Best Practices: Editorial and Commentary Online Blog
March 03, 2008
The Future of Newspapers, Scenario Planning
-Understanding the options to be considered when implementing change
Lawrence Wilkinson, Chairman of Heminge & Condell
Scenario Planning: a way of thinking about the future
Look back into the past…
Map of North America where California looks like an island.
- Spanish missionaries used this map as a tool
Journalists make connections that aren’t actually founded in evidence and experience all the time. “We wouldn’t be sitting where we are,” said Wilkinson, “if these connections - little leaps - weren’t right.”
Once you have a map and it’s coherent, even if it’s wrong and leads you in the wrong direction, the human capacity - the institutional capacity—that we’ve got “to deny error” is extraordinary.
If journalists have a map and it’s wrong, we are liable to make some mistakes that would be much better not to make.
Business plans start going wrong the second they are executed. The second we pull the trigger what happens is the “real unfolding of real forces in real time.” Instead of fulfilling our intended strategy, organizations find themselves following the emergent strategy.
Scenario planning: is a way of trying to narrow the gap between intended strategy and emergent strategy
Three elements of strategy:
1. Who we are: competences - strengthens and weaknesses
2. Who we want to be: strategic intent
3. Where we have to work scenarios: the business environment
**Scenario Planning is entirely about the environment.
Scenario Planning is all about the business environment. It starts with a contemplation of all the hard environmental factors that can have an important impact on the questions your organization is facing.
Environmental forces (little or no influence): social, technological, economic, environmental, political
Key feature (some influences): market size, growth, volatility, customers, competition, suppliers, owners, communities and partners
Forecasting aims to allow for the unexpected
Scenario thinking: anticipates multiple futures
Forecast Planning: planning for one future versus scenario planning: planning for any future
Scenarios are:
-Stories built around a methodically constructed plot
-A tool for identifying strategic options
A good set of scenarios are:
-Plausible stories
-Relevant to the question at hand
-Divergent from one another
-Challenging to our assumptions about how the future will play out
Questions:
-Investments in capacity
-Investments in innovation, technology
-Alliances, acquisitions, mergers
-Diversification into other activities
-Marketing focus
All Media are Local: We might see…
-Local - and hyper-local—alternatives rule
-Consumers use tools to create customized services
-Erosion of traditional network TV audiences; local TV, not so much…
A3: We might see:
-Standardization of technology platforms: ease of use and widespread adoption
-Media brands are difficult to maintain—a multitude of unfiltered choices face every consumer
-Consumers self-segregate according to affinity
-Geographic sensibilities more important than actual geographic location (e.g. The New Yorker way of life, Asian Values)
Walled Garden: We might see…
-Media industry consolidation
-Widespread technology and media fatigue
-Preference for narrow brands of information and entertainment
-“Walled-Garden”: big brands dominate the media with tight IP and right management
-Local needs “satisfied”
Déjà vu Again: We might see…
-Technological innovation slowed by operating issues and access to capital
-Local defining, but extreme consolidation - fewer local media owners - more conglomerates
-Local news more tabloid style (in multimedia)
-Trust in sources important - but hard to achieve
Implications:
No-Brainers
No-Regrets
No-Gainers
By Danielle Coviello, 03/03/08 at 5:58 pm
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March 03, 2008
The Role of Journalism
Larry Dailey, Professor, Reynolds Chair in Media Technology, Donald A. Reynolds
-What is the role of journalism?
To inform
To educate
To engage
To entertain
To frustrate
To sadden
To scare
Journalism is a little bit of everything. At its core it is about communicating, connecting and informing. It is about sharing, inviting and provoking. News organizations need to learn how to communicate with the community better. Just as journalists communicate with their sources, journalists need to learn to have a dialog with those reading their articles and visiting their Web sites. Ask readers what they think? Really listen to their opinion and engage in a conversation with them. If people take the time to read and comment on an article, the least a reporter can do is listen to what they have to say and respond. Interact with the audience. Engage with those reading your paper.
“Work and play are words used to describe the same thing under differing conditions.” Mark Twain
“We reject the somewhat Calvinistic notion that serious and virtuous activities cannot be ‘fun.’” Clark Abt
Journalists will need to change their culture, said Dailey. “They are going to have to make some tough decisions.”
Change is never easy and venturing into the unknown is quite intimidating; however, the life of journalism depends upon change and the ability to reach out and represent new audiences. I think newspapers and television stations find comfort zones that they fear leaving, but I wonder what they have to lose. More people are tuning out instead of in. Find a way to bring people back in and don’t let technology stand in your way. Of course, this is easier said than done. But we need to be at least thinking about change.
Reality check:
-Journalists are routine driven
-Most newsrooms have little tradition of change management (for a long time we didn’t have to care about what was happening with the audiences, said Dailey, but now we need to.)
Don Wittekind, Assistant Professor, Visual Communications, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Interactive Media
Just what is interactivity?
-Newspapers often use this just as a general term to describe web sites.
-To most newspapers, interactivity is about: reading menus, making selections and pushing buttons with a mouse.
Wittekind prefers the following definitions of interactivity:
1. (Better definition) Programs or applications that respond directly to the user
2. (Best definition) Implication that a user of software can exert some control over software and not just be a passive page-turner recipient.
Interact=being a part of the activity, being able to get involved directly. Just because someone reads something online, this doesn’t mean they are interacting with your organization.
News organizations should be working to create interaction.
Interactivity takes many forms: calculators, database applications, experience simulators
Interactivity is what makes the web unique. It separates the web from other forms of media. It is what makes the web unique. We can use interactivity to allow the reader to explore a complex subject and see possible outcomes.
“It’s okay to have a little fun,” said Wittekind. I completely agree.
Perhaps the news needs to lighten up a bit and stop taking itself so seriously. Covering the world is serious business. Journalists have a tough job, as they often find themselves covering stories about death, disease, poverty, racism, depression and political corruption. While sometimes the nature of journalism tends to be grim, it is up to news organizations to find a fresh way to make these stories attractive. By attractive, I am not saying we need to gloss up the situation in Iraq with a bunch of special effects or a snazzy background, but why not find a way to make the community care about these stories through blogs, links, interactive maps, photo stories, videos, etc. News organizations need to find a way to use the Internet as a tool to promote discussion.
As Wittekind just said, “visuals bring people in.” Therefore, why not incorporate more visuals with stories that tend to have less traffic.
By Danielle Coviello, 03/03/08 at 3:06 pm
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March 03, 2008
Todd Ziegler, Senior Vice President of The Bivings Group discusses how to adapt the social web to newspapers and magazines.
Are magazines and newspapers actually integrating these new interactive concepts? After analyzing top magazines and newspapers around the country, Todd Ziegler compiled data last year to answer this question.
His findings:
*48% of Magazines and 78% of newspapers have incorporated RSS Feeds into their content.
*No magazines or newspapers had advertisements in their RSS Feeds.
*10% of magazines and 42% of newspapers provided a “Most Popular,” “Most E-mailed” view of content. Takes your content and lets them look at it in a different way.
*34% of magazines and 78% of newspapers included video.
*14% of magazines produced podcasts compared to 36% of newspapers.
*6% of magazines and 5% of newspapers used tags to organize traditional content. Tags can be used to group related content, easier navigation, facilitate site searching.
*53% of newspapers and 12% of magazines offered mobile-friendly versions of their content. This is most often seen in Iphone technology.
*40% of magazines had blogs compared to 92% of newspapers.
*34% of magazines that had blogs allowed comments compared to 78% of newspapers.
*16% of magazines linked to blogs compared to 32% of newspapers. Without linking blogs, you lose a lot of the power of the blog because it loses its personality and casual tone.
*16% of newspapers and 8% of magazines allowed comments on articles. Comments,especially on editorial pieces, should be used strategically and can build community and generate feedback if used correctly.
Should their be accountability on the part of the user comment page? I think so, because if you allow people to publish whatever they want, it could detract from the story and even discourage other people from coming in to the online discussion.
*38% of magazines required registration to view free content compared to 24% of newsapers. Online registration is frustrating, because if the stories are linked to blogs, then the people reading the blog who want to link to the newspaper site might not be able to.
So what does this all mean? Well, almost all the numbers have increased, which means the use of blogs, comments and other interactive tools has increased as well.
Ziegler’s recommendations made me think of all the various ways I can incorporate interactive elements to my future story pitching sessions. I will be looking for a job (gulp) in the coming months, and being able to walk into an editorial meeting and include interactive elements to my story ideas will be essential for my success. At least I hope.
A lot of these tools seem like they are most utilized right now by the entertainment media. Think of TMZ and Access Hollywood. I hate to say it, because I am not really a fan of them, but the idea of using interactive tools, video and inviting the public to participate has really had a big impact on these shows. Whether or not they are “news” is up to debate, but their ratings are high and they seem to be growing every day, and I think a lot of that is because they encourage user-made content and video and are big on the blog scene.
Here are some good sites to check out for their use of interactive content in action: http://www.newsvine.com, http://www.daylife.com, Malcolm Gladwell’s blog: http://gladwell.typepad.com/gladwellcom/
By Susan Grant, 03/03/08 at 3:05 pm
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March 03, 2008
Don Wittekind, Assistant Professor, Visual Communications, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill discusses interactive media tools.
What is immersive multi-media? It is the ability, through graphics and multi-media, to completely immerse the reader in the subject and/or story you are presenting. It can be done through games, simulations, calculators and other online presentations. This allows a reader to explore a subject.
Investigative reporters deal with complicated, multi-dimensional stories all the time. Pre-online, the only way to really add different elements to a story other than pictures was through the use of sidebars. Now, interactive calculators, graphs and simulations can help the journalist get their story across to the reader. Not only do these attract readers, they have a long shelf-life and can be archived for future use.
One of the most interesting sites to see some of these interactive websites in use is the Discovery Network’s interactive area: http://dsc.discovery.com/games/games-tab-04.html
But what about the time factor? Is there really enough time to put together all of these informational graphics? Wittekind argues yes. Not only can the work be outsourced to journalism students (ahem!), but they can also be made more of a priority in the news room. There is a lot of bang for your buck to be had by taking the time to put these interactive projects together.
By Susan Grant, 03/03/08 at 2:23 pm
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