Archives for category: General Journalism

John Zhu has some thoughtful advice for those who are thinking about leaving the journalism profession. If you’re on the fence, his entry, “How to (Voluntarily) Become an Ex-Journalist” is worth a read.

Hat tip to Kiyoshi Martinez for pointing out that link.

Exit sign

Apologies for not writing more in the last few weeks. Between work, preparation for the upcoming ONA conference (I’m speaking on a panel about fact checking), and trying to cram Django and Rails, I’ve not had as much time as I’d like to write original material.

I have, however, been bookmarking like crazy on Delicious. I’ve also had the opportunity to interview two bright lights in journalism: freelance writer and author David Hochman, and Erica “Graphic Designr” Smith.

They both had some insightful things to say about fearlessly forging your own path in the news business. I hope to post their interviews on Labor Day, so be sure to check back.

Faithful Poynter Online readers may have seen last Thursday’s article describing how Twitter buzz helped the Chicago Tribune break a story.

The Trib’s made a concerted, focused effort to incorporate social media as part of its news gathering and audience building. Perhaps the most brilliant part of the strategy has been to create Colonel Tribune, a persona that represents the company in on Digg, Twitter and elsewhere.

Since introducing the Colonel six months ago, the Tribune has reportedly seen an eight percent increase in pageviews. Not bad. (Make of the Alexa graph what you will.)

Chicago Tribune - Alexa Pageviews Chart

In this interview by marketing specialist Andy Sernovitz, Daniel Honigman and Bill Adee of the Tribune describe how they made Colonel Tribune a media star. Heck, he’s even going to SXSW 2009 as an invited panelist.

Want to know what the local audience thinks of the Colonel? Read on.