – freelancer SMH/Age/APC and owner Sproog media
@dlelkind Debbie Elkind – Journalist/Copywriter
@seamus Seamus Byrne – Former Editor at Gizmodo AU, now Midnight Update
@benhourigan Ben Hourigan
@mwikramanayake Marisa Wikramanayake – feature writer and columnist, also music beat, writing for RTR FM and The Sunday Leader
@secretsHQ Michelle Matthews – Publisher of Deck of Secrets guides and freelance
@metaverseoz David Holloway – Virtual worlds news and events
@Wolfie_Rankin Wolfie Rankin – volunteer on ABC Island in Secondlife
@rossprowd Ross Prowd – freelance / The Sportsman
@franmolloy Fran Molloy – freelance journalist for Fairfax, ABC and too many others
@AdrianMusolino Adrian Musolino – freelance sports journalist
@nicolehaddow Nicole Haddow – freelance writer and editor
@caferosamond Rose Hartley – Freelance writer, Online Editor
@mikerism101 Mike Bennie – wine, travel writer
@renbarau Renee Barnes – Freelance journalist and online journalism lecturer
@david_heath David Heath – freelance IT journo writing for ITWire
@twittymaria Maria Nguyen – freelance journo
@loopymedia Lucy Robertson – freelance writer, editor and sub
@katrinafox Katrina Fox – Freelance journalist
@roulla Roulla Yiacoumi – freelance gadget and technology journalist
@ajwight Andrew Wight – freelance science journalist

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PHOTOGRAPHERS

@cammo Cameron Laird – photographer freelances for News Ltd – The Courier Mail
@muzaloid Murray Cox – freelance photojournalist
@ysass JJ Sassine – photojournalist
@yaboo007 Joseph Sirucka – photographer for Fairfax
@trigg3rsnappy Josephine Ki – freelance
@petewallis Peter Wallis – Courier Mail
@ErikVeland Erik Veland – and from comments recommends: “@kyza, @stillpixels and @dreadfuldan are very talented Music Photographers”.
@kyza Kylie Keene – Freelance photographer [Brisbane] Triple M & B105, contributor for Rave Magazine, Fasterlouder.com.au, Hi-Fi Brisbane
@photo_journ John Le Fevre – Freelance photo-journalist (also appears in Overseas)
@danielbedford Daniel Bedford – from comments he adds:
@nicbezzina – NSW
@antzpantz – WA
@mojojay – WA
@leni_t – QLD
@cybele_m – NSW
@mattbooy – Ex JJJ Photog, now in London
@musicphotos – NSW
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RADIO

@girlclumsy Natalie Bochenski – 4BC Brisbane
@bree_r Bree Roberts – Newcastle radio journalist
@blague – rural radio journalist
@dandebuf Dan Debuf – Perth NOVA
@iamnotmatt Matt Saraceni – Perth NOVA
@meshel_laurie Meshel Laurie – NOVA Brisbane
@brisbanebrad Brad Roberts – NOVA Brisbane
@brooke079 Brooke Powell – Triple M
@thomasrdotorg Tom Reynolds – freelance motoring journo for 3AW (Fairfax radio)
@jaymueller Jay Mueller – Breakfast producer 3AW (Fairfax radio)
@dnee Denee Savoia – Nova969 Journalist/Newsreader
@joshuawither 107.3fm Radio Jock
@EmandSamMac Em Rusciano – 92.9 Breakfast show hosts of the ?Em and Sam Mac Show? (Austereo Perth)
@fortunegrey Matt Levinson – presenter of arts show Canvas
@frogworth Peter Hollo – FBi Radio, 94.5 FM in Sydney
@HannahRobertson Hannah Robertson – journalism student and news presenter on 4ZzZ (Brisbane)
@perthtones Tony Serve – currently hosting fill-ins at Fairfax/6PR, freelancing
@zipfox Charlie Fox – Program Director MIX 106.5 | 101.7 WSFM | The Edge 96.ONE Sydney
@miss_chicken Ellie Freeman – 4zzz news team, student journlaist
@marshagoldcoast Marsha Graham – Multimedia Manager for 102.9FM Hot Tomato, Gold Coast

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TELEVISION

@melissadoyle Melissa Doyle – Sunrise co-host
@davidkoch David Koch – Sunrise? No updates, no bio, but could be the Koch
@patrickcondren Patrick Condren – Channel Seven Brisbane
@tenCB Cathy Border – Channel Ten Brisbane
@benfordham Ben Fordham – A Current Affair
@andrewmontesi Andrew Montesi – Sport Reporter Channel 9 News
@superfabulous Aisha Hillary – New Media at SBS
@jamieinsydney Jamie Campbell – Foxtel General Manager, Program Publicity and Talent
@SarahAMurdoch Sarah Murdoch

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MISCELLANEOUS

(yet to be categorised – or I don’t know where they work)
@lewgus
@timdunlop Tim Dunlop – blogger Road to Surfdom, then news.com.au’s Blogacracy
@ursulajefferson Bec Madden – deputy editor
@nadine_lee Nadine Lee – Journalist
@loopymedia Lucy Robertson –
@Jen2107 Jenna Daroczy – Journo based in SE QLD
@debritz Brett Debritz – formerly Courier Mail
@vealmince Josh Mehlman – journalist
@baconchips
@joshglid Joshua Gliddon – science journo
@rodsavage Rod Savage – online journalist
@bemedia_bern B Phelan
@marisewatson Marise Watson – digital director at Yaffa
@tashlee Natasha Lee
@stuartbuchanan
@charlie69
@andygregory Andy Gregory –
@sonberg Sonia van den Berg –
@applejuicy Brisbane journalist multimedia storytelling
@nmalexander Natalie Alexander –
@lmarti Lisa Martin – melbourne journalist
@bhowarth Brad Howarth
@sholtomac Sholto Macpherson
@fergle Fergus Pitt – digital media producer
@potrm Geoff Nicholson – journalist
@davebraith Dave Braithwaite
@flavourfirst Juan-Carlo Tomas
@mark_schliebs Mark Schliebs
@kristoforlawson Kristofor Lawson – QUT journalism student, editor of enspri.com
@melissahoyer Melissa Hoyer
@barrysaunders Barry Saunders – multimedia does work for abc as well
@templesmith Ben Templesmith
@mpesce Mark Pesce – abc online, new inventors
@audaciousgloop Simon Young
@markmcdonald101 Mark McDonald – copywriter
@landeryou – journalist
@georgiaporgia Georgia Webster – broadcaster
@timdunlop Tim Dunlop – journalist
@smallkathryn Kathryn Small
@johnlacey John Lacey – writer/photographer
@benjaminhaslem Benjamin Haslem
@jacquimunn – Adelaide journalist
@terryjohal Terry Johal
@clint_t Clint Thomas – sports journo footygoss.com
@mspennypink Penny Brand – brisbane journalist
@chelsea_hunter Chelsea Hunter – editor, writer (music, film, health, pop culture)
@rachelhills Rachel Hills
@melbsmudges Melbourne Smudges
@undercover Paul Cashmere – music news
@dacheah
@justads
@lynchy
@sophiebenjamin
@rule17 Steven Lewis
@lifemusicmedia Stuart Blythe
@melissahoyer
@johnfossey
@brendenwood
@chelsea_mes
@scriber Naomi Stekelenberg
@jen_bennett Jen Bennet

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ACADEMICS

@julie_posetti Julie Posetti – journalism at University of Canberra
@mgawenda Michael Gawenda – former editor, now academic
@sraquinn Stephen Quinn – Deakin university journalism academic, specialises in mobile journalism, or mojo. Also
@globalmojo
@themediapod Ross Monaghan – Deakin University lecturer
@wespot Earle Bridger – lecturer in photojournalism at Griffith University
@marykozlovski Mary Kozlovski – SYN
@landunn Ann Lund – journalism at QUT
@snoozen Susan Hetherington – associate lecturer journalism at QUT
@wendybacon1 Wendy Bacon – journalist and academic at University of Technology, Sydney where the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism is based
@PhilStubbsTeach Phil Stubbs – lecturer in digital media, online journalism and advertising
@wendyldavis Wendy Davis – television studies researcher. She works at a regional university in Queensland, Australia
@lzion Lawrie Zion – coordinator of Bachelor of Journalism and Master of Global Communications degree programs at La Trobe uni
@qutnews Queensland University of Technology
@rmitv RMIT
@uommedia University of Melbourne
@nowuc University of Canberra

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AUSTRALIANS OVERSEAS

and a few NZ journos listed by others

@JuhaSaarinen Juha Saarinen – New Zealand journalist
@dizzymum Bronwyn Marquardt Australian journalist in New Zealand
@tburton Tom Burton – formerly SMH, now living in Washington
@sdbrook Stephen Brook – Australian working in London for the Media Guardian
@mediamum Jo White – grad student and TA at SJMC Uni of Colorado at Boulder
@jedwhite Jed White – previous Editor-in-Chief of APC and Publishing Director at ACP. Married to @mediamum
@rww Richard McManus – ReadWriteWeb
@hamishreporter Hamish Macdonald – presenter and correspondent Aljazeera English
@rosevines Rose Vines – freelance writer, writes mostly for Australian PC User and Office Watch, working in New Orleans.
@photo_journ John Le Fevre – Freelance photo-journalist – currently based in Bangkok
@ashbetteridge Ashlee Betteridge – Former Village Voice (Sydney) journalist, now living in Indonesia working at the Jakarta Globe English daily
@niltiac Caitlin Fitzsimmons – in London
@HelenBradley Helen Bradley – expat Australian, freelancer ACP ? PC User mag
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BLURB

If you have been missed, and undoubtedly you will have been missed – please add yourself in the comments. Provide Twitter ID, name, where you work (or freelance), role (round or beat for a journo, designer, editor, graphic artist… whatever you like) if you have one or topic area you like to freelance in Not that you have to be genuine – @andrewbolt, @mirandadevine, @gerardhenderson…etc There are probably more News Ltd people than others because I’ve collated this list mostly on the fly, which has happened to bring me across more people in News Ltd circles. It’s likely there will be crossover in some of the categories, where I’m not sure who someone works for, particularly freelancers. I’m sorry if I’ve missed you and you wanted to be here. I’m not so sorry if I’ve listed you here and you wanted to quietly lurk, undisturbed or unknown amongst the growing black cloud that is the approaching Twitter flock. New media is open and social. You’ve put yourself out there on Twitter – embrace it.

A few other lists of Australian and New Zealand journalists are available, and can be found at:

TrackVia
laurelpapworth.com
Trevor Cook on Crikey
Bill Bennet’s list of New Zealand media people on Twitter
@aujournos – Australian Journos – has been set up to follow professional Australian journalists on Twitter. The list of journos is found simply by looking at who @aujournos is following.

You might find some of the accounts listed in my list above are deleted, or no longer active. I’ve left some inactive ones in the list because I think they provide some insight to the early attempts of Australian news media to come to grips with how Twitter could work. My first post looking at
Australian Media Organisations on Twitter was in March 2008, but obviously things have changed dramatically in 12 months. The following will provide a more up-to-date list of media organisations on Twitter: A-Z of Australian media using Twitter : http://fanbloodytastic.com/top100/media/a-z

Update

dave.earley@gmail.com (Dave Earley) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 17:27:06 +0000

Julie Posetti was kind enough to link to this site from a recent PBS MediaShift article, Rules of Engagement for Journalists on Twitter. ~~Unfortunately, I’ve managed to make the list of journalists she linked to completely disappear.~~
UPDATE: The list is back online, thanks to ireckon.com fixing some rogue code for me. Thanks Darryl!!

I made the fatal mistake of messing with the code on my live site, and ~~have~~ somehow broken the relevant post, Australia’s Top 100 Journalists and News Media People on Twitter.

Thinking I would make a minor change to the comments.php file last week, I have somehow managed to block out the most visited post on the site. It’s still there, you just can’t see it, and I haven’t worked out how to fix it.

I’ve already tried reposting, only to see the same effect. I’m convinced the problem is in the paged comments part of the code, but have either not restored to the original, or have but to no effect.

In the interim…
In other news, I’ve been catching up on some podcasts and just listened to a great Pods and Blogs episode from April 7. One of the things mentiond in the podcast was a live streaming news centre that was set up by some students to cover G20.

From the PodcastDirectory show description:

This week Jamillah talks to the students who created a news streaming page from the middle of the G20 protests when many reporters were unable to get in, or out, of the thick of it.

Some of what they did sounds awesome but I was put off, and disagree completely, with one of the students interviewed. They suggested what they had done could not necessarily be done by members of the public, that they were trained in the technology, and knew how to speak to the camera as a journalist.

As I said, I completely disagree. There are plenty of people all over the world who are better trained (and self-trained), who could do a better job of framing the story on video. Or with their voice, or a still image, a piece of art, a song, or a line of code that generates a visualisation.

People tell stories every day in different ways, to all sorts of other people

I rant. You can find the podcast on Pods and Blogs, BBC Radio Five Live.

I’ve also been catching up on Dave Winer and Jay Rosen’s regular fireside chat, which they’ve named Rebooting the News. I’ve started from the beginning and only made it to about number four, but there has already been some good listening. Check it out.

Australian internet traffic doubles in two years, up 37 times over 8 years

dave.earley@gmail.com (Dave Earley) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 12:18:23 +0000

As part of the ABS Internet Survey released the other week, it’s interesting to see total data downloaded in Australia has more than doubled in two years.
Out of the two posts I was writing from that survey this post was to be the more substantive.
The first post was NBN to roll out 100mbps – so why are 16 per cent of Australians still on dialup?.

Instead, I’ve just come back to it and will post it as dot points.

Australian household internet consumption has grown 57 times since 2000, the first year the Internet Survey was conducted.

Total subcribers (including business) average download over three months:

2000: 273mb
2008: 10.17 GB

Household subscribers average download over three months (in 2000, there was only dialup)

2000: 174mb
2008: 9.9 GB

Other points of interest from the data.

Average internet data consumption per subscriber has increased 37 times since ABS first released results in September 2000
Average Australian household internet consumption has grown 57 times in the same period.
TOTAL internet data consumption across Australia has increased from just one terabyte of data in 2000, to 81 TB of data in 2009.
3.8 million connection in 2000 were almost all dialup, compared to 8 million connections in 2008, of which 1.3 million were dialup.
In just two years Australian data consumption doubled. In Sep06 Australia’s total data download was 36tb (to 81 TB in Dec 09)
Where the average (mostly dialup) connection in 2000 downloaded 273mb each, the total download across australia was 1.05 TB amongst 3.8 million connections.
In 2008, Australia’s 1.3m dialup users downloaded almost exactly the same amount of overall data as the first survey reported, this time 1.07 TB.

Adelaide’s Advertiser to charge for digital newspaper

dave.earley@gmail.com (Dave Earley) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:14:29 +0000

The PANPA Newspaper News Industry Blog announced yesterday that the Adelaide Advertiser would begin charging $2 for a full digital edition of the paper.

A single copy of the “Smart Edition”, as it will be called, will cost $2, or subscriptions of one month, six months or one year can also be paid for either the weekday or weekend product, or a combination of the two.

Quest Community papers in Queensland already provide free full PDF page-turn editions of their papers (like the Albert and Logan News). A full “spread” of the newspaper is laid out on the screen, with a users turning the virtual page with a click of the mouse. With no ability to zoom in, the only way to read individual stories is to download a PDF of the page.

The Advertiser will use the Newspaper Direct model, which boasts “1020 newspapers from 84 countries in 40 languages” amongst its digital offerings. There are many more features than those seen in the News Ltd Community Newspapers, allowing for zooming in on a page, as well as the ability to print whole pages or individual stories, but I wonder if people will be willing to pay for it.

According to the PANPA post about the introduction, Advertiser Newspapers Managing Director Michael Miller said it might be more convenient for people.

“It’s also for people who are travelling and want to see a full copy of the paper in the proportions and design in which it has been published.

“We don’t see this as replacing the printed copy. It just offers the paper an alternative form that some people might find more convenient.”

I don’t really see how it will be more convenient, in that you’ll have to sit in front of a computer screen to navigate through the paper in a way that’s not entirely user friendly. It would certainly be much quicker to just flick through the pages of the paper, if it’s the full edition you’re after.

It looks they provide a mobile application on the Press Display site, so perhaps it could be conveniently accessed on the road. If it’s not costing The Advertiser much to provide the paper in this format, then it will be interesting to see what the takeup is, and whether this is a way Australians will be eased into paying for news online.

You can try a one-day free trial, or sign up for the Adelaide Advertiser’s “Smart Edition” here, otherwise check out some of the other 1020 newspapers around the world that are using the Newspaper Direct service.

This should have been the first thing I checked… The last thing I’ve done is a simple test, replacing “adelaideadvertiser” in the http://adelaideadvertiser.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx URL to see who else might be trying this. The “Smart Edition” is not new to Australia.

The Courier-Mail Smart Edition
The Age Smart Edition
The Sydney Morning Herald Smart Edition
The Australian Smart Edition
The Herald Sun Smart Edition

So I’m left wondering what was new about Adelaide’s Advertiser joining the throng…new enough for PANPA to post it, and journalism.co.uk to pick it up.

If everyone’s doing it, what are the figures on who’s paying for the news to be delivered this way? Is it a failed revenue stream, a successful way to get people to pay for news online, or are papers doing it because it doesn’t really cost them anything?

Recording Devices in the Queensland Magistrates Courts

dave.earley@gmail.com (Dave Earley) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:51:52 +0000

: Image via Wikipedia

A recent change to the Queensland Magistrates Courts practice directions means members of the media can now use a personal recording device in the courtroom “to maintain accuracy in the reporting of court proceedings”.

On March 25, 2009, Chief Magistrate Judge Brendan Butler issued Practice Direction No. 4 of 2009, Recording Devices in Courtrooms: Magistrates Courts.

Several points in the practice direction make specific allowance for “representatives of news agencies” to record audio for their private use only.

Private audio-recording by representatives of news agencies
9. The recording of court proceedings issued by the State Reporting Bureau is and will remain the authoritative record of proceedings.
10. Media representatives covering the courts will be permitted to make a private audio recording, provided it is done unobtrusively and without interruption to the proceedings. For that purpose, a hand-held recorder may be taken into a courtroom and activated.
11. The purpose of permitting such recording is to maintain accuracy in the reporting of court proceedings. The audio content of the recording may not be broadcast.
12. This direction does not impinge on a Magistrate’s right to revise, subsequently, a judgment delivered ex tempore; or a Magistrate’s right, in a particular case, to prohibit recording, should the Magistrate consider that necessary or desirable.

The 2009 practice directions aren’t up on the Queensland Courts website yet, but you can get the full PDF of Practice Direction No. 4 of 2009 from the Bar Association of Queensland.

At some point I should find the part of legislation defining exactly what, or who, qualifies as either a news agency or its representative. For example, would the courts recognise a journalist from an online news outlet like Crikey? If so, does the legislation go further and allow for less established online news providers, or student journalists, or is there a pre-approved list of accredited mainstream media news agencies?

As an experiment in citizen journalism I would be very interested to see how far the “news agency” definition can be stretched, and specifically if it could be taken to include bloggers.

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Australia’s Top 100 Journalists and News Media People on Twitter

dave.earley@gmail.com (Dave Earley) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 03:52:26 +0000

UPDATE:
The list that appeared here had grown to several hundred Twitter accounts, so I have retitled it and reposted in full as 501 Australian Journalists and News Media People on Twitter. Visit that post to see a larger list of Australian media people on Twitter, and add yourself in the comments.

To more accurately reflect this post’s title, Australia’s Top 100 Journalists and News Media People on Twitter, the list here has been trimmed back to who I consider to be the top 100 Australian journalists and news media people on Twitter.

News Limited
@jg_rat John Grey – editor couriermail.com.au
@jendudley Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson – Technology reporter and blogger The Courier-Mail
@lyndalcairns Lyndal Cairns – online editor couriermail.com.au
@cowspanker David Higgins – Editor news.com.au
@rodpeno Rod Peno – Social Media Producer at News Digital Media
@penbo David Penberthy – editor of The Punch, former editor of the Daily Telegraph
@colgo Paul Colgan – Managing Editor of The Punch
@diversionary Simon Wright – designer news.com.au
@aramadge Andrew Ramadge – news.com.au technology reporter
@newsbee Lanai Vasek -news.com.au business owner editor
@edmundtadros Edmund Tadros – news.com.au business editor
@mclayfield Matthew Clayfield – journalist The Australian
@sarahelks Sarah Elks – Brisbane-based journalist The Australian
@meadea Amanda Meade – Media journalist The Australian
@sally_jackson Sally Jackson – Media journalist The Australian
@joe_hildebrand Joe Hildebrand – Daily Telegraph blogger
@cate3221 Cate Swannell – Gold Coast Bulletin journalist
@rodsavage Rod Savage – AdelaideNow editor

Fairfax
@JohnBirmingham John Birmingham – blogging with Brisbane Times
@valeriekhoo Valerie Khoo – enterprise blogger
@annabelcrabb Annabel Crabb
@ashermoses Asher Moses – technology journalist
@curious_scribe Glenda Kwek – journalist and multimedia
@brontegirl Kimberley Porteous – multimedia editor
@paulwiggins Paul Wiggins – online editor
@lucasng Lucas Ng – search and analytics director fairfax digital
@kuns Mike van Niekirk – editor-in-chief online – fairfax media
@jvdouglas – IT and business journalist with BRW
@miafreedman Mia Freedman Essential Baby blog, columnist Sun-Herald and Sunday Age

ABC
@abcmarkscott Mark Scott – managing director
@mariekehardy Marieke Hardy – triple j breakfast
@myfwarhurst Myfanwy Warhurst – ABC
@kteej Kaitlyn Sawrey – triplej Hack journalist
@rosieryan Rosanna Ryan – ABC online journalist, new media tutor at QUT
@nic_macbean Nic MacBean – ABC journalist
@paulverhoeven Paul verhoeven – triplej
@awrd Andrew Davies – ABC Radio National producer (Future Tense, previously The Media Report)
@leighsales Leigh Sales – ABC Lateline presenter
@marcfennell Marc Fennell – Triple J film critic and ABC Local Radio
@kingleonard Leanord King – internet video specialist ABC news online
@garykemble Gary Kemble – ABC journalist and blogger
@dellvink Amanda Dell – 612 ABC Brisbane
@colvinius Mark Colvin – Presenter of PM, ABC Radio

Crikey
@greenj Johnathan Green – editor Crikey
@BernardKeane Bernard Keane – Crikey
@andrewjcrook Andrew Crook – politics
@firstdogonmoon – Crikey cartoonist
@margaretsimons Margaret Simons – Content Makers blog at Crikey and academic
@stilgherrian – I don’t consider myself a “journalist”, but have sometimes used “writer”

@stephenmayne Stephen Mayne – Crikey founder, now @mayneReport
@aapbrisbane Angelina Harper-Erini – AAP Brisbane deputy bureau chief
@migueldsouza Miguel D Souza – AAP
@renailemay Renai Lemay – editor ZDnet.com.au
@hughjm Hugh Martin – GM APN Online @wazl Warren Lee – CEO APN Online
@theburgerman John Bergin – Deputy Director of Digital News, Sky News Australia
@owenjay Owen Jacques – Daily Mercury, Mackay, business, resources, council journalist
@newsed Simon Holt – group news editor Cumberland and Courier newspaper groups
@harleyd Harley Dennett – news editor, Sydney Star Observer
@thetowncrier Jason Whittaker – managing editor at Trader Business Media – ACP magazines
@genrobey Genevieve Robey – editor Wotnews
@natecochrane Nate Cochrane – Editor in Chief of ITNews, former IT editor of the Age.
@danwarne Dan Warne – online editor apcmag.com, freelance SMH
@bruff Nick Broughall – gizmodo journalist
@riskybusiness Patrick Gray – podcaster and ZDnet.au journalist
@tara_g Tara Grimshaw – video journalist
@cameronreilly Cameron Reilly – ceo the podcast network
@derekbarry Derek Barry – journalist
@mumbrella Tim Burrowes – media and marketing journalist
@duncanriley Duncan Riley – editor the Inquisitr
@grahamy Graham Young – chief editor Online Opinion
@bronwen Bronwen Clune ceo and founder of norg media
@rod3000 Rod McGuinnes – managing editor new matilda
@charispalmer Charis Palmer – Editor Online Banking Review
@jenniferESt Jen Storey- writer for Online Banking Review
@jcmc Jessica Crouch – Editor, president of @synmedia
@mjcp Matthew JC Powell – Editor of MacTheMag and writes for crn.com.au
@dr_nic Nic Healey – Managing Editor at Future Publishing
@gusworldau Angus Kidman – IT journalist
@alexkidman Alex Kidman – IT journalist
@ssharwood Simon Sharwood – freelance tech writer
@bengrubb Ben Grubb – TechWiredAu, freelance for news.com.au
@pocketmojo Anthony Caruana – freelance tech journo – The Age, Macworld, APC, PC Update
@markhjones Mark Jones – australian financial review, freelance tech writer
@seamus Seamus Byrne – Former Editor at Gizmodo AU, now Midnight Update
@cammo Cameron Laird – photographer freelances for News Ltd – The Courier Mail
@muzaloid Murray Cox – freelance photojournalist
@yaboo007 Joseph Sirucka – photographer for Fairfax
@girlclumsy Natalie Bochenski – 4BC Brisbane
@rodsavage Rod Savage – online journalist
@julie_posetti Julie Posetti – journalism at University of Canberra
@sraquinn Stephen Quinn – Deakin university journalism academic, specialises in mobile journalism, or mojo.
@themediapod Ross Monaghan – Deakin University lecturer
@sdbrook Stephen Brook – Australian working in London for the Media Guardian
@mediamum Jo White – grad student and TA at SJMC Uni of Colorado at Boulder
@hamishreporter Hamish Macdonald – presenter and correspondent Aljazeera English
@photo_journ John Le Fevre – Freelance photo-journalist – currently based in Bangkok
@ashbetteridge Ashlee Betteridge – Former Village Voice (Sydney) journalist, now living in Indonesia working at the Jakarta Globe English daily
@niltiac Caitlin Fitzsimmons – in London

NBN to roll out 100mbps – so why are 16 per cent of Australians still on dialup?

dave.earley@gmail.com (Dave Earley) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:29:34 +0000

: Image by Twilight Jones via Flickr

Last week the Australian Bureau of Statistics released their Internet Activity Survey for the December quarter of 2008.

According to the ABS release, their highlight was that wireless broadband subscription across Australia has tripled in just one year, from 481,000 in December 07 to 1.46 million in December 08, which is great.

Looking into the numbers, that massive jump in wireless broadband takeup represents 979,000 new subscribers, more than the entire country’s overall growth of 891,000 internet subscribers in the 12 month period (7.1 to 7.99 million). If the numbers don’t seem to add up it’s because 576,000 subscribers finally ditched their dialup connections. But dialup’s decline actually slowed compared to the previous 12 month period, to December 2007, when 862,000 subscribers left their dialup provider. That drop took dialup connections from 2.75 to 1.88 million, compared to the current period to December 08, where dialup subscribers dropped to just 1.31 million.

What I found unbelievable was to be reminded, in the week that the government rejected all bids for the National Broadband Network (NBN) to go it alone on the internet superhighway to heaven, is that so many Australians are still on dialup. Of the almost 8 million (7.996m) internet subscribers in Australia as at 31 December, 2008, 1.3 million of those are still on a dialup connection. That’s 16% of the country. If dialup is still the price gouge I remember it being 13 years ago, that’s a large proportion of the Australian online community who are overpaying for a vastly inferior product.

Apart from the people don’t have a choice, for reasons like rural or remote areas, I’d be very interested to see some breakdown on who still subscribes to dialup and why. Is there anyone who chooses dialup? Despite having highspeed broadband as a matter of course, I know one person who had to convince his parents recently it wasn’t worth holding on to their dialup subscription “just in case” old contacts still had the email address that was tied to it.

Do you know anyone still on dialup, and do you think they have a good reason to be? Apart from absolute necessity, I don’t see how it could be justified, and part of the NBN rollout should be reducing that 16 per cent significantly.

Australian internet traffic doubles in two years, up 37 times over 8 years (2)

Interview with Dave Earley about Mobile Journalism – MoJo

dave.earley@gmail.com (Dave Earley) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 07:48:47 +0000

: Image by whiteafrican via Flickr

I had an interview request about mobile journalism, or mojo, from Air Force News of all places.
The editor, Simone Liebelt, is a former student of Deakin University academic and mobile journalism expert Stephen Quinn, who recommended me as “one of the pioneers in Australia” for the story on Mobile Journalism trends. The following are some of the answers I was going to email in, but we ended up talking over the phone.
Read on for my ideas about using mobile phones for news gathering.

AIRFORCE NEWS: When did you start using mobile phones for news gathering and did you introduce it to your colleagues?

earleyedtion: In my first week as an intern at The Courier-Mail in February 2007, I took a PDA phone to an interview at the International Airport. The interview was with Wayne Bennett as the Broncos were leaving for England and the World Club Challenge. After the interview, I emailed the audio file back to the office, and the online editors were able to edit and put it online before I even arrived back from the airport.

In June 2007 I made the first stilted attempts at using a mobile phone for following (not gathering) the news, when I joined Twitter. Twitter still offered 250 free SMS updates a week, and I was only following a few news accounts, so started receiving “breaking” news to my mobile phone. It was news already being reported by mainstream media, but it was immediate alerts to things I might not have already been aware of. I wouldn’t say I introduced my colleagues to it, but did tell them about potential stories, especially the online subs if it was an interesting story we didn’t yet know about or have online.

Beyond that, I wasn’t really using a mobile phone for news gathering (eg images or video). Since then I have made some attempts at live streaming video from a news scene, and taking my own images and video, but generally on a point and shoot camera, rather than a mobile phone.

Did the trend catch on quickly and what has the reaction been from your fellow journos?

It was The Courier Mail online news room who suggested I record and send back the audio. Unbelievably, that was two years ago now. I say unbelievably because that was an example of how we could start using mobiles to break news, but it’s now two years later and that sort of newsgathering has still not progressed to be standard industry practice.

Fellow journos are open to trying things like that, using mobiles in the field, but it either hasn’t been encouraged or pushed enough. We’ve had people send in video from the field on a mobile phone. But again, I can only think of one occasion where that has happened. It takes a change of mindset. People have to be thinking of it, have it on their mind

What inspired you, i.e. overseas media agencies using the technology or Prof Quinn’s work?

A bit of both. The first thing that got my interest was the Reuters MoJo program. They were testing Nokia N95s to report, including in Africa. What was unique was that they were using only the N95. They got a little bit of help rigging up an external microphone connection that usually wouldn’t be possible, but the results were great.

I also tutored for a semester at the University of Queensland in web production, trying to help get a bit more online production into the curriculum. While I was there Professor Quinn came to talk to UQ SJC staff about some of the work he was doing with Fairfax. Fairfax were starting to roll out and use the iMate JasJam phone as their multimedia reporting device – using hard foldout keyboards for typing on the go. I wanted to try that.

Would you say you are a Mojo pioneer in Australia, and if so, why?

I wouldn’t say I am a mojo pioneer in Australia. In truth I rarely get the opportunity to do things that are truly “mobile” in their use.
not sure how much I’m actually doing as mojo. It certainly isn’t my job description, just something I’d like to make happen.

I have not particularly seen journalists who would specifically describe themselves as “mobile”. The closest is perhaps fully multimedia journalists who do everything. For example there are some ABC multimedia journalists who use a high def digital video camera to take stills, audio and video. But I’m not sure if they are then mobile in their editing and sending content, or if they then return to a studio.

The only way I might be pioneering is that I’m actively looking for applications and accessories that would facilitate the mobile journalist. So whether that’s using an iPhone, a Nokia, or a phone running Windows Mobile, I’ve been trying to find things specifically created for the mobile journalist. There aren’t many that I’ve found.

What do you see as the advantages and disadvantages of the Mojo, and are you a big advocate?

I expanded more on this answer when Simone interviewed me on the phone…

Advantages: mobile. Go anywhere.

Disadvantages: Quality. I don’t think it’s much of an issue, but it holds people back who are constrained by a misconception about “broadcast quality”. There’s a possible lack of resources…maybe a feeling of disconnectedness from the newsroom, or the perception of a lack of support in news decision making… but I don’t really believe those things would be a problem.

If you’re equipped with a lightweight but powerful laptop, and an internet connection, which obviously thanks to 3G wireless networks means you can be connected almost anywhere, I really don’t see many disadvantages. When you know you’re going to be truly remote without any net connection, maybe you’ll have a satellite phone…

Do you think it will replace professional camera equipment in the future, and will it promote members of the general public to become field reporters?

When you start talking about “mobile journalist”, you’re starting to blur the lines between the professional and the public journalist, which I’m not against. People all over the world are on the ground in places a journalist might not be able to get to for a long period of time.

Again, when you say “it” in regards to MOJO, are you talking about phones, or compact DV cams? I think everything will get smaller and more compact. There will always be professional quality and consumer quality products, but I do think professional camera equipment will change in the future. In the same way that it has changed over the years, it will catch up with technology. As someone once said, so-called “broadcast quality” in the 70s or 80s was horrendous, compared to so-called “broadcast quality” now. And if a cheap DV-cam can now produce better quality than what was considered “broadcast quality” in the 80s, then I think it has, and could have, replaced that earlier professional camera equipment.

Do you think it will become standard practice, and how soon?

I’m not sure it will become a standard practice. I also expanded on this question on the phone. Generally, I think that I’ve seen little to no movement in the past two years about mobile journalism moving towards standard practice, so don’t hold out much hope of it speeding up unless there are people in positions of influence who are serious about making it happen.

Can you give me any recent examples of where only Mojos have captured events (i.e. no standard methods used)?

No standard methods? No, I can’t think of any! What do you mean by no standard methods? Like no office involved at all? Completely done on the road?

Anything else you would like to mention?

Something I’ve been thinking about over the last week is how do you actually define the MoJo? Perhaps this is where academics like Stephen Quinn come in, as people who probably can apply a theoretical or academic approach to it as well. So is it someone who does things ONLY with a mobile phone? Or is it someone who is able to do things, “from the road”? Because “from the road” can expand quite a bit to include massive cameras and equipment… You don’t want to limit the possibilities with a restrictive definition, so to me it’s more something along the lines of “nimble”. Able to be as mobile or as nimble as possible. To edit audio or video you need a laptop, so does that remove it from being MoJo, because you’ve gone outside the mobile phone?

I don’t think that should remove it from the realms of MoJo. If you’re expected to edit audio or video before sending it back to the newsroom, you’ll need a laptop. Then to send it you might have to use your mobile’s 3G connection, so I think it’s difficult to limit MoJo to the mobile phone exclusively.

Simone mentioned she had also talked to Miguel de Souza from AAP about MoJo. His opinion will carry more authority than mine.

An experiment in Mobile Journalism or MoJo (earleyedition.com)

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