March 16, 2011
SXSW takeaway: Rising user expectations will pose a tough challenge for news organizations
Session after session added to a dizzying canvas of ideas and innovations - platforms, devices and practices that are revolutionizing the way people interact with information. It underscored for me that long-running battles such as journalists vs. bloggers are an unneeded distraction.
An early highlight of the five-day marathon that is South by Southwest Interactive was a much anticipated talk by Jay Rosen entitled Bloggers vs. Journalists: It’s a Psychological Thing.
Rosen did not disappoint. Arguing that bloggers and journalists are one another’s “ideal other” in a long-running war over legitimacy and value, he criticized both sides. (Full text.)
As someone who has spent a lot of time studying the culture of traditional media organizations and has had some success helping some change their ways, I couldn’t agree more with Rosen’s analysis. There is something particularly disturbing about the vehemence of some of the rhetoric and willingness of those on each side to distort what the other does.
Rosen ended his talk with a few thoughts on ways to move on and I think it’s high time to do so, especially after a few more days at SXSW. Because the sessions that followed cemented in my thinking that bloggers vs. journalists is fighting the last war. Or maybe two or three wars back.
For starters, I do not believe anti-blogger journalists any longer dominate most traditional newsrooms. Sure, they are still there and some of them write columns about the issue that invariably are amplified by the derision they get on Twitter. Bill Keller’s odd and feeble attempt to take down the Huffington Post is just one in a long line of big-city-traditional-media snit fits.
But in newsrooms in places like Wichita or Dothan (Alabama) or Torrington (Conn.) or Sacramento or Seattle - and I’ll venture most of the local newsrooms around the country - demeaning bloggers is about as relevant and useful as the typewriter. Instead, as I talk to journalists and work with leaders of news organizations, there’s more recognition that resistance is not only futile - it’s just not much fun.
Sherry Chisenhall, the editor of The Wichita Eagle, is one newsroom leader who is embracing the future. She posted this comment on my blog last month after I made a blanket reference to journalists fretting about volunteer content contributors:
Journalists cover a wide spectrum of where they are in their digital adaption. Sure, some are still in the grieving phase that you cite. But newsrooms of all shapes and sizes also have talented digital vanguards and others in the next wave behind them who are learning and changing.
It doesn’t ring true to me when I see writers lump journalists into a single entity to scold. There’s too much diversity of newsperson evolution—in reality, people are all over the map today.
Back in the day, when newspaper newsrooms were fat and happy and didn’t even know it, resistance probably was the biggest issue. But let’s put that one to rest, and Jay Rosen’s impressive SXSW presentation seems like a perfect coda.
A much more pressing problem for journalists and news organizations was abundantly evident at SXSW. It’s not bloggers vs. journos any more. It’s the technology, and the way technology is raising expectations for customized, on-demand services.
A few examples:
- Free Your Content! Who Really Owns UGC? underscored that contributors may want a cut of the money when sites succeed financially.
- Rebooting the Media Industry focused on technological advances that will allow content to be delivered to any platform on demand, a threat, I think, the the cable subscription model and news organizations attempts to wall content in.
- Kiosks, Mobile and the Evolving Retail Experience hammered home the power of mobile and the dwindling need of many retailers to advertise when they can reach their loyal consumers directly.
- Bootstrap Underdog? Mainstream Overlord? Or Both? also demonstrated the growing ability of service providers - in this case entertainment and retailing - to customize experience.
- Changing Newsrooms and News Consumers, thankfully showed how start ups and traditional news organizations are adapting and mastering technology and techniques that reflect how people actually consume media.
If we can get more of that kind of progress, I don’t care whether it comes from journalists or bloggers (or the many people like me who are both).
The News Leadership 3.0 blog is made possible by a grant to USC Annenberg from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Comments (1) • Permalink • Tell-a-Friend
Tags: knight foundation
Comments
We should not belittle the value of the BLOS. Even journalists should use this important vehicle
By scipag, 03/20/11 at 8:26 am
Page 1 of 1 pages
Commenting is not available in this section entry.
Exploring innovation, transformation and leadership in a new ecosystem of news, by journalist and change advocate 
RSS Feed