Media

This looks like it might be a good investment. A Handbook for bloggers on censorship, and how to avoid recriminations. A sign that with a degree of media power comes some serious responsibility. Available free online from Reporters sans Frontières. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty

Reader Moderate Unionist, brought my attention to this stanza from the John Godfrey Saxe poem “The Blind Men and the Elephant” (which I’m sure most of us remember from primary school) seems to wrap up the current gulf in understanding in Northern Ireland. It’s worth repeating:Moral: So oft in theologic wars, The disputants, I ween, Rail on in utter ignorance Of what each other mean, And prate about an Elephant Not one of them has seen. Mick FealtyMick is founding …

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THE performance of the Orange Order in the public eye over the past few days has been shambolic. There is no doubt that the reputation of the Order internationally and at home is in dire straits, even when the opportunity is handed to it on a plate. Former UUP MP David Burnside reckons even the Mafia have better PR (though fortunately he sidestepped such a position himself early in his career). The Order’s inability to provide leadership or accept any …

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THE decision of the Guardian to switch to a more compact Berliner format has prompted some online soul searching about the future of the newspaper. With so many form of digital media providing news too, will newspapers become a niche market? Or will they adapt to survive, gradually integrating with their online counterparts? Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

Interesting headline in this report on Gerry Adams’ visit to the US. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty

Former Guardian editor Peter Preston believes that the answer to the troubles of the print media is to integrate their mainstream operations with their online activity: In short, a moment of profound decision-making approaches. Some papers, like the Daily Express, make no great effort to move with the times. Some, like the Sun, cut back in anguish. Some, like the Guardian, have begun, at great cost, to build a future on the net. But integration? One newsroom serves all? So …

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And of being able to take a joke at your own expense. He considers the loss of the Portadown News. But he is rather less than gentle with an old adversary from the Andersonstown News. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty

From American Digest, some daily affirmations for bloggers (and their commenters) 🙂 Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty

Google’s just launched its blog search. The big advantage is it is quick and easy to use. Here’s what a search for Slugger brings up. Just keep scrolling! As you’ll see Newton Emerson on Katrina gets the credit for the rise in Slugger numbers, not our own (comparatively) little difficulties of the last week. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a …

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Blogging from me will be slow today. I’ve to keep my eye on one or two other projects. I hope my blogging colleagues will hold the fort in my absence! Should be back tomorrow as normal. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty

Okay, it was last but one. That Jimmy Sands has been mischeiveous, again. As I’ve said previously, I’m no fan of online petitions, but this skit has produced a few gems. Not least Jimmy’s apposite strapline – Slugger: the thinking man’s riot! We think he has got it in one. Unless, of course, you know better!! Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and …

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Managed to pick up a copy of the new Guardian today. It’s a triumph of patience over fashion. They’ve got the right size (Berliner), and the design is good. But a bit like the Independent when it first kicked off in 1986, it feels like the subs are a bit at sea with the new proportions. Presumably that will ease with time. The paper is now in new territory. By beefing up its hard core news and snipping a few …

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Friday was a big day for Slugger. Our normal daily readership has climbed to an average of just under 4,000. But Newton Emerson’s IT piece set a large section of the blogosphere alight with enthusiastic approval. So much so that we broke our previous daily record readership for our election results coverage (9,000), and pushed into respectable small newspaper figure of 23,000. It has settled back now to about 5/6000. But it amply demonstrates the extraordinary power of the blogosphere! …

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EVAN Davis takes a look at the kinds of choices journalists must make when presenting news. There’s fine line between comment and bias, he admits, but does merely presenting the facts really do a story justice if those facts are incomprehensible to the audience?Remembering that the “facts” may be true, but already presented to the journalist with a certain emphasis by whoever commissioned them, and that decisions have to made about which facts and figures to use too, it means …

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The threat of legal action against Vincent Browne’s Village magazine has resulted in a halt to the printing of this week’s issue [not that I buy it you understand *ahem*]. As the Irish Times reports, Eddie Hobbs, of Rip-Off Ireland fame, consulted his lawyers after being asked to comment on an article Village was planning to print on his role as a financial adviser with the Taylor Investment group from 1993 to 1994.. clearly Village recognised the potential danger or …

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I’m not big into on line petitions. It’s not clear what weight the carry with the petitionee. But this one is interesting. Daily Ireland has a petition going to get the British government to advertise with them. If you wish to support them you can sign up here. It will be interesting to hear the outcome. In particular, to hear exactly why the British are not choosing to place adverts with them. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He …

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I’m a bit short of time today, so blogging from me will necessarily be slow. Regarding comments, there is no settled consensus on Slugger, except we ask that you fight hard and fight clean! We had more than five thousand unique visits and 50,000 hits yesterday, thanks mostly to Glenn Reynolds‘ link to Newt’s erudite piece on the blame game! Welcome to our new readers! Even if Northern Ireland’s not your thing, we also blog things outside our small six …

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The Press Gazette lauds the success of the Newsletter’s rise in circulation, which editor Austin Hunter puts down to a re-discovery of its political roots. Also it records a fall in the Irish News readership from ‘a steady 50,000 sale to a 3.6 per cent drop at 48,276’. That will no doubt provide some limited satisfaction on the part of Daily Ireland where most of those readers must have gone. But at 10,467 it faces a long haul before its …

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Reader Bob Wilson calls our attention to the launch of a freeview satellite service which will bring all of the BBC and UTV offerings to those parts of NI which currently can’t receive them. However, Bob argues that using satellite that the full, unencrypted, BBC digital service should also be available to anyone with the equipment to receive it.He believes the consequences may not be trivial: When BBC shifted to unencrypted in ‘these islands’ (ie unencrypted over ‘British Isles’ as …

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