Good Morning Perugia! How many corns in a unicorn? Google’s vote, looking for business models

Good morning from Perugia! The International Journalism Festival’s magic spell was cast once again in day one of the event, also thanks to the 200+ volunteers from 26 countries around the world: #ijf15 facts and figures.

HOW MANY CORNS IN A UNICORN?

One of the key sessions yesterday was a discussion on “unicorns”, namely those hybrid figures that are increasingly in demand in editorial offices: journalists capable of using code to tell powerful digital stories.

It isn’t magic! “If your editorial team does not include someone who can use APIs, then a digital article remains in the realm of magic”, declared Aron Pilhofer, digital executive director at The Guardian.

Play news John Crowley, Digital Editor of Wall Street Journal Europe, said that journalism schools should be teaching code alongside writing skills. Quoting Janet Jones, Crowley explained that “in the future news will be played rather than read”. Nowadays, anyone wanting to tell a story or describe a fact should “think about visual aspects from the outset (in writing an article)”.

+Rewind: the video of the session (YouTube)
+Journalism.co.uk had told us a few days back about the use made of data at The Guardian
+Chase Davis, deputy editor of the interactive news desk at Nyt, had already taken sides with the unicorns (Medium).

On demand “Who should I vote for?” is the second most searched question on Google Uk in the run-up to the elections, the first one being “Who’s winning?” (La Stampa)

AAA Wanted “An authentic one-size fits all business model is no longer available”, says Pierluca Santoro. For future options look up his presentation (Slideshare).

Saluzzi, remember? ”Build your reputation in ten years. You can then destroy it in ten minutes on Twitter. So don’t be stupid”, says Jerome Tomasini, from Twitter France, who yesterday illustrated the opportunities offered by social media in a masterclass (YouTube).

REAL WORLD
While being a print media journalist is the “worst job on earth” according to rankings (JimRomenesko), The New York Times has decided to release its Nyt Now app free of charge (The Next Web). Politico keeps on expanding in America: it will be present in several states (Cjr).

The Festival as a spiritual place
You can find there men of faith (Flickr), men connected from afar but who are definitely present (Twitter). And, above all, dogs too (journalists) can have a badge! (Twitter).

TODAY’S EVENTS
*Google-Publishers: is an alliance possibile? (6 pm Sala Raffaello)
*Keynote speech by Andy Mitchell, Facebook news director (5 pm Sala dei Notari)
*A hackaton on Italian media (9.30 am Hotel La Rosetta)
*What is the impact of journalism on reality? (10.00, Palazzo Sorbello)
*The entire events programme (endless!) is online.

Let’s not take ourselves too seriously! Tweet by Gianni Agostinelli: At #ijf15 you can check if VIPs eat out in restaurants, temps in pizzerias and the communications science people only go for “pizza al taglio” (pizza slices).

WHAT’S GOING ON OUT THERE?
Skirmishes within the Democratic Party on Italicum| The EU accuses Google | Nokia: 15,6 billion for Alcatel Lucent | Usa, Congress to decide on deal with Iran

Good Morning Perugia is provided by Good Morning Italia for the International Journalism Festival. Find out more about Good Morning Italia and try it free of charge on www.goodmorningitalia.it.