3. Link Journalism
“There is a new profession of trail blazers, those who find
delight in the task of establishing useful trails through the
enormous mass of the common record.”
— Vannevar Bush
5. Link Journalism
Watch out for …
Potentially offensive material
Potentially illegal material
Beheading video of journalist Daniel Pearl
Sarah Palin’s inbox on Wikileaks
Computer code for cracking DVDs
Links that might create a conflict of interest
Amazon associate site for a book review
One candidate, but not the other
6. Link Journalism
Relevant Links
o Only the primary subjects of the story
o Not every possible link
o Give readers manageable choices
11. Link Journalism
Departure Points = News Elements
Who – Link people’s names to biographies.
What – Link verbs to contemporaneous accounts of the event, or to
video showing the action.
When – Dates are rarely linked in news stories. One prominent
exception is Wikipedia, which links dates to pages that contain
milestones that happened on a particular date. For example,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_8
Where – Location nouns point to maps. Location names link to
encyclopedic profiles or demographic data about the location.
Why and How – Rarely provide a noun you can use as link. Use
verb as departure point.
12. Link Journalism
Departure Points: Using Verbs
“The mayor spoke last month at the opening of the new cultural
center in downtown Ottumwa.”
“The mayor gave a speech last month at the opening of the new
cultural center in downtown Ottumwa. ”
13. Link Journalism
Inline Departure Points
o
o
o
o
o
No more than 3-5 words in a row
No consecutive links
Link nouns
Link only first instance …
… unless the first instance is in the lead. Then only
link the second.
o Avoid “sea of blue links”
15. Link Journalism
Sidebar Links
o Good For...
o Pointing to previous coverage of the story
o Pointing to different angles on the same story
o Pointing to long lists of documents or related tools, such as
a database or calculator
o Or “unrelated” links…
19. Link Journalism
Types of Unrelated Links …
o Latest headlines
o about same general topic, such as sports, business or politics
o across all subjects
o Popular content
o most e-mailed
o most commented
24. Link Journalism
Sidebar Links: Link Text
o a label for the destination page
o about three to five words long, often without a verb
25. Link Journalism
Sidebar Links: Link Text
Sotomayor Overcame Obstacles
to Sit on Nation’s Highest Court
becomes
Biography of Sonja Sotomayor
26. Link Journalism
Sidebar Links: Labels
Related Coverage
• Obama’s Speech: Video | Text
• Reaction: Dionne | Brooks
• State of the Union Address History
27. Link Journalism
Sidebar Links: Labels
o Worst Label: “More Information”
o Better Label: “Related Links”
o Even Better Label: “From the Archives”
o Best Label: “Past News Articles”
28. “Find delight in the
“Find delight in the
task of establishing
task of trails through
useful establishing
usefulenormous through
the trails mass of
the enormous record.”
the common mass of
the common record.”
Hinweis der Redaktion
{"2":"Vannevar Bush\nAs We May Think, Atlantic, 1945\n"}