It surprised me to learn that it is journalists that are online are in the most danger of being imprisoned for their craft. This RTÉ article  however shows that clearly bloggers are the most in danger of being silenced.

I would’ve assumed that governments throughout the world care less about online journalists than their print equivalents. Although it’s obvious that amateur bloggers do not have an organisation around them to protect them from persecution. 

A similar issue is that of bloggers putting themselves in more direct physical danger.  David Kearns also blogged on this issue, discussing how everyday people are usually the first on the scene of a dangerous news story and many of the pictures we get come from these people. But of course there are inherent dangers to this, a soldier for example I assume would hold fire quicker on a person with a “press” shirt on than a member of the public.

It is definately an issue that must be tackled as bloggers could endanger themselves even further by pushing boundaries that a news organisation would not.

Murdoch: Websites to charge for content.

Most outlets display what stories have been viewed most that day. I must say that this is one of my favourite features of online websites. One of the problems I find with looking at news stories online is that I always seem to go to the same sections and read about similar issues. I feel that I lose out on the variety I get when browsing through a newspaper. With the most viewes feature, that usually appears in a box on the right hand side of a website, I regularly read stories I otherwise would not have. More often than not, the story is usually pretty interesting also.

It is also interesting to see what stories people find most interesting. It is funny that the most viewed story is either something out of the ordinary or many times has “sex” in the title. I find that usually these two story types are only over taken when a high profile event is taking place such as an election or high profile murder case.

Anyway here are the most viewed stories today from several leading websites.:

BBC: “Dumped dogs turn to cannibalism”

The Irish Times: “Student’s Wikipedia hoax quote used worldwide in newspaper                                            obituaries”   

RTÉ: “Man killed in Dublin shooting”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           The Guardian: “Champions League: Chelsea v Barcelona – as it happened”                                                                                                                                                                        

CNN: “Another racy Prejean photo emerges; site promises more”              

“To those who believe that paper and print will disappear, I’ve only one word to pronounce – nonsense”.

The were the confident words of the Jonathan Newhouse, CEO of Conde Nast International speaking at the annual conference of the International Federation of the Periodical Press (FIPP).

Magazine heads from around the world gathered in London yesterday to discuss the future of their industry. Newhouse went admit that although advertising, an idispensable revenue stream for magazines, is cheaper on the web, printed editions still have a massive role to play.

Jonathan Newhouse’s speech.

Andy Cowles however, head of editiorial development at IPC Media did admit that although the majority of their revenue comes from print the majority of that revenue is being invested in online ventures.

I must admit that although it is certain that magazines will continue to increase their online presence, their printed versions are obviously more crucial to their survival then is the case with daily newspapers. The tangebility factor is far more important in magazines. The look and feel of the glossy cover can only be achieved in print, as can the ability of the magazine to sit for months on tables in waiting rooms across the world!

Probably to the detriment of my college work the website I visit most is BBC sport. I also feel that this website does interactivity better than any other I have come across.

Its 606 Sport feature is how it does this. 606 firstly acts as a place where bloggers can upload their articles for others to read and comment on. Your can put

your article in any section you like, for example if you are an Aston Villa fan you can put you articles in that section if you follow snooker you can blog in that section and there is also a GAA section. One of the main advantages of this is that you quickly recognise the bloggers’ articles you most enjoy and you can come back to them much like you would a professional journalist.

What I feel the BBC sport website does best however is the way it incorporates the 606 chatter into the pieces of its own paid columnists.  For example one of the ways the BBC covers live football is with a live text service detailing theaction as it happened. Much of the text is taken from comments posted by bloggers on the 606 website aswell as those texting in. Heres how the live text covered tonight’s Champion’s League match between Arsenal and Man Utd., it is obvious the large amount of input bloggers have.

It got me thinking whether or not discussion boards and blog sites will ever be as important in Irish politics as they have proven to be in America. It is probably easy to say that it will, that we are generally a few years behind America and these kind of trends will be replicated over here.

I don’t see it as that simple however. I think one of the reasons that online recruitment and campaigning is so important in American elections, especially presidential elections, is the geographical size of the country. In presidential elections internet communities are vital because supporters of a candidate within the same state must travel great distances to liaise with each other. In Ireland however local meetings take place within walking distance of most people.

Of course these reasons are more to do with the parliamentary system than any kind of social reason. Irish politics is still very traditional. Face to face meetings still form one of the most important parts of any campaign. Bertie Ahern was probably the most liked Taoisigh there ever has been, he had a likeability factor that Brian Cowen ( and Enda Kenny) could dream of. This had nothing to do with a dedicated team of online followers but all to do with the fact that people said he has met everyone in the country at least once.

Anyway these were just my initial thoughts on this issue, it’s definitely a topic more suited to a dissertation than a wordpress blog. But if you can’t publish your day to day musings on a wordpress blog where can you?

In the example cited in Trudi’s article the thread read, “Man who stabbed wife found guilty”.  A link was added an hour later to the Irish Times article of the case.  But I must ask, who reading that thread would know what the story knew who that man was or where this is happening. Would it really be too old fashioned to wait an hour to read the whole story and get the full picture.  Even if this is too much to ask, how about a two line summation in the breaking news section reading;

David Bourke who admitted stabbing his wife at their home in Castleknock, Co. Dublin has been found guilty of murder.

Could the era of online journalism become the era of hyperlocal news? For those of you uninitiated with the term hyperlocal news is news that is highly focused on the smallest of communities. Even more centred than the Northside People’s or Dundalk Democrat’s of this world. One website even claims to be as focused within a neighbourhood. This site is called everyblock.com.

To be honest the website isn’t very good. I took one area of Boston I’m familar with to see were there any stories from it, they’re weren’t. The only thing there was a photo feed of pictures from some obscure shopping centre opening. Perhaps though, as with most many new websites it is only finding it’s feet and will improve.

In my first blog I criticised RTÉ for it’s failure to successfully put it’s content online. Last Tuesday however our national broadcaster launched a massive overhaul of its online content. The new RTÉ player allows viewers in the Republic of ireland aswell as Northern Ireland to watch many of its programmes online up to 21 days after they were originally broadcast

.  I must say that at first glance the service seems to be top quality.  Not only does the station put a massive proportion of its programming online but the service seems to run very smoothly, far removed from the gremlins that blighted their catch up service before.

The service  includes most of its own programmes such as the News or The Late Late Show and many internationnally made shows such as Home and Away and Grey’s Anatomy.

So like I said to be a successful critic sometimes you must also give credit where it’s due: Well Done RTÉ!

An article by Fintan O’Toole in today’s Irish Times caught my eye. The article details an extraordinary agreement between Google, the Authors Guild of America, and the Association of American Publishers.

The agreement has come out of the development of Google’s book search facility. Google has digitised about 7 million books and made them available on their website. Many students will be aware of this facililty as it can be very useful when for example text books are out of stock in the library.  Google allows viewers to read a preview of the books, by allowing only a number of pages be read.

Under the terms of the new deal, Google will pay $125 million to publishers and authors for the rights to use their content. Google will then allow viewers have longer previews and have the ability to sell the rest of the book to readers.

One of the most troubling aspects of the deal is that while reading these Goolge published books the reader will be bombarded with advertisements related to the content they are reading. This will no doubt alter the experience of the reader and the experience the author intended for the reader.

The author of a book appearing on the website has 2 options, either take $60 from google which basically allows the internet search giant to do whatever they wish with you material or opt out of the deal. Failure to do anything means Google have assumed you are fine with the deal.

In the context of Online Journalism, this story shows how little rights you have once your own creative work is up on the web.