Craig Newmark (pictured above left, with Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster) expressed his fascination with community journalism to a group of Associated Press editors and writers. The AP reports that Newmark hopes to "develop a pool of 'talented amateurs' who could investigate scandals, cover politics and promote the most important and credible stories." To that end, he's been brainstorming with Dan Gillmor, a former technology writer for the San Jose Mercury News and 2005 AAN West speaker.

Continue ReadingCraigslist Founder Eyes Journalism

Julia Goldberg ignited a brushfire on the Editing mailing list earlier this week when she sought advice regarding an angry letter sent by a teacher who was upset by a recent article in the Reporter about her school (which Goldberg felt she had "completely misunderstood"). The letter contained the kind of spelling and grammatical errors that the Reporter would normally correct for publication. What should she do? Most AAN editors advised her to avoid vindictiveness and adhere to the paper's regular letters policy. She took their advice and corrected the mistakes, and saved her revenge for her blog.

Continue ReadingEditor of Santa Fe Reporter Blogs on “Ethical Editing”

This week's issue celebrates "a decade and a half of devilish deeds and die-hard journalism" by looking back at some of the alt-weekly's biggest stories: a federal marshal serenading a former port commissioner convicted of bribery; a series of articles that helped exonerate a man wrongly convicted of rape; and the tragic bonfire collapse at Texas A&M.

Continue ReadingHouston Press Turns 15