Zombie Journalism

These are my recommended links for August 28th through September 3rd:

• Membership has its meaning « BuzzMachine – Jeff Jarvis and several commenters outline how a membership – as opposed to a subscription – could be the ticket to a future business model for news. The problem is – membership needs to be worth it – and it won’t prop up the status quo.
• The Times & the Internet – The New York Review of Books – Nice column from NYT Editor Bill Keller about the future of journalism. He says he new of the future will be done by the successful start-ups and survivors of the print age.
• Journalism’s biggest problems are not online: They’re inside – Very gutsy column from KDMC outlining the real problems newspapers face from their own employees and CEOs – from laziness in reporting to corporate malfeasance and the resistance to change. We blame online competition for our demise, he says, when we should be looking in the mirror.
• Twitter ‘Investigative’ Journalism 101: The Syllabus – twitter – Gawker – A class on using Twitter in reporting? Gawker seems to mock the idea, but the syllabus is sound. So long as the skills taught aren’t just Twitter-specific, but rather can be transferable to other, future social media tools, I say it’s a winner.
• Strained by Katrina, a Hospital Faced Deadly Choices – NYTimes.com – Excellent story brought to you by both the New York Times and the grant-funded Pro-Publica. Could arrangements like this be the future of investigative journalism?