It's no secret that reading is good for you. Just six minutes of reading is enough to reduce stress by 68%, and numerous studies have shown that reading keeps your brain functioning effectively as you age. One study even found that elderly individuals who read regularly are 2.5 times less likely to develop Alzheimer's than their peers. But not all forms of reading are created equal.
The debate between paper books and e-readers has been vicious since the first Kindle came out in 2007. Most arguments have been about the sentimental versus the practical, between people who prefer how paper pages feel in their hands and people who argue for the practicality of e-readers. But now science has weighed in, and the studies are on the side of paper books.
Reading in print helps with comprehension.
A 2014 study found that readers of a short mystery story on a Kindle were significantly worse at remembering the order of events than those who read the same story in paperback. Lead researcher Anne Mangen of Norway's Stavanger University concluded that "the haptic and tactile feedback of a Kindle does not provide the same support for mental reconstruction of a story as a print pocket book does."
To read the entire article, click here.
Monday, September 29, 2014
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Register Ends L.A. Newspaper, Cuts Staff
Register ends L.A. newspaper, cuts staff
BY LILY LEUNG / STAFF WRITER
Published: Sept. 23, 2014 Updated: 6:39 p.m.
Freedom Communications, the owner of the Orange County Register, has ended the print run of the Los Angeles Register and will redirect its focus to covering Orange County, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, the company said Tuesday.
The Los Angeles daily, which launched in April, will continue to have an online presence at losangelesregister.com.
The company’s latest restructuring also resulted in the elimination of 29 newsroom positions.
With those departures, the Orange County Register’s editorial staffing is at 220, still higher than 2011 levels before Register publisher Aaron Kushner, co-owner Eric Spitz and their 2100 Trust bought Freedom in summer 2012.
“One of our biggest challenges – and one that our industry continues to wrestle with – is to evaluate our opportunity costs,” Kushner and Spitz wrote in a memo Monday night to the staff. “In other words, we must make difficult decisions on where we should invest our time and resources to grow.”
BY LILY LEUNG / STAFF WRITER
Published: Sept. 23, 2014 Updated: 6:39 p.m.
Freedom Communications, the owner of the Orange County Register, has ended the print run of the Los Angeles Register and will redirect its focus to covering Orange County, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, the company said Tuesday.
The Los Angeles daily, which launched in April, will continue to have an online presence at losangelesregister.com.
The company’s latest restructuring also resulted in the elimination of 29 newsroom positions.
With those departures, the Orange County Register’s editorial staffing is at 220, still higher than 2011 levels before Register publisher Aaron Kushner, co-owner Eric Spitz and their 2100 Trust bought Freedom in summer 2012.
“One of our biggest challenges – and one that our industry continues to wrestle with – is to evaluate our opportunity costs,” Kushner and Spitz wrote in a memo Monday night to the staff. “In other words, we must make difficult decisions on where we should invest our time and resources to grow.”
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
What Does the Rise in Brand Journalism Mean?
The rise of native advertising, and what some are calling “brand journalism,” has triggered a wave of revulsion and horror in media circles. A feature-length piece in the Financial Times is just the latest in a series of such pieces bemoaning the fact that PR people outnumber journalists 4 to 1, and companies are publishing their own newspapers. There’s no question the web has allowed brands to become media entities — so what should traditional media do about it?
As painful as it may be to hear, the only real answer is: try harder. In other words, traditional journalists need to step up their game, and try to give readers something extra — something unique, whether it’s insight or joy or whatever they feel is their unique selling proposition. Rewriting press releases isn’t going to work when companies live-stream and live-blog their own product launches.
To read the entire article, click here:
As painful as it may be to hear, the only real answer is: try harder. In other words, traditional journalists need to step up their game, and try to give readers something extra — something unique, whether it’s insight or joy or whatever they feel is their unique selling proposition. Rewriting press releases isn’t going to work when companies live-stream and live-blog their own product launches.
To read the entire article, click here:
Saturday, September 6, 2014
'Bloodbath' at USA Today
Here's an excerpt from a really sad story about USA Today.
Korina Lopez was preparing to get a tooth pulled when the call came from USA Today’s human relations office on Wednesday morning. She couldn’t talk, but returned the call as soon as she got home and learned her job as an entertainment writer for the media giant was over.
“They gave me all of five minutes and dismantled 11 years of work,” she said. “I had 15 minutes before they locked me out of my computer. I was trying like crazy to copy all of my contacts before I got locked out. “
Lopez was one of 60 to 70 employees laid off this week at USA Today in a move the company attributed to a need to cut costs in the face of declining print advertising revenue.
Gannett Co. recently announced it was spinning off its flagship national paper and 81 other newspapers into a company separate from its broadcast properties. The company said about half of those laid off worked in the newsroom, amounting to 8 percent of the total editorial staff.
Lopez and several others whose positions were slashed said they weren’t totally surprised that the company was downsizing, but were shocked at how it took place.
Scott Bowles, 49, a film reporter and critic for USA Today’s Los Angeles bureau and 20-year-veteran of Gannett Co., got the layoff call at 8:20 that morning.
“They told me, we are letting you go. You are out and your email is down,” he recalled. “It was cold, it was quick and it was final. Perhaps that is fitting for what is happening in the news era.”
Others in the newsroom were escorted out by security after losing their jobs, Bowles said. “It was so disrespectful. These people were treated like shoplifters.”
Bowles said veteran newsroom employees who had worked there for decades almost immediately lost access to their business email accounts.
“It was a total bloodbath,” Lopez said.
To read the entire article, click here.
Korina Lopez was preparing to get a tooth pulled when the call came from USA Today’s human relations office on Wednesday morning. She couldn’t talk, but returned the call as soon as she got home and learned her job as an entertainment writer for the media giant was over.
“They gave me all of five minutes and dismantled 11 years of work,” she said. “I had 15 minutes before they locked me out of my computer. I was trying like crazy to copy all of my contacts before I got locked out. “
Lopez was one of 60 to 70 employees laid off this week at USA Today in a move the company attributed to a need to cut costs in the face of declining print advertising revenue.
Gannett Co. recently announced it was spinning off its flagship national paper and 81 other newspapers into a company separate from its broadcast properties. The company said about half of those laid off worked in the newsroom, amounting to 8 percent of the total editorial staff.
Lopez and several others whose positions were slashed said they weren’t totally surprised that the company was downsizing, but were shocked at how it took place.
Scott Bowles, 49, a film reporter and critic for USA Today’s Los Angeles bureau and 20-year-veteran of Gannett Co., got the layoff call at 8:20 that morning.
“They told me, we are letting you go. You are out and your email is down,” he recalled. “It was cold, it was quick and it was final. Perhaps that is fitting for what is happening in the news era.”
Others in the newsroom were escorted out by security after losing their jobs, Bowles said. “It was so disrespectful. These people were treated like shoplifters.”
Bowles said veteran newsroom employees who had worked there for decades almost immediately lost access to their business email accounts.
“It was a total bloodbath,” Lopez said.
To read the entire article, click here.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Bezos Changes WaPo Leadership
Everybody has been watching to see what the new owner, entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, will do with the iconic Washington Post. Here is his latest move in change of leadership.
Washington Post owner Jeffrey P. Bezos is replacing Publisher Katharine Weymouth with Frederick J. Ryan Jr., a former Reagan administration official who was part of the founding leadership team of Politico, a primarily digital news organization that competes with The Post on political coverage, the company announced Tuesday.
The departure of Weymouth, 48, ends eight decades of Graham family leadership of The Post, which her great-grandfather bought in 1933. Bezos, who acquired The Post for $250 million in a sale announced in August 2013, initially kept the senior leadership team intact. He told Weymouth during a visit to Washington, on Aug. 18, that he had selected a new publisher, according to people familiar with the decision. She will remain on the company payroll as an adviser through the end of the year.
To read the entire article, click here.
Washington Post owner Jeffrey P. Bezos is replacing Publisher Katharine Weymouth with Frederick J. Ryan Jr., a former Reagan administration official who was part of the founding leadership team of Politico, a primarily digital news organization that competes with The Post on political coverage, the company announced Tuesday.
The departure of Weymouth, 48, ends eight decades of Graham family leadership of The Post, which her great-grandfather bought in 1933. Bezos, who acquired The Post for $250 million in a sale announced in August 2013, initially kept the senior leadership team intact. He told Weymouth during a visit to Washington, on Aug. 18, that he had selected a new publisher, according to people familiar with the decision. She will remain on the company payroll as an adviser through the end of the year.
To read the entire article, click here.
Why Freelance Reporting is so Dangerous
James Foley is a reminder why freelance reporting is so dangerous
By Tina Carr, Special to CNN
updated 7:47 AM EDT, Thu August 21, 2014
Editor's note: Tina Carr is the Director of the Rory Peck Trust, a London-based NGO dedicated to the support, safety and welfare of freelance newsgatherers around the world. The trust is named after freelance war cameraman Rory Peck who was killed while on assignment in Moscow in 1993. The views expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- Freelance journalist James Foley was brutally killed yesterday after being held for 21 months by Islamic militants in Syria. Despite the increasing dangers of working in the region, despite the many journalists who have been kidnapped or are still missing, and despite dreading this news, it has taken us all by surprise and we are deeply, deeply shocked.
Freelance journalists, photographers and video journalists have always played a vital role in newsgathering, and their contribution today is more important than ever. They make a crucial contribution to the free flow of information that is an essential part of a democratic society and fully deserve our support and protection.
Our Trust works with freelancers on a daily basis -- helping them, helping their families, and sometimes working with them to help other freelancers. And James was one of these. We worked with him, helping him financially as he and his colleagues searched for missing colleagues in Syria. We stayed in touch.
James' kidnap and death is yet another tragic reminder of the very real dangers facing journalists today. Over the past two years, around 70 journalists have been killed covering the conflict in Syria, and a further 20 journalists currently remain missing, including freelancer Austin Tice.
The Committee to Protect Journalists say that the last two years have been the most dangerous for journalists on record, with 174 confirmed deaths since 2012. Not only this, but threats, intimidation, assaults and kidnappings are becoming every day challenges for journalists working around the world. Reuters columnist David Rohde writes: "Syria today is the scene of the single largest wave of kidnappings in modern journalism, more than in Iraq during the 2000s or Lebanon during the 1980s."
These are terrible facts.
So, what of the freelancers? Who negotiates for them? Who sends in security consultants to try and get them out? Who helps their families?
Freelance journalists like James often work alone without the resources and support of large news organizations behind them -- they are always the most vulnerable to these dangers. The Rory Peck Trust has been supporting and assisting freelancers for almost two decades, and we've never seen a demand for our assistance like this before.
It's not just freelancers travelling to conflict zones who are at risk. The majority of newsgatherers killed each year are journalists working in their own countries.
Freelance photographers, fixers and camera operators covering and reporting on conflicts that are affecting their own communities are often the most vulnerable. They're unable to leave areas when it becomes too dangerous, or when their reporting is exposed, and are frequently threatened, attacked and accused of being traitors for working with international news organizations.
So, how to protect freelancers? How to help them work securely? Our organization gives financial and other practical support to freelancers in trouble. We offer online resources on safety & security for those reporting from dangerous environments, and run a Training Fund that provides bursaries for freelancers to enable them to undergo hostile environments training before travelling to a conflict zone. This training can teach freelancers how to assess risk and spot danger, handle a crisis, support others and give vital first aid. The right training can save lives.
Although our focus is specifically on freelancers, we are only one of the many organizations that exist to support journalists worldwide. Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders and IFJ all have security guides that can help freelancers be more prepared in situations of crisis. The International News Safety Institute offers up-to-date information about the security situation on the ground for journalists, and RISC offers vital first-aid training.
There's no question that conflict journalism has always been a dangerous occupation -- and how very wrong that is! So when we talk about protection, when we talk about security, we are talking about every sector of the news industry, whether news employers, staff or freelancers. In this brutal new world, everyone must be prepared to take responsibility -- for themselves and for others.
James Foley was a freelancer in the truest and most honorable sense -- a talented journalist and an exceptional human being. Our thoughts are with his family at this tragic time, and with the families of all other journalists currently being held in Syria.
By Tina Carr, Special to CNN
updated 7:47 AM EDT, Thu August 21, 2014
Editor's note: Tina Carr is the Director of the Rory Peck Trust, a London-based NGO dedicated to the support, safety and welfare of freelance newsgatherers around the world. The trust is named after freelance war cameraman Rory Peck who was killed while on assignment in Moscow in 1993. The views expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- Freelance journalist James Foley was brutally killed yesterday after being held for 21 months by Islamic militants in Syria. Despite the increasing dangers of working in the region, despite the many journalists who have been kidnapped or are still missing, and despite dreading this news, it has taken us all by surprise and we are deeply, deeply shocked.
Freelance journalists, photographers and video journalists have always played a vital role in newsgathering, and their contribution today is more important than ever. They make a crucial contribution to the free flow of information that is an essential part of a democratic society and fully deserve our support and protection.
Our Trust works with freelancers on a daily basis -- helping them, helping their families, and sometimes working with them to help other freelancers. And James was one of these. We worked with him, helping him financially as he and his colleagues searched for missing colleagues in Syria. We stayed in touch.
James' kidnap and death is yet another tragic reminder of the very real dangers facing journalists today. Over the past two years, around 70 journalists have been killed covering the conflict in Syria, and a further 20 journalists currently remain missing, including freelancer Austin Tice.
The Committee to Protect Journalists say that the last two years have been the most dangerous for journalists on record, with 174 confirmed deaths since 2012. Not only this, but threats, intimidation, assaults and kidnappings are becoming every day challenges for journalists working around the world. Reuters columnist David Rohde writes: "Syria today is the scene of the single largest wave of kidnappings in modern journalism, more than in Iraq during the 2000s or Lebanon during the 1980s."
These are terrible facts.
So, what of the freelancers? Who negotiates for them? Who sends in security consultants to try and get them out? Who helps their families?
Freelance journalists like James often work alone without the resources and support of large news organizations behind them -- they are always the most vulnerable to these dangers. The Rory Peck Trust has been supporting and assisting freelancers for almost two decades, and we've never seen a demand for our assistance like this before.
It's not just freelancers travelling to conflict zones who are at risk. The majority of newsgatherers killed each year are journalists working in their own countries.
Freelance photographers, fixers and camera operators covering and reporting on conflicts that are affecting their own communities are often the most vulnerable. They're unable to leave areas when it becomes too dangerous, or when their reporting is exposed, and are frequently threatened, attacked and accused of being traitors for working with international news organizations.
So, how to protect freelancers? How to help them work securely? Our organization gives financial and other practical support to freelancers in trouble. We offer online resources on safety & security for those reporting from dangerous environments, and run a Training Fund that provides bursaries for freelancers to enable them to undergo hostile environments training before travelling to a conflict zone. This training can teach freelancers how to assess risk and spot danger, handle a crisis, support others and give vital first aid. The right training can save lives.
Although our focus is specifically on freelancers, we are only one of the many organizations that exist to support journalists worldwide. Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders and IFJ all have security guides that can help freelancers be more prepared in situations of crisis. The International News Safety Institute offers up-to-date information about the security situation on the ground for journalists, and RISC offers vital first-aid training.
There's no question that conflict journalism has always been a dangerous occupation -- and how very wrong that is! So when we talk about protection, when we talk about security, we are talking about every sector of the news industry, whether news employers, staff or freelancers. In this brutal new world, everyone must be prepared to take responsibility -- for themselves and for others.
James Foley was a freelancer in the truest and most honorable sense -- a talented journalist and an exceptional human being. Our thoughts are with his family at this tragic time, and with the families of all other journalists currently being held in Syria.
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