Robert Niles: April 2009 archive
Do we really need large organizations to do good journalism?
April 24, 2009
Yesterday, USC Annenberg's director Geneva Overholser tweeted:I seek names of 10 most interesting thinkers (not pronouncers) on how we will support journalism in the future: scholars, journalists et al.
I don't presume to count myself among the 10 most interesting people in anything, much less thinking, but Geneva's tweet did inspire a few thoughts, which I considered important enough to share.
First, my experience in both traditional and independent online publishing leads me to believe that the core methods of supporting reporting have not, and will not change as a result of the Web's emergence. Advertising, purchases, organizational grants and individual donations have supported everything from newspapers to magazines to NPR stations in the past and are continuing to support many websites today.
As I wrote earlier this week, advertisers remain eager to support publications that cover their market, and others individuals and organizations are willing to help support community-building publishers in other ways, including sponsorships and direct underwriting of coverage.
What has changed is the number of publications chasing those supporting funds. That means less money, per publication, than newsrooms could count on receiving in the past. More...
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Communities are key in building websites' advertiser support
April 21, 2009
If a website's editorial mission focuses on building community, as I've argued, so should its advertising sales strategy focus on community as well. Don't fall into the trap of selling potential advertisers nothing more than numbers; don't neglect to sell them on the opportunity to support the community that you are building.I got to talking about the subject recently with my colleague Sasha Anawalt, who runs several arts journalism programs for USC Annenberg. She was talking about the frustration that many arts organizations feel when watching the the reporters and critics who have covered them lose their jobs. These theaters, dance companies and orchestras fear that without news coverage in their communities, their audience - and potential audience - will hear less about local artists, which could lead to less interest and less support for their organizations.
It's not just arts organizations that share this fear. In a blog post last year, tech blogger Mark Cuban, who owns the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, argued why he believes that pro sports needs newspapers to prosper. More...
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Don't lose your voice online
April 15, 2009
Author Ralph Keyes this week rightly slammed news organizations for using cultural references in their news stories that leave many readers under the age of 50 in the dark. But do not rush to assume that the solution is to strip articles of metaphors and other references, which can help readers identify and understand the news. Instead, smart newsrooms should take a close look at their language, and make a stronger effort to deploy writers who, collectively, can use a broader range of cultural references to appeal to wider audience of readers.Keyes called an over-dependence to decades-old references "retrotalk," including comparisons with 1950s television characters, early 20th Century pop tunes and even antiquated farming techniques.
Journalists who lace their copy with such retro terms or names risk alienating those who are too young to get the allusions. Even common catch phrases that hearken back to earlier times may be puzzling to younger readers: stuck in a groove, 98-pound weakling, drop a dime, bigger than a breadbox, or a tough row to hoe. (As one giggling third-grader asked when his teacher used this one, “Isn’t 'ho' a bad word?”)
Keyes' piece roiled the journalism Twitter community, some rushing to spread the word, others to criticize the criticism.
Count me among the fans of lively cultural references in news reporting and analysis. But also include me among those who have grown sick of reading repeated, stale references from a generation to which I do not belong. More...
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No one owns the news
April 8, 2009
Whether you are working in computer programming, or business development, or the arts, creating something new demand a curious mix of hubris and humility. Hubris to believe that you are the one talented and knowledgeable enough to find the new way. And humility to know that you do not yet know that way and must work to discover it.The legacy news industry today's got the hubris part cold. The humility? Not so much. News companies' sense of entitlement regarding the news that they report is preventing them from developing the new business practices that they need to profit in an increasingly competitive information market.
Witness the temper tantrums that major news bosses have thrown during the past seven days about the use of news stories online. More...
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You've got to know what you stand for to survive in journalism online
April 3, 2009
Established journalists and newsrooms making the transition to online publishing should not do so with the assumption that editorial content provides their strength in a competitive online information market. Often, the editorial content established journalists provide is not what online readers want, or even what they need.That's a harsh realization for many journalists, who have worked intensely to cover their communities for years. But effort and will don't deliver readers. Information that engages and rewards them does. Journalists, and their managers, need to take a hard look at how they are producing information, so that they don't repeat the same editorial mistakes that have driven so many readers to online competition.
A stunning assertion in the Los Angeles Times last month got me thinking about this topic. More...
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