BBC "Have Your Say"

I came across "Have Your Say" from the BBC today. It seems to be a really good effort to encourage citizen journalism and find out what really interests readers.

Readers submit their own topics and start debates, and many of the suggestions are even taken and get their own story, written by a BBC reporter.

Users can comment and add to the debates, most of which are fully monitored by the site. I always think that moderating the comments and debates on news sites is a good idea, because it helps to keep the discussion relevant and prevents it from getting out of hand and filled with spam, irrational arguments and incoherent babbling. Each Have Your Say story, such as this one on binge drinking, has a Debate Status table on the right of the story, that tells the viewer how many comments have been submitted in total, how many were accepted, how many were rejected, and how many are still awaiting approval. I think it's especially cool that they show the number of rejected comments.

Have Your Say also encourages readers to submit their own photos or videos to the site. They provide detailed information about how to do submit, and what they are looking for. I think this is always a good approach for news organizations to have, (similar to the approach of Crosscut, the online-only newspaper for the Pacific Northwest which I showed in class.) because it shows that they are not afraid of their readers as citizen journalists. Here is an example of a submitted photo:

There are also a number of stories, such as this one about Fidel Castro's retirement, that allow users to comment in a way that to me seems more like columns than "reader comments." I think that having the users add their pictures is also a nice touch.

I hope that more major news organizations will continue to take this approach. People get bored just reading articles and not being able to participate in any way. It seems to me that having a really interactive site and encouraging participation from readers is the way to go.

Tribune Co. Job Cuts

According to this article on LATimes.com, Tribune Co., will be cutting about 2 percent of its staff, which comes out to 400-500 jobs being lost.

Of that number, 100-150 of those jobs being cut are at the LA Times, and the rest will be spread out across the company's other publications, including the Chicago Tribune, New York Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, the Baltimore Sun and the Hartford Courant.

According to the New York Observer, Sam Zell, the Chief Executive of the Tribune Co., said in an e-mail that he would like to eventually add staff but that "Unfortunately, I can't turn this ship from its course of the past 10 years within just a few months."

I suppose he saw it coming...

London will charge gas-guzzling drivers $50!

According to this AP article just posted, starting in late October, people with gus-guzzling cars will be charged a hefty $50 daily fee to enter and drive in central London, while those with more environmentally-friendly cars will be admitted for free, and those in between will continue to pay $16 daily.

I wonder how well this will be received. I think it's a good idea in theory, but in reality, $50 a day is a bit extreme and I don't really know if it will actually have a positive impact and reduce the amount of CO2 emissions in the city. It seems to me that if people have the money for a huge and gas-inefficient car in the first place, they might not even be too bothered by the $50 fee. I think it is a good thing, though, that the mayor is giving about nine months notice on this change. Maybe people around London will keep this in mind when they're looking to buy new cars throughout this year...

Globe Coverage of Prison Suicides

The Boston Globe has done a popular series of stories and videos on the rate of suicide in Massachusetts prisons and treatment of prisoners.

Although the story is about two months old, I just got to watch Death in Cell 49, which is a two part story about Nelson Rodriguez, a mentally disabled inmate who took his own life in 2005.

The video itself is typical of online news videos. It's done more like a documentary than a tv news piece, with a reporter as a narrator, interviews, photos and background music. The story of Nelson Rodriguez is sad in itself, but what made this story stand out for me was the other features that the Globe was able to add online.

There is a small slideshow of documents related to Nelson and his suicide, a slideshow of family photos and old snapshots of Nelson, a video tour of the prison (for members of boston.com only) and the most affecting of all for me, Nelson's personal letters to his family from inside prison (again, only for boston.com members - it's free to sign up.)

I think that the letters in particular really add to the story because just by quickly reading them, it's obvious that Nelson was not really capable of understanding his surroundings or what was going on in his life. Although this is mentioned in the story, as is his suicide attempts, actually reading his own words almost acts as proof to the reader that what was said in the story was true. I think that this was a great feature to have because besides giving the story a new dimesion for the reader, things like government and personal documents almost act as evidence for readers, especially in a time when many people are distrusting of the media and its motives.