THIS ISSUE: Online news from Ken Sands

How to do video on the Web: A Washington Post video report might give you some ideas. Click here for more.

Cool Poynter resources: Here are three "must-have" resources from the Poynter Institute. Click here for details.

Ignore this at your own peril: Heard of craigslist? Here's how it might affect your newspaper. Click here.

Mozilla Firefox: Here's a link to info about a new browser that could help you avoid viruses and spyware. Click here for more.

Cooperation Kudos: Members cited for help with AP reports. Click here.

HOW TO DO VIDEO ON THE WEB
"Out of the Rubble, A Public Housing Drama Rises" is a three-part video documentary by the Washington Post. It tells the story of what happens to the thousands of people displaced when the Department of Housing and Urban Development razes the most blighted public housing buildings in favor of new mixed-income dwellings. It's very well done.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/mmedia/metro/122204-1v.html

Have you done any recent video documentary work you'd like to share with others? Click here to tell us.

COOL RESOURCES FROM THE FOLKS AT POYNTER INSTITUTE
Jonathan Dube and Sree Sreenivasan collaborate on "Web Tips." They recently compiled their best Web Tips of 2004.
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=32&aid=75575

Five days a week, Al Tompkins writes "Al's Morning Meeting," an invaluable source for good story ideas you can localize. Seriously, there's at least one good story idea here every day. You should sign up to get it in your daily e-mail inbox. See it here:
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=2

By now we should all know about Romenesko:
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=45

I can't live without my daily dose of "E-Media Tidbits." It's the only way to keep up with developments in the online world.
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=31

IGNORE THIS AT YOUR OWN PERIL
This column ordinarily doesn't discuss online revenue directly; our focus usually is on content. But this is too important to ignore. Has the popular craigslist.org free classified site come to your city yet? It just landed in my city in mid-November. As of this writing, there are only 57 jobs listings on the local site. In Seattle, though, the number is 2,732. And in the San Francisco Bay Area, 10,284.

According to a recent study, that's more than the San Francisco Chronicle, Oakland Tribune, San Jose Mercury News and Contra Costa Times combined. The report estimates craigslist has cost Bay Area newspapers $50 to $65 million in employment advertising revenue alone. And even the Chronicle apparently has begun advertising its own job openings on craigslist. Read more here:
http://www.internetweek.com/breakingNews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=56200498

There are some strategies being hatched, including a free (for items under $200) web-only advertising service at Knight Ridder newspaper sites.

DITCH IE FOR MOZILLA FIREFOX?
How many of you have suffered through spyware and viruses on your home and work computers? Microsoft's Internet Explorer is used as the Web browser for about 95 percent of Web users. Virtually all spyware and viruses attack Explorer. But now that there's an alternative to Explorer. It's called Firefox, available for free from Mozilla.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2004-11-09-firefox-cover_x.htm

Download it here: http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

It could help make your life easier.

COOPERATION KUDOS: MEMBERS CONTRIBUTE TIPS, NEWS, PHOTOS

AP Photo
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Dean Hoffmeyer

AP member newspapers, broadcast stations and online operations are the cooperative’s eyes and ears on the ground around the country. The quick contribution of tips, stories and images from breaking news helps AP deliver a speedy, timely and complete report for all AP members and their audiences. Congratulations and thanks from APME to these members, who will receive APME Instant Citations for their recent help:

The Journal of New Ulm, Minn., for sharing a story and a photograph in time for use by other members when an evening fire broke out at the nation’s largest butter packaging plant.

Wyoming Tribune-Eagle in Cheyenne, Wyo., for transmitting photographs when a huge fire damaged an entire block of historic buildings in downtown Cheyenne in late December.

KEYT-TV, Santa Barbara, Calif., where senior correspondent John Palminteri gave AP first word on the deadly mudslide that destroyed 15 homes and damaged 16 others in the tiny town of La Conchita. Palminteri continued to call AP with information as rescuers attempted to find survivors in the mud and brought witnesses to his cell phone to provide their accounts and audio directly for use by AP members.

Also, congratulations to Dean Hoffmeyer of the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch for contributing the December Member Showcase Photo of the Month. The image shows a U.S Army corporal being comforted by a member of his unit as they stand over the body of another soldier killed during a blast inside a dining facility during lunchtime at operating base Marez near Mosul, Iraq, Dec. 21. 2004. At least 22 people were killed and 50 wounded in the attack. Click here to view the picture.