Wednesday squibs (updated)

Interesting stuff from the ‘net, with some commentary.

• Edward R. Murrow Awards. RTNDA gets props for putting Edward R. Murrow award-winning television reports online, but there are a couple of weaknesses to their approach. Videos are being added a few at a time (there’s one there now) and there’s no RSS feed. (My bad: there is an RSS feed there — see the comments. For some reason, Bloglines isn’t recognizing it.) As much as I’d like to watch and learn from them all, chances that I’ll get back to their web site every day are slim.
• Bloggers crowd the media scene. News that up to 10 per cent of those accredited for New ork Fashion Week are bloggers. But, of course, they’re not “real” journalists. Right?
• The search for a working business model takes another serious blow. Charles Apple at Visual Editors sees recent developments — including the developing ability of a web browse to block any advertising — and fears for the future of journalism. Could it be, though, that the more-or-less single business model for newspapering is itself an outmoded idea?
• The end of non-aggregated news? Michael Wolff is getting lots on ink and link for his ideas of news presentation and, specifically, on his site Newser. I’ve spent some time with Newser and am not sure what the fuss is about. As is the case with other aggregation sites (regardless of the method/gatekeeping being used) I can do a better job of aggregating my own news, and seeing and following trends, with an RSS reader and a handful of feeds.
• Are We Aiding a Brutal Censor? A hugely interesting and thought-provoking essay by Claude Adams at the Tyee that asks about the role Canadian (and other Western) trainers should be playing in countries — he writes specifically about Rwanda — where the journalists they are training are captives of the ruling powers.