News Leadership 3.0

July 14, 2009

Small, independent ethnic media organizations face formidable challenges

In a guest post, Craig Matsuda says ethnic organizations often labor with poor digital platforms and little communication with peer organizations

Craig Matsuda, a longtime editor at The Los Angeles Times and now a consultant, coordinated Knight Digital Media Center’s recent conference, “Transforming Ethnic News Organizations for the Digital Now,” in partnership with New America Media and the McCormick Foundation, in Atlanta last month. In the process, Craig worked closely with editors from about a dozen ethnic media outlets as they worked to improve their online offerings. I have asked Craig to share what he learned in a series of guest posts. This is the last of three parts.
Part 1: Among ethnic groups, the digital divide narrows
Part 2: Ethnic news editors embrace online media

Antoine Faisal, the self-deprecating and often hugely funny publisher of Aramica, an Arabic language newspaper, is asking a serious question these days: With the entrepreneurial skill and resources it takes to run an ethnic media organization, why bother? Why not take those assets and put them into some other venture with less risk, greater profit opportunity and lower levels of industry volatility?

Indeed. If the digital transformation has proven daunting for mainstream media, it’s an even more formidable challenge for smaller, disparate, independent and often isolated ethnic organizations.

As I prepared for a recent KDMC program for ethnic media leaders, I heard a lot about their challenges online. These are not insurmountable. And one of the biggest got tackled head on in Atlanta: Call it the knowledge gap.

Because many ethnic media organizations are family run or even mom-and-pop enterprises, they’re lean, harried and frugal - even more so than their mainstream counterparts. They don’t have corporate headquarters or sister papers to share ideas with. With exceptions, they aren’t tied well to industry groups or educational institutions. So how do they learn about the latest stuff and best practices online? Where to send staff members to educate themselves on the how-tos of the web?

This matters, a lot. Many of the organizations, for example, labor with legacy technology that works poorly and can’t be upgraded easily. These old systems can’t take on new kinds of content or applications so they cough up web sites that aren’t visually appealing, user friendly or loaded with interesting material.

While many of the organizations now post photos, fewer display more complex slide shows, especially with sound. Without Flash or Java, advertising and editorial materials are static. Video and podcasts require hardware and software that can seem difficult to them. Even blogs, while more common, often don’t square up well with the systems in place. And have we talked about what it would take for mobile?

In Atlanta, KDMC-invited experts urged ethnic leaders not to be cowed by technology. Susan Mernit and Arturo Duran told them to concentrate on content and to educate themselves, swiftly, about newer, better, cheaper and easier technologies. Social media, like Facebook and YouTube, can help them build online from the “edges” inward; blogs can add more and different voices easily, inexpensively and with little technology. Dana Chinn advised them how to plan and track better their online efforts.

Will this new information, ideas and options make even a small difference?

Sure hope so. Though groups like New America Media have polls showing ethnic organizations are increasing audience and penetration, the economy has slammed them hard, the leaders in Atlanta said. This makes their online growth both more difficult for resource reasons—and more vital for their survival.

Much is at stake. Ethnic media serve and define unique, vital communities. They offer vital information to their own and to a larger society. Mainstream media gave short shrift to these communities in the best of times and have withdrawn further now.

Meantime, costs are only rising. And, as I pointed out in another post, the audiences that ethnic media have relied on are changing, rapidly. They’re getting younger, assimilating quickly in language and culture into the mainstream and adapting to technology faster than are the media organizations that hope to reach them.

So will the obstacles be too great for ethnic media leaders? Will we be left only with fond memories of defunct ethnic papers read by grandma and grandpa?

After Antoine Faisal asked his piercing question of survival to his peers in Atlanta, not one talked of quitting. Instead, the idea of losing their roles or failing their communities seemed to push the leaders to redouble their efforts. Each began to figure just how to make this new stuff work.

“What keeps us going?” Cora Oriel, publisher of the Asian Journal, asked in a recent interview. She said she hears tons from her audience that they’re proud, pleased and engaged with the Journal’s news and advertising targeted for them. “We hear that all the time - people want and need us because we’re a part of the Filipino community and there’s nothing like us.”

That loyalty transfers, too, to advertisers, some of whom, Oriel said, “we’re helping to keep afloat in these tough economic times. They say that sticking with us has made a difference because our audience is supporting them as they do us. You just do whatever you have to when you hear how you’re helping people and making a difference.”

That’s also true for Paulette Brown, publisher of the Black Voice News. She said in an e-mail interview that she struggles to maintain her family’s legacy in running a quality organization “dedicated to engaging our diverse communities.”

To her, that means providing timely, accurate news and information; sometimes acting as a community advocate; and always ``educating our community.” She said she has given great thought, and though her parents may disagree, it’s not printing a paper but employing the most effective means available to fulfill a “core mission” of public service.

As for Faisal, he admits he experiences “great frustrations ... If I spent 40% of the energy that I do on my operations on another business, I’d be a millionaire,” he said recently. “But I still have a passion for what I do and what Aramica accomplishes.”

Like Brown and Oriel, he hears from his community, especially on how these aren’t easy times for Arab-speaking Americans. Who would tell their stories - for them to share as a community and for the larger society to understand them? Who would be a watchdog when they’re discriminated against or worse? With much of the Arab-speaking world living in more repressive conditions than his U.S. audience, doesn’t Aramica also offer something key internationally, he asks?

Sure, Faisal said, he misses his posher days working for an advertising agency with elite clients. But he has, in fact, recommitted himself to Aramica in the midst of this deep recession. He’s on the brink of expanding its print footprint. And he’s pressing for its web site to leap ahead, not soon but “yesterday!”

That kind of enthusiasm can be infections. And we’ll be telling you more about what progress we see from it.

By Michele McLellan, 07/14/09 at 2:10 am
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July 09, 2009

Ethnic news editors embrace online media

In a guest post, Craig Matsuda says ethnic news organization leaders avoid the EitherOr mentality that holds back many mainstream newsrooms

Craig Matsuda, a longtime editor at The Los Angeles Times and now a consultant, coordinated Knight Digital Media Center’s recent conference, “Transforming Ethnic News Organizations for the Digital Now,” in partnership with New America Media and the McCormick Foundation, in Atlanta last month. In the process, Craig learned a lot about media usage by different ethnic and age groups (see earlier post). Craig also worked closely with editors from about a dozen ethnic media outlets as they worked to improve their online offerings. I have asked Craig to share what he learned in a series of guest posts. This is the second of three parts.

By Craig Matsuda

When leaders of almost a dozen ethnic media organizations met recently in Atlanta to figure ways to improve their digital future, there was a notable absence in the room: Eeyore didn’t appear.

The no-show wasn’t the pessimistic, gloomy and resistant AA Milne donkey. It was his newsroom equivalent: “EitherOr.”

Supervisors know EitherOr. Arms crossed, quiet or even sullen, lips pursed, he insists in the face of change that life’s about making singular, exclusionary selections and not seeing options and opportunities. We do this one thing and nothing else - there’s nothing more, says he.

But the ethnic media leaders banished EitherOr and his myths in ways that others may find instructive:

Myth No. 1. EITHER We Serve Our Craft OR We Serve Our Community

Do audiences care as much as traditional newsrooms do about the craft that goes into journalism? Does it matter more or even as much as the content itself?

Publisher Tom Arviso and writer-editor Jason Begay came to Atlanta to learn more about the online world, in general, but especially about web-based multimedia options like audio and video.

That’s because their Navajo Times recently posted a video of an elderly woman, telling a traditional story in Navajo, that surprised the staff with its powerful response from their audience, scattered across the nation and the world but accessing their web site, Arviso said. Speaking at first in the language of his ancestors, Arviso told the KDMC group - whom he called his brothers and sisters - that his people love the Navajo language and believe its preservation is a key to maintaining their culture in the 21st Century.

He knows his staff does excellent, hard journalistic work now - lots of it. But they all were floored by the outpouring from their audience, including far-flung troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, not at their written or posted words but by the chance to see and hear Navajo seniors speak their words.

Times staffers will need to learn new skills and they’ll add to their duties but they’re eager to do so if they soon can not only craft others’ stories but also serve their community by using online technologies to help Navajo thrive as a living tongue, Arviso and Begay said.

Myth No. 2. EITHER We’re Print OR Online

Can’t we be both - and more? Judith Martinez and Farid Sadri started their journalistic enterprise as a Web site, then added a weekly paper because of audience and advertiser demand.

But with costs rising and revenue softening in print, Martinez had an “Aha!” moment in the KDMC program: We’re not just a paper. We’re a multimedia organization dedicated to serving the Latino community in Atlanta and Georgia, she declared. She said she had too easily forgotten that, with a Web site, a broadcast partnership that includes an increasingly popular television show and Atlanta Latino in print, her organization had positioned itself for new success. They just need to think, constantly, not about each part but the whole. That way they can serve their audience and market better—in many and different ways.

Myth No. 3. EITHER We Make Money OR We Serve Our Community

You really can do both, can’t you? Publisher Tom Gitaa and Editor Julia Opoti of the Minnesota news organization Mshale have watched their print and online audience of African immigrants shift with an influx of Somalis.

They see the social and economic challenges the newcomers encounter, and for journalistic reasons, they’d love to reach deeper into this developing community to help it with key information and by telling its compelling stories. But how to do this when money is tight and traditional technologies aren’t working?

So that’s why Gitaa focused his attention in Atlanta on new ways to reach audiences with web-based content delivered on mobile devices, especially cell phones. Immigrants buy such devices early, even as dial-up or high-speed net connections are too costly for them. And, by the way, advertisers are intrigued about reaching consumers and cutting their costs, say, by providing shoppers with coupons via cell phones. Gitaa and Opoti heard enough to persuade them that for The Arrow (what Mshale means in Swahili), mobile could be a revenue and a journalistic bull’s eye.

Myth No. 4. EITHER We Get More Help OR We Just Can’t Do Anything Else

Really? Are we talking about resources or something else, such as management and choices? Nguoi Viet‘s web site has been around for awhile now and for those who read and speak Vietnamese, it’s an online resource. But publisher Dat Phan and his net chief Quang Phan said they recognize that if their organization wants to keep its audience and market spot, it needs to jump start its use of social media to appeal to younger Vietnamese, especially English speakers.

But how, especially since a tight economy won’t permit any hiring binge? “Bandwidth,” was Quang Phan’s answer. He said he had considered the interests and workload of a young, tech-savvy colleague and he plans to rearrange his duties so he’ll be freer to build Nguoi Viet’s presence with new audiences, especially by tapping into those through Twitter and Facebook.

Part 1: Among ethnic groups, the digital divide narrows
Part 3: Small, independent ethnic media organizations face formidable challenges

By Michele McLellan, 07/09/09 at 3:41 am
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July 07, 2009

Among ethnic groups, the digital divide narrows

In a guest post, Craig Matsuda says that among Asian Americans and English-speaking Latinos, Internet access is as high as that of whites in the United States. It’s important to think about different usage among ethnic and age groups.

Craig Matsuda, a longtime editor at The Los Angeles Times and now a consultant, coordinated Knight Digital Media Center’s recent conference, “Transforming Ethnic News Organizations for the Digital Now,” in partnership with New America Media and the McCormick Foundation, in Atlanta last month. In the process, Craig learned a lot about media usage by different ethnic and age groups. I have asked Craig to share what he learned in a series of guest posts that starts today.

By Craig Matsuda

Don’t underestimate the online presence of communities of color.

While concerns about the digital divide are justified, the gap is narrowing, especially among Asian Americans and English-speaking Latinos, whose Internet access at least matches that of whites in the United States.

Age, economics and geography, of course, still play huge roles in determining - and often limiting—the online participation of ethnic groups and communities of color. That means there’s a lag in net access for African Americans and Latinos whose chief language is Spanish. It’s also true for poor, rural or older people in ethnic or minority communities.

But changes in technology, particularly advances in mobile devices and Wi-Fi connectivity, are combining with other factors to give new energy and a boost to communities of color online.

I researched this issue for a presentation to ethnic media leaders last month at “Transforming Ethnic News Organizations for the Digital Now.”

My sources include Arbitron, the Florida State University Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication, the National Ad Council, the Pew Internet and American Life Project and Scarborough. (For links to research articles, see below.)

For starters, it’s key to know that, in general:

- African Americans are a big population with a growing gray segment and with age- and economic-differences in technology use

- Latinos are one of the fastest growing groups, one which skews young and in which economics, language (mostly English- or Spanish-speaking) and assimilation are key tech considerations.
- Asian Americans are a fast growing group, which also skews young and which works particularly well with technology

More than 70 percent of English speaking Latinos, Asians and African Americans told FSU researchers in 2008 that they have higher-cost high-speed access; just under 50 percent of Spanish-speaking Latinos said they do. Those rates match those of majority populations surveyed.

Meantime, Latinos, as group, have turned to cell phones and rely on them very heavily to: surf the web for information, text message, download and find and listen to music and watch videos, studies show.

Asian Americans, who also are heavy cell phone users, are on-the-go online folks, too, in a different way: They rely more than other ethnic groups on laptops and Wi-Fi for cyber connection.

While two-thirds of African Americans asked said they own a cell phone, they don’t use them as much as Latinos or Asians do for web connection, text messaging and downloading.

Latinos, both those who speak mostly English and those whose principle language is Spanish, have become enthusiastic web site owners and bloggers, as have Asian Americans. More than 35% of Spanish-speaking Latinos said in one study that they own a web site; one in five Asians and Latinos said they blog. Those of the immigrant generation, researchers say, likely are using these tools to share lives online with distant families.

Asian Americans, Latinos and African Americans also are big buyers and users of digital cameras and video cameras, especially when those tools come aboard cell phones.

All three groups, at rates higher even than majority populations, participate regularly on social media.

As mentioned, there are not only differences in technology use among members of the various group by language facility, economics and degree of assimilation, age also is a discernible factor: more than half of the Latinos on the net are younger than 35 (versus 35% of the general population; in African Americans, lower net access and application occurs among the older and poorer.

Still, to get a clue about the potential of these groups, which are often ignored if not shunned by traditional media, consider this: In an elite marketing segment of those with high affluence and highest tech savvy—a niche of young, urban, educated young men—there’s a disproportionate representation of Asians and English-speaking Latinos.

Part 2: Ethnic news leaders embrace online media.
Part 3: Ethnic media organizations face formidable challenges

To read more and to see where elements of this post came from, here are research links:

- “Online Technology Ownership 2008,” Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication at Florida State University

- “The Brave New World of an Emerging Diverse Online Majority,” Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication at Florida State University

- “The Multicultural World of Social Media Marketing,” HispanicOnlineMarketing.com

- “Internet Usage Among Minorities and Low-income Communities,” (See Lee Rainey, Gretchen Livingston presentations for National Ad Council)

- “Home Broadband Adoption 2008,” Pew Internet

- “Mobile Access to Data and Information,” March 2008, Pew Internet

- “Adults and social network websites,” Pew Internet

- “Hispanic Fact Pack: 2008 Annual Guide to Hispanic Marketing and Media,” Ad Age

- “Hispanic Radio Today (2008),” “Black Radio Today (2008),”Urban Radio (2007),” “Black Consumer Study (2006),” Abritron

- “The Power of the Hispanic Consumer Online (2008),” Scarborough

- “Understanding the Digital Savvy Consumer (2008),” Scarborough

By Michele McLellan, 07/07/09 at 3:08 am
Posted in Ethnic Media | Local news | Mobile delivery | Staffing Comments (0) • Permalink • Tell-a-Friend

July 05, 2009

For journalism: More learning, less protectionism

Links: Three recommended posts to help journalists get up to speed on where the Web is going and why they’re really at risk of being left behind

It’s been one of those weeks when the gap between Old Journalism and New Internet seemed to widen by the hour.
I empathize with people in traditional newsrooms who are watching their work spin freely out over the Internet while their cash-strapped owners resort to layoffs and furloughs. I am frustrated that the self-reinforcing culture of many newsrooms prevents smart, dedicated journalists from quickly understanding and embracing a new world of news and information.
I respect new media journalists and entrepreneurs who are justifiably impatient and frustrated when they hear journalists proposing protectionist ideas that just won’t work in today’s Web economy. These folks have moved on, and that has opened the way for them to innovate.
I worry that traditional journalists spend so much time mourning their losses that they will never catch up to a dynamic Web that is changing every day.
In the interest of speeding along the education, I want to suggest three short posts that are well worth reading.
“Fatal Assumptions” from Steve Yelvington knocks down a recent American Press Institute report that suggested traditional publishers have a lot more control over the marketplace that seems realistic. In “Before journalists go to far in lobbying Congress, they might want to do some research,” John Temple dissects the idea that limiting copyright laws might help save newspapers.
Yelvington and Temple, both of whom have spent their careers in the newspaper industry, explain why there’s no going back.
As Temple wrote: “... newspapers have to find ways to grow new sources of revenue, not further isolate themselves with rearguard actions designed to protect their ‘franchise.’ “
The third post also comes from a newspaper editor, Jeff Sonderman, and it looks ahead to a very different future that is almost upon us. In “Five trends that will reinvent our news system in five years,” Sonderman describes where people are going to be on the Internet, and it’s probably not to your news site. Read him and think about how your journalism is going to meet these people when they get here.