Anyone know 5 ways to produce print copy without asking the newspaper for help?

Posted on October 8, 2007

This post, Five ways to produce online news without asking the web guy for help by Ryan Sholin, makes me cranky.

First off, and to get it out of the way, it’s written in a sexist manner. Sounds harsh, I know, but he even acknowledges it at the bottom of his post:

(Yes, I know, I know. Next time I’ll use the phrase ‘web gal.’)

Really. Well that’s nice. But in actuality, it would have taken almost as long to modify the text to be gender neutral as it did to write that disclaimer.

But most importantly, I do NOT agree that Web teams don’t need to be involved from the beginning or even at all.

Sholin suggests:

Here are five ways you can put together something wonderful for the web without asking the web guy a single question.

WHAT!?!?!?

Two examples of what Sholin recommends:

Record your video. Edit it in iMovie (free on your Mac) or Windows Movie Maker (free on your PC). Upload it to YouTube. Send the web guy the URL. Bask in the glory.

Produce an audio slideshow: Record your audio. Gather your photos. Forget about SoundSlides for the moment and edit it as a video file in iMovie or Windows Movie Maker. Upload it to YouTube. Send the web guy the URL. Bask in the glory of your award-winning tearjerker.

The suggestions are meant to help an already overloaded Web team. I agree 100 percent that with the emphasis in online publishing, the Web team is feeling the pressure and seeing mounting work loads. I deal with this every single day.

But at my paper, I also see graphics and photo swamped because their teams are smaller. And the reporters on nearly every section are being asked to do a lot more because they have fewer coworkers. Even the paper itself is shrinking in size. And I know we’re not alone.

So hmmm … maybe what we need to do here is to find a way to help them produce a print product without asking the newspaper for help.

How about: Is your editor too busy to put your story in the paper? Then report, write, photograph, design and graphically illustrate your own story and mail out a newsletter with your newspaper’s banner on it.

Would you do that?? If not, then why is it acceptable to “go around” your Web team?

They should and have to be involved from the very beginning to the end. You SHOULD be asking them questions. THEY’RE the ones who just might know the product the best. After all, that’s their full-time job.

Many people are commenting about Alan’s Mutter’s posting I wrote about last week. They’re in agreement that newspapers aren’t taking advantage of the Web talent and “young net natives” they have. But going around the Web team to “save them time” is the same brain drain Mutter’s accusing newspapers of doing in upper-management decisions.

My point is not that the newsroom shouldn’t be taking the initiative. I agree with that wholeheartedly. As the one multimedia producer on the team (plus Web producer plus early-, early-morning maintenance producer plus editor plus etc.) I can’t do it all. I can’t do all the projects, and I can’t even both teach everyone AND produce.

So they (and not just reporters — photographers, page designers, graphic designers and copy editors) HAVE to learn to master Web skills, too.

Sholin says:

Don’t wait around for someone else to hold your hand through this stuff. You’re an adult. You can handle this on your own. Get started today.

Very true. But your Web team also should be available for questions. They should point you in the right direction to learn your new skills. As Mutter points out in his post, if we’re truly on the same team, there’s no reason to keep reinventing the knowledge wheel within your own newsroom.

Again, don’t get me wrong, please. The newsroom SHOULD use the tools Sholin suggests. And they’re great ideas on ways to publish content alternatively. But we should all be a team. And that means each player is going to have his OR her own expertise to bring to the table. That includes the Web team.

And maybe what bothers me the MOST about this post is that Sholin says this:

None of this requires any technical know-how. You don’t need any training to point-and-click your way through this process.

I completely disagree. Software to newbies can be so intimidating. That’s probably the No. 1 reason they haven’t ventured into the online world yet. AND, please, let’s not forget the importance of learning online storytelling, too. The audio slideshows are a unique blend of reporting and visuals. Photographers have to learn how to tell a storyline, and reporters have to learn to think visual. Add motion pictures to the mix and it gets even harder.

We all have to start somewhere, and whenever you start learning, there’s going to be a learning curve. Your early work is going to be green. But your Web site should have the same publishing standards as your print newspaper. It should be planned, reviewed and edited. And that means your Web team should be involved.

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‘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:

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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.

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Choose your own CBSNews.com redesign adventure

Posted on September 24, 2007

CBSNews.com redesigned, and readers can learn more about what’s new and why via either a video tour with Katie Couric or an interactive tour.

I’m not sure why they’re offering two versions, since the interactive tour is also with (surprise!) Katie Couric, and it’s essentially the same tour, except 1) there’s no video and 2) a reader has the option to select “next.” (Interestingly, you don’t even have to select that “next” button. Just sit back and be passive, if you prefer, because the program will go on to the next slide if you wait long enough.)

I’m so curious what their stats are for this, though. Which will come up on top — video or interactive? In this case, my vote is for video. Personally, I think it was the most effective method of delivering the content.

And CBS is trying out this Web 2.0 thing. Couric says: “At CBSNews.com YOU have a voice. And at our website, you’re a part of the conversation. Share your thoughts and comments on stories, and participate on interactive polls, quizzes, and games.”

So scroll down the page and add your comments …

CBSNews.com comments

Hmm. Maybe not.

So much for reader feedback.

(Link via Cyberjournalist.net)

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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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‘Like Facebook — with wrinkles’

Posted on September 16, 2007

Sites such as Eons, Rezoom, Multiply, Maya’s Mom, Boomj, and Boomertown are targeting older Internet users who are “less likely than youngsters to flit from one trendy site to the next,” reports the New York Times.

So while all we hear about at newspapers is how to get that coveted 18-34 reader who is THE future reader, perhaps we’re missing an opportunity by not addressing needs of older readers:

But there are 78 million boomers — roughly three times the number of teenagers — and most of them are Internet users who learned computer skills in the workplace. Indeed, the number of Internet users who are older than 55 is roughly the same as those who are aged 18 to 34, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, a market research firm.

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ONA Online Journalism Awards

Posted on September 12, 2007

The finalists have been announced, complete with links. :)

Congratulations to all.

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Facebook app gets hyperlocal

Posted on August 21, 2007

I’m enjoying developing my Facebook page and catching up with friends with whom I had lost contact. And I noticed yesterday a little application that my friends have started using: Neighborhoods.

Which got me thinking that this could be a worthy rival to newspaper hyperlocal Web sites that are being developed. If I can use a social networking site that I’m already fond of to connect with my neighbors, why would I log onto a newspaper Web site?

Then I came across a LostRemote posting that confirmed my fears:

Already in Seattle, 1,200 users have selected their neighborhoods, which means they can now meet their neighbors, invite their neighbors to events, upload photos, browse real estate listings and post items on “The Wall” — a bulletin board of sorts. With the social network already established, you can just imagine what else they could add to the application. While media companies struggle with launching financially-viable hyperlocal destinations, Facebook is well on its way to doing it.

Arg.

Newspapers have to hurry, hurry, hurry, and get their community sites going.

The most frustrating part of this is that Bakersfield’s Northwest Voice has been doing publishing a hyperlocal site (and doing it very well) for three years and it was no secret in the industry. Other newspapers have no excuse. They should have taken notice earlier and established community interaction BEFORE this Facebook application could be any sort of threat.

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Web reading impacts book publishers, too

Posted on August 21, 2007

I’ve been focusing my attention so much on what’s going on with newspapers, that I hadn’t thought about its effect on books, as shown in an Associated Press-Ipsos poll:

The typical person claimed to have read four books in the last year — half read more and half read fewer. Excluding those who hadn’t read any, the usual number read was seven.

That choice … is reflected in book sales, which have been flat in recent years and are expected to stay that way indefinitely.

Analysts attribute the listlessness to competition from the Internet and other media, the unsteady economy and a well-established industry with limited opportunities for expansion.

If the root of what newspapers are doing is telling print stories, it’s wise to look at what’s going on with comparable industries. People clearly are changing the way they’re consuming information (not just news).

It also underscores how important it is for newspapers to redefine their business as information providers. If people identify a newspaper as being only a “paper” we could likely start hearing quotes like this, as they apply to news video:

“If I’m going to get a story, I’ll get a movie.”

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Local sites covering national events

Posted on August 3, 2007

Ryan Sholin recently wrote about how niche coverage can help your site.

“Be specific,” he says.

And I agree. Finding that niche market will make your site invaluable to your readers.

So, then, how do you handle a national-interest story that may have nothing to do with your readers’ daily lives? The Minneapolis bridge collapse is a horrible tragedy and obviously an important story to cover (the Virgina Tech shootings, as well), but where should local news sites draw the line at how much they play up the coverage?

Yesterday afternoon, I took a quick glance at how some Florida news sites (at least 1,300 miles away) were covering the story. The St. Petersburg Times devoted the top half of their page to the event, complete with graphics, video and a condolence book. The Orlando Sentinel had similar coverage. What about smaller papers? Well, The Lakeland Ledger and The Bradenton Herald did the same, too. Most were reporting the latest developments of Wednesday night’s news, not even localizing the story.

This morning, they all still were reporting the Minneapolis event, but many have finally have added in the “could this happen in Florida” angle. By this afternoon, the news has moved to a smaller mention, if any, on the most of the fronts (but not all), which leads me to believe that the public isn’t interested in this story from their local paper.

On one hand, this kind of news coverage enables the country to rally together and sympathize with our fellow Americans during tragic events. On the other hand, news Web sites have to be careful not to pick up the bad habits 24-hour national cable TV stations, which, in my opinion, are guilty of overplaying stories for ratings and to fill news holes. In doing so, local news sites are not being specific and run a risk of devaluing their importance and expertise.

Why would readers go to a local site to read AP content they could find at any other site, especially when they could go to a national news site or — even better — the local paper of the city in which the event happened to get the most up-to-date news?

Are readers really going to go to a Florida or Arizona or Oregon news Web site to find out the latest about a bridge collapse in Minneapolis?

No. They’re smarter than that. And many, unfortunately, by day two have experienced story fatigue.

Give them the credit they deserve and provide them with the latest news in their community. That’s why they’re going to your local site.

OK, so back to multimedia storytelling … regardless of my critique on how the story is played, there’s some excellent coverage out there.

Going straight to the source, the Minneapolis papers got specific and obviously busted their butts publishing interactive content. They both have boxes highlighting all their multimedia content right on the homefronts.

>> StarTribune.com has video, audio and staff and user-submitted photos of the event.

>> TwinCities.com (Pioneer Press) has audio slideshows, video, photo galleries and a user-submitted photo page (although it doesn’t have many entries at this time)