From Reuters: (posted June 29)

The union representing workers at Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper has agreed with the paper to sit down with a mediator to try to hammer out a new contract and avoid a strike, the union said on Monday.

Check it out, but here's some intro text:

Ever captured a natural disaster or a crime on your cell-phone camera? Filmed a political rally or protest, and then interviewed the participants afterward? Produced a story about a local issue in your community? If you've done any of these things or aspire to, then you're part of the enormous community of citizen reporters on YouTube, and this channel is for you.

The YouTube Reporters' Center is a new resource to help you learn more about how to report the news. It features some of the nation's top journalists and news organizations sharing instructional videos with tips and advice for better reporting.

If you have experiences on reporting the news yourself and would like to share your tips, feel free to submit them for inclusion on this page.

There are tips available from Katie Couric, Bob Woodward and Ariana Huffington, to name a few.

(Seen first at Twitter)

The Seattle Courant was that Pacific Northwest city's first online-only newspaper. It is turning off the servers. Publisher Keith Vance explains what went wrong and offers some advice to future online news entrepreneurs:

Many people on Twitter pointed to a Monday blog posting by scientist Michael Neilsen about how entire industries fail and what it might mean to scientific publishing.

He analyzes what's happening to the newspaper industry. On first read, I think his analysis is spot-on.

Wired editor Chris Anderson, author of the new book Free, responds to a less-than-flattering review from New Yorker writer Malcom Gladwell, particularly Gladwell's peevishness at the notion journalists might be paid to organize other writers rather than scribble themselves.

(If you haven't seen it yet, please check out my earlier post.)

The New Yorker's Malcom Gladwell reviews Free, the new book by Wired editor Chris Anderson.

I pull out a journalism-related snippet.

From The Globe and Mail:

One of the longest running and most contentious debates in Canadian broadcasting is coming to an end with the expected approval by federal regulators to allow Al Jazeera's English television network to be carried here.

If you don't follow this blog religiously but do care about evolving journalism issues and want to play catch-up, you might wish to check out News 2.0, a two-part special by CBC contributor Ira Basen that finished today on CBC Radio's The Sunday Edition (part one ran on June 21).

Maybe the audio for part two will be attached in the near future. Maybe not.

In any event, the last 15 to 20 minutes of part two are probably the meat of the whole matter. The rest is just background and setup -- however, if you aren't fully conversant with this topic, take the time to listen to both parts.

The News 2.0 web page has links and transcripts. The article itself is overly compressive and thus underly informative. I would disagree with some of the broad-brush strokes used to sketch the issues.

Interestingly, I do way more stuff on News 2.0-type issues than J-Source, but that website (link at right) rated a link from Basen and I didn't. I'm crushed! :)

One of the great pitchmen in infomercials has died. Billy Mays was found in his Florida home today. He is not believed to have taken Demerol in the hours leading up to his demise.

From CP via TheStar.com:

Unionized workers at the Globe and Mail have rejected the latest contract offer from the company.

Editorial, advertising and circulation workers voted 89 per cent today against a revised proposal emailed to them Friday.

The high no vote – based on a 65 per cent turnout – comes just days ahead of a strike deadline of 12:01 a.m. July 1.

Union spokesman Brad Honywill says the message sent by the vote is that "membership is resolved to seek a fairer deal."

Globe publisher and CEO Phillip Crawley could not be immediately reached for comment, but said Friday the company has no plans to lock employees out.

Here's the nub of the problem:

Advertising revenue has fallen steadily for the Globe in recent quarters, similar to many other major Canadian media outlets. The company said that in May, its ad revenue fell 28 per cent over the same time a year earlier.

With a possible strike deadline of midnight on Tuesday, the bargaining committee of Communications Energy and Paperworkers Local 87-M has decided to reject the Globe and Mail's latest contract offer, although union members will still vote on it today.

And even if the members vote it down, a union official says a strike is not a foregone conclusion.

A union representing workers of the Globe and Mail said contract talks with the newspaper's management broke down at midnight (on Thursday - BD).

Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union representative Brad Honywill told The Canadian Press Friday that there are no planned meetings before the contract expires next Tuesday at midnight.

The move comes less than a week after the editorial, advertising and circulation workers voted 97 per cent in favour of strike action at one of Canada's oldest and most influential newspapers.

Representatives for the paper, which is owned by CTVglobemedia Inc., weren't immediately available for comment.

"This is obviously a very grave disintegration in the process," Honywill said.

Howard Owens wrote a blog post -- Newspapers started small, cheap and with different standards -- and I get a mention in passing!

The Toronto Star's Susan Delacourt on the realities of political journalism on Parliament Hill these days. She got into it by using the anecdote of a soccer game between MPs and parliamentary reporters.

From CP via the Winnipeg Free Press:

A union representing workers of the Globe and Mail says the newspaper's management will email staff on Friday with a "final offer" to replace a contract that expires next week.

The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union sent a letter to its members on Thursday saying that Globe representatives informed them that all concessions and changes will be implemented by July 1.

Representatives for the Globe, one of Canada's oldest and most influential newspapers, were not immediately available to confirm the details.

"A membership meeting will be scheduled within the next few days to deal with the company ultimatum," said Brad Honywill, president of Local 87-M of the CEP, said in a phone interview.

Also see this June 20 post: Globe and Mail worker bees give huge strike mandate to bargaining committee

One of my adages has been that the Internet makes newspapers as timely as radio or TV, but also makes them as timeless as a library. Most of the time, that's a strength. Sometimes it's a liability.

The Globe and Mail had such an oopsie moment this morning.

Bobbie Battista used to be a newsreader on CNN, high-profile enough to warrant being occasionally lampooned by Saturday Night Live. Now she does the same job for the Onion News Network.

This post got its start from the following exchanges on Twitter:

From CBC.ca:

The return of an online photo hoax hooked several news outlets in recent days, with a Dutch radio station and TV channels in Bolivia and Poland falling for images purportedly captured just before the crash of Air France Flight 447.

I made the following sequence of tweets on Sunday night:

In the summer of 2002, I was going S. on Bathurst on a streetcar. Garbage lay chest-high beside the sidewalk in Alexandra Park ...(1/3) 

... A young woman was walking north on the sidewalk beside the garbage, looking like she was going to hurl the whole time ... (2/3)

... Of course, I have no idea why this anecdote popped into my mind this evening. (3/3)

I posted this to Twitter:

Cdn. freelance journo George McLeod spoke to CTV News this evg. from Tehran. He's looking to get out - http://is.gd/18SvF