Charlotte Observer to Hold Hyper-local Publishing and Blogging Seminar Next Month

The Charlotte Observer is holding a "Hyper-local Publishing and Blogging 101" seminar October 9. Sponsored by the newspaper with support from a grant coordinated by J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism, the seminar will focus on the future of journalism and how mainstream newspapers can work with citizen-based websites and blogs.

Experts from local websites and blogs, and the Observer, will give tips and answer questions. The seminar will show you how to identify your audience, streamline your writing and boost your traffic.

The seminar is open to any resident of the Charlotte area, but it will focus on information for people who blog about public life or news--neighborhood news, specialty topics such as food or politics, or local style and fashion. Important to note: The seminar's speakers won't be covering information on using blogs to promote a particular business.

Hyper-local Publishing and Blogging 101
*Saturday, October 9, 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
*The Charlotte Observer, 600 S. Tryon St.
*Parking is free and participants will be e-mailed details.
*Cost is $10, includes coffee, lunch, and all fees.

For more details and to register, go to hyperlocalcharlotte.wordpress.com (capacity is limited). You may also call 704-358-5077 if you have any questions.

Submit Story Ideas for Next Edition of 'NABJ Journal'

Copies of the Summer 2010 edition of NABJ Journal, which were first distibuted at last month's NABJ Convention, are now available for download online at www.nabj.org in the Members Only section.

In addition to profiling Journalist of the Year Soledad O'Brien, the magazine features stories on Community Service Award winner Michelle Singletary, Legacy Award winner and Founder Paul Delaney, Emerging Journalist Michael Feeney, and the chapters of the year--Philadelphia and Tampa--which shared the honor. And there are great stories about winners from Howard University and FAMU.

The next issue is planned for late fall. For more information and to submit story ideas, send an email to nabjjournal@gmail.com.

Charlotte Grows as Television Market

Charlotte moved up a notch to No. 23 in size among the nation's 210 television markets, according to the annual ranking by Nielsen.

With an estimated 1,166,180 households with television in its 22-county region, which stretches from the Virginia line to Chester, S.C., Charlotte's market area grew 1.6 percent to pass Pittsburgh, now No. 24.

Charlotte, with explosive population growth through much of the decade, was ranked No. 28 in 2000.

The Raleigh-Durham-Fayetteville market grew even more. It grew 2.1 percent and moved up one spot to No. 25, with 1,131,310 TV households, passing Indianapolis. Among major TV markets, Raleigh was sixth in growth while Charlotte was tenth.

No. 16 Miami-Fort Lauderdale was the nation's fastest-growing TV market, up 2.8 percent.

Elsewhere in the Carolinas, Greensboro-Winston-Salem fell one spot to No. 47; Columbia moved up one to No. 78; Charleston fell one to No. 98; and Greenville, N.C.-New Bern moved up two spots, to No. 101.

Market size is of key interest to advertisers, who often place campaigns in local media based on the aggregation of TV households.

--By Mark Washburn, The Charlotte Observer

Study of African Americans in News Coverage

As a group, African Americans attracted relatively little attention in the U.S. mainstream news media during the first year of Barack Obama’s presidency -- and what coverage there was tended to focus more on specific episodes than on examining how broader issues and trends affected the lives of blacks generally, according to a year-long study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism and its Social and Demographic Trends Project.

These findings come from an examination of more than 67,000 national news stories that appeared between February 16, 2009 and February 15, 2010 in different mainstream media outlets, including newspapers, cable and network television, radio, and news websites.

Just 643 of those stories, 1.9% of the total newshole examined by the study, related in a significant way to African Americans in the U.S. (To be considered a “significant” part of a given story, 25% of the content of that story must be about a demographic group and its race/ethnicity).

The press coverage that did emerge tended to be a reaction to events involving black newsmakers rather than to issues relating to African Americans more generally. The arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, the Obama presidency, the death of Michael Jackson and the attempted Northwest Airlines terrorist attack by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab accounted for nearly half (46.4%) of all coverage that had a substantial mention of African Americans during this time period.

Click here to read more on the study.

CAABJ Members Learn to Work Their Network

Last week, CAABJ brought in a guest speaker for its July meeting, held at Loco Lime/Common House. Shelley Young, brand education consultant at Wells Fargo, presented a mini-workshop on "The Art of Networking" to a group of about twenty people made up of CAABJ members and a few other journalists the organization hopes will soon become members.

Young shared valuable tips on how to both work your network and expand your network. She stressed the importance of building relationships and that you should make a list of the people and/or companies you'd like to connect with, as well as plan on how you will accomplish that. "Think of networking as a noun, something that is. Not just a verb, as in only something you do," she said.

See a few photos from the meeting in the slideshow below.