links for 2009-09-16

"The real time web is important, and significant. But that doesn't mean that the old web, the archived, static web, isn't still of value. Twitter coverage is dispersed, and fades away as the moment passes. Archive content has real utility as reference and grist for the conversational mill in the weeks that follow."

"Finally, I’d note that bloggers can have exactly the same biases as newspapers for stories which fit in with our own opinions, and none of us are immune to that – including me. So we need to pay attention to all the traditional disciplines of good journalism – multiple sourcing, sanity checks by a third party if we have a concern, and the separation of reporting from opinion."

"Don’t like those outcomes? Pick any unique-visitor number you want. No one can argue with you, because publishers haven’t the slightest idea of what the right number might be. The online traffic numbers cited by most newspapers today are generated by server -logging systems that are almost universally acknowledged to overstate the number of individual visitors."

I suspect the addition of @currybet_jnr to the party may preclude me going to any of what looks like a great set of London Ghost Walking events. Boo!

"I am not arguing against print, I am arguing against electronic media that's dumbed down to look like print."

Act 1 - Richard Littlejohn takes an ad in The Times and uses it to make an implied racist swipe at single mums. Comments on the Mail site rip him to shreds for not being able to muster the Google search that would have revealed the advert was about a litter of dogs. Act 2 (a week later) - our hero writes a column suggesting The Times has duped its readers over the story but - and you'll like this - this bit of his column *never appears online for people to comment on*. Fancy that, eh? You couldn't make it up, mind how you go, etc etc

Not really sure what to say when you read a story like this, about a club in financial trouble still raising money for cancer charities because of the way it has affected the family of one of their key players, and then flick to the next story about the £100,000+ weekly wages of someone in the Premiership.

"GREYHOUND racing could return the Stow as 'behind the scenes' talks progress between the owners and potential buyers. Save our Stow campaigners announced today that it has suspended its campaign and "handed matters over to the financiers" because progress is being made in talks."

"Online journalism shouldn't be a chore, it should be exciting, different, interesting, and fun. If you're working as a multimedia journalist you have the opportunity to be a real pioneer in the art of online storytelling, audience engagement, and new ways of sourcing, sharing and developing information. That has to be worth being a part of". Amen to that