Here are some things to think about. Web only accounts for 10 percent of the revenue at many print newspapers. And only a fraction of local readers visit a newspaper site through Google. (Most readers type the name of the home page in their browsers or have it bookmarked, or use an RSS feed.) Murdoch has little to lose by bailing out of Google, because the site is responsible for a minute fraction of News Corporation’s revenue.

On the other hand, Google stands to lose substantially. Every time readers search for news results on Google, they see advertising alongside the articles that Murdoch’s newspapers and others have provided for free. New-economy types argue that traffic and links are valuable, as opposed to information. But if other newspapers follow Murdoch and pull their news articles from Google, people will have to link and search for something else. The question is whether that something else will interest people as intensely and regularly as today’s news.

The showdown will force the central questions that have dogged newspapers for a decade and a half: If information is valueless, why are they paying so much money to produce it, and why is everyone but them profiting from the information they put on the internet? In the aftermath, look for for newspapers that publish a separate web edition, funded only by the revenue that comes in through the Web site–a formula that answers techies by adapting to the supposedly “new” economics of the Web, but also satisfies bottom-line-watchers by not forcing the print edition to subsidize Google.

The upshot is that whether newspapers stay or go, citizen journalists will be busy, because either outcome somehow results in a paucity of local news somewhere and someone has to provide it.

Online news sites are really gaining momentum–it’s hard to believe that only about five years ago conventional wisdom said that it was impossible for anyone but Google to make money by online advertising. Here in Ann Arbor, the Chronicle makes enough money to support the publisher and editor (Mary Morgan and her husband Dave Askins, respectively) solely by selling advertising space.

This new site contains reporting exclusively by civilians, and it is partially backed with funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. It seems that journalists are getting used to the idea of ordinary people writing news.

Stephen Lacy, journalism professor at Michigan State University, was interviewed by Christina Shockley, host of Michigan Radio’s Morning Edition. The podcast is at the Michigan Radio site.

I’m reposting my comments to the interview below:

A response to two comments Professor Lacy made in this very interesting interview.

1.) Citizen journalists won’t replace professional journalists. 
This is correct, but they shouldn’t be expected to. Compare the journalistic process to the local political process. I have the options of becoming a full-time politician (by running for office), or the option of speaking one time at a public hearing that is important to me, or the option of focusing on one issue (such as development or historical preservation) for a long time. The point is that the process is open to the public. Journalism is becoming more open to public participation, and it’s okay if the public participates in ways that don’t resemble, exactly, the work of a professional journalist. Some people want to report on only one topic. Or they want to participate for a limited time and then step back out. Very few people want to practice the full range of what journalists do, and for a long period of time, and for free. 

2.) Commercial journalism has lost the ability to be hyperlocal. 
I don’t believe it’s the job of newspapers or of citizen journalists to bring geographic areas into sharp focus. The blind spots of news organizations are not necessarily geographic. But they are prone to ignore political and social issues that some readers care about deeply. These lapses are more important than when there is road work in my neighborhood, or a parade, or something like that. People are much more energized politically–and journalistically–when they see that things are not working the way they ought to be. When the newspaper isn’t getting the job done, you start writing the news yourself.

3.) Lastly, the professor described reader comments as a way that newspapers are imitating citzen journalism. They could actually be described as a kind of citizen journalism. It makes more sense if you call it “democratic journalism” and define it as any kind of participation by civilians in the news reporting process. “Citizen Journalism” is a misleading term, precisely because it conjures up the image of untrained, full time, reporters, and those are very hard to find. What citizens are doing, more than ever, is contributing on an ad hoc basis to the collection and dissemination of news. And they are participating in a discussion about how professional journalists go about their duties. (This is also important, because somebody has to keep any eye on us journalists–We have too much power, and what’s worse: We think we know what we’re doing.) It looks like the bulk of democratic journalism, or citizen journalism, is going to be done in small bites, by ordinary people who ask reporters to add something to the story, or to do a story in the first place, or people who simply offer up information in the comments to an online news story. These people may not think of themselves as citizen journalists.

In Tehran, foreign journalists have been all but shut down. Citizen journalists are posting everything online. Protests against what citizens call a rigged election are being put down by aggressive police action. 

fhashemi’s Flickr photostream.

Tehranlive.org.

And check out the #iranelection thread on Twitter.

A Michigan Messenger story, by MINEHAHA FORMAN reports that Diane Bukowski got a year of probation, 200 hours of community service and $4,000 in fines for photographing the deadly results of a police chase by Michigan State Police on Election Day last year. 

The judge acknowledged that police testimony did not agree with Fox 2 news footage. Bukowski plans to appeal.

Anyone who wants to contribute to her legal defense fund can send money to: 

Committee to Defend Diane Bukowski and Freedom of the Press, 
Care of Michigan Citizen 
1055 Trumbull, Detroit, MI 48216

I’ve been on both sides of the copy desk- both as a reporter who was bitter about the way a copy editor had hacked up my prose and as a copy editor who has had to justify why I trimmed a piece mercilessly for space consideration.

If you’ve spent any time in a traditional newsroom, you probably know that reporters have a love-hate relationship with the copy editing team. As a blogger, you may feel relieved that you don’t have to go through the traditional newsroom process and have your beautiful words picked apart by the copy desk. Certainly, having the final say on the shape of your piece is satisfying, but I would ask you to consider the importance of either recruiting a copy editor for your blog or learning to be your blog’s own copy editor.

Why do you need a copy editor?

A few copy editors live to nitpick or are frustrated writers who take out their annoyance by totally rearranging your prose. But, mainly the job of a copy editor is to make you, as a writer, look good. A good copy editor saves you from factual and grammatical mistakes and, as time allows, helps you tweak your copy to make it not merely good but great. If you have copy-editing experience, you have a head start over other bloggers in terms of making your blog posts punchy and fun to read. If you don’t have copy-editing experience, you may want to consider picking up some of those skills.

Recruiting a copy editor for your blog

If you have a bit of a following on your blog, you probably have a few readers who act as volunteer copy editors anyway, catching your mistakes for free and emailing you about them. Instead of feeling embarrassed or annoyed with them, harness their power! You can write to some of the least obnoxious and smartest of them and ask them if they’d be willing to look over posts before you publish, especially if you know you have weaknesses in spelling or grammar. It’s possible to be a stellar reporter who is a bad speller, and rather than beating yourself up about your weaknesses, it’s important to ask for help from those who have strengths in your weak areas.

Becoming your own copy editor

If you think you have a pretty good grasp of grammar and spelling, you may just want to act as your own copy editor. Some tools that will help you do this include:

a) A good grasp of AP style. As a blogger, you may want to bend or break some of the rules of AP style, but it’s better to break them in a knowledgeable way. Learning AP style will make your posts look more consistent from week to week and will help lend your blog legitimacy. You can either buy a copy of the AP Stylebook, or just check one out of the library and memorize some rules that you’ll be referencing frequently. If you need a refresher, the AP Stylebook’s online “Ask the Editor” resource may allow you to research your style question for free.

b) A good word processing tool. Right now, I am being lazy and am typing this post directly into the blog tool. However, before I post it, I will copy and paste it into a word processor and will run a grammar and spelling check. If you’re using a blogging tool that has a good grammar and spelling check, make sure you use it! It will not only catch homophones like “their/there” but will also help you catch passive constructions that make your writing seem limp or weak.

c) A “back burner” habit. You may be itching to get a post out right now because you’re feeling passionate about the topic or because you want to scoop your local rivals. But most pieces of writing can benefit from putting them on the metaphorical back burner after a first draft. This doesn’t have to take days- it can involve just taking a lunch break or a five-minute walk around the block. When you come back to that initial draft, you’re more likely to catch mistakes or see ways that rearranging a couple paragraphs will make it easier to read. Taking that small break allows your brain to reset and see the piece in a new way. If you just keep plugging away at editing and re-drafting without that mental break, your eyes tend to glaze over, and you’ll skate over missing words or confusing transition sentences.

If any copy editors are reading, feel free to contribute additional ideas in the comments.

It’s an obvious case of political retaliation. And there are now accusations that several police officers and other law enforcement officials have broken the law, committed perjury, or suborned perjury, all to prevent a reporter from photographing a news event.

Anybody heard of the First Amendment? Wouldn’t it have been better to admit that the police chase was less than perfect?

Check out articles in the Michigan Messenger and the MetroTimes.

AnnArbor.com will generate revenue through targeted advertising, according to a key member of the management team.

The web site, created to replace the 174-year-old Ann Arbor News when it ceases to publish in July, will gather information about readers and then use data mining techniques to target ads to those readers who will most likely be interested, said Laurel Champion, executive vice president of AnnArbor.com LLC.

Champion said the innovation would give the company “the ability to be much more targeted with our advertisers and their messages.”

The site itself states: “We believe that done right, AnnArbor.com will offer better solutions for advertisers. Deep community engagement and a stronger neighborhood focus will allow for smarter targeting, better ability to connect with customers and ultimately a better return on investment.”

Champion said she would not be able to answer questions about exactly how the data would be gathered. And Tony Dearing, content director for the site was not available for comment.
However, the site has a privacy policy which discusses the use of client information

The 23-paragraph document says, in part:

” . . .We may also provide your information to our advertisers, so that they can serve ads to you that meet your needs or match your interests. . . .

“While your personally identifying information is protected as outlined above, we reserve the right to use, transfer, sell, and share aggregated, anonymous data about our users as a group for any business purpose, such as analyzing usage trends and seeking compatible advertisers and partners. . . .

“We may also use advertising service vendors to help present advertisements on the Website. These vendors may use cookies, web beacons, or similar technologies to serve you advertisements tailored to interests you have shown by browsing on this and other sites you have visited, to determine whether you have seen a particular advertisement before and to avoid sending you duplicate advertisements. In doing so, these vendors may collect non-personal data such as your browser type, your operating system, Web pages visited, time of visits, content viewed, ads viewed, and other clickstream data. The use of cookies, web beacons, or similar technologies by these advertising service vendors is subject to their own privacy policies, not ours, and Service Provider disclaims all liability in connection therewith.”

In attracting readers and delivering news, the company says its site will go technologically further than many news sites by incorporating social networking aspects. And it will allow readers to have news delivered directly to their email inboxes.

AnnArbor.com has been developed with the help of Huge, inc, a company that previously developed MTV’s web site.