We the Media

Book Published in Taiwan

The Taiwanese edition has been published, and today's China Times has a review. Hope it's friendly...

Serious Ad Money for Blog

Ad Age (reg req): Sony Pays $25,000 a Month for Gawker Blog. Sony Consumer Electronics e-Solutions Group is the exclusive sponsor for the launch of LifeHacker, a blog that goes live today about the software of personal gadgetry by Gawker Media, according to the online company. The deal, which also includes placements on Gizmodo, Gawker's earlier gadget title, will cost Sony in the range of $25,000 a month, according to a source close to the deal. The sponsorship runs for about three months.

Well, there go the pay scales at Nick Denton's company...

I'm not nuts about the sole-sponsor ad model, but it's obviously going to be a wave of the future in personal journalism.

(Via Alan Mutter)

Finding Common Ground in Translation

I'm reminded of that by a call this morning from António Granado, who writes about science for Publico, a major daily newspaper, and posts frequently to his own journalism blog. He's reviewing We the Media, which has just been published in Portuguese.

We Americans tend to take for granted the ascendency of English. While English has become the international language of commerce, science and aviation -- and it's becoming a common second language around the globe -- cultures are holding onto what makes them unique. As they should.

One of the reasons I like to travel is meeting people who aren't like me in their own lands. We all refract life through human lenses, but our cultures determine a lot about who we are beyond that.

USA Today Book Mention

Phil Meyer, journalism professor at the University of North Carolina, says the major media are being more "closely watched" -- in large part by bloggers -- and humbled in the process.

Dan's New Life

I've left the San Jose Mercury News to work on a grassroots journalism project. You can find out much more about it on my new blog.

A Journalism Giant Retires

Bill Moyers has completedhis last episode of NOW with Bill Moyers, a PBS program that looked in depth at critical issues.

Moyers is a hero in journalism. He's not always right, but he's been asking the tough questions.

He's been especially tough on the press, which in many ways has abdicated its public trust in recent years. We need more voices like his, not fewer.

Citizen Journalism: A Newspaper Goes for It

As Jay Rosen explains in his latest PressThink article, the local paper in Greensboro, N.C., is turning its online self into a community square. Bravo. This is a big deal.

And as Ed Cone observes -- Ed is a blogger of note and columnist for the paper -- this isn't exactly rocket science. Anyone can do it. Almost every newspaper should try.

Comments problems

Several folks have told me they can't post comments lately. We're looking into the situation. Sorry about that.

A Citizen Journalism Project

As noted hereon my SiliconValley.com blog, I'm leaving the Mercury News to work on a grassroots journalism project. Scary and thrilling at the same time.

At a Harvard University conference where I spoke last week, the folks from Korea's amazing OhmyNews, one of my inspirations in this project (and covered at some length in the book), interviewed me about the project. You'll note there aren't many details yet, but I hope to say much more soon.

Book Notes

Several items of note:

Patrick Frey, whose right-of-center Patterico's Pontifications blog has been a useful thorn in the side of the Los Angeles Times, has posted a kind and thoughtful review of We the Media. (He disagrees, in a separate posting, with one particular line in the book.)

The Financial Times ran a long article this week about my book and a related book by a British journalist. I can't point to the piece, by Alan Cane, because it's behind a subscription wall. But it's a deep look at some the big issues facing journalism.

Interestingly, Frey's piece comes on the day when we learned that the LA Times is closing its national print edition, citing the Internet as a good enough way to reach readers outside the LA metro area.

I also got an email this morning from Phil Shapiro, noting a (relatively) long-ago conversation he had with a Washington Post reporter. Journalism is changing, he observes.

Words You Can't Write on Microsoft Blogs

Microsoft launched its MSN Spaces blogware product today, an event noteworthy only in that it stamps our favorite monopolist's approval on the genre. But the rules of the road for these Web writings are distinctly nanny-ish, as BoingBoing's Xeni Jardin hilariously reports.

This will make Microsoft an object of derision in the blogosphere. Better to do it right, and let people say what they want to say.

Newspaper Goes for Reader-Written Blogs

Loic Le Meur: Le Monde puts reader-bloggers at the same level as journalists. Le Monde is one of the first newspapers in the World to offer blogs to their readers, under the Le Monde brand. They have also published a ranking of the 10 top blogs, mixing their journalists blogs and their readers blogs, showing them at the same level, based on blog readers recommendations.

Fascinating move. I hope it succeeds.

China's Latest Web Blockade

Reporters Without Borders reports that China is blocking Google News. This surprises me, given that Google has already self-censored its content to appease Beijing.

Guardian's Waldman Joins Blogosphere

Simon Waldman, who runs Guardian Online, has started a new blog that's well worth your time if you care about the future of journalism. (Disclosure: He wrote a flattering review of my book. I'd point to his blog even if he'd panned it...)

Web Citations Now Fully Linked

Many thanks to Kevin McAllister, who posted this page of links to the websites I mentioned in the book.