The Biz: New Non-Profit Seeks to Fill Local Gap

A non-profit local reporting outfit is starting in San Francisco in hopes of jumping into the gap left by declining newspapers, says this New York Times piece. This new model of localized non-profit reporting is fast taking root across the U.S. Similar projects are under way in Chicago, San Diego, Seattle and several smaller towns.

Is it the way of the future? I don't think this new model will replace the larger print media - which I think will always have a certain market and ad base in most cities. But there's no doubt it's part of the overall fragmentation and specialization of the media world. It breaks up the daily newspaper's monopoly on city markets, and it gives the public more information options. So I think it's to be applauded.

At the same time, the non-profit model is clearly catching on. Here is another such outfit highlighted recently at CBC investigative veteran Cecil Rosner's excellent blog: California Watch.

TAGS: the biz, future of journalism

Tools: Fast Flipping Out

Cool new tool from Google Labs: Fast Flip. It's kind of a redesigned iGoogle with visuals of the hard-copy laid-out pages of your favourite news and information sources. You can customize it according to the publications of your choice or various subject headings ("politics," "business," "sports") and flip through pages as you would in a magazine. A little gimmicky, but still somewhat potentially useful for the busy info hound. But also, read this take from the Online Journalism Blog on what Fast Flip could mean for the troubled news industry.

TAGS: the biz, future of journalism, tools

Investigations: Guard Misconduct at U.S. Embassy in Kabul Reportedly Included Prostitutes, "Deviant Sex Acts"

Private-contractor guards at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul reportedly engaged in such lewd behaviour - including allegations that they abused Afghans and hired prostitutes - that dozens of their former colleagues blew the whistle to the Project on Government Oversight, according to this investigation by the Washington, D.C.-based non-profit. The reported misconduct was so serious it apparently resulted in a chronic turnover of staff and jeopardized the embassy's security in the warzone.

See photos of the lewd, booze-fuelled parties at this ABC News item. The network said one guard claimed his colleagues were pressured to engage in "deviant sex acts" in order to get promotions or desired shifts. I can see at least one position in those photos that's not in the Kama Sutra.

TAGS: investigations, corruption, Afghanistan