A few words of wisdom from Jean-François Fogel, a consultant with Le Monde Interactif in France. He was speaking at a session at the Online Journalism Symposium in Texas on Friday. His four key points: The internet is the battlefield for an ongoing war of innovation and the press has lost every battle Convergence is an excuse for a smaller newsroom. But he believes it is too early to close

Rosental Alves starts off the International Online Journalism Symposium by talking about the changes we are seeing in journalism. In his view, are in a revolution, not an evolution. In his view, the internet is not just the addition of a new form of media to existing forms. To Alves, we are experiencing the equivalent of the Gutenberg printing press. Jeff Jarvis comes on. His line, the idea of “news

The International Online Journalism Symposium at the University of Texas in Austin is taking place this weekend. It is fast becoming a key event on the journalism conference circuit. Part of its attraction is that it brings together both senior editors and academics. This year, more than 250 people have registered for it. I am presenting a paper on Saturday, co-authored with Neil Thurman of City University London, that examines

The Center for Citizen Media has published a set of principles for “citizen journalists”, which are remarkably similar to those for “professional journalists”. They cover the essentials of good journalism – accuracy, thoroughness, fairness, transparency and independence. The Center says its goal is “to detail the bedrock foundations of journalism to help citizen reporters grasp the fundamentals of the craft in a networked age”. The principles it outlines are the

A post by former Microsoft blogger Robert Scoble arguing that newspapers are dead has provoked the expected flurry of discussion online. Scoble’s prediction was sparked off by Tim O’Reily talking about rumours that the San Francisco Chronicle is in deep trouble. Among those pitching in with reactions worth reading are Dave Winner and Doc Searls. They both make great points. But it strikes me that we should be discussing how

Regular visitors to this blog will know that I harbour strong reservations about the BBC’s plan to take advertising on its international-facing sites. So do many others, who have joined forces to petition the British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The e-petition, on the Downing Street site, was started by ex-BBC journalist Alex Kirby, and one of my former colleagues when I worked at the BBC News website. Please add your

The legal spate between Viacom and Google over clips on YouTube has generated acres of coverage. For one of the best illustrations of how ridiculous the whole thing, head over to The Daily Show. In a section labelled “Professional Important News”, it exposes how silly the whole thing is. The clip, is of course, available online. But Viacom would rather you watch it at Comedy Central, than search for it

No news is good news when it comes to the controversy over advertising on BBC.com. The organisation’s governing body, the BBC Trust, has again deferred a decision over whether to approve ads on the international-facing sites. It seems BBC management is not yet ready to press the Trust for a decision. At least the Trust is taking its time. In February it said providing independent news and information to an

One of the main TV channels in the UK is ITV, the main commercial competitor to the BBC. Or rather, maybe we should say it was one of the main stations in the days when there were only four channels on the box. Now it is just one of the many choices and its audiences are declining. So like so much MSM, ITV is going back to school to learn

The Daily Express website is the latest UK newspaper to overhaul its online presence to make greater use of community features. As well as more blogs, the paper has created a MyExpress, which lets readers have their own space on the site. Online editor Geoff March told Journalism.co.uk: We have a loyal online readership and, while we’ve worked hard to improve the existing Daily Express website, it needed to evolve