Breaking through the online clique, er, I mean bottleneck

Posted on January 7, 2008 by Melissa Worden

Does the online team at your newspaper feel like an impenetrable clique? Are you excited about doing multimedia, but you can’t seem to get anyone to listen to your ideas, help you get started or post your content?

I spoke with the fellows of the Knight Digital Media Center Multimedia Workshop at UC Berkeley today, where I shared with them my background, some of the projects I’ve worked on, and how I see multimedia evolving.

One of the questions I was asked several times was: How do I get started if I can’t get past the online bottleneck?

Wow. What a great question that I’m sure many journalists are facing in many newsrooms.

What I learned is some of them feel there are so many hoops to jump through to do multimedia, or that the one person who knows how to post the content is often too busy to work on their projects.

I know exactly how they feel. From both sides.

As a content producer at USATODAY.com, I used to have to pitch stories to the Rich Media team, hoping they’d have the time and resources to do it — and they had a “team.”

In smaller newspapers, oftentimes only one person coordinates all the multimedia content. As multimedia producer at HeraldTribune.com, I was inundated last January with multimedia requests from the newsroom when they were told “Web content” was to be a part of their performance goals (they didn’t realize at the time that “the Web” can be more than “multimedia”). I became the one who had to say no to projects.

As a reporter itching to get involved in online, what do you do? How do you get around this?

I think one way (which is what HeraldTribune.com is doing now), is to put the tools, resources, and the ability to actually post the content via CMS in the hands of the reporters and editors.

Gulp.

Wait a minute. That’s MY job as a multimedia producer.

I’ve been spending all this time learning about online storytelling and how to produce it. Now I’m just going to give away all those responsibilities.

You betcha. (Not that, I’ll admit, it feels very comfortable, especially during times of layoffs and buyouts. I’ve had my own growing pains around this.)

But we have to do it because that’s the only way we’re going to grow, and even survive. If we’re truly going to change the culture of our newsrooms to think ONLINE, the newsroom HAS to be able to feel empowered to use the tools the online team does. And I don’t mean they have to go do everything. Maybe they’re not using all the tools, but the ones that apply to them and their interests/passions — ie, some may be more audio savvy, some may be more into working with Flash, etc.

And they’re going to fail at times, yes, but they’re also going to be turning out some great content. And isn’t that the goal? To create great journalism?

But if you don’t stop hoarding the access to online, you’re going to find that your newsroom will go around you.

Which is just so darn ironic. A lot of multimedia operations got started because reporters/photographers went around the system. Now, if they’re the ones blocking the way, the same thing may be done to them.

Comments

4 Responses to “Breaking through the online clique, er, I mean bottleneck”

Patrick Beeson on January 8th, 2008 10:01 am

I’ve been spending all this time learning about online storytelling and how to produce it. Now I’m just going to give away all those responsibilities.

You betcha. (Not that, I’ll admit, it feels very comfortable, especially during times of layoffs and buyouts. I’ve had my own growing pains around this.)

This is a good issue to consider.

I hardly think you have anything to worry about in terms of a job however. These are valuable skills regardless of whether you work at a newspaper or not.

I think distribution of online responsibilities needs to happen across the newsroom if this industry is to survive.

But it needs to be done right, which is something that most outlets struggle with.
Pat Thornton on January 9th, 2008 1:57 am

I think a major issue is that the online and print staffs are often separated by a physical distance and that adds to that feeling of a clique or of separation.

I’ve been pushing to get the online team at my paper out into the newsroom, and we will be within a few months. Just being able to walk around and see what reporters and editors are working on will be a big deal. It will help greatly with synergy.

For me, the last thing I want to do is be a bottleneck. I want to train people to be able to do as much multimedia of their own without me. I have plenty of stuff to do as it is without having to do projects for other people.
John Jackson on January 11th, 2008 9:18 am

Good post, Melissa. We’ve had some success with it here in Roanoke with a few breaking news events. As you said and Patrick verified, it’s key to have the tools, training and a plan.
Widening the bottleneck at the Express-News | News Videographer on February 4th, 2008 9:06 am

[…] At the risk of allowing everyone in my blogosphere to know just how backed up I am with my “things to blog” list, I’d like to piggyback off a post by Melissa Worden from (gulp) January 7 about how important it is to allow the newsroom to get past the online bottleneck. […]