There’s no question that the business of newspapers (while never easy) has become particularly difficult in the last decade. The questions come over the reasons for the difficulty and the best response to the troubles in the industry. This week we’ve seen two different responses — one that I think could be helpful as we try to move forward, and one that pretty well encapsulates the attitudes that are leading us deeper into troubled times.
Jon Talton has written a serious and meaningful indictment of newspaper management in the current era. I saw many of the same problems he discusses, though mine were seen at magazines rather than newspapers. In too many cases, tech-phobic managers tried to block the technological forces of change rather than use them to deliver great content to the readers. Even more damning, too many publishers used a decline in readership as an excuse to abandon the existing reader base, rather than trying to build on reader loyalty to find new ways to grow.
The kind of inward-looking, defensive attitudes that Talton rails against are on display in Roy Peter Clark’s Poynter column on why the readers are wrong. I have listened to fellow journalists run through the arguments that Clark makes, and every one rings hollow, blaming our readers for not properly understanding our purity and greatness when we are the ones who claim to be professional communicators. If the public in large numbers say that they see bias in our coverage, then the proper response isn’t to claim that the majority of the population is unable to properly read for meaning, but to apply the same sort of rigorous scrutiny to our pages that we claim to apply to government, business, sports, and the other societal structures that we cover.
I firmly believe that the public isn’t falling away from newspapers because they no longer read, but because we’re no longer giving them stories that they want and need to read. Our readers aren’t fixated on celebrity twaddle because they’re shallow, but because we as an industry have offered them little else. Let’s stop pretending that our highest calling as journalists involves looking back at a "Golden Era" of limited competition for reader attention. Society needs the stories we’re able to tell, and deserves a press that looks at itself as honestly as we claim to look at them.
Categories: Media, Publications
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January 27, 2008 11:38 pm
There never seems to be a shortage of bureaucrats eager to take away our freedom by invoking security. In most cases, their proposed actions do absolutely nothing to promote real security, but do a great deal to make it easier to control and oppress the public.
I cover security, but it takes a real expert to make a convincing case against the proponents of fake security. Bruce Schneier has made a powerful case in his latest Wired blog post. The most important point he makes — and this is critical — is that the "choice" so often offered between security and privacy is not a choice that need be made. In most cases, the acts and systems that provide security don’t impinge on freedom and privacy.
We haven’t seen candidates asked questions about this in any meaningful way, but perhaps it’s past time for that to change. The way the next administration views privacy and security will have a significant impact on our lives for years to come.
Categories: Security, Threats
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There’s been a recent surge in interest on the question of how journalists should be paid. Is it right, for example, to base all or part of a journalist’s compensation on the number of readers the journalist attracts? The passion is great on this one, and there are reasoned arguments to be made on both sides. I, of course, believe that one side is both reasonable and right, and I’m pleased to see some other folks coming around to the arguments I’ve made.
Back in the early 1990s, before the World Wide Web had become a platform available to more than a relative handful of researchers, I argued to publishers that columnists, writers, and on-line hosts (as we sometimes called the folks who kept the pot stirred in our on-line reader forums) should have at least a portion of their compensation based on the number of readers they attracted. I was actually a bit more crass than that: I said that a portion of ad revenue (based then, as now, on the number of eyeballs seeing the ads) should be paid to the content creators. This "commission" would give them incentive to do more and better work, and would be a fixed portion of revenue, so the publisher could create more accurate budgets. I thought then, and think now, that it’s a great idea for everyone concerned. Of a certainty, a baseline payment should be made "for professional services", but as the audience responds and the publisher flourishes, then the journalist/writer/columnist should flourish, too.
The most common counter-argument I heard from publishers was that my ideas wouldn’t work because journalists didn’t care about money. As a journalists who enjoys the warm feeling that comes from writing a non-bouncing check to the mortgage company, I disagreed. Journalists may well be motivated by factors that can’t be put into a bank savings account, but that doesn’t mean we don’t care about money. What I’ve come to understand in the decade and a half since I floated the original idea, is that there are some journalists who don’t like the idea of being measured or evaluated in any way. For these folks, the idea of having something as concrete as money attached to their work is horrifying. For many other journalists, the idea that practicing better journalism could result in a healthier bank account has a great deal of merit.
In the New Era of journalism, some folks "get it" and thrive by tying readership to compensation. Though a commentator more than a journalist, Glenn Reynolds has made the new model work for him when he calls attention to journalist’s compensation in a recent post. Other’s like Michael Yon, base their journalism almost entirely on direct support from readers.
I think that the principles of Nick Denton’s new compensation plan are spot on: a base salary for regular work with a bonus based on how many people read it. Journalists like Lucas Grindley see this pretty much the same way I do: it’s a model that leads to everyone on the publication team prospering through the success of the publication. Other journalists, like Jack D. Lail, see the issue through a similar lens — one that ties compensation to the journalist’s value to the publication.
Today, the arguments against this sort of compensation ultimately boil down to "It will lead to pandering." If, by "pandering", you mean telling stories that interest and benefit the reader in an active, compelling manner, then I’m all for it. If, on the other hand, you mean chewing over cold celebrity stories with rancid titillation thrown in for flavor, then I suggest that you’re part of journalism’s problem. The idea that the only two possibilities are "good for you" pieces that no one really wants to read or celebrity trash is poisonous to the health of real journalism. I believe that people are no less interested in solid, meaningful stories than they ever were — they’re just tired of having them wrapped in bad prose and preachy tones. Tell a good, honest story in a lively, engaging way and people will read it — and they’ll prefer it to the latest crap about who couldn’t find the underwear drawer on the way out of the house.
I hope the new model for compensation will take hold because I honestly believe it will encourage good writers to become good journalists. We need good journalists — it’s the same old way of doing things that we can do without.
Categories: Media
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December 28, 2007 9:00 am
Boy, I knew it had been a while since the last post, but I didn’t realize that I was pushing toward three months. What can I say? Graduate school takes a lot of time and energy. If you’re interested in keeping up with my grad school musings, pay a visit to my other regular blog, the Mid-Career Grad Student. Of course, you’re also welcomed to visit my primary work blog, SMB IT at InfoWorld. I also contribute to the Test Center Daily Blog, so feel free to check in there on a regular basis.
I hope to be able to dress this place up in the new year — there are lot of technologies and products that should make it faster and easier to post to all the blogs. I’m using Windows Live Writer for virtually all my posts to TechNotes and Mid-Career Grad Student, and I find it makes a huge difference in the labor required for each post.
Speaking of technology, I’ve found Twitter. If you’ve joined Twitter, search for KG4GWA and you’ll find my posts. I know that several news organizations are now using Twitter for breaking news…I’ll look forward to seeing how well it works for me.
Thanks for stopping by to read this — I’ll try to have more interesting posts (and just more posts) in the coming year.
Categories: Uncategorized
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October 11, 2007 10:32 pm
My friend Brian Chee pointed me at Microsoft LiveWriter a while back, but I had trouble getting the software to work with the blog here. Now, it’s working, and I have to say that it’s pretty slick. It’s even nicer than ScribeFire, the FireFox extension I’ve been using for some time.
I’ll be using LiveWriter to update my student blog, and I’ll be creating some photo pages here in the near future. LiveWriter should make building the blog and those pages much easier — and I’ll just have to live with having to say nice things about another Microsoft product.
Categories: Media, Software
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September 28, 2007 4:26 pm
I know, I know, it’s been a long break, but the last couple of weeks have been amazing. I’ve written more words in a shorter time than in a great while. On the one hand, I love it — while I enjoyed the podcasting gig at CMP (and campaigned for it), I found that I missed writing. That itch is being scratched with a vengeance. On the other hand, I get to 2:00 AM, realize I haven’t posted here, and know that sleep does have some priority in my life.
Here’s one thing that I’ve been up to: I’ve added InfoWorld’s SMB IT blog to my portfolio. Check it out (especially after I get some real content posted) and let me know what you think. There have been other things in the last couple of weeks, as well…I’ll have links to those up, soon.
Thanks for hanging around — I’ll try to make it worth your while…
Categories: Housekeeping
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September 20, 2007 11:21 am
You’ve seen the cartoon: a snowball starts at the top of the mountain and speeds down a slope, picking up speed, small farm animals, and our hapless hero along the way. That’s how the months from now until Christmas look right now. I think I’m about three steps in front of the snowball, humping along for all I’m worth.
Part of that is keeping up another blog for my Journalists’ Toolkit class. I have a new entry on photojournalism editing and ethics.It’s an interesting topic for me: I’ve always been interested in photojournalism, and I’ve taken some photos for magazine articles, but I would never consider myself a photojournalist. In the new world of multiple media publishing, though, the walls are tumbling down.
I’m building up to another couple of posts in the next day, and please feel free to head over to The Gainesville Sun to check out my latest column.
Man, that snowball’s getting close…
Categories: Media, Grad School
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September 12, 2007 9:45 pm
OK, so I know that I can’t be trusted to regularly update this blog, but I’ve started another blog as part of a class I’m taking at the University of Florida. It has the fairly obvious title of Mid-Career Grad Student, but that’s about as creative as I can be just now. Feel free to check it out–I’ll look forward to your comments, either here or there.
A couple of folks have asked about my first assignment for my class in on-line journalism tools. It’s very short, but you’re welcomed to listen to a brief interview I conducted with a fellow student. As always, comments are welcomed.
Now, all I have to do is find that order form for the 28-hour day…
Categories: Grad School
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September 6, 2007 9:43 pm
It’s a curious affliction, I know, but I don’t like squirrels. Actually, I should qualify that: squirrels are just fine in brunswick stew, braised with dumplings, or made into any number of tasty dishes. When they’re running around the yard eating stuff I’ve planted or put out for birds, though, they’re nasty little furry-tailed tree rats.
Friends and family have long made fun of my antipathy towards Sciurus Carolinensis, but now the truth about the long-toothed little hell rodents has come out: squirrels are dangerous. When the lives of little children and brave law-enforcement officers are at risk, I say it’s time to break out the stew-pot.
Categories: Outdoors
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In my last post, I promised two secrets that are making my life better. Here, I deliver…
First, an engineer in for an upcoming review for InfoWorld told me a secret of the BlackJack. I can’t say it’s been my very favorite phone up until now, but he showed me how to convince it to act as a wireless modem for my laptop. Joy! Now, I can get work done anywhere I can find a high-speed data signal (which is most of the places I tend to travel). Since I have the unlimited data plan, I figure AT&T can get only so ticked off at me. After all, bits are bits.
Next came a critical revelation about an important application one of my publications uses to manage articles. Since joining the pub, I’d been told that a VPN connection was required to reach the app and, for various reasons, I had to use the pub-supplied laptop for the VPN connection. On a phone call earlier this week, a fellow editor let it slip that no VPN connection was actually required. I checked, and he’s right! Joy, again! I’ve had to do just a bit of application hacking, since the publication is still using Office 2003 and I’m using Office 2007, but I’ve managed to get everything working and I can feel my stress level dropping dramatically. To be able to get necessary work done wherever I am is a gloriously liberating feeling.
That’s it–I’m now more mobile, with my cell phone and single laptop giving me an office-in-a-messenger bag. I’m altogether too pleased with the situation, but it’s put a nice glow on the week.
Categories: Networking, Mobile
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September 5, 2007 9:40 pm
First, sorry that this is the first post of the week. For a “short week,” it’s been jam-packed with action. Where to start? How about this…
My second column appeared in the Gainesville Sun. This one revolved around on-line collaboration tools for small businesses, families, and students. The longer I do the things I do, the more I’m a fan of on-line collaboration tools. I remember what an effort it was to keep track of chapters when I co-wrote two books–now, we’ll just set up a project on a collaboration system and be in Fat City.
I had a first, this week, as well: I wrote a small feature article for the Sun, on the new AT&T usage filters for cell phones. After more than twenty years as a journalist, this was my first feature for a newspaper. Not much of what I’ve done could count as straight-forward reportage–it was nice seeing that I can do the job when I need to.
OK, so I love trying new things: After talking about my excitement over ZuluPad, I think I may have already found something I like better–at least for keeping notes for grad school. Debrief is a feature-packed application for taking and organizing academic and research notes. It’s not so free-form as ZuluPad, but it has great facilities for keeping track of references, setting up assignment reminders, and organizing class and research notes into usable groups. There are three versions: one is always free, and the other two are free for a 30-day trial, after which you can pay for them. I’m trying the Professional version, and I can feel a payment coming on in twenty days or so.
Speaking of school, first assignments are due tomorrow. Today was an incredible day–multiple articles to edit and file at InfoWorld, multiple assignments due for classes, a conference call to talk about changes to a production system, a newsletter deadline, and an evening stint playing the piano for a high-school drama audition. You know what? On the whole, I love it. The moments of panic are good for the circulatory system, and staying busy is good for me. About 15% percent less busy than today would be fine, but, hey, you shouldn’t ask for too much. All of this is a long-winded way of saying that I’ll be posting links to some of my homework assignments (because I’ve been asked to do so, not because I have such a huge ego), but I don’t think this first assignment will be one of those. If you really want to hear it, let me know and I’ll send you the link.
Next time, news about an exciting discovery (or two) that are making my life ever so much better…
Categories: Media, Consumer, Grad School
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We’ve got the first assignment in the Journalist’s Toolkit class, and it’s all about audio. We broke up into teams of two or three and recorded interviews with one another using an Olympus recorder . Now, we must edit it down to a 60-90 second recording using Audacity. The hardest part, oddly enough, was getting the files converted from WMA to WAV format. It’s interesting–there are scores of programs out there that will happily move files from one graphics format to another, but a much smaller number that will deal gracefully with audio.
We’re going to be turning our assignments in using web space provided by UF–I’ll put links here so you can watch/listen and let me know what you think.
I’ve found another interesting note-taking tool…more on that next time.
Categories: Software, Grad School
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Since this is my first stint in journalism school, I don’t have any basis for figuring out whether things have changed in the last decade. I know that the practice of journalism has changed (at least in my little corner of the journalistic world) as we’ve moved from ink on paper as our only story-telling medium to ink/bits/pixels/handshakes/soundwaves on whatever will deliver them to the audience. I don’t think it’s a bad thing, though as I remember back to BYTE and Circuit Cellar INK our lives were somewhat calmer. Oh, well.
I started thinking about this when I was pointed at this article on the changes at Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. (Thanks to Mitch Wagner for the pointer.) As I read the article, a big part of me was asking, “What’s the big deal?” In my world, telling stories in a bunch of different ways is just part of the job, and there’s no shame in knowing who your audience is and what they need from your publication. I’ve been on the staff of publications that required editors to make regular reader calls–going down the list of subscribers and calling, say, 20 readers a month to find out how their lives were going, what they needed to know, and what their big concerns and issues were. I have trouble seeing this kind of knowledge as a bad thing.
Of course, some folks see the move to know the audience and think about different ways of telling stories as a short, slippery slope that leads directly to this kind of foolishness. What’s wrong with the Naples class? It’s hard to know where to start. How about here: I’m not that far removed from being the parent of a high-school student. In programs like band, each student was responsible for part of the cost of the program, but there were lots of opportunities to raise the money. I’m not thrilled about telling students they must do one particular fund-raising activity–I’m even less thrilled about tying it to a grade. Next comes the confusion of roles between journalists and sales folks in publishing. Now, if the class was simply called “The Newspaper”, and everyone did a bit of everything, then a strong case could be made for sales being a part of the mix–but that is, apparently, not the case. If you’re not part of the industry, here’s the deal: Salesmen don’t write stories, and journalists don’t sell ads. It’s a good system that keeps everyone honest and most people fairly happy. Finally, though, is the sheer cluelessness of the teacher who thought this would get no notice and no criticism. That may be the most disturbing piece of the puzzle.
My goals don’t include teaching high school anything, but the discussions about how journalism should be taught are interesting, because they speak to what different people think journalism should be–and that’s a worthy (and changing) topic for discussion pretty much any time.
Categories: Media, Grad School
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No, it doesn’t replace the InfoWorld job, but it’s an addition: I’m the new technology columnist for the Gainesville Sun, our local newspaper here in the land of ‘gators. You can see the inaugural column here. I’ll be writing about a mix of things (and I’d love suggestions), with technology for families, students, and small businesses getting the heaviest roles in the rotation.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a bunch of stuff to write, edit, read, and record. For some reason, my life seems to be getting busy…
Categories: Media, Consumer Technology
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One of the skills I need to improve is my photography. I do get some decent shots, but the ratio of good to bad isn’t as great as I’d like. I found a link to the Nikon Digital Learning Center, and found what looks like a very helpful group of folks. I’m looking forward to getting some help and learning to take better photos–who knows, the improvement might be enough to help me get higher grades on my photo projects.
Categories: Media, Consumer Technology, Grad School
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