Think you know what’s next for the
media? No, me neither, but here’s an insight into some things that are moving
and shaking in the USA, traditionally where it all happens first…
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| WATCH THE BIRDIES: Fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger takes a selfie to remember in the new Instagram Photo Pit at New York Fashion Week (see Instagram story below) |
WHISPER it,
in case any ‘digital engagement officers’ are listening, but UK newspapers have
been slow to embrace social media as a newsgathering tool.
Twitter, Facebook
and co are too often still seen as the digital equivalent of the green pen
letter writer splurging off in the corner without recourse to facts or reason.
The
occasional Facebook comment or Twitter post will turn up in a story mixed in
with other quotes, but rarely is social media used as the starting point for
coverage. But here across the United States, newsrooms are embracing
crowdsourcing to ignite their real-time reporting.
The
Florida-based Poynter Institute, America’s leading journalism think tank,
tracked the use of crowdsourcing in the wake of President Donald Trump’s
initial refugee ban in January.
The Los Angeles Times put out a call for
people’s reactions to the news. Their collection which ran the same day, shows
a collage of fear, joy, anger, respect, sadness and support.
“This is
about displaying a diversity of experiences,” said Alexandra Manzano, director
of audience engagement, “but it’s also about us building trust and relationships
with our readers.
Manzano
reports that this approach has become a rich trove for us in terms of finding
sources, hearing from more people and representing more people. “We are finding
more story leads and also t able to dive deep into the complexity of our
country right now.”
At the Dallas Morning News editors saw
pictures of travellers detained at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and
the protests in response and quickly built a form asking immigrants in Texas to
share their stories.
It felt like
a long shot on Saturday night when engagement editor Hannah Wise put the call
out on social networks and embedded it onto breaking stories. By Monday, they
had almost 50 responses from people from 29 countries. That’s almost 50 people
that could be sources on the current news, updates to the immigration policy
allowing childhood arrivals to stay in the US and other changes.
She heard
back from immigrants from Uzbekistan, Mexico, Germany, Peru, even a former Iraq
army translator whose Minnesota-based brother and family were stuck in
Iraq because of the ban.
And, in
terms of ‘pure news’ they are also people who have not been ‘put up’ by PRs for
agencies, charities or advocacy organisations who have become the likeliest
go-between for journalists throughout the world today.
A PRINT NEWSPAPER FOR A DIGITAL ERA
Many efforts have been made over the years to present a ‘quick read’ near the front of the newspaper to hopefully entice readers into the further flung reaches inside. Now the venerable New York Times has thrown open its first two inside pages (A2 and A3) with a redesign “aimed to give readers an overview of what The Times is doing both in print and digitally”.
The paper says it is modelled after the ‘front of the book’ concept of a magazine and will become a place where readers will find interesting, useful and fun information about what The Times is doing not only with its core news report, but throughout the entire organisation. The pages will offer stories and content that has not been part of the print paper before, including a mini-crossword (hats off to i, which is already there) and a “behind-the-scenes look at our journalism”.
“The Times has a universe that extends well beyond the print newspaper, and we’re excited to transform pages A2 and A3 into a must-read destination that gives readers a sense of that,” said executive editor Dean Baquet. “As we continue to invest and innovate in print, this redesign is a step toward creating a print newspaper for a digital era."
NEWS MEDIA
DEDICATED TO THE PUBLIC INTEREST
There’s some
black humour doing the rounds that soon we’ll all be working in ‘Nonprofit News’,
but here in the US there are now 120 organisations signed up to the Institute for Nonprofit News, which is
committed to improving the skills and durability of the sector.
The
Institute, part of the Oklahoma-based charity Ethics and Excellence in Journalism
Foundation (EEJF), is launching a new program to support leadership and
skills development for future leaders of nonprofit news organizations.
Called ‘The
INN Emerging Leaders Council’ it will provide training, professional
development and peer support for 10 mid-career individuals in nonprofit news
who have demonstrated the potential to become top executives and leaders
of the nonprofit news media sector in the U.S.
Nonprofit
news organizations have grown rapidly across the US. About 10 percent of INN’s
120 member organizations reported in 2016 that they were in the process of or
had recently completed succession planning to name new leaders, often replacing
the founding journalists.
As part of
its mission, INN works to build the business capacity of journalists founding,
leading and inventing new types of nonprofit news media dedicated to the public
interest. “Succession is a milestone in ensuring these newsrooms are here for
the long haul and can keep serving and informing their communities,” said INN
Executive Director & CEO Sue Cross.
While
journalism in the UK continues to seek out its place in an increasingly
fractured marketplace perhaps an organisation supporting our “news media
dedicated to the public interest” wouldn’t be a bad way to go.
POWER FROM
CONTROLLING CONSUMPTION
Over on the
thoughtful corner Ben Thompson, the author and founder of independent analyst Stratechery, spells out the effect the
onset of the internet has had for all businesses, but the message is loud and
clear for publishers.
“Today the
fundamental impact of the internet is to make distribution itself a cheap
commodity — or in the case of digital content, completely free,” says Thompson.
“And that, by extension, is why I have long argued that the Internet
Revolution is as momentous as the Industrial Revolution: it is transforming how
and where economic value is generated, and thus where power resides.
“In this
brave new world, power comes not from production, not from distribution, but
from controlling consumption: all markets will be demand-driven; the extent to
which they already are is a function of how digitized they have become.”
TIME FOR ‘THE
TEA’
For a media
company with such a cutting-edge reputation, the latest wheeze from the Huffington Post to tackle a
traditionally tough market has a distinctly old new-tech feel.
To introduce
itself to its next generation of readers, the HuffPost is going straight for
their inboxes. It has launched The Tea, a weekly newsletter targeted at female
Generation Z readers (or, as they were once known, teenage girls), but unlike
most newsletters, which just repackage content originally published on other
platforms, The Tea’s content — an exclusive interview with a celebrity — will
only live in an email. If you want it, you need to subscribe.
“We know
that teens haven’t really made decisions about the brands they’re going to
allow into their lives in a behavioural way,” said Kiki Von Glinow, Huffington
Post’s director of growth and analytics. “This is about introducing them to
HuffPost’s brand.”
CONVENTIONS
OF NEWS TODAY DON’T MAKE SENSE
Meanwhile,
still with ‘young people’, student James
Tyner chimes in with a timely reminder that “news in 2017 doesn’t need to
follow the production cycle of news in 1987”. As part of a university
class looking at how to create new journalism products, he asked fellow
students what got in the way of their news consumption.
“For people
like us, who didn’t grow up with newspapers and who have used the internet
since we were toddlers, a lot of the conventions of news today don’t make
sense,” says Tyner. “Adapting a newspaper for the modern web isn’t good enough
for people who never read newspapers in the first place. We deserve something new.”
He cites
site layout, story length and bias as major issues. “These are problems that
erode trust in young people and stop them from engaging with the news. The same
young people who will be working, communicating, politically active news consumers
for the next half-century or more.”
UPLOADERS WELCOME
Uploaders to Instagram were
granted full access to the runway alongside the traditional fashion photographers at New York Fashion Week.
“This is HUGE,” says Emma Klug from fashion blog The Style Note.
“What happened to the days when the front rows were filled with pads of
paper, pens and photo equipment? Traditionally, photo pits have been reserved
for photographers with professional media credentials, and for a good reason.
However, naturally, as the popularity of social media has grown, so has the
fashion industry’s infatuation with it. Popular Instagrammers with mass
followings can offer a lot to brands who are looking to make a mark in the
social media landscape.” Whatever next? Instagram photographers only behind the
goal at Premier League games or on the royal rota? You read it here first…
- This is an edited version of Alan's column in PJ - 'The home of the printed and digital world of news media'
