DigiDave | Communication is Key

Reflections of a Newsosaur - Alan Mutter on the Next Six Months

Alan Mutter's blog "Reflections of a Newsosaur" is a must read about the economics of newspapers. It is also one of the most depressing blogs out there right now. Alan doesn't hold back any punches. He only serves cold dishes of reality. At this time, however, the view is merited and contains important information to head. If there is anybody who can give you the straight talk about newspaper economics - its Alan.

NOTE: The video is a bit shaky but clears up after a minute. This is part of my continued work for Jeff Jarvis and CUNY at NewsInnovation.com (where there are other interviews to watch).

Click To Play

I tried to find some positive near the end of the interview (tunnel) but Alan didn't want to add any obvious silver lining.  From his view this really is a time to hold on tight, because we are going down a steep hill for at least 6 months. After the interview he jokingly said that as a depressing person "this is his time to shine." That may be true - but if you need a positive jolt after this video interview I still go back to my recent blog post "Why We Should Feel Bullish About the Future of Journalism."

 

Real world tips for changing newsroom culture

I don't have much extra bandwidth these days. But what I do have - I'm giving to the re-emergence of the Journalism Blog Carnival - back after a summer hiatus.

Background: A bunch of us journalism bloggers got together and decided to do monthly posts on a specific topic that the host chooses. The host rotates every month.

This month's host is Will Sullivan the great Journerd in Chief. He asks: "What are some real world tips for changing newsroom culture."

Here are 10 mantras or lessons (grounded enough to be considered "real world") that I've been using in my entrepreneurial life and I think they could translate very nicely into improving newsroom culture.

1. Trying stuff is cheaper than deciding whether or not to try it. (Compare the cost of a few weeks of hiring somebody to do Ruby coding versus having endless meetings to decide whether or not to even start).
2. If you want to try something new - identify the path of least resistance. Use it to test an idea and if it works, then use all your resources to stabilize it. ie: Spot.Us started as a free and quick wiki. Now we are a week away from stablizing that succesful wiki with hardcore technology.
3. Once you are ready to stabilize with hardcore tech do design FIRST!!!! Spending more time on design and thinking through things is better than rushing into the heavy development and having to backtrack. Trust me, it'll save you... thousands of dollars!!!
   
4. It's not a problem until it's a problem. I don't care about all the edge case scenarios you can dream up. I care about reacting to what's actually happening.
5. Iterate and stay agile.
6. Journalism is a process not a product. Community organizing is media. (the least "real world" advice I have).
7. Don't be afraid of the Internet. Sign up for every new social platform that comes your way. Experience what it is to register for them. Act like a reporter while using these sites. What do you find?
8. Kill the idea of scoops. Don't develop a project in secret or stealth. Hoarding your idea just means you won't build community. Nothing is gained from it unless you are 100% confident you have a Google-esque game changing application (guess what, you don't).
9. Don't fear having pasion and showing it. We are journalists but we are citizens too.
10. Be prepared to fail and don't take that as a mark against you. Failing is great if it's because you were trying something brand new. Fall flat on your face, get up and show people your scars (chicks dig scars).

From the TwitterVerse (my tweeple).

Samsa News (Couve): Make 'em blog
Micah Sineath:

• Make every employee work within multimedia goals; train all employees in multimedia; hire freelancers while training.
• Reorganize newsrooms around a "continuous news" model; incorporate link journalism, crowd-sourcing, commenting & tags; participate
• Just be agile.

Daniel Victor: My favorite: Encourage peer-to-peer teaching instead of top-down as much as possible.

Dave Burdick: Trickle-up Web 2.0 education: Teach everyone to use RSS readers and integrate it somehow -- maybe a What We Recommend feature.

Brianne Pruitt: (Briannepruitt): Genuine enthusiasm always helps. Also, get a few people on board, make some changes that give proof of good idea to show doubters.

Miranduh: Don't say "that's not my job" it's everyone's job to get the story, get it right & get it to the audience. Willingly play any role

10,000 words: Stop separating the print side and the web side and referring to them as such. Encourage discussion and not just for big projects.

Guy Lucas, NewsBank: Appeal to ego. When something gets traffic or creates online buzz, make sure everyone knows it.

Money Explained

This video is fantastic. I feel much smarter now. But not any better.

Thanks Fog City Journal.

Owning The News

Interesting article in Forbes today: "Owning the News."

I think there are some positive and negative aspects to this.

Positive:

• We need an entrepreneurial spirit to thrive in journalism. Hands down. May a thousand flowers bloom.
• Curious to learn more about the "custom reporting"--an on-demand service where clients can hire GNE correspondents to generate custom news reports. (see negative to this). I do think ala-cart journalism as a concept needs to be experimented with and understood by the larger industry.
• Sounds like he's building an alternative to AP, which as I've noted needs competition and is outdated.

Negative:

• Using foreign correspondents might not be the best way to go (parachute journalism is lame compared to a using journalist who is FROM that region already ie: Global Voices).
• For-profit journalism has a bottom-line. That means the content, in the end, will always come second to making a profit. This aspect could very easily twist any "on-demand" products. This is why spot.us is a nonprofit that limits how much people can donate. We will never let pure money/economics determine editorial content.
• EIGHT MILLION DOLLARS. I'd hardly call that a startup. I could use 1/10th of that and get a proof of concept for spot.us or a whole slew of other concepts. Money doesn't solve anything - which is why investors should be much wiser with it. I get negative reactions to any journalism startup that doesn't follow the bootstrap philosophy.

Just some thoughts off the top of my head.

I wish the Global News Enterprise the best of luck.

All I Wanted To Do Was Buy Cereal/Find the News

As a "digital native" I actually welcome an abundance of information. At a computer the world is my oyster. More information means that with the right tools, I'll be able to find exactly what I want. If I have a problem, I go online and I'm fairly confident I'll be able to find the answer. If I have an itch, it's not hard to scratch.

Standing in the cereal aisle at Safeway I had a very different feeling. While searching for my two favorite cereals (Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Oats & More), I became overwhelmed. Have you ever taken a moment to search for a specific cereal in this aisle? It looks something like this x 25.

AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Man I wish I could just "command-F" for C.T.C (Cinnamon Toast Crunch).

I was almost at a standstill. As if the overabundance of information caused my brain to shut down. Later I laughed at myself and wondered if this is how my mother feels when she is online, bombarded with colors, slogans and icons when really all she wanted was a specific piece of information, "what happened in West L.A. yesterday."

Traditionally news organizations (newspapers) were how people would find the information they wanted. If you wanted to know what happened in the world you either turned on the TV or checked the headlines in your morning newspaper. Google has them beat. It's too late to try and become the aisle sign (the first thing people go to). But there is still room to become the helpful employee roaming the aisle. That's where news organizations can still make their mark.

It's hard to extend the analogy. I'm not sure if this is an argument for so-called "hyper-local" or what. It does mean that there is still room to provide a service. That service could be newsroom as library (a civic space to find out specific information), "hyper-local," newsroom as aggregator, etc.

What I do know: people will always want specific information. If you are able to help enough people get that information then you have a valuable service($). Part of the Safeway experience has become automated (even the check-out can be done self-service now) just as part of the information seeking experience has been automated (Google).

But information is infinite and try as it might, I'm skeptical Google will ever organize ALL the world's information. Even if they do, it will be with the help of reporters roaming the aisle' and helping customers find their cereal. Google might not call them "reporters" - but that's what they are and that's why I'm confident journalism isn't going to die.

I Am a Technology Curmudgeon

Perhaps this is related to my rant on why I hate "social media experts."

There is a hype machine that is driving the evolution of technology (gadgets and web 2.0). Robert Scoble knows this all to well. I'm sick of  seeing coverage on tech for tech's sake. Scott Karp said it all too well.

"What happened is tech blogging turned into trade publishing on a new CMS (with comments and a lot of attitude)."

I wish I could say it better, but I can't. So how did we get here and how can we get out? I don't claim to be the ultimate authority - but allow me to think out loud.

The Problem: Technology is a means, not an end. It is a means to living a more connected life, a means to meeting new people that can help you make the world better. "Communication is key." That's what web technology is about. This is why I recently wrote that the technology blogosphere needs to mature.

All too often we mistake the forests for the trees when it comes to tech blogging. We become fascinated with the personalities behind the companies, latest gadgets, A-list bloggers and their occasional bitch-memes . Part of this is human nature (Brittany Spears still gets headlines). Another part of it is that technology is a HUGE money maker for anyone who plays in the space at any level. Even the blog-spammer is taking a piece of the pie.

Is technology at fault? No - technology is a medium, not the message. Some tech tools are great. As Amy Gahran pointed out, this is why Twitter is so revolutionary, it directly connects people to each other. No middleman, no pr agent, no social media expert is needed.

The problems occur when I can't tell if the information coming to me has been influenced by something other than a persons open and honest opinion.

Let's take Mashable (although I hate to pick on any one site). I suspect they are in bed with a TON of  PR and marketing firms. I went to the SF Mashable meetup and half the people in attendance were beautiful, scantily dressed girls who worked in PR.

It might be that Pete Cashmore is just that dreamy. It might also be that Mashable's editorial decisions are driven by press releases and this was an event to celebrate that ongoing relationship. Hey, if the shoe fits.

I'm not blaming Mashable. It works - they produce more content (easy to re-write a press release) get more eyeballs, more traffic and can even charge the same tech companies they are writing about for advertising that looks like real content.

Who loses?

The reader - especially if they don't know how or why editorial decisions are made. Note the distinction: It's not that a blog can't act like a trade publication, it's that they need to be upfront about it. Then we can make our own decisions. Right now - there is no way to find out for certain.

As my favorite  J-school professor used to say: "Don't write about the circus if you're fucking the elephant." I think the time's are a changing: You can still write about the circus. Freedom of speech and everyone has easy access to a cheap CMS. But you better let me know about the relationship with the elephant. If you don't and I find out - not only will I never trust you, but I'll make sure nobody else does either.

(can I get Hans Blix up in this?)

I don't doubt lots of people read Mashable thinking "man, how do they find all this cool stuff!" Of course the answer is: It's sent to them with a pretty bow wrapped around it. Their editorial direction is market driven, so they aren't serving readers, their serving tech companies that need users.

Now this is all about technology - so who really cares? Get off your high horse Digi-Dave (you think to yourself).

But imagine if we were talking about the pharmaceutical beat? People's lives hang in the balance. What about health or environment? Make no mistake - you pick a general reporting topic and there are billions of dollars at stake.

I'd love for somebody to leave a comment that convinces me that the tech blogosphere is alive and well, only has our best interests at heart and in its spare time helps old ladies cross the street. But I continue to be disappointed. The tech blogs are starting to be suspect of the same thing that "mainstream" media has traditionally been accused of: the bigger you are, the more money involved - the more you have to lose, the more you have to keep a status quo.

As for me: I'm getting over this technology rant: I'm going back to civic issues (the upcoming SF election). Tech is fun - but people are what makes the world go round.

Is (digital) journalism better the more local it is and what does that do to growth?

In keeping with last months Carnival of Journalism which focused on a theme, our host Andy Dickinson has posed the following question to the lot of us: "Is (digital) journalism better the more local it is and what does that do to growth?"

This question obviously goes back to the Rob Curley fiasco of LoudounExtra from a few weeks ago, which can (and was) dissected in every way possible.

What interests me more about this question is the second part, "what does that do to growth"? As for the "is local journalism better" part - that's a value judgment. As I see it some will say "yes" others will say "no" and they are both right. I'm not going to tell anybody "your opinion is wrong."

I will say this: national or international news isn't going to disappear and because of its larger scope - what is said below might not apply to that type of news coverage.

It was said best at the Future of Civic Media conference last week (I believe Dan Gillmor): "dog bites man" is news to somebody - especially if you are the dogs next door neighbor, or the man's co-worker, etc. That's the case for hyperlocal.

But that's exactly what leads to the second question "what does that do to growth"? Perhaps "dog bites man" is news to somebody, but the question is whether or not it is something newspapers can ever cover. Right now, probably not. Can they grow into that coverage?

Related to this question is - where do I see journalism in five years. What does a journalist or a news organization look like in the year 2013?

We constantly look at news and journalism as an industry - but the scenario played above "dog bites man" is more like life happening and being broadcast online. A newspaper isn't going to send a reporter out to cover that event. But that event will end up on Twitter, a blog, or a citizen journalism website. It will end up broadcast online not as 'news' but as part of somebody's life.

In my sci-fi vision of the world - there is no "media." People just live their lives online and to that extent - their lives are broadcast. Who wants to call their life "media"? Not me. It's almost as if the media dies - but journalism and news continues under a different name. This is something Jay Rosen has said many times. Lisa Williams describes it as "journalism surviving the death of its institutions." The question is how we can ensure that the better parts of the media (the part that informs and empowers communities to speak truth to power) continues.

This means that reporters are going to be the thread that weaves between people's lives. In my sci-fi reality if you want to professionalize news at the local level it has to be done by individuals who are already part of that community and also living their life in a public way. We see this now with Robert Scoble in the tech community. Granted - Scoble makes his living now from mainstream media, but I suspect if he left FastCompany he would find a way, perhaps even through small donations from readers, to continue as a source of news and information for heavy techno-geeks. As the blogosphere matures, I suspect we will see more Scobles for broader (local) communities.

The first time I had this realization was when I started working for Propeller as a scout. The best way to explain my job there is as a 'news recommender.' I get paid to recommend news articles.  Although not doing the reporting myself - I consider it an act of journalism. I am acting almost as an editor - helping to distinguish between what is and isn't important news that day. Granted - my decisions are subject to veto and voting by the community, but through that I learn to react to the communities needs and desires. Either way, I'm a news recommender and the community values me as such by paying me accordingly.

Now take a look at Spot.Us. I envision individual reporters beholden to a community and reporting on topics that are of direct concern to them. It's the Robert Scoble model I hinted at above. The reporter is a freelancer, a lone-gunmen, they make journalism happen without a news organization. It's news without the newspaper, journalism without the media. It doesn't grow, it just happens - because that's what people want.

Where did I find out about Tim Russert's death? Twitter.

Was it "media"? No, it was a friend who sent me a direct message knowing that I am interested in journalism. It was just two people living their lives and sharing information.

Now I could have found out about Russert's death via the AP (which I can't link or quote from article without being charged), but if that had been a local event (dog bites man) there wouldn't have been any other source of information except my friends. It would have been up to us, as a community to either (a. Try and piece together the information ourselves or (b. Decide we don't have time to piece it together and pay somebody else in our community to do it for us. That's spot.us, that's journalism in a world where local communities organize themselves online.

Where will local journalism happen? Between people. It will not be the media-sphere. The only way news organizations can play part is if they create the platform through which people live their lives. This requires a radically different approach to how newspapers organize their online presence. But that's how it will grow. The real question is if that platform will be built by somebody who holds the same values of traditional media or somebody who wants to make a quick buck. And that, my friends, is a question with real-world consequences for local democracies.

Dan Pacheco Demonstrates PrintCasting

A quick video of Dan Pacheco demonstrating a VERY basic version of PrintCasting, which he won a Knight News Challenge award for.

But don't take my word for it....

Know More About A Corporation

Curious to know whether Nestle is acting as a responsible corporate citizen? One nonprofit startup at the third Netsquared Mashup Conference has built a FireFox extension that gives you instant access to that information alongside every Google searche and they just won $15,000 to build it out even more.

The organization KnowMore.org was founded by musician B. Dolan, currently touring in Europe, as a MediaWiki project to aggregate information about the environmental, business and employee ethics of large multinational corporations. 

"The next step is to take the data from our site and bring it out to where people can interact with it on the web," said KnowMore volunteer Tom Weyman who gave a presentation at the Netsquared conference. This Tuesday the project announced the end of a six-week hack-a-thon coordinated by Joe Solomon, 25, and six programmers, that resulted in a new FireFox extension to do just that. The KnowMore Extension is built on a recently minted open API that allows anyone to take the data from KnowMore to their own site and is itself open source under a GPL License Version 3. 

An interview with Weyman gives more details about how the Firefox extension works or you can install the download and Google American Apparel to find out for yourself.

Related: Asa Doltzer, Mozilla community guru, supports the cause.

See video with Ask A Lawmaker - also from Netsquared conference.
More video interviews coming all next week.

Doc Searls on Vendor Relationship Management

A video interview with Doc Searls -

"Advertising as we know it today is terminal. Part of this vendor relationship management thing that I want to do is blow-up advertising as we know it. I want to change the game to one where the intentions of the customer are what drive the marketplace rather than effort to get the attention of the customer has been doing for the last 100 years or so."

Doc is crazy smart. His idea for VRM is WAY out there. Almost too far out. I like to think that Spot.Us is a small step towards what he envisions in his head.