Thursday squibs

Some more-or-less non-business-related newspaper news from the web.

• CNA Expresses Concern With Press Freedoms Under C-61. The Canadian Newspaper Association as added its voice to the chorus protesting the DRM provisions of the proposed Canadian copyright law. Good for them: this is a bad, bad law.
• The right to be ‘wrong-headed’. Canadian reporters should pay close attention to this analysis of a recent Supreme Court case dealing with defamation. It’s written by a lawyer, so it takes some careful reading, but it’s important to read and understand.
• Cracking the Local Market: It’s a Great Time to be a Journalist. And now, for something completely different. Chris Jennewein writes something I’ve been telling my students for several years now — “…the future will be more fragmented, more local and more encouraging for journalists.” — although I’ve been putting it a little differently: going forward there is going to be an increasing demand for good journalists but not in the newsroom as it currently exists.
• Big Think Videos, Easy for Citizens to Duplicate. Len Witt points to a video idea worth following, although doing a well-structured q&a is a little harder than he suggests.
• World of Digitalmediacraft. Intriguing idea: applying the WoW feedback loop to citizen-built media/community-building.

Okay, it turns out there are some business-related posts I need to pass on:

• Newspaper shares slid $23B in 6 months. If you are involved in media, you really need to read Alan Mutter, who not only tells you what’s happening, but offers astute analysis, such as….
• Deeper staff cuts likely at newspapers. Tens of thousands, he suggests. (Note: There is some smugness here in Canada that newspaper revenue is holding up because of the relative strength of the economy. But: the weak, weak American economy will start to have an impact at some point. More importantly, it is highly unlikely that the Canadian newspaper industry will not by rebuilt to reflect what happens south of the border. Our economic strength buys time, not a pass.)
• Whining about your impending death is not medicinal. Lucas Grindley. Do I need to say more? Go read.