@ jeffreyrbunch

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There has been a lot of talk lately about who is going to “save journalism.” There is a clear consensus developing that it will be saved (i.e. transformed) by journalists, not news aggregators or legacy publishing company print-centric executives.

I was in the front row, almost literally, two weeks ago today when I heard speaker after speaker make the argument for front-line journalists and allied executives as saviors of the profession.  I attended a smallish, but significant, publishing industry event in Las Vegas put on by Editor & Publisher dubbed the “Interactive Media Conference.” Prior quick blog post here.

The two keynotes for the conference were delivered by John Paton, CEO of the Journal Register Company, and Josh Cohen of Google News. They each delivered key messages with a common theme about the future of journalism and how it might be “saved.” Both said that journalism can be preserved by its practitioners (and their bosses) transforming how it is done.

Paton’s presentation was titled “Digital First, Print Last.” He made a compelling argument that a fundamental mindset shift hasn’t occurred in the industry that will be key to its survival. Paton said the “print people” have been in charge of the industry for the last 100 years and in charge of digital news for the last 10 years. It isn’t working, he said, and the time has come to “put the digital people in charge.” It is what he has done in his company as he transforms it into a multiplatform entity.

Cohen’s speech was anticipated because there has been a perception that Google News is the nemesis of the online news industry. It has been the target of various campaigns by publishers to stop Google’s bots from crawling its news sites. Cohen pointed out that every publisher has the option to stop their sites from being  indexed. However, Google and the publishers have found mutual benefits to the traffic Google aggregates, then directs back to news sites.  He said it is the job of the industry, not companies such as Google, to “save journalism.”  Journalism doesn’t need to be “saved” just “transformed,” said Cohen.

In listening to the rest of the conference’s other panels, it is clear that working journalists will be the ones to do the transforming. There were examples of hyperlocal efforts not yet tackled, social media strategies for news organizations, and collaborative online investigative journalism projects.  The message was made clearer the following day at the Editor & Publisher online awards, known as the EPpy’s. The best in online journalism was honored, from sites such as NPR.org and LasVegasSun.com. As one of the judges, I was blown away by the work being done.

NPR sent one of its top reporters to accept; she was clearly humbled by the industry’s recognition of its outstanding (nonprofit) pursuit of journalism. LasVegasSun’s Rob Curley was emotional in collecting one of his team’s awards in honor of the laid-off multimedia producers who did the work. Afterward, his publisher spoke of the struggle to monetize award-winning journalism.

Saving the publishing industry or saving journalism?

Coincidental to the E&P Interactive Media Conference was the publication – and follow-up discussions – of The Atlantic’s article, “How to Save the News.” Article author James Fallows tried to put his piece in further perspective in a post on colleague Andrew Sullivan’s blog on the magazine’s site titled, “Will Google Help Save Journalism? Ctd:”

“If there is a point that, above all the others, I wanted most to convey in this article, it is not “everything is going to be OK” or “Google is our friend” or even “here comes a torrent of new advertising money!” Rather it is a cultural/attitudinal argument about the press and everyone who cares about it. Far from being autumnal and despairing and mournful about a supposed golden age that has passed and fatalistic about the doomed state of public information and the resulting lapsed state of society, people who care about the media should (according to me) recognize that technological upheaval, and the resulting business shifts and forced individual innovations, have been the norm rather than the exception in our enterprise. Clever and ambitious people, especially but not only young people, will find new ways to do the work a society needs of them — and to make a living while doing so. …” http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/05/will-google-help-save-journalism-c.html

There are many former journalists who are making a living as one-person Web publishing entities or smaller start-ups with teams of journalists who took buyouts or were laid off from more traditional legacy publishing companies. They are tackling the “news” in more energetic, brighter ways. One shining example is Nozzl Media of Portland, Ore., where a group of former old-school journalists are re-inventing themselves by creating real-time news stream Web applications.

Innovation is the key at start-ups such as TBD.com

It will be interesting to watch how much of the current cutting-edge thinking comes together at TBD.com, a start-up venture in Washington, D.C., funded by the people who started Politico.com. TBD has brought some of the brightest and most innovative journalists and journalism executives to their site, which was featured recently on Techcocktail.com and described in this way:

“By aggregating heavily, utilizing geocoding for personalization and applying “the Politico mentality” (an urgency and willingness to publish incrementally) to local news, TBD intends to be a one-stop news shop for the District, Maryland, and Virginia…

While they plan to be a news hub for the area, the folks at TBD.com don’t plan to do it alone and are enlisting the help of partners who will supplement and enhance their news coverage…

For TBD.com, transparency is a big priority.  Recognizing they may not have all the answers and details about the news stories users care about, they say they’ll be counting on readers to fill in the blanks and help construct the most complete history of the news happening in our region.   Stories at TBD will always be developing, and TBD will “belong to everyone.” http://techcocktail.com/home/2010/06/12/tbd-com-aiming-to-be-dc%E2%80%99s-one-stop-news-shop/

There are some key concepts that stand out about the site’s approach: aggregation, geocoding, personalization, urgency, incremental publishing, partnership, transparency. These are trademarks of many innovative organizations, including Google. Half of the work one must do in being “saved” is admitting things aren’t working and then changing things up. Publishing companies which do that will likely continue to publish; those which don’t may perish. Journalists and journalism will survive.

Related links

John Paton’s Ben Franklin Project: http://jrcbenfranklinproject.wordpress.com/

Google News official blog: http://googlenewsblog.blogspot.com/

Nozzl Media site: http://nozzlmedia.com/

TBD.com: http://tbd.com/

TBD’s Steve Buttry: http://stevebuttry.wordpress.com/

Editor & Publisher Interactive Media Conference logo

Here are a couple of quick thoughts on the two keynotes – from John Paton and Josh Cohen – at Editor & Publisher’s Interactive Media Conference in Las Vegas this week that are generating some buzz in the online journalism world:

E&P: John Paton kicked off E&P’s Interactive Media Conference with a wake-up call

Mr. Paton was named Editor of the Year in 2009 by E&P, but it will most likely be his keynote at the conference that will generate a buzz for him around the Web. Paton, CEO of the Journal Register Company, had a direct message for the conference’s attendees: “Digital First, Print Second”. He talked in a frank manner about the “new news economy” and how publishing companies have largely failed to adapt but need to find ways to do so. He also detailed various measures his company has taken which have left “blood on the floor” but were necessary to cut legacy costs and allow the company to transform into a multi-platform entity. His group is also now a minority investor in Canada’s Canwest media company, so Mr. Paton will continue to be an important voice in journalism.

E&P: In Vegas, Google’s Cohen Details Experiments with Newspapers

I thought Mr. Cohen, Business Product Manager for Google News, was very measured yet direct in his comments: Journalism doesn’t need to be saved because it will survive, but it needs to be transformed. He also made it clear that it is the job of the industry, not Google, to figure out how to best reinvent itself. Yet Google’s efforts to partner with news media organizations show it understands the value of the industry’s contributions to its business model. He also pointed out how Google itself has to continually fight off challenges in its industry as the leader, much like publishers are now facing. Google stays on top by constantly innovating and improving. The publishing industry will need to do the same; its very survival depends on it.

Here is a link to my Vimeo video channel, which includes videos from Portland’s Digital Journalism Camp and the Social Media Club of Portland.  One of the videos, due to account bandwith limitations, had to be uploaded to my other Vimeo account. All of the videos had previously been linked on my posterous platform for this site, now powered by WordPress.

Digital Journalism Camp, Portland – “Square Peg, Wrong Hole”

by jeffrey bunch 1 month ago
A panel discusses the challenges of online news content at the Digital Journalism Camp (@journopdx #journopdx) in August 2009 at Portland, Ore. “Square Peg, Wrong Hole, Why Your News Product Doesn’t Meet Consumers’ Needs.” Panelists; Carolynn Duncan, Founder, PortlandTen; Steve Woodward, CEO, Nozzl Media.