News era: reflections on journalism and new media

Staying on top of your game

noreply@blogger.com (Jill A) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 23:48:00 +0000

Oh boy. No one wants to think that the role they spent their entire career perfecting is just no longer needed. And even if it actually is needed, it's superfluous when reflected in the Bible of budget.

That appears to be the way the copy desk is going. Having lots of skills is being ground into the heads of new graduates. They show up to internships with slow-to-embrace-the-new papers and can't believe they are asked to do so little, when they know how to do so much. At least that's the way I felt after graduating and getting into my reporting internship.

But copy editing. Seriously? Joe Grimm, who writes a daily column for Poynter Institute focused today's submission on skills copy editors should have to stay relevant. I can tell you, my frustration is immense with the level of copy editing that happens some afternoons, so I can't imagine a newsroom without a skilled team of copy editors behind the scenes, saving the day.

Media General made a few headlines when it announced last week it would combine copy editing and page design at three eastern newspapers. This is nothing new, or surprising. We do that here. But one may argue that our copy editing suffers. No one has time to spend looking up every single thing in a story, so easily avoidable mistakes, (such as where a person whose name is all over the Internet, really works) become a regular part of our product.

Grimm suggests copy editors brush up their web skills as they are going to need those a lot more than an AP Stylebook before too long. One such suggestion is to learn search engine optimization. Google has a page devoted to dos and don'ts here.

An old friend of mine started doing this work, and the script he's using is directly from this warning page from Google. Basically, it is making your page easy for search engine bots to locate. For those trying to take advantage, the promise is they can get you on the first page of hits on Google.

I think the concept Grimm is referring to is being aware of the ways in which bots find and catalog items on your Web page. Driving up Internet traffic appears to be the way many newspapers are looking to approach the next stage in profitability and information dissemination. For this, I think our paper needs to establish a more defined way to add tags to stories on the Web site. I noticed it's all over the place and appears that copy editors are simply adding whatever tags occur to them instead of adhering to some sort of formula.

Think I'll inform myself on this topic. I'll let you know what I find out.

YouTube or the boob tube?

noreply@blogger.com (Jill A) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 21:56:00 +0000

When I first joined the paper, I asked the boss, "What's the deal? Why don't we put our videos on YouTube to get more viewers?"

He replied that company policy had been for several years not to place any video on YouTube. I think it gets at the principle idea that we want people to pay for the work we produce so they remember its value. As a company policy, not giving content away has taken some getting used to, but I more fully understand the motivation that drives it now.

In this article from American Journalism Review, the author explores why some television news stations put their video on YouTube, and what perceived benefit those stations are getting. In all honesty, it seems a bit disappointing.

If YouTube is giving you minimal amounts of exposure to your audience and not driving traffic to your site, what would be the point? I envision, should a newspaper choose to try posting to YouTube, it would be with the intent to drive more traffic our way.

I think the newspaper may have come up with something a tad bit innovative for our company. While trying to harvest the increased interest in Facebook and at the same time justify spending more on video equipment, the videographer broached the subject once more. "Can we put the videos on YouTube?"

The answer this time was hell, why not. A video of the college basketball coach's milestone win has 202 views. Before we got the new Web site, it was difficult to get anyone to watch our videos. Now the new Web site allows us to use Facebook to refer people back to our site to watch them. It appears to be working.

A new feature on the YouTube page is "News Near You." I don't see any of our videos there, but another regional paper has gone for it.

The digital age is here

noreply@blogger.com (Jill A) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:36:00 +0000

We had a meeting of the newly formed "Tech Next" committee. We, the pioneers, will help shape how the newsroom adapts to the digital age. I advocated for a digital voice recorder, something I've been doing for more than a year.

Personally, I don't want to spend the money to get one of my own. I already use my personal camera, laptop, phone and car to do job-related stuff. The only one of those things I get paid back for is a paltry 28 cents a mile on the car. So I don't give sources my cell phone number. (We have "newsroom" cell phones that I'm pretty sure send radioactive waves directly into the ear of their user.) I also have never seen one of these mysterious things. And if you gave it out to a source, wouldn't you have to say, only call me on this once. I won't have it next time you want to reach me.

Anyway, enough about what we don't have and wish we did. The truth is, there is a sudden push in the newsroom to acknowledge the need for a bigger, better web presence. It's true, and it's here to stay. Even the New York Times is going behind a pay wall. (Big news, you hadn't heard?) So its a relief that not only is the newspaper getting with the times and embracing social media, but we're getting serious about a new Web site designed to give us the freedom and tools to create, if not awesome, at least good multimedia packages.

One of my ideas was a quick hit one that got a thumbs up. We have an online edition that people have to pay for. Before I joined the staff, the free Web site didn't even tell readers they weren't getting the whole story, that if they wanted it, they would have to pay for it. For some readers, we just looked like a bunch of jerks who didn't know how to report on anything.

Then we started adding at tag that said "read the full story" in print or online. Online where? So I said, let's put a hyperlink after that sentence that leads to the subscription page. How is that not the circulation desk's most immediate demand? Those people are charged not only with ensuring the newspaper gets delivered, but also that people subscribe and stay subscribers. I don't care whose idea it was. I just hope it works.

That might lend more credibility to my other suggestions.

Why I have a Twitter account

noreply@blogger.com (Jill A) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:39:00 +0000

I joined the social networking site Twitter more than a year ago. I read somewhere that Twitter was going to aggregate the tweets associated with the presidential election, and since we were all working that night, and we have the most pathetic excuse for a television in the newsroom, it made sense to be all places at once.

It worked marvelously. The feed picked up the latest and greatest results, people who were watching all the major news networks, informed me even as they learned, which states were going which way, which stations were calling which races, and all I had to do was sit back and watch.

But then I had no more use for Twitter. My account sat dormant for months, until the newspaper I work for announced it would be going live with a Twitter feed. Now that the paper was stepping into the social networking realm, albeit with the hesitance of a mouse unsure that that cat is truly sleeping, I decided to reenter and give it more effort.

Well, the effort came a bit slowly.

This article in American Journalism Review, "The Distribution Revolution," examines why the news industry is embracing Twitter, especially since its effect is hardly quantifiable.

One reason is we need to be able to get our work out there. You can't rely on Google for anything. Every day, the bots have more and more to search. Our newspaper's daily articles seldom catch the bots attention. In fact, they are searchable for such a short amount of time, the only time the articles really get picked up is when they are redistributed by other, more permanent, Web sites.

Yet, the newspaper I work for has not embraced this fully. The paper's Twitter account has what I would say is an impressive 162 followers, but does not follow anyone. In my opinion, the newspaper's twitter feed should have all the people in the community it can find. How will the paper take advantage of the rumblings of the community if its never listening?

In the American Journalism Review article, Robyn Tomlin, executive editor of the Wilmington Star-News, said the idea of Myreporter.com was birthed from a reader question, "Why is a helicopter flying around my house?"

What a great question. And who better to find the answer than someone whose job it is to find answers. And the night editor did know why and was able disseminate the information.

It makes me think of one Sunday at work. A reader called in and said something similar to me, but it sounded more like, "When are you going to put up on your Web site some information about what's going on? There are helicopters flying over my house dropping water."

I can't be everywhere at all times, and granted, it was fire season and I probably should have checked the fire logs earlier, but the reader tipped me off. Now if the newspaper had followed all the tweets of as many people as possible, would someone have tipped me off even earlier? It's hard to say, but its a mentality worth adopting.

The boss said he wants to go Web first, and wants to give readers a reason to look at our Web site at 6 p.m. instead of the nightly news (which isn't about us anyway.) But yet he's not making the push that could make that happen. Web first means distribution first. Competing means being the one-stop shop for news.

It's an interesting time to be a journalist, and I don't mind taking on more and more. We're getting a new Web site soon, and I, for one, am excited.

Liberal/Conservative... no matter what your leaning, the newspaper is the opposite.

noreply@blogger.com (Jill A) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0000

While the newspaper industry struggles to figure out the business model of the future, some reader arguments never really change.

I've not been in the business long enough to have lost my hope and belief in a better tomorrow, that people are inherently good and that if its good versus evil, good will always win. My optimism stays with me, even though many people I know have lost their positive outlook on life long, long ago.

One thing I am finding you can count on, no matter what you write, people will accuse the paper of taking a stance. The coverage is consistently liberal AND conservative depending on the what are the views of the person you are talking to.

Here I give an example. A San Jose Mercury News columnist Mike Cassidy opened the door to incredible waves of criticism when he suggested the readers and the newspaper have a conversation about the state of the paper's financial affairs. Every newspaper has endured severe cuts that meant certain sections and features would disappear forever.

In journalism school, they still teach you that there should be something for everyone inside so that each person may have a reason to pick up the newspaper. Each time the newspaper chooses to eliminate one thing, does it run the risk of eliminating a reader as well?

Even if that is a risk, Cassidy followed up his column with some of the reactions of readers. In this column he quotes a reader who says they pray the newspaper folds. That really made me upset.

When I was a teenager, I got a job working as a telemarketer for a company that sold accidental death insurance policies to people who had JCPenny cards. I had some people who were actually grateful to have been offered an affordable policy, others who only wanted to listen to my voice and still others who told me I was the scum of the Earth. Now, imagine I was standing right in front of you, would you still say that?

I think people have these harsh thoughts all day long, but common courtesy prevents us from saying things we know will accomplish nothing more than inflicting pain. This particular caller could just stop reading, rather than wish the entire newspaper staff were out of a job.

Why would anyone ever think that was OK? It's much the same as those who will consistently say the newspaper is against them. Maybe that's why the caller was so mad. Stinking liberal rag...

Ugh, can you believe this guy

noreply@blogger.com (Jill A) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:24:00 +0000

One thing that old-school journalists seem to have stuck in their heads is this idea that the news is a lofty, high-minded organization that tells readers what they should think about. Take this fuddy-duddy, and 35-year veteran of the business:
His name is Mark Whicker. He's a sports columnist for the Orange County Register. And he doesn't get why so many people were offended by his most recent attempt at journalism. And he doesn't actually care.

Whicker has been getting flack ever since the OCR published a column in which he informs a woman kidnapped, raped and held prisoner for 18 years of all the unimportant sports-related happenings she missed out on while she was squirreled away in the backyard of a sex offender.

Then Whicker writes an unapologetic apology in which he expresses his failure to understand what was so offensive about making light of the woman's horrific experience as a segue into a column about nothing.

He apologizes not for the content of the column, but for its disconnecting effect with long-time readers of the OCR. Clearly this expresses the fact that he does not get why his column was the most distasteful thing anybody's read in a long time.

Whicker goes on to tell Poynter Institute reporter Mallory Jean Tenore that the only reason so many people were disgusted was because of the Internet. Well, welcome to the world we write in Mr. Whicker. Lots of people have access to your disappointing work and they will tell everyone they know if its bad enough. It's the way of the modern world.

What I don't understand about Whicker's responses is how obvious it is that he still doesn't get it. What's so wrong with using a real person's personal tragedy as a jumping off point for a column about the last 18 years in sports?

Looking from an ethical standpoint, let's begin with the simplest question: How many are harmed and how many are helped? The content potentially harmed the woman and her family while the content helped Whicker gain notoriety. Should journalists publish something for personal gain? Uh, no.

What benefit was there in crafting his column around this woman's awful experience? You know, I'm having a hard time with this one.

Those two questions right there should have stopped this man from writing the column in the first place. But he's so out of touch he can't even see what the problem is. Young journalists all over the U.S. are looking at this guy to be fired or voluntarily resign, his words were so offensive and his "regret" so insincere.

Move over buddy, it's time to make room for someone who remembers their ethics classes. I say Mr. Whicker should revisit the Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics. I think minimizing harm and being accountable are especially worth review.

Long form journalism going down the tube

noreply@blogger.com (Jill A) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:09:00 +0000

Whatever happened to the Sunday story? It took up two pages of text, ran with tons of art and evoked emotion in its readers. Readers could get up with a lazy cup of coffee and have something to talk and think about for the rest of the day.

This article online at American Journalism Review laments the end of long-form stories in an eloquent, if not elongated way. Of course, what would you expect from a story of the demise of magazine journalism printed in the newspaper?

One thing I have had to get used to working at the H&N is this idea of multiple entry points. It's not a new concept to me, but I always considered subheads, breakout boxes and compelling cutlines to be entry points. I also thought of it in a digital sense, where links within the story can lead readers to more information. It has been hard adjusting to writing the same story in four pieces. And with a small news hole day after day, it seems like its wasting space to put in so many different headlines.

But that's the way it's done here. It almost seems to me that online might be the new place for long-form journalism. I am tempted to write two stories, one that is cohesive that could appear online, the other that is pieced out for the print edition. I'm not trying to create more work for myself, but when stories appear online, sometimes they don't all get there. Then our online readers are less informed, ask questions that the stories answered, and think the newspaper has failed in some way.

I plan to mull it over some more before attempting to submit two versions of my stories. I think online stories that jump give readers a break, give sales reps a space to put ads and give editors a gauge of how much of longer stories are being consumed. Do people ever get to the last page? I know when a story is written well enough, I sure do.

Where have you been?

noreply@blogger.com (Jill A) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 19:55:00 +0000

While I don't think I ever had any regular readers, it occurs to me that continuing to keep this blog is the only way I'll ever get any. Should someone stumble on this industry blog, they aren't likely to stay long if the last post is a year old. And it is.

Today I'll simply update what has happened in the past year in my journalism career and then I'll make a wholehearted attempt to be a regular blogger on the topic. Some may argue that the market has been cornered, but I think it will help keep me fresh in ideas.

After graduating college and joining the reporting team at The Register Guard as an intern with the Snowden program through the University of Oregon, I was fortunate enough to land a position with a small regional newspaper, Herald and News, located in sunny Klamath Falls.

At the H&N, I write about city government and agriculture primarily. I have carved myself a niche within environmental issues reporting and housing, two topic areas that both lacked a dedicated reporter and are vitally important to knowing what exactly is going on in this area. I feel that environmental issues and agriculture in the region go hand-in-hand, and are a natural fit. Housing interests me as I am one of those who would like to become a first-time homebuyer with all the advantages that possibly could bring.

Also, housing often drives a community's economy, and here is no different. Having experienced a short-lived boom in housing, there are many half-built subdivisions that lost steam and left behind a eerie grouping of roads and power lines leading to perhaps a single house, or two. Their neighbors have addresses, just no homes or mailboxes.

At the H&N I've been given tons of freedom to pursue the stories I want to do, am completely trusted to write about what's important in the city's government decisions and dealings and am encouraged to shoot videos whenever I wish, or take my own photographs. That last part is necessary because the newspaper employs just one photographer, and he works just two days out of the five in my work week.

I'm pleased here, although the job market afterward looks mighty tough. I'm glad to not be looking right now. Furloughs, an industry standard, have reduced my salary by more than $1,000, and for a starting reporter, that hurts. A lot. But I am gaining experience and hopefully will be granted the entertainment blog I proposed several months ago. I can't help but make connections in the community when I am out because I anticipate getting it someday.

I'll get back to the discussion of the journalism industry in the next post, and I won't wait an entire year to make it.

Study, study, study

noreply@blogger.com (Jill A) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 04:06:00 +0000

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to add another posting, but I've been working my way through the Associated Press' "A New Model for News." This in-depth ethnographic case study offers up observations about how young people in some American cities and two cities abroad consume, gather and disseminate their news.

The study questions what kinds of news young people are attracted to, it asks them why and tries to analyze how they obtain it. The analysis of the findings is the most intriguing. The AP finds that young people are often dissatisfied with the news they obtain because it lacks context, but are experiencing "news fatigue" because they are constantly overwhelmed with snippets that lack back stories or indications of what may happen in the future as a result.

The study concludes there must be multiple entry points to a story that includes follow-up stories, back stories and generally all the information that young readers are looking for, but missing. Information from the study suggests there are a multitude of ways consumers enter into news: through friends, headline links in e-mail, television reporting, radio and many, many others. News providers, the AP says, need to find more appealing ways to lead people into content and then offer up as many ways as possible for those readers to continue to access information about that story.

The AP is increasingly moving toward a "what is happening" approach to news rather than a "what has happened" approach. It is focusing more on in-depth entertainment and sports stories because they appeal to young people. It is aggregating news for access using mobile phones/PDAs, because that's often where young people are getting their information.

The AP is communicating with its audience, exploring new forms of storytelling and trying to capture America through its own perspective.

I bet they think the rest of us should do the same.

Where online consumers once surfed and bookmarked news sites, users now wonder why a logical trail through the news can’t simply unfold, link by link, across a multitude of sources. Significant human cooperation, on a very large scale, would have to occur to ensure that outcome across the worldwide Internet.

Being the information resource

noreply@blogger.com (Jill A) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 03:55:00 +0000

The Oregonian has launched new features to its Web site. One thing I stumbled across was its police scanner. Yep, the Oregonian now offers its Web users access to streaming police scanner as well as codes to decipher what the emergency responders are saying.

This is just another innovation from the Oregonian site that provides public information in many ways. You can go there for Oregon and Washington's Department of Transportation traffic cams (and see just how bad it is out there before deciding to use the freeway.)

They've hooked up with Portland's favorite weatherman, Todd Sweeny to do a daily video forecast. They've teamed with Twitter so you can get updates on the go on your PDA or cell phone.

They are offering 24/7 coverage of Portland and its surrounding communities. Pretty much all their content and a whole lot more is available through the Web site.

Come visit me on my home page

noreply@blogger.com (Jill A) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 22:48:00 +0000

In this video, the discussion of news media and how it must adapt and change gives some good ideas about how to get more users to a Web site. A few weeks ago I was sent on an assignment to learn about invasive weeds. We took this quiz about invasive species, both plant and animal, and one question was about a Midwestern invader, the Asian Carp. The real threat of the carp is that boat motors bother them and they jump out of the water and hit people (besides gobbling up every bit of food on the food chain and starving out native species). I thought it was a joke question.

So I go on YouTube to see a video of these creatures, and sure enough there are plenty. The first one to pop up? From the Des Moines Register. It was crude, didn't have much to it really, it essentially just showed a bunch of fish jumping and I moved on to another video to hear people discuss them and their habits. But the point is, that video wasn't on the newspaper's home site. It was out there, advertising the newspaper, on a very popular and well visited site, mingling with the people.

What a great idea. When I want to see video of something I never think to check the local paper's site first, I look on YouTube. The chances that the video I am looking for is there are much greater than those of the newspaper's Web site alone.

Oh, and I don't think there's anything about this particular video that I couldn't do. It's just a couple of cuts and splices along with a few labels for the people's names.

Steve Smith laments the passing of an era

noreply@blogger.com (Jill A) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 22:39:00 +0000

In his blog "News is a Conversation" on the Spokesman-Review Web site, Steve Smith, editor of the SR, writes of the lost days of the "newspaperman."

Even as he has fought to keep ahead of the curve and maintain relevance in a fast advancing world, Smith recalls the dirty, smoke-filled past of the newspaper with relish and longing. He must have been in such a melancholy mood.

Before starting my internship, Smith, an alum from my college paper took several leaders of the Oregon Daily Emerald to dinner to discuss the industry, the future and the past. Many of the stories he told during that dinner surface in this blog post. Perhaps it's best that newspapermen and women are no longer drunks and that newsrooms are no longer the chaotic messes of ashtrays and finger-staining ink they used to be.

I guess I didn't grow up in that era, and I don't long for those crusty old editors who hardly seem human. Hell, I've met plenty a crusty editor I was glad I didn't work for, they refuse to move into the neat and tidy future.

Not to say that newspapering is either neat or tidy. It's messy, especially when you find out about something other people would prefer you don't know about. It's not easy; if it were, then everyone would do it, and do it well. Gone are the brash jokes, sure, but also gone are the sexist comments. A woman can be just as tough as man when it comes to digging out a story.

Perhaps Smith is right that the daily newspaper as we have know it will become something for the elites rather than the regular Joes. That's the fight we must keep trying to win, if you ask me. How does the daily newspaper remain important to it's citizens? Ah, the oft asked and discussed question, the answer to which is elusive and unpredictable.

Smith offers us no bright spot, no sage wisdom to grasp. He instead says democracy will find another stage. The fourth estate will be lost to some other realm. What then will the schools teach us our purpose is?

There's a reason why we don't have any dinosaurs

noreply@blogger.com (Jill A) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:45:00 +0000

I think this video clip says it harshly, but it's true. Hanging onto a costly print product could just be the last bad business decision some of these enormous dailies make.

Jim Lehrer discusses the Tribune Co.

noreply@blogger.com (Jill A) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:15:00 +0000

First, I would have embedded the video for you here, but you can only digg or del.icio.us it (those aren't the only sites it supports, just the most common). So please go here to view it.

Okay, did you watch it?

Good, now we can talk about it. My favorite part is the disagreement between Jon Fine and Esther Thorson about the impact of the ever-shrinking newsroom. As Thorson rightly points out, those pages Fine said he wouldn't miss from his beloved New York Times weren't really there for him anyway. Those are the pages someone else is missing.

I have an example. This morning my boyfriend and I are having coffee over the paper, and he is digging through to see what sections are in today's edition. He squeals as he comes across "Entree" the weekly food-focused section. It usually includes one or two guest columns, a few recipes, an AP health story, etc.

I have never gotten excited about seeing it, and probably only read it once. As Thorson also mentions, there is one section neither one of us bypasses: City/Region. It's the only place to find out what's really going on here.

Fine says that newspapers should have been focusing on that all along. He also says he could go on the Internet and find 100 stories about what happened in Iraq today. Time to experiment...

Now I know that Google News is not one of the best aggregates so we'll check there and Yahoo! News as well. I am going to exclude any stories that are not about what actually happened during the war today.
Google News links: Associated Press story about soldiers who are in Iraq but want to help comrades in Afghanistan. That was the only story on the first page, which contained 30 articles with "Iraq" in the headline. Nothing on page two. Even the foreign newspapers were all about the U.S. presidential candidates and not about what's actually happening. Bear with me here, I think I'm going to make a point. There is one sentence in this world report from Reuters, published by England's The Guardian. That's on page four. The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer today had an update on Iraq. That's on page five.

Okay, I don't feel like I've quite made my point yet so I'm headed over to Yahoo! to see what turns up. I'm impressed, second story is an AP story about total U.S. troop deaths in Iraq. Here is a CNN.com story about a car bombing that killed 15. It also has the AP story about soldiers wanting to be in Afghanistan and this story from Reuters about security. On the second page of hits is a story from AFP about taking control of Shiite provinces.

Okay, what did I learn?

I confirmed what everyone already knew, Google News isn't that good, and Yahoo! is better. It gave me way more variety of stories, rather than the same thing over and over again. We also learned from Yahoo! news that the only reporters in Iraq belong to the three biggest wire services in the world. Now I don't find this surprising or disappointing. At least we have someone there.

But do we have lots of these AP, Reuters, and AFP reporters telling us what's happening? Nope. As evidenced by the lack of variety in these stories, we don't have many reporters there. And I certainly didn't find Fine's suggested 100 stories about what happened in Iraq today. In fact I'm pretty sure I didn't even scrape the surface of what actually happened.

As an addendum I refer you to this article in the current issue of American Journalism Review

And so it begins

noreply@blogger.com (Jill A) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 23:50:00 +0000

In this article from the The Daily Telegram, a Wisconsin paper, reveals it will publish daily news, photos and video on its Web site and reduce it's print edition to two days each week. It intends to remain a paid subscription print edition. Hmm...

Let's start with putting some of the article here since one is required to sign up for a membership (it's free, but a hassle) to see the story:

Following a growing trend in the newspaper industry, The Daily Telegram will refocus its emphasis toward Internet publishing, company executives said today.
The Telegram’s Web page, www.superiortelegram.com, will become the primary source of day-to-day breaking news, said Publisher Ken Browall. It will feature printed news and photos of events as they happen seven days a week, along with audio and video clips.
Online news coverage will be supplemented by a twice-weekly printed version of The Telegram that provides exclusive Superior and Douglas County news and sports features plus a wide variety of community news and columns not offered by other Twin Ports media, Browall said. The twice-weekly Telegram will remain a paid circulation newspaper.

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Decisions were difficult, but not unexpected

Article comments (21)

Internet publishing has grown in popularity as traditional print advertisers have gradually moved to the newer medium. Meanwhile, print advertising revenue has declined nationwide, and newprint costs have grown. This year, the revenue stream has been particularly weak as the struggling economy, poor credit conditions and slow hiring has hurt traditionally strong classified advertising customers in the automobile, real estate and help wanted sectors.

Okay, here's my brilliant idea. Instead of reducing the number of times per week a print edition is produced, newspapers should instead make people buy the print edition in stands and make sure Web content is available to subscribers, first thing, everyday.

For the old fashioned people who wish to receive print papers at their homes, newspapers could charge them a special rate, more than the online edition but less than if you bought it in the stands.

Here is why I think this will work: Newsprint is expensive and limiting. The Internet is cheap and limitless. With more innovative placement of advertising, newspapers can sell ads online, save money on ink and newsprint, still produce the product people are used to getting, still get subscription numbers to use when selling ads, offer similar penetration, attract younger audiences, incorporate more styles of storytelling, and still satisfy the older generation who can't imagine getting their newspaper online. If newspapers are almost exclusively sold in boxes, the paper still has the chance to attract new readers and distribute news to those who aren't regular readers.

Of course, this means that the Web site has to offer cell phone compatible Web sites in addition to the full sites. These sites are much simpler though, and should be easier, not harder, to create.

Bring me the future, NOW!

noreply@blogger.com (Jill A) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:04:00 +0000

Business Week decided to give the Kindle a go 'round in a review yesterday. The review gives it overall good marks, although the author complains that he forgot to charge it a few times during his trial run and found himself frustrated because you never have to plug in a newspaper.

Well that's kind of silly, right? You got used to plugging in your phone didn't you?

Arik Hesseldahl writes he also has complaints about the very few, poor quality photos that the Kindle supports. I can see that as a very valid complaint. Photographs often make the difference in how moving a story can be.

A positive Hesseldahl says is that he read more of the papers he received (as well as saving trees and money). I argue, he only received two of the four he used to get so... I do have to ask, how in the world did he get time to read four newspapers in the morning? I could see it being possible on a device like the Kindle, but this guy must have a really long commute. Those are hours you can never get back.

I think more newspapers should write about and consider technology like the Kindle. If newsprint costs so much, only print those papers that people will pick up in stands. Ensure that your loyal readers who want their news delivered to their homes have the chance to save the planet and some money by giving them high tech ways to get the paper.

Here they don't update the Web site sometimes until mid-morning. I think they should do it late at night. I also think the news staff doesn't spend enough time thinking about how they can help the newspaper which gives them sustenance survive and make money.

Sinking the McClatchy ship

noreply@blogger.com (Jill A) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 23:27:00 +0000

Columbia Journalism Review looked at how the McClatchy papers affected by recent staffing cuts covered their own reductions. An interesting survey, the saddest part is simply that a corporation of such immensity would be forced to go this route.
My favorite part:

But, frankly, all of the reporters who drew this bitch of an assignment deserve some love, because it cannot be easy to report on the disintegration of one’s own newsroom.“As best you can, you try to separate yourself out,” said The Sacramento Bee’s Dale Kasler. “In a strange sort of way, it’s better to cover the story than to just sit around and think about it, like everyone else is doing, and have a rotten day.”

Ugh. Can you imagine. Many of the news staff have brought up the buyout announced yesterday to me. They seem to be working in fear. Two mentioned they are bottom-of-the-totem-pole employees in the newsroom. One quipped, "You might be here longer than me." Oh no. There go my dreams of staying and living a happy life of marriage and backyard gardening.

Guess I'll need to stay mobile, and I'm thinking more and more everyday that I need to start applying for some grants to see if someone will pay me to write my grandfather's life story. That would buy me some time to see what will happen next in this business.

Signs of The Times

noreply@blogger.com (Jill A) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:22:00 +0000

If the New York Times is the indicator of the health of our industry, falling ad revenues are sign that the worst is yet to come. No paper is immune to the decline in both readership and economic health the country is experiencing. Just a few years ago, it seemed all people wanted to talk about was how to get more individuals to read the news. Now the Internet has provided us with all the news we can swallow, but the discussion has turned to how to keep the news that is important coming.

A talk at the newspaper I am interning at yesterday announced a buy-out for retirement age workers in an attempt to reduce payroll costs. The paper simply can't sustain the cost to revenue ratio, like many others have already found. It was somewhat surprising to me that this was the first talk that had been given, the first offer to retirement age or almost retirement age employees to leave their posts for sunnier climates.

Ahh! I knew it!

noreply@blogger.com (Jill A) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 03:55:00 +0000

The future of newspapers is in a portable device that can update in real time, as soon as something is published. Each day consumers will read the paper on an electronic device where their newspaper is delivered. I did not know this technology existed, but it does. The roll-up TV will be used for not only watching television, but rumor has it, newspapers are investing in developing this technology for their own use.

I imagined this several years ago. I have no proof that this was my idea first. In fact, it probably wasn't, but I had an idea that while the paper copy would not be around forever, I have been certain that people would have one permanent item that would deliver their news to them.

Another news delivery system I just learned about is the Kindle. This is also awesome. Bring the price down some more and this thing might just catch on. Although I hear some are disappointed that it doesn't deliver images in color yet.

More news: Hurray?

noreply@blogger.com (Jill A) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 23:13:00 +0000

So Vanity Fair examined the New York Times to see whether there have been equal amounts of space devoted to news over the years. For the author, the outcome was surprising, but for this journalist, it wasn't.

Vanity Fair found the Times devotes more space to news content in the A section now than it did 10 years ago. Although the blog alludes to the cause, burgeoning advertising revenue, it fails to comment on how this reflects the larger picture. Newspapers are competing for ad dollars more and more, and the threat to the newspaper ever looms. How do we afford to pay for those important journalistic endeavors?

Few papers have overseas correspondents anymore. I used to dream of writing stories that mattered about people in other countries, now I have few hopes of realizing that dream, unless working for a foreign paper. This brings me back to the idea that if more newspapers were non-profits, then the pressure to make money would be lessened and the ability to spend money to get stories to make a difference would increase.

Shall we blame the economy or the readership?

noreply@blogger.com (Jill A) — Wed, 28 May 2008 23:19:00 +0000

The St. Petersburg Times has announced it will enter a hiring freeze and offer retirement incentives to employees to cut costs at this Poynter-owned nonprofit newspaper. The newspaper has seen declining advertising revenues due to the overall economic downturn being experienced in the country. Or at least that's what reason the editor gave to employees in a letter.

The thing I like the best is the comments on the story. From disgruntled employees to former subscribers, people certainly have a lot to say about the state of business at the St. Petersburg Times. I think the comments about local news are particularly interesting, because I believe that is what will keep newspapers relevant in the lives of readers. If they never see themselves in the paper, it certainly becomes irrelevant. Additionally, a newspaper has to prove it can reach the readers that advertisers also want to reach. Without advertisers, I don't know whether newspapers will have the support they need to pursue their true mission.

I also like the idea of non-profit newspapers. They can pay their staff well without turning a profit. I think the community can respect that as well. It would solve a lot of the problems with advertising crossing into news and asking for favors.

Reaching the audience

noreply@blogger.com (Jill A) — Thu, 22 May 2008 23:41:00 +0000

I read an interesting piece on NPR today about how journalists should handle offers of help from readers and listeners who are touched by a particularly moving story. The article says there are often no definite guidelines present at most news organizations.

The point of telling stories is to make change or get people motivated. It seems odd that we don't have set methods for dealing with our success. We find ways to deal with them, because we are humans and we want to help. But, as the article points out, we can't be responsible for funneling that help to people, and we can't accept donations on behalf of others. It goes against our rule of remaining the observing party.

CNN maintains a Web site designed to guide people to charitable organizations that accept donations which CNN has done stories about. It doesn't solve everything, especially since you may want to help one particular family and the links go to major organizations, but it is a start.

Why those PBS telethons are important

noreply@blogger.com (Jill A) — Tue, 20 May 2008 22:09:00 +0000

The New York Times reported that the phenomenal PBS newscast "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" is experiencing some of its most difficult financial times right now. With corporate sponsorship harder to come by, the aging Lehrer, 74, won't speak about a potential replacement to anchor the show.

NewsHour is not the only PBS show mentioned. Some of my personal favorites such as "Nova" and "Antiques Roadshow" have found they must experiment with new types of funding models, since corporate sponsors want to know more about audience and use these sponsorships as marketing tools rather than solely philanthropically.

My aunt used to volunteer in Iowa answering phones during the PBS telethon, and I remember being excited about seeing her on TV. I no longer have that giddiness about seeing someone I know on television, I know how it works now, I am gaining a better understanding of why those telethons are so important. Supporting the broadcasting that isn't tailored to attract advertisers rather than educate may become a necessity in the future, especially if public television refuses to lower itself to the depths of traditional networks. I mean, there can only be one OC Tree Hill 90210, right?

Check out Jim in Charlie Rose's greenroom:

Ruhl Lecture: "Participatory Media: Challenges to the Conventions of Journalism"

noreply@blogger.com (Jill A) — Fri, 09 May 2008 02:19:00 +0000

Here is initial coverage of the Ruhl Lecture at the University of Oregon today. I'll provide more comment and analysis later.

The Internet has opened up possibilities for journalism that several years ago traditional, mainstream journalists never would have considered possible. Citizens are taking the helm and producing news about their communities that doesn’t necessarily conform to what traditional media calls news. The difference is citizen journalism is produced by the “experts” in a community that care about that community.

“Participatory Media: Challenges and Conventions of Journalism” was the topic of Executive Director of J-Lab Jan Schaffer’s lecture at the 32nd annual Ruhl Lecture, presented in conjunction with the Payne Awards Thursday.

J-Lab supports innovations that help citizens participate in public life, and Schaffer drew examples from grant and award winners of J-Lab’s projects to illustrate the effects citizen journalism has had on its communities. She suggested that mainstream media, endangered as it seems to be, should embrace these sorts of Web sites.

“We don’t see many partnerships between mainstream and citizen media,” Schaffer said. “I believe we can figure this out if we just pay attention.”

Schaffer said J-Lab has found community news sites to be responsible, even if creators draw questions about what journalists consider ethical.

“We find (creators) to be literate and passionate about their towns and yearning for a sense of place in their communities,” she said. Several community news sites have become so credible that contributors or creators have been asked to run for public office, something definitely against journalistic ethical creed. Schaffer said citizen journalists have their own set of ethical criteria, and it may be time for mainstream media to rethink what it finds to be ethical as well.

While community sites may report on a meeting where there was consensus, traditional media might think there is no story if there is no controversy, in which case, mainstream media could be seen as instigating or perpetuating controversy in their communities.

“Readers are not keeping score. They don’t really care the about the score day-to day,” she said. “They just want their leaders to address and solve problems.”

Roseburg’s The News-Review Editor Vicki Menard found Schaffer’s comments about hyperlocal sites covering their own communities interesting because Roseburg is surrounded by several small, outlying towns.

“I wonder if that could happen in our area,” she said. Thinking in terms of traditional journalists, it was hard for her to believe citizen sites are run by volunteers. “Citizen just means you really just want to do this for free?”

The talk inspired Menard to consider ways to enhance The News-Review’s newly revamped Web site to provide what Schaffer described as the umbrella mainstream media should offer to their communities.

University School of Journalism and Communication Dean Tim Gleason opened the lecture by saying it is an exciting time be involved in the news and quoted a speech given at the University of Kentucky in April.

John Carroll, former editor of the Lexington Herald-Leader, told University of Kentucky students, “There will be journalism in the future. And the journalism of the future will have tools unlike any imagined by earlier generations.”

Admitting the inevitable

noreply@blogger.com (Jill A) — Tue, 06 May 2008 22:15:00 +0000

A recent survey of newspaper editors found that most think newspapers will be free in the future. It seems logical considering that most breaking news is already free, and many people catch their headlines online, which is essentially free - except the initial investment of resources to access the Internet.

While newspapers in the print edition still come at a nominal cost, many people that I've talked to say, "Why would I pay for the paper when I can read it online for free?" And those papers that aren't producing interesting online content, or have Web sites that appear amateur, are certainly not earning themselves readers using online content. And think of how far a story online can travel and compare that to how much exposure it gets in a newspaper with 20,000 circulation.

While many online news consumers want their news as quickly as possible, that does not excuse journalists from fulfilling their primary function of being watchdogs for the public. It is discouraging to see that many editors responded they thought the quality of journalism will decline due to the emphasis on speed. Certainly both aspects of journalism can work together in this changing news environment. I believe that advances in information dissemination will lead to greater news-gathering abilities in less time. This is the perfect union of speed and investigation.

See Yahoo! news story here.

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