Looking from the outside in
Posted on April 27, 2008
I’ve been away from the newsroom for only two months, and I feel my news consumption has changed considerably.
For some background: I was an online news producer for eight years. During that time, I covered entertainment, travel and breaking news. I helped out with the sports and money sections as needed. I focused on online community development and then, specifically, multimedia. I’ve worked for large and small papers.
And I loved what I did because I loved being a part of a community. Serving their need to know what’s going on around the world and in their towns and their need to be educated about how what’s happening affects their lives.
I was a news junkie. I consumed news reports as much as I produced them.
- Of course, I read the site I worked for daily, and I subscribed to the print edition.
- I knew all of the breaking news updates that happened — every single day.
- I supplemented my local news updates by reading the national newspaper and cable TV news Web sites.
- I used an RSS reader to keep up with blogs and news sites.
- I used del.icio.us all the time to keep up with blogs and news sites.
- I “played” with content and sought out video, interactive graphics and special reports by newspapers — not just in my local area, but around the world.
- I watched cable and network TV in the morning, evening and weekends.
- I looked at the Drudge Report and Google & Yahoo news a couple of times a day for another overview.
I wasn’t reading and watching everything, but I felt plugged in.
Now? Well, my schedule’s not nearly the same.
- I don’t subscribe to my local print papers (there are four in my area, including two in my town). Sometimes, one of the town papers ends up on my driveway for some mysterious reason, but I rarely read it. And when I do, I’m disappointed by the lack of LOCAL coverage.
- During the day at work, I don’t have time to read these four newspapers’ Web sites. I might check them during lunch. But I won’t be going back to the sites for the rest of the day, so I’ve missed out on all those breaking news updates.
- I remember how important it was to beat the competition by even seconds when posting to the Web. But guess what? As a news consumer now, I don’t care. In all honesty, unless there’s a 9/11-type event, I’m probably not even checking the site. I don’t even know it’s posting all that great content.
- I only have time to “play” with multimedia and other content that’s most important to me — I’ll engage in interactive graphics, watch videos and read blogs that interest me most. The others, either I don’t have time to read or I don’t know the content even exists.
- I still check Drudge, Google and Yahoo when I have the time.
- I depend on RSS feeds even more.
- I still watch a lot of cable news TV at night and on the weekends.
Here’s what’s completely new:
- I’ve become one of “them.” I don’t get my news from newspapers and I get little of my news by traditionally viewing a newspaper Web site — as one would a newspaper. I don’t go to the homepage (A1) as often. I don’t flip through the different section fronts and scan the headlines as often. And I certainly won’t read any type of e-paper.
- But I DO subscribe to print magazines. Why the difference? I get niche content in magazines. My perception is I don’t get that in my newspapers.
- I subscribe to news Twitter accounts. CNN posts breaking news tweets, and I love that it doesn’t overload me with updates. When I get a tweet from them, I pay attention. I enjoy USATODAY.com’s “On Deadline” tweets. They give me a great overview of what’s going on nationally during the day. More newspaper Twitter accounts are out there, but none for my local or city area.
- I get news stories from friends on Twitter. It’s like standing around a virtual water cooler. Sometimes tweets are chit-chat. Sometimes they’re gossip. And sometimes they’re news links.
- I depend more on links shared by friends via Facebook.
- I depend on my del.icio.us network even more to keep up with blogs and news sites.
- I’ve gone back to reading e-mail newsletters. These have been so valuable to me, and I’ve noticed blogs offering an e-mail option (I don’t know if this is new, or if I’m noticing it because it’s more important to me now).
- I seek out shows that analyze the news and entertain me. I watch “The Daily Show,” “Reliable Sources” on CNN, and I browse YouTube videos.
- I’m less often distinguishing my news by TV, print or blogs. News is news. Information is information. The only distinguisher is whether I trust the provider.
I’m still not reading and watching everything. In fact, I feel like I’m seeking out much less. But I still felt plugged in.
Lessons to be learned for news organizations:
>> Make it local. Of all the news I get, the information I usually want most is what I’m not getting: local content. And what I really, really want is micro-local content.
>> Rethink what interactive means. Newspaper’s are doing a great job of creating innovative interactive content, but much of it requires a user/reader to seek out the Web site to participate.
Why not tie social networking tools into your next project? Make it viral. Let readers “play” with that awesome database you made — from their mobile. Here’s an opportunity to take greater advantage of the Web to break up linear storytelling.
>> Personalization is so important. The beauty of blogs and social networking sites is the ability to drill-down to niche content. THAT is what I want as a news consumer now. I still want the main overviews, but I don’t have time to get specifics about everything. I want the specifics about what matters to me most.
Too often newspaper Web sites are too difficult to navigate. I find it hard to find the specifics I need. When I worked for a news site, I used it and several others every day. I knew where most everything was on those sites and could click to the content I needed quickly. But since I’m not visiting them daily now, I tend to get lost right away.
>> Push your content & take advantage of social networking (aka, learn how to market your site and its content). All the fabulous, innovative work that newspapers are doing may be lost to readers who have to seek it out themselves. There are a lot of other Internet and real-life interests, commitments, and demands that are competing for your readers’ time.
As a former journalist, I may be able to find links to innovative special reports via NPPA, ONA, NAA, etc. But “average” readers probably don’t know about these awards or these sites, nor would they be likely to seek them out.
We all know how hard it is to find multimedia/special packages on a site when we’re IN the industry (I depend on multimedia blogs such as Teaching Online Journalism, News Videographer & the former Multimedia Shooter). Now I know how hard it is on the outside. If a reader misses seeing a special package the day it was highlighted on the news Web site, they may never see it.
Particularly if readers are focusing on their niche areas, they’ll miss a great effort that could possibly be of great importance to them. I need an easy way to stay in the know.
This is already happening to me. For example, road work may be done to a highway near where I live, which would have a significant impact on my community. But I keep missing the stories about it written by my local papers. Sure, I could set up a Google search alert and hope it finds the stories I need to read. But now you’re requiring the reader to do a lot of work to access your content. It should be easy for them. Plus, what if I didn’t know the road work was going to happen in the first place? I’d most certainly miss it.
Social networking is more than creating a community on your own site (which is definitely an important step). It’s creating a community around your news that’s off your site, too:
- Does your site use mobile and e-mail updates? If so, do they work effectively and correctly?
- Does your site use Twitter? It’s such an easy way to keep your readers in the know about breaking news, weather and traffic.
- Does your site use Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Flickr?
- Does your site interact with bloggers — not just as sources, but to engage in a conversation on their sites? Does your site leverage news aggregates such as Fark, Drudge Report, etc.?
* NOTE: Patrick Thornton has a great post on how news is a social event for his generation that ties in well with my post-newsroom experiences.
Sam Zell: A tough guy in a mean business
Posted on April 7, 2008
Sam Zell: A Tough Guy in a Mean Business
"Since Mr. Zell made his bid for Tribune, things have been worse for newspapers than many predicted, with advertising revenue down almost 8 percent in 2007 and 2008 off to a poor start."
CJR: The Grave Dancer
Posted on April 4, 2008
"Zell is known as the Grave Dancer, for buying distressed real estate on the cheap. Succeeding with Tribune depends on arresting the alarming pace of deterioration at its newspapers—thus the fresh tensions at the Los Angeles Times and elsewhere. If the company’s revenues continue to plunge, no amount of financial engineering will save it, and Zell may instead be called the Grave Digger.”
Tribune Co faces default threat in ‘09
Posted on April 4, 2008
Tribune Co faces default threat in ‘09 | Reuters
"Tribune is a big microcosm of issues across the industry, and Sam Zell made an unfortunate bet, if you will, jumping into a business he knew nothing about," said veteran newspaper analyst Miles Groves."
DNA2008: Newspaper video will die in 2008
Posted on April 2, 2008
NewspaperVideo: DNA2008: Newspaper Video Will Die in 2008
Says Fadely: "… publishers need to think about the back end before handing gear to staffers — content management systems that can embed video with stories, servers that work, players that don’t piss off viewers, and tagging that Google can find. It sounds easy but very few papers are doing even these basics.
Bad to worse for newspapers
Posted on March 31, 2008
"Ken Doctor, a newspaper analyst with Outsell, Inc., summarized the situation. “Given the high rates they charged in print, and that over 90% of their revenue is still in print, even if they could get the growth rate back up to 25% or 30%, they still won’t be able to make up for these losses,” he said–thus, the outlook is grim. “These companies are going to get much smaller, with fewer employees, producing less content, both online and in print. The real question is: can they even stabilize at any point in the near future?”
To stem the tide of losses, Doctor said newspapers need to invest heavily in boosting the kinds of news content that are proving most popular on the Web, including business, health, and travel–especially with online video if possible. “That’s where you’ll get the most bang for your buck,” according to Doctor, who said CPMs for online video business news are now around $50 dollars.”
Analysis: State of the News Media 2008
Posted on March 17, 2008
Analysis: State of the Media 2008
Says Rick Edmonds: "The heart of the problem, especially for newspapers, is not loss of audience but “a broken economic model — the decoupling of advertising and news,” the report finds. “Advertisers are not migrating to news Web sites with audiences, and online, news sites are already falling financially behind other kinds of Web destinations.” “
Speak up or hold your peace?
Posted on February 6, 2008
Sam Zell, owner of the Tribune Company, dropped the F-Bomb at a staff meeting at the Orlando Sentinel when one of the paper’s photographers asked a question about the role of journalism in a struggling market and pushed back at his first response.
Ironically, this interaction came shortly after the much talked-about release of the new employee handbook, which states:
8. QUESTION AUTHORITY. In transforming Tribune, you are encouraged to ask your manager, supervisor, business unit head or anyone in Corporate, any question you have regarding the business. Question authority and push back if you do not like the answer. You will earn respect, and not get into trouble for asking tough questions. Remember, you are an employee owner. You have the right and obligation to ask questions.
and …
4.1. Working at Tribune means accepting a creative, quirky, intelligent, odd, humorous, diverse, opinionated and sometimes annoying atmosphere.
4.2. Working at Tribune means accepting that sometimes you might hear a word that you, personally, might not use. You might experience an attitude that you don’t share. You might hear a joke that you might not consider funny. That is because a loose, fun, non-linear atmosphere is important to the creative process.
4.3. This should be understood, should not be a surprise and is not considered harassment.
and ..
6.1. Have fun and treat each other with respect.
Now for the news of this blog post, reported by the LA Times (which is one of Zell’s papers):
In Orlando, Sentinel photographer Sara Fajardo asked Zell at the staff meeting for his views on “the role journalism plays in the community, because we’re not the Pennysaver, we’re a newspaper.”
Zell, standing at a podium, responded, “I want to make enough money so that I can afford you. You need to in effect help me by being a journalist that focuses on what our readers want that generates more revenue.”
Fajardo told Zell that “what readers want are puppy dogs,” presumably referring to soft feature stories. She added, “We also need to inform the community.”
Zell shot back: “I’m sorry but you’re giving me the classic, what I would call, journalistic arrogance by deciding that puppies don’t count. . . . What I’m interested in is how can we generate additional interest in our products and additional revenue so we can make our product better and better and hopefully we get to the point where our revenue is so significant that we can do puppies and Iraq.”
As he finished his remarks, he stepped back from the podium and muttered the obscenity.
Watch it yourself here:
I’m fascinated by the responses on orlandosentinel.com and chicagotribune.com that may include some journalists but are mostly reader reactions, which range from:
“I can appreciate that Zell was disrespected, and that he uses salty language, but it’s quite another thing to say “f you” to a person who works for you - that takes things to a whole new level. Especially if you are senior management. I’d expect more from Zell, and he does owe her an apology.”
to …
“He owns the company, if the photographer wants to give him a hard time, then I say fire her. It’s sad that you can’t even tell anyone off anymore without it being “news.” Start printing things that are worthwhile.”
and …
“As a “puppy dog”, I resent the arrogance of reporters who think they know better than the general public. Reporters should report the news, not make the news.”
and …
“Who decides what we need to know, you? Zell isn’t wrong because a paper needs to earn money. If it doesn’t it folds and then no one is telling anyone anything. Typical elitist garbage…”
One comment on Gawker.com explains that “puppies” comment:
“Thanks to instantaneous metrics on Web sites, the Sentinel found it struck gold last year with this story about an 18-ounce, 4-inch tall Chihuahua. That damn dog received the most page views of almost anything else last year. Once top editors in the newsroom saw the hits, the story got moved from B3 to A1. It was a cute brite maybe once, but there were several followups.”
There are two issues here:
>> Is it OK to speak to a coworker/boss/employee that way? And if not in general, are there exceptions, such as when that person seems rude? And should the boss be held to a higher standard? Or does he/she not have to play by the “rules”?
>> Is the photographer really arrogant for thinking that “puppies don’t count”? Should newspapers push the “brites” described above to generate revenue so that “hopefully we get to the point where our revenue is so significant that we can do puppies and Iraq”?
The Times reports that Zell will arrive in L.A. this week for meetings at their newsroom.
That should be interesting.
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