How to talk to your programmer

As I am learning at News Tools 2008, the tech-journo divide is both wide and deep, despite journalists’ great intentions and enthusiasm for all things digital. Different cultures and miscommunication are key factors. So I’m happy to pass along a great set of tips from Lisa Williams, “Thirteen Ways of Talking to a Programmer.”
What are you doing to move your newsroom culture across the digital divide?

In Miami, a Reader Exchange Editor

The job title caught my eye right away. Reader Exchange Editor, Miami Herald. Exchange Editor. Exchange. It’s the first time I’ve heard a reader-related job title at a major news organization that captures the idea that digital interaction is a two-way, even multiple-way street. (Please let me know if there are others.)
The new Reader Exchange Editor, Shelley Acoca, got my attention quickly too. The challenge of user content and comments often induces eye-rolls, forlorn sighs or frustrated shrugs from those who have to manage it. Two minutes into a phone conversation with Acoca, I thought: She’s up to her eyeballs in this stuff and she’s loving it!
This is the second of two posts on the Miami Herald. As I explained here, Miami participated in Knight Digital Media Center’s Leadership Conference in 2007 and has implemented a number of organizational changes since then.
Like many news organizations, the Herald is learning an important new dance with readers. Rick Hirsch, Managing Editor/Multimedia, said creating the position was a recognition of the importance of user interaction to the future of the news organization.
“We feel pretty strongly here that the whole area of user content and comments and sharing of our our content, the desire people have to interact with our news is a really important part of our future. It’s an undeniable way things work now. We were moving into that space enthusiastically but randomly.” Hirsch said. So the Herald decided “We ought to have a really smart journalist engage with this content, interacting with people, studying how this develops, and really developing a strategy for us for this whole aspect of news and information in the digital space.”
Enter Acoca, who had shown her enthusiasm for developing user content in print and online with efforts including an art contest and a Hispanic cartoon contest as features editor.
Since taking over as Exchange Editor late last year, Acoca has focused on:
- Bloggers. Hirsch said the idea was to elevate the quality of the Herald’s blogs, challenging bloggers the same way editors challenge other journalists. Acoca edits bloggers, as well as columnist Leonard Pitts. Her responsibilities include how-to coaching (what’s a widget?), working with journalists to develop concepts for successful blogs, and coordinating live chats. With the help of Mindy McAdams, Knight Chair in Journalism at the University of Florida, Acoca developed these guidelines for bloggers.
Acoca’s advice for new bloggers?
“Shout about your blog from the rooftops. Email your sources, other bloggers, bloggers you don’t know. Getting the word out is critical in insuring long-term success.
“And, oh yeah, have fun—this is *your* space in a way a traditional newspaper can’t be—the words, the pictures, the videos, the widgets. It offers a broad range of ways to express yourself. Experiment. Learn. Enjoy.”
- User comments. Under Acoca’s guidance, MiamiHerald.com recently began requiring commenters to register, a switch that has mostly cleaned up offensive commenting and cut the total number of comments in about half. Based on the experience of other McClatchy newspapers, Acoca hopes that the number will slowly increase over time. “Mostly people have gotten it or they’ve gone elsewhere. It was very few people who were posting lots of bad comments all day long,” Acoca said. Since registration began in mid-March, Acoca said she has had to deny access to about one commenter per week for using offensive language after being warned.
Acoca is very enthusiastic about the value of commenting. Comments, she says, are a way for the public to get information that journalists might not be able to get.
- Online traffic. Acoca is trying to provide MiamiHerald.com with a more sophisticated view of its online traffic, particularly tracking readers of different content seem to go onto the site so the Web site can serve up updates at times that make the most sense for different topics and readers.

Acoca is on the frontline of the changing role of news organizations in the digital age. “Part of it is community building. We aren’t the ones who are going to do that. We’re the facilitators. We should let other people take that ball and run with it. It’s worth reading the stuff that people put up there. they have some really good ideas. Newspapers lost ground for a lot of reasons. One of the reasons might be that we were victims of our own arrogance. we served up the same menu every day. The food we liked as opposed to the food they liked. Now we’re giving readers choices.”

Acoca also has a good vantage point for seeing change in the culture of the Miami newsroom. “We’re all learning together. That’s created a more collegial situation. It’s all learning from each other. There’s not big expert who can teach you everything any more. It’s a much more egalitarian thing.”

First, the leadership emphasized that she didn’t need to have all the answers right away. Rick Hirsch told her “ ‘Don’t worry if you have days when you don’t know what to do with yourself,’ “ Acoca recalls. I did have a lot of those days. There’s no map.”

If I were starting a new and challenging job, I think that’s one of the most helpful things the boss could say.

What are your strategies for engaging with the public online? Please join the conversation.

Patrick Hogan offered this comment when I mentioned the Reader Exchange Editor in an earlier post:
“The Reader Exchange Editor position is intriguing, although it’s something smaller papers (which you’ll find frequently have the same volume of comments or more), can’t afford”

That’s a very good point. At the same time, your newsroom might consider allocating even a few hours a week of a journalist’s time to reader issues that are a priority. For example, someone might be able to spend a few hours each week analyzing online traffic. Or developing resources on blogging and training bloggers. Try to identify the activity that will help your organization the most, right now. Set realistic goals and tease out a little time each week. I think you’ll be surprised at what you can accomplish.

Editorial independence: Let’s get real

The tussling over ownership—and now direction—of The Wall Street Journal has created a lot of headlines. I do not know enough to have an opinion about Rupert Murdoch’s plans to add more non-business content to the Journal. What bothers me right now is the way the phrase “editorial independence” is being thrown around in blog posts like this one that seem to suggest that editors can ignore the business environment in which the news organization operates and the business strategies of the larger organization.
I wish that were true. But I define editorial independence more narrowly: Journalists must make decisions on what to cover and publish independent of factors such as whether it involves advertisers (think “Why is that store opening on Page One?”, friends of the publisher (think: “Does that person’s obituary really warrant a prominent teaser?"), might embarrass the news organization or its staff (think corrections or that DUI arrest) or even prevailing community opinion (think brave newspapers during the Civil Rights era).
At the same time, editors in real life make those decisions within the context of a business strategy. For example, if the business strategy of a newspaper in Community A is to be highly local, editorial independence does not allow the editor to routinely expend significant news gathering resources on reporting outside the circulation area. If the business strategy is to build audience on the Web, editorial independence does not allow the editor to drag her feet on developing and staffing a good Web site.
I confess, I am cynical about the phrase “editorial independence.” In my years as a consultant to newsrooms, I have been in more than a few where more than a few people used phrases like “editorial independence” when they were thinking “I don’t want to change.”
As Forbes reported last week, editors are spending more time than before on business strategy and have to be keenly aware of the business context in which they make editorial decisions. Last night, I asked a few editors for a reality check on this development and its effect on editorial independence, Here are a couple of quick-turnaround responses to share. (I’ll post more as I get them and please join the discussion in comments.)

Bob Zaltsberg, Editor, Herald-Times, Bloomington, Ind.

Editorial independence can and should be the same in 2008 as it was in 1998 or 1988 or 1978. But an editor must be aware of the business issues that are facing our industry and be willing to have the newsroom participate in covering legitimate topics that also have appeal to the business side. What I mean is, an editor must defend the newsroom standards and principles regarding playing favorites or pursuing (or not pursuing) stories that will benefit an individual or business, just as we always have. But an editor must also understand that good stories for a section (or Web site) targeting young readers or wine drinkers or moms or people interested in health issues are not that much different from having a whole department that covers sports and creates special section content for NCAA tournaments or high school sports previews.

It’s also important for all sorts of reasons that we participate in our company’s strategic planning process. In a strong, serious media company, the strategic goals are going to include attracting and retaining readers/audience. We have to lead that effort, whether its in print or online. We can have editorial independence AND work with our colleagues on the business side. In fact, we must.

Caesar Andrews, Executive Editor, Detroit Free Press
The day-to-day direction of newsrooms works best if decisions are made based on the top priority of serving readers. So tactical matters - which individual stories to cover, what angles and sources to pursue, where to place stories - ought to be driven by journalists making choices they can defend based on the journalism involved. Without ignoring ideas and thoughts and concerns from outside the newsroom, these choices should be independent-minded.

The larger role of divining a workable big-picture strategy for covering the community is more complex. It extends well beyond the newsroom. It has to make business sense. Others get to weigh in. Newsrooms cannot afford to wall themselves off. In fact, they should want the perspective of smart people from different non-news corners of the company. In an era of tighter resources and more competing sources of information, there’s just a greater need for more precision in targeting audiences. Strategies have to do double-duty. They have to result in credible news coverage that attracts and satisfies a changing pool of readers. And they have to at the same time attract advertisers who find unique value in our news products, so much so that they are willing to bankroll a significant part of our overall enterprise. Creating that reality demands less rigid departmental independence in shaping business strategy. But done the right way, heavy coordination should not taint the daily decision-making best left to newsrooms.

UPDATE: Here’s an additional response from Carlos Sanchez, Editor, Waco Tribune-Herald:

From my perspective, editorial independence means that I have the freedom to go where ever the news takes me in my community and beyond—if it affects my community. It means that I can take on the sacred cows if, by taking them on, our readers are illuminated in some way. It does not mean taking on the sacred cows simply for the sake of taking them on.

It is not only foolish, but irresponsible not to weigh the implications of any story that we are pursuing against the impact it will have on our community. That should extend to the impact on business that a story may have on our institution. I’m not saying we should be dissuaded against taking on stories that might impact our bottom line; I am saying that I feel a keen responsibility to understand the implications any story might have on our bottom line and inform my publisher of those implications.

The Miami Herald: Moving furniture, people and attitudes

Organizational change in newsrooms is a major topic for this blog and I will report on changes in structure, processes or job descriptions, that are fueling digital transitions. For starters, I’m checking in with 10 major metro news organizations whose top editors participated in last year’s KDMC Leadership Conference: Transforming Newsrooms for the Digital Future. When that session convened in January 2007, participating newsrooms were either in the midst of big changes or poised for them. They came to KDMC to test and refine their plans. Judging from follow up interviews so far, these newsrooms have changed a lot in the past 15 months.

Today’s case in point is The Miami Herald, where Rick Hirsch, Managing Editor/Multimedia cites three major changes that have reshaped how the newsroom does its work.

- Creating a Continuous News Desk “as focal point of newsroom decision making. It’s in the middle of the room, and from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m. each day, the hands-on leaders for Metro news gathering, Web design, print design, photo, video, copy editing do their jobs. It’s part of bringing on the ongoing decision making from the corners of our newsroom to the middle where we can work swiftly on immediate news (for the web, radio, text messages, e-mail alerts), executing on video and multimedia components, and developing enterprise content and presentation for the newspaper that provides its readers with context and depth they didn’t get the day before on the web.”

- Seeding multimedia experts around the newsroom. “Within each news department (metro, business, features, sports, world), there is a multimedia team that includes a high-ranking editor and reporters and researchers with key multimedia skills to oversee that department’s content on our Web sites. We want each department to have the same ownership of (and passion for) their Web channel as they have for the print section.”

- Creating a new Reader Exchange Editor position “to manage reader interaction on the web—everything from user generated content to commenting on stories. In addition, this editor has worked to develop goals, training and standards for our bloggers as we try to lift blogging as a journalistic form.”

Hirsch talks about the “corners” and the “middle” of the newsroom and I think that’s a very apt way of thinking about smart organizational and culture change. In the old newsroom, most of the action was in the “corners” or pockets of individuals or teams or departments that operated fairly independently as long as they fed material to production in assembly line fashion at the end of the day. This offered efficiency: Stories got covered and the newspaper came out. Over time, in most newsrooms, it also fostered internal competition, weakened accountability to the overall product, and focused people on details at the expense of the big picture. The Web is forcing people in newsrooms to collaborate early and often, to know their audiences and to think strategically. As we see in Miami, changing the physical layout of the newsroom is driving change in how the staff develops and displays content.

“It’s really starting to make a difference. It’s really starting to be the center of gravity for the newsroom,” Hirsch says of the continuous news desk. “Instead of having the center of gravity be the executive editor’s office or the city editor’s office, you want it to be in the middle of the room. It’s helped drive the change that we publish first online.”

And here’s some symbolism: The desk is not only in middle of the newsroom, it’s on a raised platform.

I am intrigued by the Reader Exchange Editor position, especially with all the debate and turmoil news organizations, including MiamiHerald.com, face in dealing with offensive reader comments. I interviewed the enthusiastic and savvy Reader Exchange Editor Shelley Acoca and later this week I’ll post more about how that’s working out in Miami.

In the Either/Or newsroom, why not Both?

One common newsroom approach that blocks change is Either/Or framing.

John Robinson pointed to (and challenged) a classic example of journalism Either/Or think: The notion that journalists sacrifice credibility to meet the expectations of their online audiences.

I’m not here to revive that shopworn premise. Thankfully, many news organizations have moved on. But I think it stands as a clear example of the way Either/Or thinking holds back journalists and news organizations.

The workforce culture gurus call this “oppositional’’ thinking. It’s the tendency to see two ideas as being in conflict or mutually exclusive rather than approaching them as being potentially compatible.

So it’s EITHER credibility OR satisfying readers but never BOTH. It’s EITHER an offensive, anonymous free-for-all in reader comments OR it’s no comments allowed at all. It’s EITHER “Do it the way we’ve always done it” OR “Get complaints from readers.” EITHER journalists OR bloggers. That the last one raged long after journalists were blogging and bloggers were creating journalism is testament to the power of oppositional thinking.

The problem is that this way of thinking swiftly closes the door on alternative possibilities just when journalists and their newsrooms need to be more open to them.

As I said in a comment to Robinson: As long as journalists think they have to sacrifice credibility to meet reader expectations, they will not embrace abundant opportunities to do both.

Even worse, in the Either/Or universe, one of the two alternatives usually feels more familiar and comfortable to the journalists (Be credible. Keep offensive comments out.). The old is always going to feel more familiar than the new, so the decision between two alternatives usually favors the tried and true.

How do you encourage your colleagues to move smartly from Either/Or to Both?

I’d start by borrowing from Bob Steele at Poynter, who advises journalists to avoid making important ethical decisions when they’ve only considered two alternatives. Editors who consistently ask for and offer multiple alternatives can change Either/Or mindsets that are limiting their newsrooms.

What Either/Or examples have you seen? What alternatives have you found? I would love to see comments that explore other newsroom examples of this mindset and tips how you’ve led your staff past it.