Breaking News online: how and why

An online 'Breaking News' article for a newspaper website: What's happening/happened, where and when.

It doesn't need a full explanation of how and why the event happened.

Breaking it online as it happens will open up the event to feedback and comment or reaction, helping to grow the story or at least gaining a sense of public opinion.

Journalists vs PR: surely no contest?

Commenting on Roy Greenslade's MediaGuardian article: Truth-telling hacks defeat the flacks

The Media Society and the Chartered Institute for Public Relations (CIPR) jointly hosted a seminar/debate, "Hacks and flacks: can there ever be a marriage?"

It's when there's so much PR copy being published as news by overworked or understaffed news organisations that the line becomes blurred between journalism and churnalism.

I mean no offence, as PR staff have a valid job to do, but its the use of their content in an ever-challenging news content environment that's creating a problem.

There's surely no competition between a theoretically unbiased, trained journalist against a PR employee directly leaning towards their employee's viewpoint.

Same goes for council 'newspapers'. The lines become blurred for the public until they can't recognise the difference.