News Conference from Former RMN Staff

Today at 11 some of the former staff from the Rocky Mountain News are holding a press conference about where they are heading next.

The conference is a the Auraria campus in downtown Denver.  I think it’ll be really interesting

Check out I Want my Rocky for  the details.

You live in exciting times

This post is brought to you by my dad.

He likes to live vicariously through my life. Sometimes it’s annoying. Sometimes it’s endearing. Yesterday it was just plain inspirational.

I’ve been whining to my parents about the woes of being recently rejected from (ahem — several) old media internships for the summer. Basically, I’m back at square one and scrambling to figure out what I am going to do for the summer to “further my career.” Instead of saying “buck up, kiddo,” my dad sent me this email:

Subject: You live in exciting times

I  don’t know if you read this guy but it is clearly right at the core of what you are involved in:

http://www.shirky.com/weblog/2009/03/newspapers-and-thinking-the-unthinkable/

This makes me think that you have positioned yourself at in the middle of a really exciting situation.  The entire sphere of information gathering/digestion/dissemination is in the mist of revolutionary upheaval and you are in as good a position as anyone to impact its outcome.  My sage advice is don’t worry too much about the old régime, instead get out and create the new…

For example, don’t worry too much about whether or not you find an old media job for the summer.  If you don’t then create your own–find your biz school cohorts to work with, or create your own summer newsgathering team, or whatever… Create your future, don’t wait for it to come to you.

It kind of made me think of this Paul Graham (former MIT hacker and radical venture capitalist) essay http://www.paulgraham.com/mit.html .  It’s written about technology startups and innovation  but it really applies applies to your situations.  (BTW, many of Graham’s essays http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html on entrepreneurship and innovation are also applicable).

Be brave, ambitious, and have fun and along the way you can change the world!

Allen

Aww, thanks Dad!

The links he included are great, especially the first one. Here are some of my favorite parts from the Clay Shirky essay:

That is what real revolutions are like. The old stuff gets broken faster than the new stuff is put in its place. The importance of any given experiment isn’t apparent at the moment it appears; big changes stall, small changes spread. Even the revolutionaries can’t predict what will happen. Agreements on all sides that core institutions must be protected are rendered meaningless by the very people doing the agreeing. (Luther and the Church both insisted, for years, that whatever else happened, no one was talking about a schism.) Ancient social bargains, once disrupted, can neither be mended nor quickly replaced, since any such bargain takes decades to solidify.

And so it is today. When someone demands to know how we are going to replace newspapers, they are really demanding to be told that we are not living through a revolution. They are demanding to be told that old systems won’t break before new systems are in place. They are demanding to be told that ancient social bargains aren’t in peril, that core institutions will be spared, that new methods of spreading information will improve previous practice rather than upending it. They are demanding to be lied to.

There are fewer and fewer people who can convincingly tell such a lie….

Society doesn’t need newspapers. What we need is journalism. For a century, the imperatives to strengthen journalism and to strengthen newspapers have been so tightly wound as to be indistinguishable. That’s been a fine accident to have, but when that accident stops, as it is stopping before our eyes, we’re going to need lots of other ways to strengthen journalism instead.

When we shift our attention from ’save newspapers’ to ’save society’, the imperative changes from ‘preserve the current institutions’ to ‘do whatever works.’ And what works today isn’t the same as what used to work.

Now, all we need do is be brave, be ambitious and have fun.

Sustainable Journalism-get psyched.

I also sat in on the future of journalism colluquium (For my up to the minute play-by-play you can ready my handwritten notes-nice work on the tech front ladies). I’m really glad I did, not only because it reassured me that yes, our professors are on it, and they have some really neat ideas, but also that other schools and organizations are doing some innovative things that I think we can learn a lot from.

Here are some of the things that got mentioned that I am the most excited about:

Cross platform-cross curriculum work- We’re already doing this a bit with the CEJ, but I think there could be even more of an opportunity to capitalize on this. CU is a really exciting place to be, there is a lot going on with in the university community that doesn’t get nearly as much media attention as it could. For instance, the next mission to Mars, kind of a big deal. By collaborating between departments, we get experience and more concrete knowledge, and they get their ideas in to the public sphere.  Which brings me to my next point.

Student publications- Jordan mentioned this below. I think it is crucial and practical. With the volume of work that we’re producing there is no reason why we shouldn’t have a venue to publish it. I think it would be good skill building, and motivation to make our articles as polished as possible. I checked out Neon Tommy, which is produced by students at the Anneberg school at USC and I was totally blown away. Not only is it highly polished looking, but the depth and bredth of articles is really impressive. How about a little healthy school rivalry? Let’s get something going, even if it starts on a class-by-class level. I think this is something that the faculty could be a help with.

Practical skills- As Tom said, “we already know what the future of journalism looks like.” Now I think we need to start putting that into practice, and making sure that everything we do has a viable application, weather that means self publishing, or pitching stories, or editing on line. we need to learn those skills and then apply them.

Business models- Argh. Not what i signed up for, but totally and completely necessary.

Rick Stevens said something that really hit me hard. He pose a three part question: how do we fund journalism v. how do we produce sustanable journalism v. how do we produce better journalism?

This is something that has been in my head ever since. My question is, how do we hit all three parts? To make journalism sustainable doesn’t it need to be economically feasible AND good? I hope so.  And now I feel like i have a few more ideas about how to make it work.

Technology Review: can counting web traffic save journalism?

In this month’s issue of Technology Review, Jason Pontin tackles the tricky business of counting web traffic from the perspective of how that might save journalism and the media industry.

The idea is that if media sets had a more accurate idea of what their online audience is, they would have a better case for making advertisers pay up for online ads.

This is a great idea. It really is. Those who can accurately paint a portrait of online users are going to make a ton of money, for sure.

I just don’t think it will help “save” journalism.

It’s part of the futile effort to save old models of journalism and mass media by shoving them onto the web and hoping that they will work in the same way that print media did. Hits and users will be a proxy for circulation. This doesn’t address the issue, brought up in the recent SJMC colloquium, that maybe big media conglomerates are the problem, and what will save journalism is smaller, more interactive, community based outlets.

But I’ve gone far enough that now I’m disagreeing with myself. It’s the smaller sites that need to get an accurate idea of who their audience is more than anyone.  They are more targeted. Their advertising is more targeted.

So maybe Quantcast or Google will be the saviors of journalism.

Following up on the future of journalism curriculum

First off, nice work liveblogging, Lauren!

While Lauren was doing that, I was twittering. (Now, because I’m a lo-fi twit, I was using my SMS from my cell phone. So I wasn’t able to participate in the discussion going on between Fishnette and Mediamum — sorry!. I also didn’t realize they were using the hashtag #SJMC, so you’ll just have to scroll through my history yourself.)

Now for a few thoughts on the colloquium that are longer than 140 characters…

At the end of the colloquium, which ran right up to the 1 pm time limit, we were rushed out of the room with absolutely no hint at, “what’s next?” How frustrating!

I know that any major shake-ups to the curriculum will happen after I’m long gone, but there are some things I’d really like to see happen next year:

• Classes starting to create publications as part of their classwork. Even a web site would be nice.
• A interdisciplinary effort with the business school where we design a new media outlet and a new business model to support it. Then we implement it.

We need to have, at the very least, a SJMC web magazine for grad student work. I don’t know why it doesn’t exist yet.

Unfortunately, I’m done with most of my “practical” classes this year. Next year I’m stuck with the required media theory classes (Press and Constitution, Media Ethics, etc.) and my non-j-school electives.

Lauren, Heather, any faculty who might be reading this: how do we make this happen? How do we create it in such a way that students will have time to participate? (With classes, work, internships, etc., it’ll be difficult to make it happen without getting course credit for it…)

Journalism is NOT Dying, The Institution Is…

From a live blog:

Today at the University of Colorado, five faculty members are presenting news about the curriculum and the future of the journalism school. They are: Sandra Fish, Stuart Hoover, Nabil Echchaibi, Rick Stevens and Tom Yulsman.

To begin … a segment from the Daily Show about Twittering.

Jon Daily and Samantha Bee address the issues of backpack journalism and incorporating so many aspects of multimedia into reporting. Check it out at: http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=219519&title=twitter-frenzy

“So that’s what we’re up against,” said Andrew Calabrese, in response to the clip.
___________________________________________________________
Regarding the j-school curriculum at the University of Colorado.

STUART HOOVER:

Hoover wants to internationalize the curriculum or offer an intercultural experience locally – getting journalism students into the community and immersing them in different situations.

SANDRA FISH:

Fish says that students need to be willing to learn new multimedia tools and to teach themselves, because the platforms are constantly and quickly changing. Fish also outlined other j-school programs which included ideas about offering non-credit multimedia labs to whether or not broadcast or print tracks should be combined.

Some of the school’s programs that are being discussed:

(I will provide links to these programs shortly.)

- Arizona State, Wisconsin, American University, Berkley

NABIL ECHCHAIBI:

MediaNews Group has put together something called Project X, a plan that will allow readers to literally create their own “newspaper” by selecting topics and stories and having it delivered to their home.

He says to take a look at Jeff Jarvis’ blog about Project X at www.buzzmachine.com.

According to Echchaibi, “Journalism is NOT an Institution” and the question is, how do we train students and retrain journalists for a smaller and more specific environment.

Echchaibi also comments on the New York Times decision to introduce ‘hyperlocal’ to their masthead.

http://fort-greene.blogs.nytimes.com is an example of reporting on specific local issues/topics that the Times thinks will “save” their business, according to Echchaibi.

Blogs need to “elevate the level of discourse” not just provide comments.

But how do we pay for all of this stuff? How do we earn money? Echchaibi talks about creative capitalism. “Think small,” he says.

RICK STEVENS:

First question asked by Stevens is, “How do we fund journalism? How do we keep doing what we’re doing?”

Technology takes, according to Paul Saffo, 30 years for a culture to adopt. That means that things like Twitter and blogs are VERY, VERY new and have not infiltrated our society as a whole. To put that in perspective even the World Wide Web is not 30 years old yet. “I just heard someone say the other day that the Internet was just a fad,” said Stevens.

Hmmm. I don’t think the Internet is a fad, but that just shows how our culture is apparently not on the same page.

According to Stevens, some of the issues with journalists and journalism, is this very idea – we’ve fallen behind.

Stevens’ ideas about how to catch up -
- Collaborate and build bridges (even with competitors and audience)
- Develop a Personal Brand
- Control access to content
- Downsize – specialize in a smaller area
- Produce content that can “live forever”

TOM YULSMAN: “Journalism is NOT Dying”

“It’s true that some newspapers have died … but the point is that journalism will not be dead,” said Yulsman.

Yulsman believes that we, at CU, don’t have to redesign our entire curriculum and that we don’t have to wait any longer for the state of journalism “to shake out.”

Which is great news for the students. Enough waiting – lets make the changes we need – even if they’re just small changes.

Also check out www.onlinejournalismblog.com, www.eenews.net, and www.dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com as  examples of “straight journalism with a new face.”

What Can the Rocky Still Teach Us?

Today the Rocky Mountain News printed its last edition just shy of its 150th anniversary.

I never worked at the Rocky. I only read the online edition, and I only know a few people who worked there. But it is still a devastating blow to the journalism community.

Knowing for months that this ending was inevitable, does not make it any easier.

I am not trying to out-do, or out-feel, employees at the Rocky. I’m sure their lives are being jolted far beyond my understanding.

However, as a journalism student, it is at the very least, bewildering.

Obviously, it has not been a secret where print journalism is headed. I was well aware when I applied to this program. I could have chosen something else, some “more promising” direction, but I didn’t. Not because I was naive, but because I still see a true need for journalism. I still believe in it.

With that said, the Rocky’s closure is harder to handle than other similar instances around the country, simply because it’s happening right here. This is our city and our newspaper. Was.

The question I stumble upon is this – How does this become a teaching moment?

How do we, students of this industry, learn from this situation when we don’t exactly know what we should take from it? And, how do professors and instructors teach the necessities of journalism when they no longer know what the answers are?

Finding the blogger in me

I learned something new about myself.

I am a horrible blogger.

I’ve known this for about a month now but haven’t figured out exactly what I should do with the information. It’s not exactly something the general public wants to know, but as a journalism master’s student, blogs are in my life. I am taught about blogs. I read blogs. And I understand (sort of) the importance of posting my own blogs.

So, I decided to give it a try. I wrote lots of things down, things that I thought worthy of the Internet. I scribbled on scrap paper and typed Word documents. But I couldn’t complete the task – I never posted anything (until it was assigned).

I also listened to the professionals. Not specifically about blogging but about how to become a better writer. I read books on the subject. I did research. I dreamt big dreams.

And tonight I heard a panel of local freelancers speak at the University of Colorado.

Amanda Haag Mascarelli, Brian Metzler, Deborah Fryer and Steve Knopper have all successfully managed freelance careers and affirmed for me what I already know.

No one gets anywhere by writing stories only to shove them in a corner, a trash can, an old file cabinet.

As an old friend and colleague used to tell me, “you always have to do a little PR for yourself.”

For those journalists out there who squirm at the thought of – uggh – public relations, get over it. The life of a journalist, freelance writer, filmmaker, photographer, etc. means that one must “produce” and “sell.”

Stories, apparently, don’t publish themselves.

I don’t believe that blogging is the “get of jail free card” to becoming a successful writer, but in its simplest form, it offers space to write and to publish.

And that is always a good thing.

So, my New Year’s resolution (a little late), is this – write and blog, but don’t forget to … PITCH!

- Lauren

A Googler’s thoughts on the future of journalism

Poynter is one of those sites that I always want to read, but never actually have time to. Well, today I’m really glad that I found the time.

Because…pow!…right there in the money spot of the front page was Bill Mitchell’s analysis of an essay by Google employee Jonathan Rosenberg.

Yesterday, Dan Glick and Leslie Dodson of The Story Group, a multi-media team of Super Friends (or maybe Planeteers?), visited Susan Moran’s class Reporting on the Environment. They brought up lots of interesting issues:

• if it’s commissioned by advocacy groups, is it still journalism?
• how do a writer, videographer, and photographer work together as a unit?
• where will multi-media packages fit in as journalism changes?

At one point, Dodson talked about how the kind of videos they were producing — 7 or 8 minute long segments that were mini narrative documentaries — didn’t yet have a place. They were too short to be films, to long to be TV news segments, and too long for most internet viewers.

That got me thinking about how in a few years, they probably won’t be faced with that problem. People will be involved in choosing nearly everything they consume.

I think whatever shape journalism takes as it collides (and hopefully integrates) with the digital age, choice and interactivity are going to play a key role. And that brings us back to Rosenberg, who describes his ideal news homepage:

The experience of consuming news on the web today fails to take full advantage of the power of technology. It doesn’t understand what users want in order to give them what they need. When I go to a site like the New York Times or the San Jose Mercury, it should know what I am interested in and what has changed since my last visit. If I read the story on the US stimulus package only six hours ago, then just show me the updates the reporter has filed since then (and the most interesting responses from readers, bloggers, or other sources). If Thomas Friedman has filed a column since I last checked, tell me that on the front page. Beyond that, present to me a front page rich with interesting content selected by smart editors, customized based on my reading habits (tracked with my permission). Browsing a newspaper is rewarding and serendipitous, and doing it online should be even better. This will not by itself solve the newspapers’ business problems, but our heritage suggests that creating a superior user experience is the best place to start.

I think we are heading towards an era where people have control over nearly everything they consume (except advertising, of course). Consuming news will no longer be passive, but active. But at the same time people want to be surprised, want to be nudged in unexpected directions. That’s why I still love going to bookstores, even though I actually make most of my purchases on Amazon.com. I love stumbling upon things I didn’t even realize I wanted to read.

Rosenberg predicts that journalism needs to use technology to capture those key things a reader wants: control and release. I agree with him — I think it will totally happen.

P.S. I think we need to come up with a shorthand/codeword that means “the future of journalism.” I feel weird every time I type that phrase…but that’s what it is, right?

Journalism and Research-Where do we fit in?

I went to the Center for Environmental Journalism’s colloquium on their Research Agenda yesterday. I came away with very mixed feeling Some of the ideas about how journalists presents ideas were really cool, and Prof. Crow’s research about western water sounds incredibly interesting, but I still walked out feeling frustrated.

I think that doing research about journalism and communication is valuable, and that it’s particularly relevant in the field of how journalists portray and explain science. That I get, but it seems like their is a big disconnect between that research and what we’re actually doing. At one point Prof. Crow said something along of the lines of “i was really surprised by how little the journalists understood the environmental issues.”

I wanted to stand up and yell “HeLLO! I thought that’s what we were here for! to LEARN about the issues!” Argh. What are we supposed to be doing?

Doing research about this stuff is all well and good, but in a school setting if it doesn’t trickle down to the students what is the point?

So that’s where I stand interested but frustrated and perpetually unsure of what to do.