Friday, March 12, 2010

Kudos to the Flint Journal staff

One thing the Flint Journal has always done well is the coverage of breaking news. On those occasions when all heck broke loose, the staff - big or small -has always found a way to work together to provide first day coverage as well as anyone.

So congratulations to the reporters who were honored recently by Scripps Howard for an online breaking news award. The information about the Owosso shooting of an anti-abortion activist is in the MLive.com announcement.

I know one of those deeply involved in that coverage has left the paper for a more stable career, but she should also be proud of her efforts in that trophy.

If I were publisher of the Flint Journal - or the editor - I would make sure the folks involved in that story received a very nice bonus to pay them for all the overtime they worked and didn't get paid during that story.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

A new Michigan online news service opens in Kzoo land

Booth doesn't relish competition so I'm sure a new online news agency in town has folks scrambling to convince advertisers and financial backers to ease up or back out. It appears the new site is targeting Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, Benton Harbor and much of southwest Michigan.

Anyway here's the link to the new site.

Looks like it will be a soft news site, business, arts, that kind of thing. But compared to AnnArbor.com the appearance is much better. Found a few broken links though. Looks like they have some sponsors or ads at the bottom of the page.

The Kalamazoo Community Foundation and Borgess Medical are major players in the Kalamazoo area so this may be a serious attempt at providing a counter to the Gazette. It has a ways to go, however.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Tuesday print announcement made Sunday

Just got back from Buffalo and didn't open my Sunday Flint Journal until last night and the front page had this announcement.

By the way I think this is a good thing. I hope it is a glimpse of what is to come. It is also an admission that the real money in news comes not from online, but from print.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Found on Facebook: NY Times plagarism story

This was an interesting read about a NY Times reporter caught stealing stories from the Wall Street Journal.