BY NICOLE BLANCHETT Journalists often have strong opinions about the most important roles of journalism, such as being a watchdog for society, even if they don’t always perform those roles. I know this because I used to work in a newsroom. Sometimes, I developed stories or produced newscasts that shared critical information for the community.…
With a significant portion of the audience arriving at news sites via social media and search, the imminent death of the homepage is a common refrain. One senior digital manager told me he was expecting the “death of the homepage revolution” to hit his market at some point, but it hadn’t yet. He might be…
There is a common, disparaging discourse surrounding the relevance of the pageviews metric. I’ve heard pageviews called everything from passé to obsolete. Those descriptions may hold true in some environments. But in your average newsroom, pageviews aren’t passé—they’re a priority. I know this because over the past 10 months, for my PhD research, I’ve talked…
What are the chances a group of second-year community college students could create a website that is internationally recognized? Apparently, pretty good. #WhatAreTheChances–a project examining how income, gender, mental health, and race can impact a GenY’s opportunities–is the latest site developed in Sheridan Journalism Broadcast’s Online News Production class, a course I co-teach with Cheryl Vallender.…
This story was originally posted on J-Source back in 2011, but is no longer available on that site. I reposted it here after a friend requested to use it in an ethics class. “The best bear story ever.” That was the subject line of an e-mail I recently received. The focus of the story was…
The hardest part of putting a story together isn’t figuring out what to put in, but what to leave out. That’s why I love my blog. It’s the perfect home for all the interesting quotes/ideas that I can’t wedge into an article. Something I was reminded of as I was writing my latest piece for…
If you teach any type of media, it’s a constant struggle to keep up with new tools and trends. That’s why I went to the Broadcast Educators Association of Canada’s (BEAC) annual conference in Banff. You can check out my live blog of the event, but if you’d rather not scroll through a few days…
A few months back a book called Overcoming Bias came across my desk. It’s described as a journalist’s guide to culture and context. Admittedly, I was a bit put off by the title; I don’t think overcoming a bias that may have been festering for years can be overcome in the time it takes to…
On November 8th and 9th in Denmark, academics from around the world, including me, congregated at the University of Copenhagen for the New Media and the Public Sphere conference. Just arrived at University of Copenhagen for #NMPS2012 – beautiful campus http://pic.twitter.com/2AUhDQgl Nicole Blanchett Wed, Nov 07 2012 23:52:57 ReplyRetweetFavorite Topics ranged from how a teen’s…
As I write this, I’m sitting at the airport waiting for my flight to Copenhagen where I will attend the New Media and the Public Sphere conference. A great line up of people are scheduled to speak on how changing social networks are impacting discourse in the public sphere. Of course, my primary interest is…
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