Riddle: When are Journalists Citizens?

Answer: Never, if you work for The Washington Post.

The Washington Post unveiled guidelines today restricting its newsroom staff from sharing via social networks their opinions on just. about. anything.  The “Newsroom Guidelines for Use of Facebook, Twitter and Other Online Social Networks” are a virtual radio silence order for anyone in the Post’s newsroom who also participate on the web’s social properties.

Just the facts, please...as you see, hear or speak them

paidContent.org has the full text of the guidelines (with a hat tip to TechCrunch).  Among some activities verboten by the Post if you write for the paper:

Post journalists must refrain from writing, tweeting or posting anything—including photographs or video—that could be perceived as reflecting political, racial, sexist, religious or other bias or favoritism that could be used to tarnish our journalistic credibility. This same caution should be used when joining, following or friending any person or organization online.  Post journalists should not be involved in any social networks related to advocacy or a special interest regarding topics they cover, unless specifically permitted by a supervising editor for reporting and so long as other standards of transparency are maintained while doing any such reporting.

In fact, All Washington Post journalists relinquish some of the personal privileges of private citizens (direct from the Post’s text).  So, Post journalists never really get to just be citizens.  They can’t have an opinion, or if they do, they can’t share it with anyone.

It’s easy to understand why the paper is going to such lengths to protect the integrity of its content.  It’s ombudsman, in a blog post to the paper’s readership, is refreshingly frank in his explanation that the paper has been fighting a perception problem: “Many readers already view The Post with suspicion and believe that the personal views of its reporters and editors influence the coverage.”

Well of course they do.  The Post’s reporters and editors (in fact, every newspaper’s reporters and editors) are paid to decide for their readers what is and isn’t news; what gets covered, and what doesn’t get ink.  How are those decisions made?  Personal opinion.  The opinions of reporters and editors are used to determine what is and isn’t newsworthy, and opinions are always influenced by personal filters, whether they’re cultural, political or environmental.  So there is always some element of bias at work in determining a newspaper’s content.  Yes, “professional” editors and reporters are good at shutting out their slant, but they can’t completely neutralize themselves.

Another contradiction in the Post’s guidelines: how they can expect their news staff to stop having authentic, human conversations with other connections on the web especially if, on the flip side of this no opinion order, the Post recognizes the importance of social properties for news gathering.  It’s difficult to see how the two can co-exist with one another.  The Post can’t expect its people to make connections for the purpose of gathering information, without giving up a little of themselves.  That’s just not how the web works.

Allvoices offers an unfiltered platform which embraces multiple points of view.  In fact, the more “angles” exposed around a particular story, the more information that story’s readers have with which to formulate their own opinion about the content.  There’s no one editorial source making decisions for readers.

It’s a new model for news which understands people are social beings.  No matter how good an editor is at determining what is and isn’t news, something influences those decisions.  Reporters from any outlet looking for a place to write without fear of being exposed should take a look at Allvoices’ incentive program, which allows anyone to register and write under their own or a screen name, with full privacy protection.

The Twitter News Bureau Launches

There’s no denying the power of Twitter’s immediacy and ability to capture snapshots of news breaking from anywhere, anytime.  It can be powerful stuff. But *usually* those snapshots stand alone and unframed by any useful context, relevancy or even the ability (beyond what’s said in 140 characters) to tell you where the news is from.

just took the wraps off our new system for bringing context and credibility to Twitter, while using Twitter to help allvoices bring more, additional relevant information to its citizen reports, as well as data for allvoices’ “Breaking” and “Popular” tabs.

We’re the only citizen journalism site able to take virtually any data source and integrate it with relevant citizen contributions to the site; Twitter is just an example (albeit an important example) of this ability.

BNET’s David Weir has a nice analysis of our news here

editorsweblog.org also covers us

and Journalism.co.uk writes us up here.

News release below….check out the Twitter feeds on the report pages and please let us know what you think!

ALLVOICES ADDS CONTEXT, CREDIBILITY TO NEWS-RELATED TWITTER DATA

Global Citizen Media Hub Integrates Tweets Related to Breaking and Popular Stories; Creates Enhanced Journalists “LiveStream” for News Addicts

SAN FRANCISCO — September 14, 2009 — Allvoices, Inc. (www.allvoices.com), the first open media site where anyone can report from anywhere, today became the only citizen media outlet to integrate live, event- and location-specific Twitter data into its citizen reports.  Live Twitter data assists Allvoices’ comprehensive verification process with vetting stories for authenticity by providing additional context and ranking reports in Allvoices’ “Breaking” and “Popular” categories.  Users now enjoy an enhanced, real-time view of everything happening in the locations, around the events and to the people reported on the site.

Allvoices’ uses a combination of community input and algorithms to vet contributed reports.  As soon as one is submitted, the system “pivots” around the report and immediately pulls related content from mainstream news and user generated sources like videos, blogs and pictures to create a full, 360 degree view of the news. Integrating live tweets makes Allvoices’ ranking system even more real-time, adding context and a comprehensive understanding of circumstances surrounding the event.

Allvoices has leveraged Twitter data in several distinct areas of the site:

· Allvoices displays the latest tweets for locations covering every city, country and regional landing pages created from citizen and mainstream reports  about a location

· For citizen  reports, Allvoices displays tweets related to the report to build a stronger case for the report’s authenticity and credibility, while adding more context to the report itself

· For mainstream news, Allvoices aggregates real-time tweets that discuss the same news to show users what conversations are occurring around those reports.

· Tweets now provide input for Allvoices’ ranking algorithms.  The algorithms determine what shows up at the top of the “Breaking” and “Popular” tabs for each location, city, country and regional landing page. Live tweets add another dimension to Allvoices ability to vet and rank reports, which includes community validation and numerous machine-based heuristics.

· In addition to integrating Twitter’s data into contributed reports, Allvoices has created a separate, unique page which aggregates hundreds reporters’ tweets, along with any stories and events they may relate to on Allvoices.  News “addicts” can find this site at www.allvoices.com\tweets.

A recent study conducted by research firm Pear Analytics found that forty percent of tweets are categorized as “Pointless Babble” (Pear’s term), which is indicative of the difficulty people have finding tweets with real news content.   However recent events, like those just after Iran’s recent election, have shown Twitter to be indispensable for reporting news as it breaks, but lacks situational context, the ability to pinpoint location and in some cases, credibility. Allvoices solves this by vetting Twitter’s information and wrapping it into a news report’s “big picture.”

“We feel Allvoices has broken ground here by pulling the news gems from Twitter’s massive live stream and integrating that specific, relevant content into the reports contributed to our citizen media hub,”  said Dr. Sanjay Sood, chief technical officer, Allvoices.com.  Twitter alone as a source for news doesn’t have the ability to tell a full story.  Allvoices delivers the full story for a report plus a deeper understanding of the conversations going on around that event.  What’s great about the system we’ve built is that it can take virtually any data source and apply it to user-generated and mainstream news reports“

Allvoices is the first citizen media outlet using technology to validate user generated content, the lack of which has been the biggest barrier to the mainstream adoption of citizen media.  Allvoices’ ability to vet user-generated content against mainstream sources, as well as other citizen-generated reports instantly provides validity and a measure of credibility to citizen reports, and gives users a level of comfort when consuming this information.

Promote Allvoices Reports, Increase Pageviews and Build Your Community!!!

How will having a great profile help me?

1. Building a complete profile and online personality helps the community get to know you
2. More users will become fans and follow you when they become interested in who you are as well as your contributions
3. Users will engage with you online more if they see they have things in common with you
4. Helps the Allvoices platform match you with like-minded people

How do I build my own community (and gain followers) on Allvoices?

1. Build a complete profile (show your personality and promote yourself)
2. Get your friends, family and colleagues to join Allvoices
3. Encourage people to become your fan and follow you
4. Share your reports (and encourage others to share them)
5. Share your profile page URL/link
6. Encourage people to comment on and contribute to your reports
7. Promote your reports and profile page through viral marketing

Why should I use Allvoices as my home-base for my content?

You can leverage the Allvoices intelligent platform and profile page features and tabs to host, display and share all your content.  The profile page allows you to organize and build a multimedia portfolio.  You can also cross-post and add links to your blog or external website.

How do I share content on Allvoices with friends?

You can share any report on Allvoices by emailing it to friends or posting it on Digg, Reddit, Facebook and StumbleUpon.  On the report page, scroll down below the report text to the Share section then click on the corresponding icon.

How do I promote my reports on other sites to get more pageviews and buzz?

The first step is to register for accounts on other sites to promote/share your Allvoices reports.  The second step is to browse to become familiar with these sites.

Please read the TERMS and CONDITIONS for using these sites.

How do I promote on these sites?

Digg

1. Login to Digg (click Login and enter username and password in lightbox)
2. Click Submit New in the upper right
3. Enter the URL of your report page (or report video or image page)
4. Choose the media type
5. Click Continue
6. Enter a title and short description
7. Choose a thumbnail image (if one is available)
8. Choose a topic
9. Preview
10. Enter the captcha image
11. Click Submit Story

Reddit

1. Under search reddit, login by entering your username and password
2. Click login
3. Click Submit a link in the upper right
4. Enter URL and title
5. Choose a category in the drop-down menu:  reddit.com (main) or subreddit category
6. Click submit

StumbleUpon

1. Sign in to StumbleUpon
2. Click Add this toolbar in the upper right to download the StumbleUpon toolbar  Note:  Promote news you like from other sites so you’re not banned for submitting only content from Allvoices.  Also, only promote 1-2 Allvoices reports per day.
3. When you want to promote one of your Allvoices reports, make sure you’re signed into the StumbleUpon and see the toolbar
4. Go to your report page
5. Click I like it! on the StumbleUpon toolbar
6. A StumbleUpon window will appear within your browser window
7. The title will be automatically filled in
8. Enter your review (i.e. comment on the news)
9. Click a topic
10. Enter tags (it doesn’t allow you to copy and paste tags however)
11. Click No if it’s not adult content
12. Click Submit the Site

NOTE:  The system will check for similar or duplicate submissions.

If you have questions, email community@allvoices.com.  

25 Tips to Report Your News on Allvoices

These tips will help your reports get noticed and more attention(i.e. more readers and pageviews)!

1. Write original content (your own). The community loves to read news but also wants to see your perspectives/opinions.
2. The community wants your news, your voice. Don’t copy and paste someone else’s words or from other news sources.
3. Share your reports with friends, colleagues, etc. via email or by clicking the Digg, Reddit, Facebook, StumbleUpon icons at the bottom of your or any report.
4. Promote your reports on other social media or networking sites and leverage your network on the sites mentioned as well as Twitter and MySpace.
5. Attach related IMAGES and VIDEOS to your reports that add to your story!
6. Add related news stories or blog posts to your reports or to other user reports.
7. Get the conversation going. Comment on reports from other users to get people involved, and reply to comments on your own reports.
8. Make titles/headlines clear, concise (not long), and eye-catching.
9. Spell-check and properly format your work.
10. Write about things you know and what affects you, and people will get involved in your stories.
11. Add tags your reports.
12. When choosing the location for your reports, choose where the news is, not where you are.
13. When categorizing your news, think about where people are going to look for it.
14. Our community (you) monitors our site. Click the red FLAG button on a report to notify us if it violates our terms (see list of reasons).
15. If you quote someone, give credit and a link. It will make you a more reputable news source.
16. R U a txtr? Don’t be one here. Remember your audience and write so everyone can understand it.
17. Reporting news from the ground? Get quotes from others to give your stories more life.
18. Linking to someone’s blog post? Let them know so they can share the story with others.
19. Like what another user is writing? Become a fan. Send a private message from your profile page or comment on the user’s reports.
20. Attending an event? Report on it via your mobile phone so the world knows about it.
21. Reporting sports news? Don’t just give the score. Tell us what happened and what you think!
22. Entertaining the world with your news? Be sure to indicate if the information is confirmed, rumor, or parody.
23. Read the Allvoices blog at http://allvoices.wordpress.com/.
24. Need additional help? Email us at community@allvoices.com
25. Give us your feedback! We take it seriously so we can produce the highest quality product to give our global community the best possible experience with the platform and content. Email feedback to community@allvoices.com

Punditty Gets a Shirt – Who will get the next one?

 

First things first: Yesterday’s poll response was a little underwhelming. But by a 3 to 2 margin, the preferred article from yesterday was: Did McCain have a ‘Dukakis Moment’ on stage after 3rd debate? That means that when the shirts are ready, Puditty will be getting one in the mail.

The next order of business: Today’s poll.

You may notice that today’s poll is at the top of the post instead of the bottom. I am hoping this gets more of you to VOTE instead of emailing me. The list of articles is above, details and links for each of them are here:

Ohio’s Strickland and Brown Defend Chief Election Officer, Slam Republicans on Attempts at Voter Suppression

Columbus :: OH :: USA | Oct 17, 3:06 PM

Strickland Says Official Documents Using “Theodore and Ted” Would Make Him a Mis-Match This Year OhioNewsBureau with John Michael Spinelli Columbus, Ohio: Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and US Sen. Sherrod Brown, both Democrats, defended actions of Ohio…

Today’s Twitter rage – what John McCain Knows

Sioux Falls :: SD :: USA | Oct 17, 2:56 PM

Twitter can be useful as a business tool, but I think it has been far more useful this election year as a political toy. With its own election page, and hungry political junkies on all sides of the political spectrum getting hopped up for their candidates…

Letterman’s audience polite but lacking in love for McCain (VIDEO)

New York City :: NY :: USA | Oct 17, 10:58 AM

David Letterman finally got John McCain on his show, after the controversial “no show” from McCain previously. Although McCain showed a more personal side, he wasn’t getting a whole lot of love from the audience. The audience was polite, and they applauded…

Supreme Court Sides with Ohio Secretary of State in Voter Match-Up Case

Columbus :: OH :: USA | Oct 17, 12:46 PM

US Supremes Bail Out Brunner While Republicans Continue Attack on Voter Registration Fraud OhioNewsBureau with John Michael Spinelli Columbus, Ohio: The United States Supreme Court Friday came to the defense of Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner…

Obama’s Tax Plan vs. the Middle Class (who is being truthful)

San Francisco :: CA :: USA | Oct 17, 3:00 PM

Finally I have my hands on Obama’s Tax Plan. He is not being truthful on how the Middle Class will be impacted by his new plan. If we are to compare his plan to McCain’s over 3 different scenarios then you can see the true impact to the Middle Class….

McCain and Obama roast each other at Alfred Smith Memorial Dinner

New York City :: NY :: USA | Oct 16, 9:30 PM

The Alfred E. Smith dinner was held tonight at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, attended by politicos and the media. Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama both attended and spoke, roasting each other and providing compliments. (The one rule…

 

If you have read this far, I may as well let you know: You want to watch the site and the blog over the next couple of weeks. Besides having shirts and Flips to give away, we have some other big news coming about the site itself. Watch for it!