It’s been a rough week on many fronts. At the end of the Boston Marathon, two bombs went off, killing at least three people and maiming dozens of others. The news quickly spread on social media, with crucial updates and offers of support. But there was also people spreading misinformation, and the media blundered by reporting that a suspect was in custody when that wasn’t the case. The Mediatwits will discuss the situation in-depth with special guest Gabriel Florit, data visualization specialist for the Boston Globe. Mark Glaser will be hosting the podcast from Austin, Texas, site of the International Symposium for Online Journalism, along with roundtable regulars Monica Guzman, Andrew Lih, Ana Marie Cox and Felix Salmon. The discussion will also touch on InsideClimate News winning a Pulitzer Prize and what that means for non-profit investigative journalism, as well as the rise of mobile ads and soaring mobile usage by teens.
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Mediatwits Bios
Ana Marie Cox is a senior political columnist for The Guardian. She is the founding editor of the Wonkette blog and has covered politics and the culture of Washington, DC for outlets including the Washington Post, Playboy, GQ, Mother Jones and Elle. She is the author of the novel Dog Days and lives in St. Paul, Minn. Follower her on Twitter @anamariecox.
Mónica Guzmán is a columnist for the Seattle Times and Northwest tech news site GeekWire and a community strategist for startups and media. She emcees Ignite Seattle, a grab-bag community fueled speaker series. Mónica was a reporter at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and seattlepi.com, its online-only successor, where she ran the experimental and award-winning Big Blog and drew a community of readers with online conversation and weekly meetups. Follow her on Twitter @moniguzman
Andrew Lih is a new media journalist, and associate professor at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism where he directs the new media program. He is the author of “The Wikipedia Revolution” (Hyperion 2009, Aurum UK 2009) and is a noted expert on online collaboration and journalism. He is a veteran of AT&T Bell Laboratories and in 1994 created the first online city guide for New York City (www.ny.com). Follow him on Twitter @fuzheado and buy his book here.
Felix Salmon is the financial blogger for Reuters. He was named one of Time Magazine’s 25 Best Financial Bloggers, and offers his frank view on the maneuverings of Wall Street, Washington and popular culture. Watch him on Felix TV or follow him on Twitter @felixsalmon.
Special Guest
Gabriel Florit does data visualization at the Boston Globe. A newcomer to journalism, his previous jobs include writing software to keep track of trains, helping Alaskan legislators file campaign disclosures electronically, and visualizing data for health policy NGOs. In his spare time he enjoys working on livecoding.io. You can follow him on Twitter @gabrielflorit.
More Reading
1. Boston bombings and social response: misinformation and a helping hand
Where the blasts occurred (Boston Globe)
How the Boston Marathon bombings unfolded (Boston Globe)
Social Media Offers Vital Updates, Support After Boston Marathon Bombings (MediaShift)
The Boston Marathon, Social Media and the Spread of Misinformation (Idea Lab)
What Should Twitter Do When People Exploit an Emergency? (GigaOm)
Guy Kawasaki is too popular to stop auto-tweets during Boston bombing (Ragan’s PR Daily)
2. Pulitzer Prize goes to small InsideClimate News site
A Pulitzer Prize, but Without a Newsroom to Put It In (NY Times)
InsideClimate News’ Pulitzer: A New Direction for Old School Journalism (US News)
InsideClimate News Wins Pulitzer Prize (Washington Post)
3. Mobile boom: ad revenues up, teen use soars
Digital Advertising Reaches $36 Billion (LA Times)
One in Four Teens use Cellphones to Get Online (Adweek)
Poll
Be sure to vote in our weekly poll, this time about who you trust for accurate news:
Mark Glaser is executive editor of MediaShift and Idea Lab. He also writes the bi-weekly OPA Intelligence Report email newsletter for the Online Publishers Association. He lives in San Francisco with his son Julian and fiancee Renee. You can follow him on Twitter @mediatwit. and Circle him on Google+
