During 2011, consumers increasingly turned to tablets and social media for the news. Journalists covered heated political activity in our backyards and around the world. News organizations struggled to monetize online content with paywalls, mobile content, and more. Since this week marks the final days of 2011, we’re replacing our usual weekly headline recap with a look at the headlines that impacted the journalism and media business over the first half of the year.
- Google Tackles Web Spam, Says It Can Do Better: Google’s Panda update attempted to reduce spam from content mills and similar sites, creating more relevant and authoritative search results.
- CBS News’ Lara Logan Assaulted During Egypt Protests: Lara Logan, chief foreign correspondent for CBS News, suffered sexual assault and beatings in Egypt after being separated from her crew while filming mobs in Tahir Square. She flew back to the United States the following day.
- A Letter to Our Readers About Digital Subscriptions: The New York Times introduced digital subscriptions to mixed reactions earlier this year, especially from content writers who rely on notoriety to rank up.
- For-Profit Blues: Admist scandal, The Village Voice removed an article by freelance writer Rob Sgobbo after it discovered that Sgobbo had invented sources for his article on for-profit colleges.
- Facebook introduces first private content-sharing tool with ‘Send’ button: HuffPo, WSJ, and WaPo were among the first news outlets to add Facebook’s “Send” button to their content, enabling users to stories privately to Facebook friends. This was just one of many ways that websites attempted to make content more shareable.
Check back on Friday for headlines from the second half of 2011.