News Leadership 3.0
August 29, 2010
The new public editor for The New York Times published his first column Sunday. Arthur S. Brisbane looks well qualified for the job, and I wish him well. Still, my jaw dropped in astonishment when his appointment was announced. Like his three predecessors, Brisbane is a white guy. How can it be, I wonder, that an organization with the reach of the Times, cannot find a woman or a person of color qualified to be its public editor?
Clearly, Times executives need to get out more. Because when all is said and done, our networks and our affinities usually are a significant determinant in decisions, whether it’s hiring employees, forming partnerships or seeing possibilities.
We saw this a lot in the newspaper business until the 1990s and then we frequently saw it at tech conferences. Somehow there just aren’t ever any qualified women or people of color available. But we know better, right?
I had an experience earlier this year that underscores my point about networks.
I developed the program and recruited the faculty for a Knight Digital Media Center boot camp for people leading projects funded by Knight Foundation‘s Community Information Challenge. This is the five-day crash course on things digital for community leaders who are committed to news and information needs but not generally well versed in the Web.
As I put the finishing touches on the agenda, I noticed that I had brought together a fairly diverse faculty: Of 15 people I recruited, 11 were women; 11 of the 15 were white, two were Asian-American and two were African-American. Several were younger than 35.
Clearly, I can do better with people of color and the group did skew 50-something, like me. But my larger point is this: The group’s makeup wasn’t intentional, but it was no accident. I was not thinking about diversity at all when I recruited (perhaps I should have been). Instead, I was looking for people I know with deep expertise and the generosity of spirit it takes to be a good teacher of complex topics. And perhaps not surprisingly, most of those people turned out to be women. So, yes, I cop to bias and it strongly influenced my recruiting.
In this case, my bias - shaped by my affinities, which in turn shape my network - improved the outcome with a more diverse faculty and a greater richness of experience and perspective.
It is equally likely that lack of connections can severely limit a search, and fairness requires that each of us be on the look out for that. I do wonder if that is what has happened in the Times search for a public editor. If it is, the Times has a credibility problem, and one that’s larger than who is sitting in the public editor chair. If the mighty Times cannot connect with the many diverse men and women who are highly qualified for this job, what does it say about the network the Times taps into as it frames its coverage and contacts its sources?
This isn’t be a new problem for newspapers. As long as the ad dollars were flowing, the newsroom could be independent, which was code for detached and disconnected from wide segments of the community. The Web offers a second chance. Even if your news organization isn’t hiring, look to community partnerships to grow reach and engagement.
Expand your networks and take the blinders off.
(Disclosure: I was public editor of The Oregonian from 1996 to 1999.)
August 26, 2010
When you stroll down a familiar street, or glance at a familiar landmark, your mind’s eye superimposes how that scene looked in years or decades past, under typical and extreme circumstances.
That common experience is what makes CNN.com’s recent photo retrospective Katrina Then and Now so compelling—and it’s something other news organizations can emulate, not just for disaster remembrances…
By Amy Gahran
This project featured close collaboration with several longtime Louisiana coastal residents who also contribute to CNN’s iReport citizen journalism service. The result is a gallery of 31 haunting photos.
In each image, a hand holds up a 2005 photo of Katrina’s devastation—in front of that same scene, but in the present day. The images align to create the strong illusion of a window into the past.
This technique is exacting but not necessarily high-tech—and thus within reach of even small local news organizations. It also capitalizes on CNN’s photo archives—again, an asset that virtually any news organization possesses or can access through partners such as museums or libraries.
In a short documentary about this project, iReport producer Katie Hawkins-Gaar explained, “We gave iReporters access to hundreds of CNN photos taken during and after Katrina. People could download our photos, and go visit those locations and take the photos [used in our package].”
Christina Zdanowicz, another iReport producer, elaborated: “CNN iReport went down to New Orleans to meet up with some iReporters who live there and who have been living through the aftermath of Katrina. We wanted them to go to these places. Some of them actually had their own photos and they used them, and held them up and told their stories.
“We did a photo walk to show these photographers how to take these images. It’s not as easy as you think. You’re holding up an old image, trying to line it up with a perspective while not getting run over by a car. And some of these images were taken from a boat.”
The Katrina photo retrospective wasn’t CNN’s first iReport past-present image project. This spring, an iReport weekly assignment project encouraged contributors to create similarly styled photos in their communities, using their own or others’ old local pictures. Some iReporters created superimposed images digitally or using video.
The resulting collection of dozens of images included a re-creation of Wall Arch in Arches National Park (which collapsed in 2008), a 1921 gathering Miss America contestants in front of Union Station (Washington, DC), and some front porch family history (Fresno, CA).
CNN’s guided crowdsourced project was inspired an ad-hoc group project, Looking into the Past, on the popular photo-sharing site Flickr. Founded by amateur photographer Jason E. Powell, this group currently has nearly 3500 members.
According to CNN, “Jason Powell established the group [in 2009] after rediscovering the photographic archives of the Library of Congress. He said he was also inspired by Flickr user Michael Hughes’ photographs matching souvenirs to popular sites around the world.
News organizations can pull several key lessons from CNN’s efforts:
- Amateur contributors often thrive in structured collaboration. This focused approach is overtly about photo skills, but it’s also about story, creativity, and celebrating the unique value and experience that each contributor brings to the process. It’s also about fostering camaraderie among your contributors, which also helps keep them engaged.
Citizen journalists and other amateur contributors can be intimidated by a totally open blank slate. Guided projects can entice them to become regular contributors, and to encourage others to contribute. Also, it can (at least superficially) seem less daunting to take a picture than write a narrative-format story.
- Use what you’ve got, then let them play. Reach into your morgue for photos, video, and other types of media and freely offer a compelling selection for your community to use. Don’t guard your copyright so jealously that you stifle creativity.
Look to social media for ideas. There are many themed photo groups on Flickr, as well as other media-sharing services like YouTube, and of course there are countless Facebook groups and fan pages. Ask your community and contributors which of these they enjoy or contribute to, and check out their recommendations. Any media-sharing efforts that are popular locally could be a springboard for a focused project.
It’s a good idea to get involved in their project first (at least by commenting on or “liking” others’ contributions), before asking them to assist with your project.
- Give back to the source. Mention where you got the idea for your project from, and link to it. CNN credited not just their own iReporter contributors in the Katrina project and prior weekly assignment; they also discussed the Flickr photo group, its founder, and the founder’s inspiration—all with links.
People put significant effort, energy, and emotion into these ad-hoc projects, and they appreciate recognition and exposure from mainstream media.
(Disclosure: I blog about mobile technology for CNN Tech, but have no involvement with CNN iReporter.)
By Amy Gahran, 08/26/10 at 7:24 pm
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August 24, 2010
By Rita Hibbard: Doing good work isn’t enough to save journalism. Fighting to preserve the legacy isn’t the place you want to be. I knew that going into the launch of InvestigateWest just over a year ago, hard lessons learned living through the closure of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, a newspaper with a long history of strong local coverage and investigative journalism. So it was a new thing - a nonprofit, regional, investigative news center. Multi-platform, aimed at filling some of the void left by heavy regional layoffs and newspaper closures in the West.
Skills required: risk-taking, business strategy and planning, knowing the importance of collaborations, social media savvy, finding ways to get exposure to the brightest minds in the industry, being willing to put yourself out there. Grant writing. Leadership. Sales. Admitting what you don’t know, and being prepared to learn how to do it quickly, or find someone else who does. Finding people who want to help you, for free.
Basic mindset required: be willing to change it up all the time. Don’t look back. You’re not recreating the newsroom. It’s not the good old days. You’re not preserving the legacy, or even the best of journalism. You’re helping create the future. That’s what matters. And that makes it exciting. And worth doing. So at InvestigateWest we’re about taking the best of what we did - real public service journalism that made a difference in people’s lives - and taking it to new audiences.
Our goal is to find new ways to tell investigative stories that find new audiences, bring them into the process in exciting ways, and hold their attention - making the work an essential part of their life - in ways that investigative reporting hasn’t always done in the past. An executive of a major news organization told me that while investigative content is truly valued at this organization, advertisers want to be next to the “top 10 health tips” or consumer tips stories. I get it, but shouldn’t investigative reporting be recognized as being as or more essential by readers? It’s up to us - not news consumers - to make it so.
Major lesson learned this year: the value of collaboration. It meets so many goals. It doesn’t re-create the wheel. It preserves and expands resources. It gets the important work to broader audiences. It allows regional projects with broader impact to be done. Examples - the campus sexual assault story that was done by five regional investigative centers, including InvestigateWest, in addition to the Center for Public Integrity and NPR. InvestigateWest currently has been funded for a collaborative project with KCTS 9, which will be our second documentary with this PBS-affiliate, on an urban neighborhood health issue. We currently have a proposal to do an environmental story with two other investigative centers that would have broad regional and national impact.
How are those collaborations made? Through the quality of our work, and through personal contact. In my previous life, I was a newsroom editor, pretty focused on running the newsroom and not looking beyond it. I didn’t put myself out there much. I have certainly learned to do that! I will talk to anyone about anything that might be a collaborative fit for IWest, and I’m always prepared to spread the good word about my organization. If one particular conversation doesn’t lead to something, I believe good information is exchanged that might lead to something interesting in the future.
I had done two collaborative projects in my previous life as a newspaper editor - working collaboratively on a daily basis with a local TV station and leading a Hearst-wide investigative project . Knowing what I now know, I would have sought opportunities for more. I love seeing how much good energy and openness there is in news organizations toward these kinds of collaborations. I get energized by seeing the opportunities for good work expand.
The goal is to get the good work out there in front of as many eyes and ears as possible. That means finding ways to work with as many news organizations as possible right now, and looking for ways to get our work on new platforms and finding new ways of reaching nontraditional audiences as well.
Our most recent project on cruise ship pollution went out to 12 media partners in August, including five newspapers, one hyperlocal site, four metro online only sites, and three specialty interest online sites. Our previous project, a story on health care workers exposed to workplace chemotherapy, was released in July to three exclusive partners in its first release - MSNBC.com, The Seattle Times and as a public TV half hour documentary co-produced with KCTS 9 in Seattle. Other regional and national media partners used the story as a secondary release. These are paid-content placements, which provides a revenue stream for InvestigateWest in addition to foundation, individual donor and membership support.
What didn’t I have a clue about: how much risk is involved in an enterprise like this; working without the support of a larger organization, you are tech support, the development team, the business planner. Working in a start up takes all hands on deck all the time in a way that requires all your focus. There’s no corporate structure to absorb a little down time at the office. So everyone on the team has to have the entrepreneurial mindset, and not come with the expectation that “someone else” will pick up some part of the job they don’t want to do. There is no someone else.
I didn’t have a clue that I would become so focused on development and marketing. InvestigateWest has two sets of customers - direct consumers of news and news organizations that we partner with. When I was in the newspaper business, I saw what happens when customers “don’t have time” for your product. That means they don’t find your work essential to their lives. So that’s a hard question I have in front of myself every day. How do I make InvestigateWest essential to my customers?
Development is key. We have achieved stability in our first year because we have brought a mix of foundation funding —issue -focused funding from The Bullitt Foundation and The Russell Family Foundation, both based in the Seattle area, and broader funding for regional investigative reporting from the Ethics & Excellence in Journalism Foundation. We have secured story coverage funding from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through a partnership with Seattle University, from RealNetworks Foundation, and from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
Warning: Extreme creativity required! - Don’t do things the ways they’ve always been done just because that’s the way they’ve always been done.
Change it up - we launched with seven people, and have shrunk to a more financially feasible size of three core staff with freelance support. Our focus was originally broader - the West. We’re now more regionally focused. Bottom line: if it’s not working, change it. This was a lesson drilled into me by the entrepreneurs at the Knight Digital Media Center’s inaugural news entrepreneur boot camp at USC, and it has turned out to be so true. If it isn’t working, change it. We’re not a big organization. It’s easy.
It’s important to find ways to sustain investigative and public service coverage and push it to new audiences. That’s what InvestigateWest is doing. We’re looking hard at investigative journalism, and asking, “are there new ways to do this?”
I keep in mind a recent Pew survey that showed 71 percent of people are online news consumers, and 65 percent of those have no favorite site! That’s opportunity for InvestigateWest. That means we have to be out there on all channels if we’re going to truly be public service reporters. We have to find news consumers where they are, and not expect them to come to us.
Rita Hibbard is executive director and editor of InvestigateWest, a non-profit investigative news organization covering the environment, health and social justice. Hibbard was participant in the inaugural Knight Digital Media Center’s News Entrepreneur Boot Camp at USC/Annenberg, funded by the Knight Foundation, in 2009 and returned to camp as a faculty member in 2010.
August 19, 2010
Stories are the most common way to package news. But despite how well the narrative story format works with the human brain, it’s generally not the best way to ensure that information and context get discovered online. To a large extent, news stories trap the value of information like a fly in amber.
News organizations can adapt their tools and even their editorial style to better connect the information in their stories to the rest of the internet, in ways that can build their business. Here are some ways to work toward that goal…
By Amy Gahran
In Structured Journalism, journalist Reg Chua offers some examples: “A story written six months ago will probably have a reference in it to an event that happened ‘at the last council meeting.’ That reference makes sense when read at the time, but is nearly meaningless when read six months later.”
And: “Newspapers write about people all the time, but they don’t take the time to capture, in a structured database, information about them and their relationships. That could fuel different news products which show how people are connected—information that’s interesting, important and valuable. There are technology companies trying to do this, but by and large they’re focusing on unraveling stories after they’re written. But there are lots of disadvantages to this approach.”
Among these disadvantages is that search engines serve up results based only on the text that gets included in the published version of your content. Google can’t actually read your mind (yet) and know that the city council member you mentioned in a story on a local zoning controversy also is a partner in a leading local real estate firm—unless you specifically mention this bit of context.
But imagine the value of offering a service that makes it easy to discover such relationships without having to read lots of news stories (or worse, read between the lines of published stories). Or imagine the value of a service that makes it easier to peer into the future, to see where the issues and events in yesterday’s and today’s news might converge—and what that could mean to communities, individuals, and organizations.
For decades news organizations have earned substantial money by publishing various kinds of directories (including big annual “best of” features), which are one kind of product based on structured information. Adding more structure to all of your news stories gives you more options to offer new services and products—and to position them profitably. This strategy also can make all the information you publish easier to find and interpret in context, which will increase the value that search engines offer your business today.
Don’t panic! You can expand your options by adopting a more structured approach to news without investing lots of time and money in creating elaborate databases or meticulously cataloging every story you publish.
Copy editing is your first line of support for structured data. Provide clear context for the people, entities, and events in your stories. The best place to do this is on their first mention in any story—and be consistent about how you format such mentions across stories.
For instance, instead of saying “In the last zoning committee meeting,” say “In the June 18 zoning committee meeting…” Similarly, instead of saying “Fairview teachers decided,” say “Teachers from Fairview High School decided…”
This boils down to just being obvious. All these little pieces of context add up. If you don’t make too many assumptions about what your readers already know, you’ll also make it easier for search engines and other technological tools to add value to your work. Best of all, this editorial approach probably won’t cost you anything.
Putting more links in your stories is another way to add structure and context within the story format. Despite this value, it’s stunning that still—a decade into the 21st century—many news organizations continue to use content management systems that make it hard for reporters or editors to embed links in the body of a story. Also, many news organizations recalcitrantly cling to style prohibitions against links in stories, based on myths that links create clutter, cause confusion, imply endorsements, promote competitors, and encourage readers to leave.
Links can be an easy way to provide substantial context that search engines and other tools can easily interpret and catalog, without unduly interrupting the narrative flow of your story. They also make your stories more transparent and useful to readers. Empowering and training reporters, editors, and copyeditors to add appropriate links will build your business.
Use good tools. Another important part of a robust structured news strategy also is free. Open Calais is a powerful tool from Thompson Reuters that does the heavy lifting for detailed cataloging and cross-referencing of content for you. It also adds value by returning that metadata to you in standard semantic web formats that “play nice” with the coming generation of news and information platforms.
Earlier this summer I attended a Hacks and Hackers event in San Francisco where Tom Tague (vice president for platform strategy, Thompson Reuters) explained how metadata improves the shelf life of news. It also allows news publishers to deliver a more personalized news experience, which improves time on site. These benefits support the existing business models of most news sites—even before considering cool new spinoff products and services based on semantic data. (Over at Poynter, Matt Baume wrote a thorough report of all the semantic web technologies discussed at this event.)
The bigger picture here is linked data—an emerging strategy to make it possible to link to information regardless of where or how it was originally published, the way you link to web pages. That is, as Webodpedia explains, “hyperdata links” will let people or machines find related data on the web that was not previously linked.
Relevance and convenience have always been core components of value in the news business. Taking even small steps in this direction can go a long way toward building (or rebuilding) your business.
By Amy Gahran, 08/19/10 at 2:32 pm
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