Still behind the 8 ball
Posted on May 30, 2007 by Melissa Worden
Working in an industry in transition means you’re constantly feeling off-kilter. It’s both exhilarating and nerve-racking to try new things:
>> We get to try out new products and stretch our imaginations and notions of what storytelling is.
>> But at the same time we we wonder: Should we spend the resources and time on a new venture that could end up being yesterday’s fad?
Every so often we experience bursts of creativity that we see pay off, such as the advent and quick adoption of video clips (roanoke.com’s TimesCast and naplesnews.com’s Studio55), audio slideshows (thank you, Joe Weiss for Soundslides) and interactivity (USATODAY.com’s redesign).
But really, these advancements are too small and delivery is too late when compared to what other sites and companies are producing. Ahem … Google. Yahoo. Craigslist. YouTube. Yeah. You’ve heard all that before.
But get this: Microsoft today announced a new product: Microsoft Surface. You can use your fingers, pens, brushes, etc., to create and manipulate digital files … all on a table top (much like Jefferson Han’s touchscreen). Set your PDA on that table, and it’ll sync information to it.
Damn. Seems like we’re missing the big picture here if the best we can come up with is putting together a video show online. Newspapers are NEWS PROVIDERS. We should be at the forefront of content delivery — and I think that should include the hardware development. How cool would it be if we actually invested in resources to create a product like Surface or Apple’s iPhone that would make everyone’s jaw drop and then clamor to have one?
Instead, we’re caught in this muddy swamp of trying to cling onto the past (print) and say we’re investing in multimedia (digital). If we keep this up, we’ll be known as parasites, not innovators.
There’s an ongoing discussion on Romenesko’s forum pages on Poynter about this topic, which got me riled up about this issue again. In the most recent letter, ArtsJournal.com Editor Douglas McLennan, wrote:
“While [newspapers] say they’re working on it, their investment has been far behind the curve, and virtually every meaningful innovation in the digital delivery of news and building of usership has been made outside the newspaper industry. Most newspaper websites are dull, confusing and difficult to read, violating long-established principles of reader usability. At a time when social networking sites are showing how to build massive loyal communities, news organizations’ interactivity is rudimentary at best. Companies like Google have raised digital advertising to an art, making it easy for advertisers to find the customers they want. Where have newspapers been? Asleep, while Craigslist and a host of other competitors have eaten their lunch.
Tags: non-linear storytelling, online journalism
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I think that’s what many folks said about the Web a few years ago!
Another example of great innovation by a newspaper (media) company that isn’t often cited as such is the Django framework. The dreamteam that was/is in Lawrence, KS put out a product that can only be appreciated when you either use Ellington, or dive into the development yourself.
I’m doing both of those things at the moment, and I still can’t believe this came out of a newspaper company (OK, so LW World a little more than a newspaper but still).
And being that Django can be used to build applications like content management systems (Ellington) and nearly anything else (in conjunction with other technologies, of course), it also provides a robust ROI as a product.
But I can’t see newspaper companies putting out products like the aforementioned Microsoft Surface or iPhone. Heck, most can barely spend enough resources to attract talent.
Innovation takes risk, which is something that’s hard to swallow when once robust profits are not so much.
Exactly. And I think too many newspapers continue to hesitate.
I do agree we need to take risks. I don’t think we take enough of them. We talk about it, but the leaps aren’t that big.
And yeah, I’m being an idealist thinking they’d branch out into hardware … and yet newspapers have invested in printing presses and paper, no??
BTW, I just did some more looking around and read about Adrian Holovaty’s move to build EveryBlock. Matt Waite points out:
Matt’s got some interesting analysis about how important it is for newspapers to pay attention. It’s a good read; check it out.
I think we should all just wait until people decide what they want.
I’m kidding — sort of. In 1998, I remember newspapers being ridiculed for shoveling their print content online. By 2004, they were being ridiculed for failing to make it easier to grab that print content and blogging it.
It’s true that newspapers are like large boats, not so easy to maneuver. But I get a little exasperated when the target keeps moving.
We’re told readers want Flash and other things that take advantage of the medium. Then we find readership of those items isn’t quite what we’d like, even as we win plaudits from colleagues. (Not a new problem — check out Dave Barry’s “I’m just writing this column to win a Pulitzer — no need to read it” column from years ago.)
Greensboro takes the lead in blogging, only to find a couple of people with narrow agendas dominating the conversation among readers.
And I’ve personally been involved with so many “interactive” tools that weren’t used or were simply abused.
So I think part of the reason we’re hesitating is that we’re trying to find the mix between what the Web gurus tells us we need and what readers actually want and will use.
[…] in May, I wrote about how newspapers need to start thinking of innovative ways to deliver their content. I cited […]