Muck Rack

#muckedup Chat Tuesday: Spy Vs. Spy, Snooping On Journalists

Sat, 18 May 2013 20:22:55 -0400

News of the Department of Justice eavesdropping on Associated Press journalists rocked the media world this week. The government monitored reporters and editors’ home and work phone lines for two months.

The feds are mum on what exactly they were looking for, but word is it’s part of an investigation behind last year’s Yemeni bomb plot, wherein the government was looking into just who provided that information to journalists.

The move both stokes conspiracy theorists and gives reason for all journalsits to be weary. Big brother is watching. And for journalists looking to truly muckrack and reveal dirt on the powers that be, this is a warning. Watch your back. It’s not just the AP that’s a target.

In an interview with NPR, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said he’s approved media monitoring so many times in his four years as the head of the Justice Department that he doesn’t even remember the details and organizations his employees have snooped on.

Wow.

In response to those words, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press sent a letter to Holder expressing their concern and demanding that this practice be cubed in lieu of the First Amendment. Fifty two news groups signed on. The letter specifically calls for all phone records returned and information on just what news outlets have been targeted.

This case displays both the lack of transparency and the culture of fear prevalent in Washington, and just how journalists can be victimized for essentially just doing their job.

We have a lot to talk about this week on the chat. We’ll share stories on similar experiences we’ve had, how to avoid marginalization and censorship and how to keep our First Amendment rights intact.

See you this Tuesday, May 21 at 8 pm EST.

—AP

#muckedup No. 47 Recap: Coding, The New Must Have Skill?

Sat, 18 May 2013 19:17:19 -0400

Is coding the most important skill for journalists? In our tumultuous industry, it certainly doesn’t hurt to know how to code, and some would argue that this ability is a new communication tool to both tell better stories and comunicate data in new, entertaining ways.

This week on the chat we talked about the pros and cons, and even traded some tips and feelings on whether coding enhances or distracts us from our primary goal as storytellers. I, and many others, think that it’s an enhancer and only makes us stronger journalists to have at least a working knowledge. Here’s our Storify take on what other journalists said during the chat.

If you like what you see here, join us this Tuesday, May 21 at 8 pm EST.

—AP

Sullivan & Son TBS Hangover Brunch highlights 2013 Upfronts

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:26:00 -0400

Today Muck Rack attended the Sullivan & Son TBS Hangover Brunch at Gotham Comedy Club. The event invited a select group of journalists to sit in a small and intimate setting to get to know the stars of the hit TBS show, from Executive Producers Vince Vaughn, Peter Billingsley, and Rob Long.

The brunch was an incredibly unique experience, forgoing the fancy presentations and larger audiences that have come to dominate Upfronts, and instead focusing on direct communication with everyone in the room, including writers, bloggers, television stars, and more!

Make sure to check out the season premiere of Sullivan & Sons June 13 at 10pm ET on TBS featuring Steve Byrne, Ahmed Ahmed, Owen Benjamin, Roy Wood Jr., and Valerie Azlynn. Also, don’t miss your chance to see these hilarious comedians on their Sullivan & Son Comedy Tour.

-DZ

From LA Times to NY Times, NPR to Al Jazeera America, and beyond ...

Fri, 17 May 2013 12:54:00 -0400

Here’s a selection of the most intriguing career status updates we covered this week in the Muck Rack Daily.

In one of the highest profile job changes since the Koch brothers showed interest in the LA Times, popular staff writer Matea Gold has announced she’s leaving for the Washington Post, where she will be a money and politics reporter. Gold tweets, “Tx to all for the outpouring of good wishes! Incredibly hard to leave my LAT colleagues, but am excited to start a new chapter at the Post.” The news was greeted with much sadness on Twitter from her former coworkers: LAT political reporter Maeve Reston forlornly tweets, “At loss of @mateagold to @postpolitics, @LATimesrainey just told me I looked like I was going to throw up. We are crushed here, but congrats.” Meanwhile, Times political blogger James Rainey tweets, “We will all really miss@MateaGold, our bright, intrepid and fun colleague. She will kill for @washingtonpost on the money and politics beat.”

And welcome back, Stephanie Elam! To CNN, that is. After less than a year as a weekend evening co-anchor at NBC Southern California, Elam has triumphantly returned to CNN as a correspondent once more, and the welcoming party awaiting her return was warm indeed. “is it official? Can I do my happy dance??” KTLA anchor Michaela Pereira asks. “Please dance my dear colleague and friend!” Elam confirms.

Another Al Jazeera America hire: this time it’s NPR’s Planet Money reporter Lam Vo, who will be spearheading multimedia. “Am joining Al Jazeera @AJAM as interactive editor in June,” Vo tweets, followed by dropping this enticing bait: “Wanna cover news hackathon-style? We’re hiring designers/developers/data hacks.” You heard the woman, job seekers!

Afghanistan correspondent Heidi Vogt is making a major change not only in employers, but also in location. In Vogt’s own words (or tweets): ”Tweeps: I’m leaving Afghanistan after 4 years. I’ll still tweet Afghan news but no longer live it. Come June, look for me in East Africa w/ WSJ.” Vogt has previously reported for the Associated Press and the Daily Beast, among others. As a final nod to her foreign stomping grounds, she tweets, “My last piece from Afghanistan, in which I explain what it’s like to report there and how it is changing.” New colleague and WSJ’s Middle East and Afghanistan reporter Yaroslav Trofimov shared her article, adding, “Moving farewell to #Afghanistan by @HeidiVogt, who is joining WSJ to cover the many human dramas of Africa.”

At last, one of Buzzfeed’s new sections is fully staffed! Or as business editor Peter Lauria tweets, “The @buzzfeed biz team is complete..please welcome our economics/finance reporter @MattZeitlin..his tweets R already on BBG (legitimately)” Yes, the final piece in the Buzzfeed business puzzle is economics and finance reporter Matt Zeitlin, who comes to the Buzz from Newsweek and the Daily Beast. Also, apparently Zeitlin was feeling bad about how his basketball team ended the playoffs, because he tweets, “Good thing i got a job because there is warriors sized gaping void in my life now.” Way to find the silver lining, Matt!

Meanwhile, Buzzfeed keeps growing its news division, too, and its latest addition is Adrian Carrasquillo. Carrasquillo joins the team as a breaking news reporter, while previously he was a producer and social media manager for NBC Latino and NBC News. MSBNC’s newest political reporter Benjy Sarlin tweets, “Congrats to @RealAdrianC, going to @Buzzfeed after killing it at NBC Latino!” Carrasquillo writes, “To friends I’ve made in the Latino space. You’re not getting rid of me that easily. Excited to continue to surface important stories, voices.”

To be the first to know when your friends, colleagues and frenemies change jobs in future, subscribe free to the Muck Rack Daily. You should also check out Muck Rack Pro to find journalists even when they haven’t just changed jobs.

- KB

Highlights from the 2013 USA Upfront!

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:49:47 -0400

Yesterday Muck Rack attended the USA Upfront, the last Upfront (meeting hosted at the start of the advertising sales periods by television network executives) of the week. After the cocktail reception, various cast members from Suits guided the presentation, which was full of laughs, new show announcements, a music video by the entire USA cast (including USA Network’s Ad Sales department), and an introduction to Psych, the Musical!

The festivities didn’t end there though; post presentation was another reception and a great speech from Bruce Campbell from Burn Notice, thanking his fans for supporting the show for its tenure. Bruce wrapped up his speech by giving cash rebates to all of the advertisers who’s advertised on his show.

USA concluded their show with an amazing performance from Passion Pit and a spectacular fireworks display! Here’s what Brian Hernandez from Mashable had to say.

- ZO

Check out Muck Rack University, proudly boasting a 100% admission rate

Mon, 13 May 2013 12:03:00 -0400

Muck Rack is proud to announce the launch of our Muck Rack University, featuring white papers on connecting better with journalists, case studies with HootSuite, UPS, and Flashpoint PR, and more!

It’s the perfect one-stop shop to learn everything you need to know about what Muck Rack can do for you and your company!

Start exploring Muck Rack University here: www.muckrack.com/university

-DZ

#muckedup Chat Tuesday: Coding, The New Must Have Skill?

Sun, 12 May 2013 20:43:00 -0400

A few weeks ago on the chat we talked about the merits of digital reporting. Nowadays, social media and multimedia wizardry are just as important as knowing how to report and write a good story. The game isn’t easy, but members of the chat community are in agreement that this job is fulfilling and thrilling enough to keep rolling the dice and playing.

Which brings us to this week’s topic and the next move that may benefit us all. In the pursuit of learning more and more marketable abilities, this week we’re going to talk the merits of coding. Is it the new must have skill?

As the web becomes more and more visually driven, and moving from desktop to mobile platforms, it’s important we as journalists both understand and know how to use these mediums to better communicate and grab readers attentions. People like Asher Hunt, the lead mobile designer at LivePerson, say that’s the value of coding.

English isn’t the only language worth learning well, Hunt told me in late April.

“Learning HTML and CSS creates a really valuable way for people to efficiently design for the web,” he says. Understanding those languages gives creators both the know-how to build and design, and the knowledge of their limitations, all keys for communicating content.

We’ve talked data journalism before, but this week we’re going to get <div>’d out and really dissect coding. Want to learn more, join us this Tuesday, May 14 at 8 EST to get #muckedup. See you then.

—AP

From CJR to AOL, Wired to Guardian, and beyond ...

Fri, 10 May 2013 22:00:01 -0400

Here’s a selection of the most intriguing career status updates we covered this week in the Muck Rack Daily.

Columbia Journalism Review’s editor-in-chief Cyndi Stivers is now editor-in-chief of AOL.com. Stivers has also made her mark at such publications as Entertainment Weekly and Time Out New York. She tweets, “So excited to join Chris Grosso, Francis Lobo, Susan Lyne and the gang at AOL. Thanks for the good wishes, everybody!” New York Times business columnist David Carr tweets, “The puzzle palace just added some big smarts.”

Spencer Ackerman is the Guardian’s new National Security Editor—that’s today’s big job news making the rounds on Twitter. Ackerman tweets, “Thanks, everyone, for all the kind words. I had no idea Twitter could be so nice.” Previously a senior writer at Wired, he then goes on to list a litany of thank yous to former colleagues: “Sappiness: I’ve been privileged to work w @dangerroom @mat @laura_hudson @kimzetter @redgirlsays @bobmcmillan @cademetz @kpoulsen @arikia…” Washington Post and Bloomberg News blogger Ezra Klein jokingly references Ackerman’s handle, tweeting, “Time for @attackerman to change his name to guardianman.”

Matt Lynley of the Wall Street Journal and Mariah Summers of the Financial Times Groups’ “FundFire” are Buzzfeed’s two latest hires for its expanding business news section. Lynley tweets about the move, “Very excited to work with@mariahjsummers, @sapnam and @peterlauria3 on @buzzfeed’s new business section” adding a “√+” to show his approval. “So thrilled to be joining … the BuzzFeed Business team!!!” Summers tweets in agreement. Editor-in-chief Ben Smith tweets, “So psyched about @peterlauria3’s nascent biz team,” adding, “Esp Mariah, who really needs some followers.” That shouldn’t be too hard to accomplish, with a shout-out like that to Smith’s audience of more than 140,000! Also, there’s still one more job to fill in their section, according to Buzzfeed Biz editor Peter Lauria, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

Roll Call’s masthead has seen a lot of shake-ups this week. First, politics reporter Jonathan Strong tweeted this big news: “I’m pleased to announce I’m headed to National Review as a political reporter.” “Let the hazing begin!” tauntingly tweets Jonah Goldberg, NR columnist. Strong replies, “haha do your worst!”

Their associate politics editor David Drucker is moving on, too—to Senior Congressional Correspondent at theWashington Examiner. “Thanks so much to all who offered such kind words on my move to the @dcexaminer,” Druckertweets. @RollCall has been amazing,but I’m excited abt what’s next.” Emily Heil tweets, “Welcome to the @rollcall Alumni Club, @davidmdrucker! You’l learn the secret handshake soon.”

Josh Rogin and Eli Lake are the twosome teaming up to cover foreign policy and national security for the The Daily Beast. Rogin comes from Foreign Policy where he worked as a senior staff writer, while Lake hails from Newsweek where he was senior national security reporter. Wired’s national security reporter Spencer Ackerman tweets, “With @EliLake &@joshrogin together, they should rename it Daily Beastmode.” “The daily beastie boys,” adds Al-Monitor’s foreign policy reporter Laura Rozen. “That Just Happened,” Lake tweets in the wake of the news. Buzzfeed’s editor-in-chief Ben Smith nods in their direction that the duo is “going to be a killer combo.”

- KB

#muckedup No. 46 Recap: Twitter (In)Security For News Orgs

Fri, 10 May 2013 20:34:49 -0400

Following a string of major level hacks at some of the biggest news outlets on the planet, this week’s chat was focused on looking at the inherent flaws in social media security, and how journalism and the general public is at risk because of it.

A look at some of the best tweets from the chat are here on Storify. Enjoy!

As always, if you like what you see here, join us next Tuesday, May 14 at 8 pm EST for another edition of #muckedup.

—AP

Featured journalist : Charlie Warzel

Tue, 07 May 2013 20:03:00 -0400

Today’s featured journalist is Charlie Warzel, deputy editor of FWD at BuzzFeed. He’s also at AdWeek writing about digital politics, the future of journalism, and online publishing (the digital media beat is really a give at this point).

Warzel’s portfolio includes, “The 140-Character-or-Less Campaign,” “Overdosing on HuffPost Live,” and “Are Table-Only Publications Dead?”

Over the weekend, he had a brilliant idea: “what if we just shut down twitter on the weekends…”

Do you want to be featured? Set up your own own journalist portfolio and then let us know through delia at muckrack dot com.

-dp

Featured journalist: Chris Brennan

Mon, 06 May 2013 19:05:09 -0400

Today’s featured journalist is Chris Brennan, senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News.

His portfolio includes, “CLOUT’S A-to-Z guide to the Republican National Convention” while his twitter quote reads: “Squirm: Now is not the time for squirming, unless of course some angry guy on TV says we should squirm if we really love America.”

Do you want to be featured? Set up your own own journalist portfolio and then let us know through delia at muckrack dot com.

#MuckedUp with Wired UK in London

Mon, 06 May 2013 10:03:00 -0400

Muck Rack’s Cofounder & CEO Greg Galant was recently in London, and thought it would be a great opportunity to catch up with the Wired UK journalists for a #MuckedUp, London style. Check out the recap of the night:

Tag yourself on our Facebook album!

Storify from the event:

-SP

From CBS to Buzzfeed, Politico to NPR, and beyond ...

Sat, 04 May 2013 09:30:16 -0400

Here’s a selection of the most intriguing career status updates we covered this week in the Muck Rack Daily.

So remember that “animals associate editor” job at Buzzfeed that everyone wanted? And by everyone, we mean everyone: Buzzfeed says “thousands” applied for the position, but there can only be one … and that “one” is Chelsea Marshall, previously of “CBS This Morning.” Marshall looks like the perfect person for the coveted position, given her experience working at NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” and “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.” Buzzfeed senior editor Summer Anne Burton warmly tweets, “So excited to announce that @theseamar is joining us at @BuzzFeedAnimals as an Associated Editor!” Marshall replies, “did I mention how excited I am??” We expect big things from her. Big, furry, funny things.

The New York Times just bumped Metro Editor Carolyn Ryan up to political editor. Although Ryan isn’t tweeting about it yet, plenty of other people are: PBS Digital’s Jason Seiken tweets, ”I feel better about our country’s future knowing@carolynryan is now political editor @nytimes. She’s a class act.” Oregonian business editor Scott Nelson also tweets, “Former colleague @carolynryan named political editor at @nytimes. Tough job, but tough journalist to do it. Congrats!”

Big news in the realm of magazine journalism: Oprah’s “O” mag has a new editor-in-chief, Lucy Kaylin. Kaylin has served as the publication’s deputy editor for the past 4 years. “So grateful to everyone at Hearst and especialy to @Oprah and@GayleKing,” she tweets, adding, “Big plans! #sleevesrolledup“ Cosmopolitan’s editor-in-chief Joanna Coles tweets, “So excited for my dear friend Lucy Kaylin taking over as editor-in-chief of @O_Magazine mag. Awesome choice. Badass broad!”

NPR just poached itself a new politics editor for its digital team: Politico’s national politics editor Charlie Mahtesian. “Pretty neat news,” he tweets, while replying to the onslaught of tweets: “Thanks for the welcome wagon!” “welcome@charlieNPR!” tweets ”All Things Considered” co-host Audie Cornish, using his new username. She adds, “also says something about us that this twitter handle wasn’t taken …”

Finally, ABC News shuffled some major cards in its deck last week: This Week’s executive producer Sandy Cannold is now EP and senior business editor on the network news team, while in DC, bureau chief Robin Sproul was just named “executive in charge” of This Week. Sproul will still be captaining the ship at the Washington bureau, however, with help from brand new deputy bureau chief Sara Just. “A million congrats@sarajust on new gig as @ABC DC Deputy Bureau Chief + @SandyCannold as EP+senior business editor!” tweets Washington Post video editor Julie Percha. “Thanks very much - go team!” Just tweets in gratitude.

#muckedup Chat Tuesday: Twitter (In)Security For News Orgs

Fri, 03 May 2013 16:07:32 -0400

The AP, NPR, 60 Minutes, The Guardian. All have been victims of recent Twitter hacks, with poor security exposed by aggressive hackers.

The results have been drastic. We’ve learned just one faulty tweet can dramatically shift the stock market. And Twitter thinks these attacks will continue.

Credibility is at risk here and so is our security. Social media has become the tool for journalists, but without proper authentication, news orgs large and small are still at risk. Which means we’re all at risk if information is co-opted.

This is an important moment in the history of both the web and the media. This week we’ll talk about this symbiotic relationship and the steps and measures that can be taken to try to fix this flaw. Journalist or just “Regular Joe,” this effects each and every one of us, and it’ll be a chat worth following. See you this Tuesday, May 7 at 8 pm EST to talk these security woes on #muckedup.

—AP

Bloomberg News' social media director fired after Matthew Keys tweets DM conversation

Fri, 03 May 2013 15:56:00 -0400

Jared Keller, now former director of social media for Bloomberg News, was let go Friday after former Reuters deputy social media editor Matthew Keys tweeted a DM conversation between the two in which Keller allegedly said Bloomberg is a “mess.”

Today was my last day at Bloomberg. It was a great run at a great company.

— Jared Keller (@jaredbkeller)

May 3, 2013

Keller followed up minutes later:

You guys are all very nice but I’m sure there’s other news to focus on that’s more important (tip @mediagazer)

— Jared Keller (@jaredbkeller)

May 3, 2013

Keys’ tweets were presumably in response a Gizmodo story from March, for which Keys claimed Keller gave the outlet a DM conversation in which Keys said he was likely to get fired.

“Ever wonder how Gawker got this conversation?” Keys tweeted, along with screenshots of the DM conversation featured in the Gizmodo story.

“It’s funny. That came one day after @jaredbkeller was complaining about HIS job,” Keys then said along with a screenshot of Keller allegedly writing, “Everything at Bloomberg is just a total mess. … It’s all bullshit. I fucking hate it here. Steal me awaaaay.”

Journalists came out overwhelmingly in support of Keller, with many tweeting well-wishes immediately after Keller broke the news.

If you haven’t complained about your boss or your employer, you’re a robot. I think @jaredbkeller is the best.

— Jack Shafer (@jackshafer)

May 3, 2013

I don’t know anybody who works harder, or smarter, than @jaredbkeller.

— Chris Heller (@c_heller)

May 3, 2013

Whoa, best of luck, Jared RT @jaredbkeller: Today was my last day at Bloomberg. It was a great run at a great company.

— Ethan Klapper (@ethanklapper)

May 3, 2013

@jaredbkeller Sorry to hear that man. First whiskey’s on me.

— Colin Jones (@colinjones)

May 3, 2013

@jaredbkeller All the best, man.

— Ram Ramgopal (@RamCNN)

May 3, 2013

Their loss. Someone snatch this guy up quickly → @jaredbkeller

— Maryellen Stewart (@Maryellen)

May 3, 2013

Keys didn’t respond to requests for comment. Keller declined to comment, as did Bloomberg, which said it “does not comment on personnel matters.”

-TH

This post has been updated 2x since its original publication.

#muckedup No. 45 Recap: Is Digital Reporting The Worst Job Of 2013?

Thu, 02 May 2013 19:33:00 -0400

This week on the chat we discussed whether or not digital reporting is the best, or possibly the worst job of 2013. We bantered, argued and agreed and the consensus was that digital journalism isn’t such a bad business to be in, after all. Still, call us biased, but we think it is better than traditional print reporting.

Here’s a link to our Storify on the chat, a new way we’re experimenting with recapping these talks.

Like what you see here? Come join us next week at 8 pm EST on May 7 for another episode of the chat. See you then.

—AP

@HuffPoSpoilers: A flavor of the week that highlights an awkward truth

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 06:00:00 -0400

Twitter click-bait can be irritating, cheap and frustrating. But it works.

That tension is distilled and mocked with precision by @HuffPoSpoilers, a Twitter account discovered last week that dissects The Huffington Post’s infamous click-bait Tweets by taking all of the mystery out of them.

“And the city with the worst traffic in the U.S. is …,” @HuffingtonPost would tweet, its mystery deflated minutes later by a retweet from @HuffPoSpoilers with the answer: “Los Angeles.”

The account flourished Thursday — the earliest mention we can find is from Eliot Nelson of, ahem, HuffPost — and was tweeted by everyone you know all weekend, quickly filling your feed with its surprisingly simple truth: That we’d all like a little more straightforwardness in our Twitter feeds.

***

Alex Mizrahi, 30, of Prospect Heights, conceived of the idea last August, peeved at what he called were HuffPost’s sometimes “frustrating and annoying tweets” that pose a question in a tweet, or leave its crux out, forcing readers to click through for the answer.

“I follow The Huffington Post because I like getting my news from them, they’re one of my main news sources, but their tweets can be so frustrating sometimes,” Mizrahi, who just finished an associate producer gig with the Shorty Awards and is in between jobs, told me in an interview Sunday night.

The account was mostly quiet for its first eight months, with Mizrahi tweeting only “if there was a specific tweet that really irked me,” he said.

This makes me laugh twitter.com/HuffPoSpoilers

— Eliot Nelson (@eliotnelson)

April 25, 2013

But Thursday afternoon, journalists caught wind of feed, and it exploded, growing from 18 followers to more than 10,000 in about two days.

“It’s hard to fathom. It’s a little mind-boggling,” Mizrahi said. “But it’s sort of a validation that, Oh, other people are annoyed by this too, and people are getting behind it.”

Indeed, words such as “genius” and “brilliant” were quickly tossed at the account, and Noah Chestnut, director of digital media at Hamilton Place Strategies, used it as a springboard into an anti-click-bait manifesto on Medium. On Thursday, he wrote,

“The right way for @HuffingtonPost to use Twitter is to just give us the damn answer. [Emphasis his.] The gimmick of asking a question or withholding information so we click is connected to a world where publishers wished Twitter didn’t exist. Similar to a newspaper owner complaining about Craigslist, The Huffington Post is wasting energy.”

Wasting energy, perhaps not; HuffPost told me that, in general, click-bait tweets perform mildly better than their more straightforward counterparts. (More on that in a minute.)

Oprah, $165 million in 2011 RT @huffingtonpost Guess who is the highest-paid celebrity huff.to/PoEPPG

— HuffPo Spoilers (@HuffPoSpoilers)

August 29, 2012

Still, Chestnut and Mizrahi share a sentiment common among many Twitter users, both journalists and consumers alike: get to the point.

“We’ve become an on-demand kind of world now, and we can have everything when we want it, so we get annoyed by things like this,” Mizrahi told me. “We certainly don’t want The Huffington Post to go away, but there’s got to be a balance between this and them still being able to hit their traffic.”

***

Indeed, for all the hand-wringing over click-bait, the point remains: HuffPost has nearly 3 million followers, as well as higher engagement than almost anyone, and it’s the 20th most-visited site in the U.S., according to Alexa.com.

For its part, HuffPost and its staff were graceful about the ribbing, with many staff members tweeting out the parody themselves. (Craig Kanalley wrote it up for the site, calling some of its tweets “gold.”)

Dean Praetorius, the outlet’s director of trends and social media, told me on Sunday that the newsroom was amused by the account.

“To some extent, with anything like this, we’re a little flattered,” Praetorius said. “My first reaction was that it’s a little bit of a testament to how much conversation our tweets start.”

(It’s @huffpospoilers) RT @ckanal Twitter feed responds to @huffingtonpost tweets bit.ly/17kUsD4

— Aaron Edwards (@aaronmedwards)

April 25, 2013

Praetorius, who has been at HuffPost for about two and a half years, said that what @HuffPoSpoilers prods at is “a fair point to make,” but that the tweets are thought-out pieces of HuffPost’s overall strategy.

“We leave a bit of mystery in the feed, and we take an element of pride in that,” he said. “If we were gonna give everything away in every single tweet, we might as well tweet headlines. But we want to be able to take it a little further.”

That strategy has seems to work for HuffPost. Praetorius told me that, if one were to look solely at clicks, tweets with that bit of mystery do perform better than some of the account’s most explicitly worded tweets. (He declined to discuss specific numbers.)

However, Praetorius did say that the tone of a story often dictates the tweet more than a grab for clicks.

“We would never do, for example, ‘You wouldn’t believe which marathon got bombed.’ Could you image that?” he said. “When it comes to serious news, we’re very serious and aware of what’s going on.”

Still, @HuffPoSpoilers’ novelty is not lost on HuffPost.

“It’s just fun. And, at the very least, some of the irony of this is that they’re still retweeting our links,” Praetorius said.

Mizrahi echoed the sentiment.

“They obviously know what works, and they’re sort of getting me to tweet their stuff for them in this,” he said. “I don’t think they’d keep at this if it didn’t work.”

- TH

(Disclosure: The Shorty Awards are owned by Sawhorse Media, which owns Muck Rack.)

#muckedup Chat Tuesday: Digital Reporting - Best Or Worst Job Of 2013?

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:54:55 -0400

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

Sometimes being a reporter feels like you’re in a Dickens novel. Last week the Wall Street Journal printed an article that listed the best and worst jobs of 2013. Guess what took first prize for worst? That’s right, newspaper reporter was listed as the lousiest job of the year, and an actuary was number one for best.

The survey was based on numbers gathered from a company called CareerCast.com. All around the industry journalists reacted. Stones were thrown, big statements were made, navel gazing all around.

I wondered if the survey’s results were just for print reporters, or if it extended to digital journalists as well? And what about staffers versus freelancers? In this era of news grazers with huge appetites, short attention spans and little tolerance for error, just what does it mean to be a news reporter? How do we feel?

We’re way beyond simple rhetoric of blogger versus journalist. Forget titles, it’s about quality of life and happiness with our jobs, and we’ll talk exactly about the nuances of print and online and what’s best on the upcoming chat.

So see you this Tuesday, April 30 at 8 p.m. EST / 5 p.m. PST. We’ll get nice and #muckedup together. I’m back in America now, so no worries about emergencies or time zone problems. Looking forward to chatting.

—AP

Highlights from the 2013 MTV Upfront

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:53:00 -0400

MTV Journalists on Muck Rack

As everyone gathered into New York City’s Beacon Theatre for this year’s MTV Upfront, the show highlighted new series making their way into TV like “Generation Cryo,” “Nurse Nation” and “The Hook Up,” as well as renewal seasons of hit sitcoms like “Catfish,” encouraging fans to come back for more. MTV also announced a pilot greenlight based on the widely popular “Scream” film franchise with Dimension Films for MTV, and Muck Rack was there to take it all in.

Emeli Sande kicked things off with her hit “Next To Me,” and made way for Catfish’s Nev Schulman as he gave a sneak peek of what’s to come this season. Catfish has since become a trending topic on Muck Rack, and journalists had all kinds of things to say about it. Other shows like “Teen Wolf” and “The Show with Vinny” will be coming back for another season, while newer ones are breaking various audiences:

MTV’s new series “Girl Code” invites female stand-up comics, musicians and actors to bring a fresh perspective on all the dramas and daily events that girls face together. Many overly-exaggerated tips open the conversation to the issues that women face and build off MTV2’s already-popular “Guy Code” series. Glamour already warned audiences it will be “Your New Favorite Show” to watch out for this season, so hold on tight and enjoy the girl-filled world of cat-fights, boy drama, and everything in between.

From left to right: Jamie Lee (Girl Code), Shira Palka (Muck Rack), Nicole Byer (Girl Code)

On a more serious pace, the new docu-drama “Generation Cryo” delves into the lives of teens who were conceived via anonymous sperm donors and are now on the search to find the missing pieces of their family tree. More simply stated by Mashable’s Brian Hernandez “Generation Cryo is a docudrama about testtube babies who are now “testtube” adults on the hunt to discover their sperm donors. #mtvupfront.” The series follows a 17-year old Breanna, who went onto the Donor Sibling Registry which connects sperm donor families, to realize that she has 15 other half-siblings, all connected by the same father. Her goal will be to meet and bond with her unknown brothers and sisters all for the bigger mission of finding their biological father.

Have you heard of the phrase “work hard, play harder”? Well, the nurses of the new docu-series “Nurse Nation” definitely go by that rule, as the show follows nine traveling nurses who are all tasked to work at a new hospital in a new city for 13 weeks. Yes, these male and female nurses know how to party, but they take the viewers through all the pressures they must face of working in a hospital and dealing with emergency situations on a regular basis. In between, they take tours of their new cities and explore relationships, both friendships and romantic. Seems like a mix of Jersey Shore and Grey’s Anatomy, and let’s be real, both kept us on our toes!

Snoop Lion made an appearance that evening to announce his partnership with MTV and Jewelry for a Cause to help take illegal guns off the streets with the “MTV X Caliber Bracelet” collection. These limited edition bracelets feature unique serial numbers from illegal firearms returned via gun buyback programs. The proceeds from these bracelets will be donated to help fund future illegal gun buyback amnesty programs.

The presentations ended with an excited Selena Gomez performing “Come & Get It” and famous “Love You Like a Love Song.” We will definitely be hitting “repeat” for many of these fun new shows on the market.

-SP

MTV Journalists on Muck Rack

From the New York Times to Buzzfeed, News Week Global to the New York Times, and beyond ...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:25:00 -0400

Here’s a selection of the most intriguing career status updates we covered this week in the Muck Rack Daily.

At the top of our jobs headlines is the big buzz from Buzzfeed: “Thrilled to share the news: We’ve persuaded Lisa Tozzi of the New York Times to join us as our News Director,” editor-in-chief Ben Smith enthusiastically tweets. NYT business columnist David Carr comments via Twitter, “Buzzfeed’s battle plan for breaking news includes the super talented @lisatozzi as tip of the spear.” Adds Tom Murphy, “Wow. … Things are getting serious in their breaking news.” ”Holy cow!” Tozzi tweets in response. “Thank you for all the good wishes everyone. I am so excited to join the great team at @BuzzFeed.”

In other Buzzfeed news,in especially Meta form, Buzzfeed also just hired a reporter … who used to report on Buzzfeed: The Hollywood Reporter’s own Jordan Zakarin. Zakarin tweets, “Exciting news (at least for me, you may not care): I’m going to work at@BuzzFeed at the end of next week. I’ve loved @THR and thank them!” THR editor Chris Krewson nostalgically tweets, “Title of email I just sent to staff informing them of a departure to BuzzFeed: ‘The 35 Biggest Reasons We’ll Miss @jordanzakarin At THR.’” Sounds like a fun list. We hope Krewson tweets that, soon, too!

Meanwhile at Tozzi’s former stomping ground, The New York Times editorial board just named a new legal writer on the Supreme Court beat: Jesse Wegman, who previously wrote for News Week Global and The Daily Beast. Capital New York media reporter Joe Pompeo tweets his article about the hire, which Wegman retweeted and replied, ”Very cool job news (thanks @joepompeo).”

In equally big news, Associated Press reporter Troy Thibodeaux has begun his work as the esteemed wire’s new interactive editor. During a Poynter Q&A that’s making the rounds on Twitter, Thibodeaux divulged that multimedia should be “central to developing the story.” Colleague Garance Burke remarks on Twitter, “Major congratulations to @tthibo for his richly deserved new role at @AP - leading #data journalism.” Earlier this month, Thibodeaux tweeted, “Couldn’t be more excited to work with this team.”

— KB