Tipping point has been reached for old media

According to Arianne Huffington we are close to the tipping point where new media takes over from the old.

The Huffington Post founder interviewed by Tribune media services said that

We are certainly at a turning point leading to the tipping point -- an exciting prospect in my view.

adding that

Today we live in the linked economy, not a walled-off content economy. The challenge is to find different ways to monetize links among media through advertising or micropayment or whatever, not subscription for exclusive content. In this environment, good journalism will survive, and even flourish, though most newspapers -- except for a handful of the very best papers and magazines in every national market -- probably will not.

But these are optimistic times

Huffington launches an investigative journalism fund

Arianne Huffington has launched the Huffington Post Investigative Fund today.

Writing on the site,she says that

This nonprofit Fund will produce a wide-range of investigative journalism created by both staff reporters and freelance writers.

adding that

all who recognize the indispensable role good journalism plays in our democracy are looking for ways to preserve it during this transitional period for the media.

It is an admiral step from the Huffington Post's founder and she is obviously putting the full weight of the organisation behind it with a starting fund of $1.75m.

So if you have any ideas send her an email

HuffPostFund@gmail.com.

The first new media President calls the first blogger

Described as a bookend moment by the New York Times,President Obama's first White House news conference saw the calling of Sam Stein, a reporter for The Huffington Post.

It marks an important breakthrough for the political blogging fraternity in the States as acceptance at the highest level for a non old media journalist.

It is difficult to see the same thing happening here.Imagine Gordon Brown calling the next question from Iain Dale as an example of how far things have gone across the water.

Obama of course can be described as the first new media president.Whilst his twitter account probably wasn't the difference in the margin over John McCain,it certainly helped to create awareness of his campaign.

Interestly continues the paper

The White House decided in advance which reporters would be selected. And on Monday night, correspondents for The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, Time and Newsweek were not on the list.

Triumph for citzen journalists on the Obama campaign

The triumph for citizen journalism across the Atlantic where one of the Huffington Post's 1800 citizen journalists scooped dome remarks made by Democrat candidate Barack Obama.

Mayhill Fowler covered a speech( you can see it here) that he made in Pennsylvania where talking about working class voters he said

"You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

It was one of those off the guard moments that the main networks didn't pick up.I fact Fowler,a Obama supporter pondered for 5 days before publishing it.

Not suprisngly though his opponents pick up on the remarks,Hillary Clinton calling them "elite and out of touch"

Citizen Journalists to cover US elections

The Huffington Post is to take citizen Journalism to new heights by taking on a large group of citizen volunteers to cover the US presidential candidates.

Arianna Huffington says

"Each of these volunteer reporter/bloggers will contribute to a candidate-specific group blog -- offering written updates, campaign tidbits, on-the-scene observations, photos, or original video.
We'll have a Clinton blog, an Obama blog, an Edwards blog, a McCain blog, a Giuliani blog, a Romney blog, a Biden blog, a Richardson blog, a Dodd blog, a Kucinich blog, a Brownback blog, a Huckabee blog. Each offering a wide variety of voices and perspectives on the campaign they are following. These group blogs will also be a compendium of useful information about each candidate, including their latest speeches, upcoming appearances, new videos and ads, recent news articles and more. "

According to Editors weblog around 40-50 are expected to cover over 100 candidates.

Traditional Media must adapt-Huffington

I have sung the praises of the Huffington Post before on these pages and now its founder Arianna is telling us that traditional media must evolve and adapt before it gets phased out.

In a speach made in Hollywood on Monday night(source Newscom) she said that news outlets were so busy chasing the story that they had lost sight of important events,a process that she calls "Mainstream media has amnesia".

She praises the roll of bloggers

"new media for people who have views and want to see them part of the (current events discussion) in real-time,"

And critizes sites that charge for content

"Content online has to be free,Unless it's porn or financial news, don't charge for it."