Change. It’s not just a political buzzword.
Posted on January 8, 2008
We know it as a journalism buzzword, too.
Jane Stevens, multimedia instructor at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, presented this video during this morning’s presentation at the Knight Digital Media Center Multimedia Workshop at UC Berkeley and talked about the need for change in our industry.
The definition of insanity, she reminded us, is doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result.
Breaking through the online clique, er, I mean bottleneck
Posted on January 7, 2008
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.
Advice for the class of ‘07
Posted on January 4, 2008
Members of the first graduating class of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism received their diplomas December 18. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and New York Times Assistant Managing Editor Dean Baquet received an honorary doctorate from the school and gave the commencement speech. In it, he said:
What do you say to a group of young men and women who have chosen to go into a profession that many people think will be obsolete in a generation or so?
The great secret that no one seems to be talking about right now as we all wring our hands about the uncertain future of our profession:
If you go into journalism, and you approach it with humanity and not as a crass careerist, you will have more fun, more pure joy than anyone graduating from any place this year.
You will wake up in the morning unsure of which new adventure awaits.
You will see places nobody in your generation will see — distant places, but also the darker corners of the places where you live.
You will meet great writers and thinkers.
You will confront morale dilemmas that will force you to grow.
You will make epic mistakes, I promise you. But things will move so fast that if you own up to them, you will have the chance to fix them.
In short, you will have an absolute blast.
Good reads for 01.03.08
Posted on January 3, 2008
A lot of media bloggers are talking about the future of the newspaper industry and how business practices might/should change in 2008:
>> Some say we need more change.
Steve Outing points out that “What’s Needed in 2008” is a change the newsroom culture.
He writes: “The smart news organization in 2008 will be the one that encourages innovation — no, requires it — from ALL its employees … Most importantly, it will develop a training program to teach new-media skills to those still lacking, and regularly bring in innovation and creativity experts to guide both managers and employees. With the latter, exposure to and interaction with those experts will be company-wide.”
>> Some are upset about how change has affected them.
“Instead of serving primarily as watchdogs, we deliver entertainment fodder interspersed with glitzy ads for consumers,” says Perry Flippin in his farewell column at the San Angelo Standard-Times. “Publishers sold their souls on the notion that only the immediate bottom line matters. I believe newspapers are slowly committing suicide to satisfy corporate moguls and grasping stockholders.”
>> Some lament the changes that have already taken place.
Jack Shafer outlines: “Why booze and cigarettes are essential for good journalism” in yesterday’s column about how alcohol was forbidden in the last days of the Cincinnati Post.
He writes: “Philipps’ memo brings a couple of questions to mind: 1) Since when is it considered unprofessional for a journalist to take a drink? and 2) If Post staffers, who were all scheduled for dismissal, did bring flasks to work, what was Philipps going to do if he caught them? Fire them?”
>> Some predict a change in newspaper video production. (And it may not have a happy ending.)
Andy Dickinson dares to say it out loud: “… I think that without proper thought [2008] could be the first and last chance video has to prove itself. So this year, editorial newspaper video (in all its forms) may die in many publications because no one will give it a chance to develop.”
Mindy McAdams followed up his post with a summary and solid nod of agreement.
I think her point #3 is a BIG problem that needs to be resolved, especially as newsrooms continue to ask employees to do more with less time and equipment: “Get your act together on workflow for video. Who edits the video, and how long does it take? How fast do you get it up online? Who posts it online? Is there a bottleneck? Do people have adequate access to equipment and software for editing and compressing and uploading? Is this workflow clear to everyone involved? Have you asked for suggestions on how to improve it?”
>> Some propose changes in the way journalists are paid.
It started with Jack Lail asking: “How’s your CPM?”
Patrick Beeson responds: “As Lail states, I’m sure most reporters would be quite shocked to see how low their CPMs are for their stories. It would also provide an incentive for going after content that users will click to, or want to view. I’m not sure dangling CPM as a sole means for earning a paycheck would be appropriate at this point however. Though it would be interesting to use it as a metric for bonuses or raises.”
Lucas Grindley agrees and proposed: “… a bonus structure based on the number of page views generated by a reporter’s or columnist’s stories. Business 2.0 tried this model and it seemed effective. Those folks who do extraordinary work generating page views are rewarded and, hopefully, the entire newsroom starts to think about what attracts readers.
The REAL Daily Prophet?
Posted on November 1, 2007
Worth repeating
Posted on October 29, 2007
Busy week, so until I can post again, I thought I’d share this video that saw on Mindy McAdams’ blog (where she compared “the shelf” to “Page One”):
‘A Manifesto for Change’
Posted on October 5, 2007
Contrary to what some readers may think, less news (a thin newspaper) is not good news.
Journalism as we know it is over because the economic model has collapsed, says Geneva Overholser, editor of The Des Moines Register from 1988 to 1995, syndicated columnist for the Washington Post Writers Group, an editorial board member of The New York Times and ombudsman of The Washington Post.
She also wrote “On Behalf of Journalism: A Manifesto for Change,” published last fall.
“The story of American journalism is undergoing a dramatic rewrite. The pace of change makes many anxious, and denunciations are lobbed from all sides – and from within. It’s easy to overlook the promise of the many possibilities that lie before us. Our focus here is on those possibilities.”
I found an interview/presentation with the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. You can watch it here:
Good reads for 10.03.07
Posted on October 3, 2007
Lots of talk about the demise of the industry going on. Some see the glass half-full. But more see it nearly empty. Here are some good reads:
>> Howard Owens gives us 12 things journalists can do to save journalism. “The rules have changed, and newsrooms need to change as well,” he writes. “We need new attitudes and new cultures. This will only happen if individual journalists put forward the effort to change their minds about what their jobs are and how they do them.”
>> Jason Lee Miller responds: “Think, behave, report like a blogger – while, somehow, keeping with your standards and practices, your professional pedigree, your certifications, your piece of paper that says you know what you’re doing. Adopt, understand, and use the new technology before you. But above all, you must engage the audience where the audience is, and come down from your marble hill.”
>> What will be newspapers’ iPod moment? asks Jeff Jarvis. One of his readers responds, “For me, ‘the iPod moment’ for newspapers would be if my 12- or 14-year-old nagged me for a new newspaper, with more stuff inside of it, even though they had just bought one a short time earlier. Don’t see that one happening.”
>> Mindy McAdams Googled the use of that phrase (”iPod moment”) and found some interesting quotes.
>> Dilbert creator Scott Adams predicts the iPhone and its copycats will mark the end of print newspapers. “When you have a web browser in your pocket, a printed newspaper is redundant,” writes Adams. “Eventually, all cell phones will have Internet browsing built in. You might not have a web browser on your next cell phone, but the one after that will have it as a standard feature.”
>> Lucas Grindley is NOT going to advise a college class he’s visiting to pursue a newspaper career. “Online media isn’t limited to newspapers. AOL, Yahoo and Ask all have news sites that need journalists. Micro-local start-ups such as PegasusNews.com are viable alternatives. The truth is that if you’re looking to make progress, these competitors might be more productive places to spin your wheels.”
>> Newspapers don’t recognize the online talent they already have, says Alan Mutter. He writes: “But the young net natives, for the most part, rank too low in the organizations that employ them to be invited to the pivotal discussions determining the stratgeic (sic) initiatives that could help their employers sustain their franchises.”
And a comment to the post that’s worth posting in its entirety:
YES!
The large MSM paper I work for has had virtually 100% turnover in it’s online operations in the last 18 months. I’m not talking about the Podunk Daily News either, you’d know the name.
These people have been replaced to a large extent with folks with little or no web experience, especially in the newsroom.
There’s a story circulating about how the AME of online didn’t know you could type a URL directly into a web browser… and there was that discussion on whether to include a blurb above a story describing, “what the blue underlined words were for”.
When innovation does happen, its done as “skunkworks” and even then, among the praise are accusations of “renegade” work.
This is among the top (of a depressingly long list) reasons I think the battle is already lost. It’s 2007, now is not the time to be relearning basic HTML.
I just don’t understand it, there are people in the mix who really are trying to save this industry but who are battling of all things, this industry.
Immersive Reality & journalism
Posted on October 3, 2007
Adam Clayton Powell III, director of USC’s Integrated Media Systems Center, spoke to Howard University students about technology and journalism in 2005.
He gets to the good stuff in part 3, in which talks about how “Immersive Reality,” the 3D virtual reality advances we see with gaming, can be applied to journalism. “There’s something about the way we as human beings are wired that leads us to the game format,” he says.
Keeping in mind that this is a 2005 lecture, it’s interesting to see that he’s talking about 3D mapping environments that already are being done.
Here are recordings of the lecture, divided into three parts:
Dreams really do come true
Posted on September 24, 2007
The future doesn’t have to mean giving up reading the Sunday paper at your local coffee shop.
Back in May, I wrote about how newspapers need to start thinking of innovative ways to deliver their content. I cited Microsoft’s Surface as a potential new way to read the news.
Are you sitting down?
Editor & Publisher is reporting that The San Francisco Chronicle is testing touch screen tables at seven Tully’s Coffee shops around the city. The tables, which are manufactured by TableTouch, are wireless computers with free access to the paper’s Web site, SFGate.com.
“This is yet another way for us to connect with the communities we serve, and make our content available in new and innovative ways,” Henry S. Ford, senior marketing director for the Chronicle and SFGate, said in a statement.
Update: OK, so a comment by David Black on del.icio.us made me wonder how successful this really will be. As much as I like the idea as a newspaper person, as a reader, after I’m done being wowed by the newness, will I be completely annoyed that the only site I can (partially) view on this table is SFGate.com? Most likely.
The answer is out there … we’ll find it, I’m sure. Meanwhile, I do think this is a bold trial at innovation.
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