(RTDNA) Newsrooms working to connect with audience members through social media and blogs have a new set of guidelines to help avoid ethical pitfalls that can come when experimenting with reaching audiences in these new ways. The guidelines are a supplement to the RTDNA Code of Ethics, the ethical standard broadcast and other newsrooms have followed for decades.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is appalled at the latest media order issued by Guangdong Province Propaganda Department banning independent reporting on a new toxic melamine milk scandal. According to local sources, the order states that all media outlets must only use information formally released by the authorities. [..]

(IJNET)Latin American and Caribbean journalists have until April 15 to apply for the new edition of the Latin American prize for investigative journalism, that will award a total of US$30,000 in prizes. [..]

(Mashable) In addition to the standard smartphone equipment, such as a camera and social networking applications, we’ve compiled a list of five additional tools that can help a single journalist rival a fully-functional news team. With these tools, a mobile journalist can record data, edit clips, and broadcast polished stories as events unfold.

Is there still a market for a cable news station that tries not to take sides? (CJR) CNN, the granddaddy of cable news, has won accolades for its coverage of the unfolding disaster in Haiti. Working with a far larger number of reporters and producers than its competitors at MSNBC or Fox, the network has provided valuable and affecting on the ground coverage—and plenty of it.

(Knightcenter)A new report by the American Society of News Editors (ASNE) highlights media websites that use innovative techniques to share and aggregate data from their own reporting and government records.

Bad news from the frontline of global capitalism. Every year the Davos World Economic Forum puts the corporate world on the psychiatrist's couch where business leaders fuss about why they remain unloved in a cruel world. One of the reasons as I found out last week may be their diminishing sense of values, particularly in media. [..]

(Journalism.co.uk) A campaign has been launched, with the backing of leading PR professionals, asking for a new charter to protect journalists and bloggers from irrelevant PR campaigns.

(IPS) Television viewers in the United States seeking international news are starting to switch over to foreign channels to learn what is happening in the outside world, media watchers here say. [..]