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category archive listing Category Archives: questions

Tracking a Rumor: Indian Government, Twitter, and Common Sense

November 27, 2008 – 9:53 am

This morning, as I check in on the still-unfolding news about yesterday’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai, I noticed a widely repeated rumor: allegedly, the Indian government asked Twitter users to stop tweeting info about the location and activities of police and military, out of concern that this could aid the terrorists.
For example, see Inquisitr.com: Indian [...]

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in accountability, accuracy, credibility, critical thinking, journalism, problems, skills, social media, transparency | Comments (27)

Can you commit journalism via Twitter?

November 22, 2008 – 10:02 am

Today on Twitter Tips, Jason Preston asks:
“Journalism requires that stories been constructed, facts be tied together, narratives presented, and context created. In short, journalism is the big picture.
“No one would argue that you can get the pig picture in 140 characters. But what about aggregate tweets? One person over a long time, or many people [...]

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in citizen journalism, critical thinking, culture, journalism, media evolution, news, processes, social media | Comments (1)

Spot.us and Fear of Change

November 11, 2008 – 10:00 am

As the traditional news business model continues to stumble, what people fear losing most is investigative and enterprise reporting — especially on the local level. This type of journalism is notoriously difficult, time-consuming, risky, and costly. It’s not something that amateurs or concerned citizens can readily handle. If we want it to continue, we need [...]

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in business, civic, emotions, exploring, journalism, money/funding, psychology | Comments (1)

Working with Journalists: What’s in It for Geeks?

October 31, 2008 – 2:59 pm

NOTE: This post originally appeared on Poynter’s E-Media Tidbits, and there are some comments over there. I’m reposting this here because, frankly, this site poses fewer hurdles to commenters, and I’d like to get some diverse discussion happening.

Earlier this week I wrote about the internal and external obstacles journalism schools face when trying to achieve [...]

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in Net Effects on Society, civic, collaboration, culture, geeks, journalism, mindset, networking, skills, social networks, software, solutions | Comments (2)