news on the news

In a press release distributed today, The Wall Street Journal announced that it would bring its WSJ Live content on-demand to a dedicated YouTube channel. Previously available through iPad and Internet TV devices, WSJ Live “ brings influencers and decision-makers live news and on-demand video directly from 2000+ reporters across the globe.” The new YouTube channel will host replays of WSJ live content immediately following airing.

The launch also coincides with a new lifestyle program, “Off Duty,” with content presented daily based on the Journal’s Saturday paper, WSJ Weekend. Airing daily at 6 p.m. ET, “Off Duty” will be hosted by reporter Wendy Bounds, and according to the press release, “will bring to life many of its namesake’s features, as well as other culture coverage from the Journal – from food to fashion, music and movies, travel to tech.”

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Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including Morin Oluwole (Facebook), Michael Brito (Edelman Digital), and Tim Devane (bitly). Register now.

Reporters going into a news conference at Facebook’s offices in Seattle were asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement, according to reports coming from news outlets in Seattle.

The Seattle Times blogged earlier today that reporters going to the news conference received an email from Dan Sytman, a spokesman for the Washington Attorney General’s office. Attached was the non-disclosure agreement from Facebook. Read more

Yesterday, D.C.-based journalist Shani Hilton wondered in the Washington City Paper: “Where are the women and non-white media critics?” Her quick brainstorm of those who’ve achieved prominence included The Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz, NYU’s Jay Rosen, Reuter’s Jack Shafer, and The New York Times’ David Carr. They all seem to confirm that media criticism is a white-male dominated world.

In it, she quotes Andrew Beaujon, “the new Romensko,” whose theory is that media criticism “is fundamentally an alt-weekly pursuit, and alt-weeklies’ DNA is heavily white and male.” His working theory about the white and male alt-weekly is that “working at such places gives white males such as myself a chance to feel like an underdog for once in our lives.”

Certainly, alt-weeklies are predominately white and male, as is journalism itself—but that fails to take into consideration other venues of media criticism. One may think of The Atlantic’s Megan Garber or FAIR’s Janine Jackson. A commenter pointed out the work of Michele McLellan and Amy Gahran at the Knight Digital Media Center. Nonetheless, is the shortage of women and minorities in media criticism really a cause for wonder? Read more

The ice is finally starting to melt in Seattle today after one of the worst snow and ice storms in recent years — one that prompted Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire to issue a state of emergency. It was a storm that affected everyone’s day-to-day lives, from transit changes and road closures, to snow days at local elementary schools and colleges. Through it all, The Seattle Times has been a hub for the latest information on the web using a combination of creative packaging, a steady flow of fresh blog content, lots of multimedia, and help from readers who were eager to share information. These are a few ideas you can riff off when weather news breaks in your region.   Full disclosure: I’m a producer at the newspaper.

Live chats

During the worst of the storm, web producers hosted a live chat throughout the day, which served as a place for readers to ask questions about the commute, share updates about weather and ice in their locations, and allowed Times staff to quickly give updates about ever-changing conditions and closures. This community-service chat, while happening, was always linked to high on the homepage, or embedded into the sidebar of the homepage.   Tool of choice: Cover It Live. Read more

The Huffington Post continues to position itself for world domination with a soon-to-launch 24-hour online news network poised to rival cable networks like CNN and Fox. The channel, which Forbes reports will be called The Huffington Post Streaming Network (HPSN), will bring the work of HuffPo’s editorial staff to video, with popular columnists and reporters offering analysis on various news topics throughout the day. According to Forbes, “The idea, according to sources, is to harness the considerable editorial talent of the 320-person Huffpo newsroom while at the same time fulfilling rising advertiser demand for premium video content.”

One interesting aspect of the yet to be announced project is that it will feature on-air editorial meetings, further breaking down the wall between journalist and reader and allowing readers access to the inner workings of the HuffPo editorial vision.

With cable subscriptions continuing to drop, it should come as no surprise that online news companies like AOL-HuffPo are poised to steal their market share. But for now, HPSN is still in its infancy. The channel is set to preview on February 2nd at AOL HQ in Manhattan.