January 2018

Posts published in January 2018

The Credibility Coalition is working to establish the common elements of trustworthy articles

What makes a news article credible? Is it a trusted byline, a particular tone, the number of links, or the range of expert opinions presented?

To identify the credibility indicators in news media, Meedan and Hacks/Hackers set up a working group, currently in the process of developing a framework and mark-up a first round of test articles.

Initially called The Credibility Indicators Working Group and recently renamed as The Credibility Coalition, the initiative builds on existing frameworks such as Google’s way of labelling fact-checked articles in search results in order to build common definitions and a common data schema that all those who are working in this space can use to communicate.

“It’s an effort to develop a standard of third party mark-up of stories to inform platforms and AI initiatives about their credibility,” said An Xiao Mina, director of product at Meedan, who led workshops on credibility indicators at MozFest in London at the end of October.

“The coalition involves journalists, data scientists, librarians, designers and others because we believe that credibility has many different facets.”

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The Telegraph takes on audio storytelling, with podcasts and news briefings on Alexa and Google Assistant

The Telegraph’s commitment to video and audio storytelling was further emphasised in 2017 with the hiring of two broadcast journalists.

Its portfolio of podcasts and drive to explore opportunities for news distribution on voice-controlled devices also points to a desire to build a diverse digital offering that places the brand in front of people who might otherwise not interact with The Telegraph, as well as reaching its existing audience on emerging platforms.

Rob Owers, director of video and audio at The Telegraph, joined the title after roles at Twitter and Sky News. His focus is to both improve the quality of the existing output and to explore the possibilities of branching out into different formats such as longform video.

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March’s keynote: 10 lessons from De Correspondent about the changing face of news memberships

With less than two months to go until newsrewired on 7 March, we are delighted to announce Maaike Goslinga and Jessica Best of Dutch news organisation De Correspondent will be giving the keynote speech at our 21st digital journalism conference at Reuters in Canary Wharf, London.

In the keynote, Maaike and Jessica will outline how De Correspondent has built a sustainable news organisation that restores trust in journalism, and that moves readers to become paying members and expert contributors of De Correspondent’s online community.

They will share 10 lessons De Correspondent has learned over the last four years, including the ways members contribute more than just their money; the key things they’ve found through their partnership with NYU’s Membership Puzzle Project; and the ongoing challenges they face in relation to both their Dutch platform, and as they look to launch an English-language platform in 2018.

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First speakers and training options announced for March’s newsrewired

With two months to go until our next newsrewired digital journalism conference (7 March, London), we are pleased to announce the first round of speakers who will be joining us on the day to discuss the latest trends and techniques in digital journalism.

Speakers from the Financial Times, The Telegraph, BBC, the Credibility Coalition and more will discuss the key skills needed in newsrooms today and the changing shaping the industry today, including mobile journalism, livestreaming, the changing relationship between readers and journalists, and news distribution on voice-controlled devices.

Early-bird tickets to the event are still available until 12 January, so grab yours for just £130+VAT this week.

Two workshops are also available as part of the newsrewired+ training day on 8 March.

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