One day after posting a link to thought-provoking blog on the economics of journalism from one Journal Register Company (JRC) advisor, Jeff Jarvis, I find myself posting a link to a second blog by another JRC advisor, Jay Rosen.
In "What I Know About Journalism", Rosen reflects on his 25 years on the faculty of New York University and lists four truths he has come to know during his tenure. The first of them - that "the more people who participate in the press the stronger it will be" - is an important building block of JRC's "Digital First" focus. Hence our Community Media Labs and efforts at citizen journalism.
The third is one that has struck more than a few people in our field as essential; witness the Newspaper Next effort by the American Press Insititute that subscribes to the philosophy that we should devote resources to - to paraphrase - "news readers can use". It is a task we fall short of at most newspapers, mine included; while chasing what editors and reporters consider are the big stories of the day, we too seldom reflect on what is our readers seek from our products. As Rosen states, we need to starting asking the right questions if we want to know.
Thank goodness Rosen, Jarvis and others keep us on our toes. It is too easy in the course of the day-to-day to stop pondering the important questions.
Showing posts with label citizen journalism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label citizen journalism. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
Bringing the outside in; reflecting on the Times-Union's decision to close Troy, Saratoga news bureaus
Technology has certainly made it easier for journalists to interact with their readers. It is not only tools such as email, Facebook and Twitter that enables communication (and hopefully collaboration). But mobile technology - smart phones, netbooks and tablets - ensures reporters don't have to spend half or more of their workday in a newsroom; the gadgets free journalists to write and submit photos from anywhere. The smart ones plant themselves a good part of the day at coffee houses, libraries, parks, malls, beaches, courthouses, stadiums and elsewhere to increase their contact with the community.
To that end the Times Union announced this week it was closing bureaus in two communities where our parent company, the Journal Register Company, has newspapers: Saratoga and Troy. The TU admitted in the story on the bureau closings that saving money was a factor in the decision but spun the move to say it "could increase - rather than diminish - the presence of Times Union journalists in either city". The theory being, the story explained, if reporters didn't have an office to go to they might report from those aforementioned public places. But also note they used the word "could" not "would".
I am not going to quibble with any newspaper's attempts to save money. It has been a tough couple years financially for the industry and 2011 isn't shaping up to be any different. But I do think it is a mistake to pretend that a newspaper not having a physical place in the community is not important. For one, it adds to the tax base, and in these tough times when municipalities are strapped that support is important. But much more critical is having roots in the community. By at least one definition a community is, in part, a social group of whose members reside in a specific locality. By not being physically present, one automatically earns an "outsider" label. Yeah, there are digital communities, too. But in this context being able to identify your brand as truly being local requires one to be, well, local.
I would have been less inclined to publicly comment on this development if the TU story hadn't mentioned that our company is practicing "coffee-shop journalism" within some of its buildings, a reference to the much-publicized recent opening of the newsroom to the public at our sister paper in Torrington, Conn. But the point that was lost on the writer is that JRC's approach is to bring the public into its newsroom. We want to not only have our writers exposed to the community, we want the community to physically participate in our news process ... much of which happens inside our buildings as we make decisions about what stories to cover, how much visibility those stories are going to receive in our products, and so on. Moreover, we want to collaborate other ways - artistically (let's invite in a local band to perform and live stream it), educationally (sponsor workshops, book groups, demonstrations and lectures), socially and so on. And we want them to write, blog and shoot photos and video alongside us.
We're constantly pushing our reporters and photographers out the door and giving them tools to spend as much time in the community as possible. But we also believe we have to be in the thick of things locally, to get as much facetime as possible with our readership, to have them know where we are when they want us, and to support local infrastructure. The Record and Saratogian offices have been physically open for more than a century but they have never been as open as they are today. And they will remain that way.
Footnotes:
To that end the Times Union announced this week it was closing bureaus in two communities where our parent company, the Journal Register Company, has newspapers: Saratoga and Troy. The TU admitted in the story on the bureau closings that saving money was a factor in the decision but spun the move to say it "could increase - rather than diminish - the presence of Times Union journalists in either city". The theory being, the story explained, if reporters didn't have an office to go to they might report from those aforementioned public places. But also note they used the word "could" not "would".
I am not going to quibble with any newspaper's attempts to save money. It has been a tough couple years financially for the industry and 2011 isn't shaping up to be any different. But I do think it is a mistake to pretend that a newspaper not having a physical place in the community is not important. For one, it adds to the tax base, and in these tough times when municipalities are strapped that support is important. But much more critical is having roots in the community. By at least one definition a community is, in part, a social group of whose members reside in a specific locality. By not being physically present, one automatically earns an "outsider" label. Yeah, there are digital communities, too. But in this context being able to identify your brand as truly being local requires one to be, well, local.
I would have been less inclined to publicly comment on this development if the TU story hadn't mentioned that our company is practicing "coffee-shop journalism" within some of its buildings, a reference to the much-publicized recent opening of the newsroom to the public at our sister paper in Torrington, Conn. But the point that was lost on the writer is that JRC's approach is to bring the public into its newsroom. We want to not only have our writers exposed to the community, we want the community to physically participate in our news process ... much of which happens inside our buildings as we make decisions about what stories to cover, how much visibility those stories are going to receive in our products, and so on. Moreover, we want to collaborate other ways - artistically (let's invite in a local band to perform and live stream it), educationally (sponsor workshops, book groups, demonstrations and lectures), socially and so on. And we want them to write, blog and shoot photos and video alongside us.
We're constantly pushing our reporters and photographers out the door and giving them tools to spend as much time in the community as possible. But we also believe we have to be in the thick of things locally, to get as much facetime as possible with our readership, to have them know where we are when they want us, and to support local infrastructure. The Record and Saratogian offices have been physically open for more than a century but they have never been as open as they are today. And they will remain that way.
Footnotes:
- Read what The Record's Tom Caprood and the Saratogian's Barbara Lombardo wrote on the TU closing two bureaus.
- The Record has a number of workshops in its Community Media Lab (501 Broadway, downtown Troy) in March: on the 8th, tax preparation; 10th, Irish genealogy, part 1; 14th, Irish genealogy, part 2; 30th, a fishing season preview; and on the 31st, a workshop on social media fundamentals. See The Record, troyrecord.com, and http://www.facebook.com/#!/troyrecord for more information.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
The year in review - 2010 at The Record
This was a transformational year in the history of The Record. We took a firm step into our digital future while buttressing our legacy print business. The year in review:
Digital First
In February, Journal Register Company (our parent company) named a new CEO, John Paton. He met with JRC publishers on his first day on the job and told them to embrace a new “news ecology”, which includes the empowerment of citizen journalists to help us report what is going on in our communities. He demanded we be mobile-first in news delivery; and employ technologies to give consumers what they want, how they want it, when they want it.
To that end, the Record has changed the way it reported news in so many ways:
- All of our journalists were equipped with video cameras in the the spring; we now broadcast an average of about 70 new videos a month.
- Staffers began blogging, and we invited the community to blog on our site as well. Today we have over 30 bloggers.
- We began engaging our audiences more using social media. We launched a Facebook page, which today has 767 "fans". Now more than a dozen staffers use Twitter.
- We live-streamed all of our editorial board meetings with candidates during the election season, and our sports team has been particularly active with the above tools - regularly blogging, tweeting and posting video from games, and setting up special events such as Will Montgomery's high school football chat sessions, and Andrew Santillo's and Tretonian sports reporter Ben Doody's weekly chat about MAAC college basketball.
We promoted one of our staff writers, Tom Caprood, to lead our digital first efforts in the newsroom this spring, and he was named to JRC's Idea Lab in July. The concept is to have 15 employees companywide devote 10 hours a week for a year to helping the company "think differently about what we do and how we do it". Experimenting with technology is a big part of the charge.
We also opened the first phase of our Community Media Lab - a space designed to bring the community in to collaborate with us on all types of projects - from citizen journalism (ie. blogging) to forums on topics of interest to business owners to dialogues with local business, arts, education, government, and non-profit leaders.
And lastly, we added journalists in our newsroom in early 2010 - aiding both our digital and print efforts - and launched a few new features throughout the year. (Among the highlights were two in sports: a roundup of local athletic accomplishments each Sunday, and the presence of an in-depth sports feature that day as well.)
Our audience is growing
Our audience is larger than it has been in some time. Our digital audience is now up to over 163,000 unique visitors a month, and our print audience over the same period exceeds 93,000 adults.
The Record has been defying newspaper industry trends this year - as of last week our paid home delivery circulation was up 9.8 percent vs. the same week last December (while our overall circulation is relatively flat due to declining single copy sales).
Not only have readers have responding positively to changes in our operations; the Capital Region's alternative news weekly Metroland cited The Record in its Best of the Region announcement in late July for "Best Newspaper Turnaround". They said, in part, that we "re-imagined" our product, and "now regularly produce the most satisfying read of any paper around".
Legacy structure
None of the digital first focus represents an abandonment of our print products. In fact, this effort will enhance our newspapers as we refocus our resources to use newsprint to present more compelling journalism.
More community engagement
We were active with a number of new community organizations during the year, and we expanded our Clothe the Child effort to a second annual campaign called "Camps4Kids". Proceeds sponsored camp scholarships for Troy Boys and Girls Club kids to its Camp Barker, which was struggling with funding.
Another exciting project came late in the year as The Record rallied to bring the 2010 World Series Trophy to Troy. After a five-week campaign, the San Francisco Giants - whose Major League roots are in Troy - agreed to bring the trophy here in May.
Sneak peak at '11
We have a bunch of new products, technologies and ways of reporting news and engaging with our readers that we will employ in 2011. I am happy to announce two projects today to provide a sneak peak:
I recommend those interested in the transformation at JRC see the video released this week on our progress in 2010.
And I want to take this opportunity to wish all of our readers, advertisers and employees the merriest of holidays; we look forward to engaging our community even more in 2011.
In February, Journal Register Company (our parent company) named a new CEO, John Paton. He met with JRC publishers on his first day on the job and told them to embrace a new “news ecology”, which includes the empowerment of citizen journalists to help us report what is going on in our communities. He demanded we be mobile-first in news delivery; and employ technologies to give consumers what they want, how they want it, when they want it.
To that end, the Record has changed the way it reported news in so many ways:
- All of our journalists were equipped with video cameras in the the spring; we now broadcast an average of about 70 new videos a month.
- Staffers began blogging, and we invited the community to blog on our site as well. Today we have over 30 bloggers.
- We began engaging our audiences more using social media. We launched a Facebook page, which today has 767 "fans". Now more than a dozen staffers use Twitter.
- We live-streamed all of our editorial board meetings with candidates during the election season, and our sports team has been particularly active with the above tools - regularly blogging, tweeting and posting video from games, and setting up special events such as Will Montgomery's high school football chat sessions, and Andrew Santillo's and Tretonian sports reporter Ben Doody's weekly chat about MAAC college basketball.
We promoted one of our staff writers, Tom Caprood, to lead our digital first efforts in the newsroom this spring, and he was named to JRC's Idea Lab in July. The concept is to have 15 employees companywide devote 10 hours a week for a year to helping the company "think differently about what we do and how we do it". Experimenting with technology is a big part of the charge.
We also opened the first phase of our Community Media Lab - a space designed to bring the community in to collaborate with us on all types of projects - from citizen journalism (ie. blogging) to forums on topics of interest to business owners to dialogues with local business, arts, education, government, and non-profit leaders.
And lastly, we added journalists in our newsroom in early 2010 - aiding both our digital and print efforts - and launched a few new features throughout the year. (Among the highlights were two in sports: a roundup of local athletic accomplishments each Sunday, and the presence of an in-depth sports feature that day as well.)
Our audience is growing
Our audience is larger than it has been in some time. Our digital audience is now up to over 163,000 unique visitors a month, and our print audience over the same period exceeds 93,000 adults.
The Record has been defying newspaper industry trends this year - as of last week our paid home delivery circulation was up 9.8 percent vs. the same week last December (while our overall circulation is relatively flat due to declining single copy sales).
Not only have readers have responding positively to changes in our operations; the Capital Region's alternative news weekly Metroland cited The Record in its Best of the Region announcement in late July for "Best Newspaper Turnaround". They said, in part, that we "re-imagined" our product, and "now regularly produce the most satisfying read of any paper around".
Legacy structure
None of the digital first focus represents an abandonment of our print products. In fact, this effort will enhance our newspapers as we refocus our resources to use newsprint to present more compelling journalism.
In many instances our company, as CEO John Paton has blogged about, we have outsourced to reduce our legacy costs so we could invest more in technology and journalism. Buildings, presses and delivery trucks have all been shedded. But in some cases where it made sense, some locations were identified as printing centers in JRC. So Troy is a print hub now for our Troy, Saratoga and Kingston products. To that end, we invested in our building and printing technology here:
- In February we went live with new computer-to-plate equipment, which cut down on our prepress costs.
- And in November we went live with new inserting equipment, which improved efficiency in that end of our operations in the week leading up to our becoming printer for a sister newspaper, Kingston's The Daily Freeman, on Dec. 7.
More community engagement
We were active with a number of new community organizations during the year, and we expanded our Clothe the Child effort to a second annual campaign called "Camps4Kids". Proceeds sponsored camp scholarships for Troy Boys and Girls Club kids to its Camp Barker, which was struggling with funding.
Another exciting project came late in the year as The Record rallied to bring the 2010 World Series Trophy to Troy. After a five-week campaign, the San Francisco Giants - whose Major League roots are in Troy - agreed to bring the trophy here in May.
Sneak peak at '11
We have a bunch of new products, technologies and ways of reporting news and engaging with our readers that we will employ in 2011. I am happy to announce two projects today to provide a sneak peak:
- The Record's Rensselaer Forum will be a regular gathering of community leaders in the arts, education, health, public service and local business to discuss issues of importance to local residents. The goal is to provide an ongoing process for residents to envision the future of their community. Topics and invited guests will vary, but the format will be the same: The public will be invited to participate in the discussion. A transcript will be published at troyrecord.com, as will stories. And video will be shot and excerpts made available on our web site.
- We'll call it a working name for now - troyrecord.com's CML Concert Series (the CML standing for our Community Media Lab) - is also coming soon. We're inviting in music acts from the region to perform live in our media lab, and we'll post videos from each session and a brief artist biography on our Web site.
- Electronic and mobile editions of our newspaper will roll out early in the coming year.
- As announced this week by the Business Review, we are looking to expand our Community Media Lab into our newsroom. More on this as the project progresses.
- And we are investing in a new front-end system for our editorial department this spring to make us more efficient, to push news more readily to mobile devices and the Web, and to make it easier to share content with other publications in our company, among other reasons.
I recommend those interested in the transformation at JRC see the video released this week on our progress in 2010.
And I want to take this opportunity to wish all of our readers, advertisers and employees the merriest of holidays; we look forward to engaging our community even more in 2011.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Community members discuss their troyrecord.com blogs
Some of troyrecord.com's bloggers came by The Record's Community Media Lab on Wednesday night for a discussion/reception to preview a video featuring several of them talking about their experiences writing for us.
Digital special Tom Caprood led the discussion and previewed the video he created.
More on the event.
See the video:
 |
| Troyrecord.com digital specialist Tom Caprood talks with blogger Marcie Pry at the web site's Community Media Lab. |
Some of troyrecord.com's bloggers came by The Record's Community Media Lab on Wednesday night for a discussion/reception to preview a video featuring several of them talking about their experiences writing for us.
Digital special Tom Caprood led the discussion and previewed the video he created.
More on the event.
See the video:
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Breadth of bloggers for troyrecord.com keeps growing
The depth and breadth of folks blogging at troyrecord.com is growing in leaps and bounds.
I wrote in mid-March when we had 14 bloggers that we wanted to expand the community voices on our Web site and many responded. By the end of April, we had grown our roster of blogs to 27. And since then we've added six more indiviudals to bring the total to 33.
Areas of interest/expertise on a wide range of subjects are represented, from semi-professional football to financial and career planning to several people who write on happenings and concerns in our local communities. Our latest blogger is B. Reefer, a management major at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, who writes on his experience as a college student in our community.
Interesting in blogging with us? Contact Tom Caprood with your ideas. And to everyone else, happy reading.
I wrote in mid-March when we had 14 bloggers that we wanted to expand the community voices on our Web site and many responded. By the end of April, we had grown our roster of blogs to 27. And since then we've added six more indiviudals to bring the total to 33.
Areas of interest/expertise on a wide range of subjects are represented, from semi-professional football to financial and career planning to several people who write on happenings and concerns in our local communities. Our latest blogger is B. Reefer, a management major at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, who writes on his experience as a college student in our community.
Interesting in blogging with us? Contact Tom Caprood with your ideas. And to everyone else, happy reading.
Monday, June 7, 2010
The Record announces Ben Franklin Project stories
Recently I wrote about the Troy Record's participation in Journal Register Company's Ben Franklin Project. On Sunday, July 4, our editorial coverage will reflect the fact our journalists will have sought considerable help from readers in reporting the news, while using free tools to publish our print and online products.
We rarely work on story budgets this far out but for this project we are making an exception, for obvious reasons. Here are seven stories we would like readers of The Record to give us input on:
High cost of summer athletics. Some parents pay up to $1,000 or more for their children to play on summer athletic teams or to attend specialized camps around the country and abroad. We want your input on the matter of the value of these programs and camps to swimmers, soccer players, baseball athletes, football participants and others. For a related story, we would also like your opinion on how the specialization in sports has led to the near extinction of the three-sport scholastic athlete as teens strive to pursue college scholarships. Contact Andrew Santillo or Will Montgomery.
Major League Baseball memories. We’re looking for readers who have been to major league ballparks to share their most memorable experiences - as well as photos if you have 'em - with fellow readers. Contact Ed Weaver.
Parking meters. Troy recently installed new meters downtown. The effort has caused quite a stir among residents, business owners and visitors. We want to find out how the public feels about the city’s effort to generate new revenue and manage parking space availability. Some people report confusion about how the meters work and where best to find parking. We will send a staff member to observe how parking ordinances are enforced as well as how people are reacting to it. There are also plans to create a video and/or photo slideshow on how the meters work, and to set up an online forum for discussion. Contact any one of these individuals with your feedback: Jessica Pasko, Cecelia Martinez, Tom Caprood or Katie Nowak.
Gridlock. Capital District highways and thoroughfares tend to turn into parking lots most days during morning and afternoon rush hours. What are some of your worst commuter horror stories? What route is the worst for traffic jams or best to avoid them? Contact: Jessica Pasko, Dave Canfield, or Danielle Sanzone.
Editorial page content. We’re inviting the public to submit content for editorial cartoons, columns and guest editorials related to an Independence Day theme of your choice. Feel free to be as creative as to the context - patriotism, independence, the state of state and/or federal politics, or something else. Contact Lisa Robert Lewis for more information and to share your ideas.
Travel. We are asking the community to send us their thoughts and photos of their favorite travel destinations for this time of year: day trip, weekend getaway and week-long (or longer) summer destinations are all welcome. E-mail Siobhan Connally.
Photo story. Lastly, we're looking for photos of your favorite historic sites, patriotic displays, and local summer events to put together for a photo page showcasing your interests. Contact Mike McMahon.
Thanks in advance for participating!
We rarely work on story budgets this far out but for this project we are making an exception, for obvious reasons. Here are seven stories we would like readers of The Record to give us input on:
High cost of summer athletics. Some parents pay up to $1,000 or more for their children to play on summer athletic teams or to attend specialized camps around the country and abroad. We want your input on the matter of the value of these programs and camps to swimmers, soccer players, baseball athletes, football participants and others. For a related story, we would also like your opinion on how the specialization in sports has led to the near extinction of the three-sport scholastic athlete as teens strive to pursue college scholarships. Contact Andrew Santillo or Will Montgomery.
Major League Baseball memories. We’re looking for readers who have been to major league ballparks to share their most memorable experiences - as well as photos if you have 'em - with fellow readers. Contact Ed Weaver.
Parking meters. Troy recently installed new meters downtown. The effort has caused quite a stir among residents, business owners and visitors. We want to find out how the public feels about the city’s effort to generate new revenue and manage parking space availability. Some people report confusion about how the meters work and where best to find parking. We will send a staff member to observe how parking ordinances are enforced as well as how people are reacting to it. There are also plans to create a video and/or photo slideshow on how the meters work, and to set up an online forum for discussion. Contact any one of these individuals with your feedback: Jessica Pasko, Cecelia Martinez, Tom Caprood or Katie Nowak.
Gridlock. Capital District highways and thoroughfares tend to turn into parking lots most days during morning and afternoon rush hours. What are some of your worst commuter horror stories? What route is the worst for traffic jams or best to avoid them? Contact: Jessica Pasko, Dave Canfield, or Danielle Sanzone.
Editorial page content. We’re inviting the public to submit content for editorial cartoons, columns and guest editorials related to an Independence Day theme of your choice. Feel free to be as creative as to the context - patriotism, independence, the state of state and/or federal politics, or something else. Contact Lisa Robert Lewis for more information and to share your ideas.
Travel. We are asking the community to send us their thoughts and photos of their favorite travel destinations for this time of year: day trip, weekend getaway and week-long (or longer) summer destinations are all welcome. E-mail Siobhan Connally.
Photo story. Lastly, we're looking for photos of your favorite historic sites, patriotic displays, and local summer events to put together for a photo page showcasing your interests. Contact Mike McMahon.
Thanks in advance for participating!
Friday, June 4, 2010
Oneida Daily Dispatch announces Ben Franklin Project stories
Recently I wrote about the Oneida Daily Dispatch's participation in Journal Register Company's Ben Franklin Project. The gist is that on Saturday, July 3, our editorial coverage will reflect the fact our journalists will have sought considerable help from readers in reporting the news, while using free tools to publish our print and online products.
We rarely work on story budgets this far out but for this project we are making an exception, for obvious reasons. Here are three stories we would like your input on:
Where have all our neighbors gone? Census projections show Madison and Oneida counties continue to lose residents. It's not just retired people moving to Florida; it¹s the young and the educated seeking opportunity they can¹t find at home. If this area is to grow and proper in the years to come, these are the people who need to make it happen. What can be done? The first in a series of articles on this topic will run July 3. We'll talk to teenagers about where they see themselves living as young adults. We'll reach out to former residents as to why they moved. And we'll talk to local adults of all ages about whether they are planning to stay.
Oneida proud. One thing shared by many of us who have remained in Oneida is Oneida High School; either we attended and/or our children. But the school was different in each era. Teachers, fashions and atmosphere are some of changes. Clique also fashioned our experiences. We want people to share their memories of what OHS was like "back in the day" .... whenever that was for you. It would be particularly fun to talk to families who have had several generations of family members taught at OHS. We'll also ask readers to share photos.
Dangerous intersections. Based on your input as to which intersections are the worst, we'll talk with local officials about how to solve what may be long-standing issues. We'll use online maps and take photos to illustrate.
If you would like to participate in any of these stories, please contact editor Kurt Wanfried.
We rarely work on story budgets this far out but for this project we are making an exception, for obvious reasons. Here are three stories we would like your input on:
Where have all our neighbors gone? Census projections show Madison and Oneida counties continue to lose residents. It's not just retired people moving to Florida; it¹s the young and the educated seeking opportunity they can¹t find at home. If this area is to grow and proper in the years to come, these are the people who need to make it happen. What can be done? The first in a series of articles on this topic will run July 3. We'll talk to teenagers about where they see themselves living as young adults. We'll reach out to former residents as to why they moved. And we'll talk to local adults of all ages about whether they are planning to stay.
Oneida proud. One thing shared by many of us who have remained in Oneida is Oneida High School; either we attended and/or our children. But the school was different in each era. Teachers, fashions and atmosphere are some of changes. Clique also fashioned our experiences. We want people to share their memories of what OHS was like "back in the day" .... whenever that was for you. It would be particularly fun to talk to families who have had several generations of family members taught at OHS. We'll also ask readers to share photos.
Dangerous intersections. Based on your input as to which intersections are the worst, we'll talk with local officials about how to solve what may be long-standing issues. We'll use online maps and take photos to illustrate.
If you would like to participate in any of these stories, please contact editor Kurt Wanfried.
Friday, May 28, 2010
The Record adds fact-checking and story idea tools to Web site
As some readers have noticed, we've added several new fact-checking and story idea submission forms to on news and sports stories at troyrecord.com.
The enhancements exemplify our efforts to be more transparent in our journalism and to collaborate more frequently with readers in gathering and reporting news. It also acknowledges our collective knowledge of our communities is greater than any one news organization can possess.
The initiative is one element of the Journal Register Company's (JRC) Ben Franklin Project which aims to “crowdsource” content as much as possible in our products. The Record is a JRC news operation.
We encourage you to report any fact we publish that you believe is incorrect. Our staff will verify the information and publish corrections at the source of the original story (whether it is in print or online, or both).
To be clear, The Record is not passing off its editing and fact checking responsibilities. Accuracy remains of paramount importance to each and every member of our staff. We only hope that by opening the door to the tens of thousands of you who read our products, we can harness the collective knowledge of everyone.
On story submissions, this will help streamline incoming story ideas to make sure they are being screened by the right people, while also hopefully encouraging more people to submit ideas.
We will communicate much more about the Ben Franklin Project and the role we hope our readers will play with us in the coming weeks
The enhancements exemplify our efforts to be more transparent in our journalism and to collaborate more frequently with readers in gathering and reporting news. It also acknowledges our collective knowledge of our communities is greater than any one news organization can possess.
The initiative is one element of the Journal Register Company's (JRC) Ben Franklin Project which aims to “crowdsource” content as much as possible in our products. The Record is a JRC news operation.
We encourage you to report any fact we publish that you believe is incorrect. Our staff will verify the information and publish corrections at the source of the original story (whether it is in print or online, or both).
To be clear, The Record is not passing off its editing and fact checking responsibilities. Accuracy remains of paramount importance to each and every member of our staff. We only hope that by opening the door to the tens of thousands of you who read our products, we can harness the collective knowledge of everyone.
On story submissions, this will help streamline incoming story ideas to make sure they are being screened by the right people, while also hopefully encouraging more people to submit ideas.
We will communicate much more about the Ben Franklin Project and the role we hope our readers will play with us in the coming weeks
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Declaring independence: Shedding the past and adopting the future coming July 4th to this newspaper
Ben Franklin is credited with saying, "Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing."
Reporters of our company's newspapers and Web sites do a lot of the former each and every day. On July 4, we're going to something of the latter. That is the day all of the newspapers in our parent company, Journal Register Co., will seek help from readers in reporting the news while using free tools to publish print and online products.
I mentioned last week that JRC announced The News-Herald in Lake County, Ohio and the Perkasie News-Herald in Perkasie, Pa. successfully produced two websites and newspapers – one daily and one weekly - using only free web-based tools. Now JRC's CEO John Paton has challenged all of the company's employees to "declare our independence from the kind of thinking that has kept our company and industry from transforming to a multi-platform news company.
"And we will", he continued, "declare our independence from an industry that ties itself up with expensive proprietary I.T. systems and processes that are outdated almost the day they are installed."
As a part of the company's Ben Franklin Project, our 18 daily newspapers - including this one - will publish online and in print, using only free web-based tools. and "crowdsourcing" content while bypassing proprietary systems - from ad order entry to sales, finance, and publishing.
"In the process, we will, as before, liberate our thinking and become ever more meaningfully involved with the communities we serve by involving the audience in our content creation," he added. "Along the way, we will prove we can challenge the outdated business model of print to a model of the future that preserves and enhances our journalism."
Look for more info on this project as Independence Day approaches.
Reporters of our company's newspapers and Web sites do a lot of the former each and every day. On July 4, we're going to something of the latter. That is the day all of the newspapers in our parent company, Journal Register Co., will seek help from readers in reporting the news while using free tools to publish print and online products.
I mentioned last week that JRC announced The News-Herald in Lake County, Ohio and the Perkasie News-Herald in Perkasie, Pa. successfully produced two websites and newspapers – one daily and one weekly - using only free web-based tools. Now JRC's CEO John Paton has challenged all of the company's employees to "declare our independence from the kind of thinking that has kept our company and industry from transforming to a multi-platform news company.
"And we will", he continued, "declare our independence from an industry that ties itself up with expensive proprietary I.T. systems and processes that are outdated almost the day they are installed."
As a part of the company's Ben Franklin Project, our 18 daily newspapers - including this one - will publish online and in print, using only free web-based tools. and "crowdsourcing" content while bypassing proprietary systems - from ad order entry to sales, finance, and publishing.
"In the process, we will, as before, liberate our thinking and become ever more meaningfully involved with the communities we serve by involving the audience in our content creation," he added. "Along the way, we will prove we can challenge the outdated business model of print to a model of the future that preserves and enhances our journalism."
Look for more info on this project as Independence Day approaches.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Long-time issue in Oneida resonates with SeeClickFIx users on Dispatch Web site
"Cancer Corner" in front of Oneida High School has been a source of consternation for some members of the community going back at least three decades. And local residents have recently used a new citizen journalism tool - SeeClickFix - to express concerns on Oneida Daily Dispatch's Web site.
Oneida Police Chief David Meeker responded to the issue in today's newspaper in a report by Caitlin Traynor. Read the story online and join the conversation.
Oneida Police Chief David Meeker responded to the issue in today's newspaper in a report by Caitlin Traynor. Read the story online and join the conversation.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Parent company of this newspaper produces web sites and newspapers using free tools
The parent company of this newspaper - the Journal Register Company - announced today it successfully produced two websites and newspapers – one daily and one weekly - using only free web-based tools.
The participating newspapers were The News-Herald in Lake County, Ohio and the Perkasie News-Herald in Perkasie, Pa.
The company’s Ben Franklin Project, announced April 21 by CEO John Paton, challenged the legacy newsgathering process and proprietary computer system model – while focusing on the company’s digital-first model. The websites and newspapers involved in the project were produced – from story assignment and advertising design through publication – utilizing free tools available online. The employees were given 30 days to meet that challenge and this week they succeeded.
Highlights of the project:
- The papers' newsrooms solicited story ideas and contributions through social media tools including Facebook and Twitter.
- Residents of one community shared their views on the county’s most dangerous roadway intersections and the newsroom staff compared those submissions with data from police reports. The audience, using Journal Register Company’s community portal partner SeeClickFix, also reported blighted properties – ranging from fields in need of mowing to a house that has been under construction for 10 years – that were included in newsroom reports. Residents in another community submitted questions for local officials as part of reports on the local pay-as-you-throw trash system and the community’s electric supplier contract.
- Advertising designers used free, web-based tools to design online and print advertisements, and copy editors and designers utilized a desktop publishing system available free online.
"Taking a digital first, print last approach motivates journalists to tap into readers before they even start reporting," said a blogger for the Poynter Institute of Media Studies, Mallary Jean Tenore, reporting on the project.
“We have taught ourselves the power of open source journalism by involving our communities," Paton said in a news release, "and we have showed the industry a way to a much more effective business model by bypassing costly legacy media proprietary systems and harnessing the power of the web.”
The participating newspapers were The News-Herald in Lake County, Ohio and the Perkasie News-Herald in Perkasie, Pa.
The company’s Ben Franklin Project, announced April 21 by CEO John Paton, challenged the legacy newsgathering process and proprietary computer system model – while focusing on the company’s digital-first model. The websites and newspapers involved in the project were produced – from story assignment and advertising design through publication – utilizing free tools available online. The employees were given 30 days to meet that challenge and this week they succeeded.
Highlights of the project:
- The papers' newsrooms solicited story ideas and contributions through social media tools including Facebook and Twitter.
- Residents of one community shared their views on the county’s most dangerous roadway intersections and the newsroom staff compared those submissions with data from police reports. The audience, using Journal Register Company’s community portal partner SeeClickFix, also reported blighted properties – ranging from fields in need of mowing to a house that has been under construction for 10 years – that were included in newsroom reports. Residents in another community submitted questions for local officials as part of reports on the local pay-as-you-throw trash system and the community’s electric supplier contract.
- Advertising designers used free, web-based tools to design online and print advertisements, and copy editors and designers utilized a desktop publishing system available free online.
"Taking a digital first, print last approach motivates journalists to tap into readers before they even start reporting," said a blogger for the Poynter Institute of Media Studies, Mallary Jean Tenore, reporting on the project.
“We have taught ourselves the power of open source journalism by involving our communities," Paton said in a news release, "and we have showed the industry a way to a much more effective business model by bypassing costly legacy media proprietary systems and harnessing the power of the web.”
Thursday, May 13, 2010
The Record's Community Media Lab is now open
The Record is putting the finishing touches on its Community Media Lab in our building in downtown Troy (501 Broadway).
The goal is to have a space where we can bring the community in to collaborate with us on all types of projects - from citizen journalism (ie. blogging) to forums on topics of interest to business owners to dialogues with local business, arts, education, government, and non-profit leaders.
The room, located on the first floor near the entrance, is brightly lit with capacity for 30 people: it comfortably seats 24 people at seminar-style tables, with room for another half dozen or so seated on the perimeter. We will install a video display in coming weeks for multi-media presentations, and Wi-Fi is present for Internet connectivity. We have also roughed out an area to build a new restroom in the future, but in the meantime there is one located on the same floor.
We soft-launched use of the room today with an internal training presentation (see photos above right and at right of John Krivosheyff from the Journal Register Co. leading digital sales training). Next week we have a couple public seminars called "Advertising That Works" scheduled (registration required). In coming months we will open it up to a full compliment of activities. We envision workshops for students on journalism; get-togethers for our growing compliment of bloggers; brown bag lunch discussions for businesspeople on topics such as social network and e-mail marketing; and roundtable discussions with local leaders from different fields that we will broadcast and report on.
This room is the result of 10 months of discussion and planning; originally scheduled to be created late last year, the date was pushed back when we decided to renovate another area of our building at the same time to install new pre-press equipment. The proposed named has changed (formerly dubbed the less stylish Community Meeting Room) since February when the CEO of our parent company - Journal Register Co. - announced his desire to establish Community Media Labs at several newspapers. Our paper wasn't on the original launch list but we proceeded because we felt it was a core component of our effort for our newsroom - and all of our staff - to be integrated into the community in new ways and vice-a-versa.
I need to do a shout-out to three people who were instrumental in making this (and our new pre-press facility installed in February) happen: Randy Pobran, operations director; Mike Furman, building services manager; and resident painter extraordinaire Joe Hack. Once again, they did a project on-time, on-budget and above expectations.
We expect our readers have many more ideas than we do on how to use our Community Media Lab - please drop me a note and share yours.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Stable of voices writing blogs at troyrecord.com grows to 27
The Record is expanding the quantity of "voices" in its products, starting with our Web site.
We have added 11 bloggers to our site in the last seven weeks, bringing the total number to 25; we have two more polishing up their first blogs and they should go live later today or over the weekend. This brings us one blogger shy of my previously stated goal of having 28 bloggers on our site by today.
Here is just a sample of some of the new voices at blog central at troyrecord.com:
- Clinton Ballinger, founder and CEO of Evident Technologies, is taking the mystery out of technology without techno-jargon in his fun, relevant and educational blog.
- Marcie Pry, aka Short Temper, rocks and rolls - literally - as a member of the Hellions of Troy Roller Derby. She chronicles her adventures in roller derby, from bragging about bruises received at practice to attending roller derby events.
- Three women - Margaret, Jenn and Amy - from Troy's Some Girls boutique share writing duties for a style and lifestyle blog.
Why our effort? Jay Rosen, New York University professor and a Journal Register Company (our parent company) advisory board member, states the case succinctly: "Journalism - to be fully legitimate - needs to present a plurality of voices, not just one. I don't mean to invoke the gods of balance. They are false gods. I mean to suggest that journalism isn't a monologue. More than one person speaks in it. More than one angle is taken on the object."
Beyond blogs .... From the recent addition of our SeeClick Fix tool to our commenting functions, we're committed to a "plurality of voices" on our Web site. Coming soon is the ability for site viewers to upload their videos to all of our company's Web sites.
Also look for more bloggers. When I set the goal in mid-March of adding 14 bloggers by April 30, I also committed us to adding another 14 by June 30, to bring the total to 42. If you have the expertise, time and interest to blog for us on a particular subject, send a brief bio, contact information and a sample blog (or link to one) to editrecp@troyrecord.com and we’ll review and get back to you quickly.
We have added 11 bloggers to our site in the last seven weeks, bringing the total number to 25; we have two more polishing up their first blogs and they should go live later today or over the weekend. This brings us one blogger shy of my previously stated goal of having 28 bloggers on our site by today.
Here is just a sample of some of the new voices at blog central at troyrecord.com:
- Clinton Ballinger, founder and CEO of Evident Technologies, is taking the mystery out of technology without techno-jargon in his fun, relevant and educational blog.
- Marcie Pry, aka Short Temper, rocks and rolls - literally - as a member of the Hellions of Troy Roller Derby. She chronicles her adventures in roller derby, from bragging about bruises received at practice to attending roller derby events.
- Three women - Margaret, Jenn and Amy - from Troy's Some Girls boutique share writing duties for a style and lifestyle blog.
Why our effort? Jay Rosen, New York University professor and a Journal Register Company (our parent company) advisory board member, states the case succinctly: "Journalism - to be fully legitimate - needs to present a plurality of voices, not just one. I don't mean to invoke the gods of balance. They are false gods. I mean to suggest that journalism isn't a monologue. More than one person speaks in it. More than one angle is taken on the object."
Beyond blogs .... From the recent addition of our SeeClick Fix tool to our commenting functions, we're committed to a "plurality of voices" on our Web site. Coming soon is the ability for site viewers to upload their videos to all of our company's Web sites.
Also look for more bloggers. When I set the goal in mid-March of adding 14 bloggers by April 30, I also committed us to adding another 14 by June 30, to bring the total to 42. If you have the expertise, time and interest to blog for us on a particular subject, send a brief bio, contact information and a sample blog (or link to one) to editrecp@troyrecord.com and we’ll review and get back to you quickly.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
A look at John Paton's first 90 days as CEO of Journal Register Co.
John Paton will celebrate his 90th day as CEO of the Journal Register Company (parent company of this newspaper) this weekend. It has been a whirlwind three months for John and for the 3,100 employees of JRC, including those working here.
After a year of uncertainty as the company went into, and later emerged from bankruptcy and conducted a search for a leader, JRC has not only been reporting the headlines but making them almost weekly for a series of announcements about the bold steps it is taking to transform to a digital company.
Here are some highlights:
- John started work on Feb. 1; his first two days on the job were attending an already-scheduled meeting of JRC publishers, a handful of editors and corporate executives. He told those gathered the company's current business model was broken and that "all employees must recognize we have to change. And fast." He explained that the company must be "digital first and brands first" and set goals for significantly increasing operating cash flow from the digital side of the business over the next 3 to 5 years. He also charged those in the room with ensuring that the company is the "number one choice" for news in all of the communities that it serves. He restated these and other goals to all employees later in the week in both a companywide phone conference and in a letter.
- An advisory board was named in mid-March. Paton said in the announcement that the board "is charged with helping us assess the changes we need to make (to participate in social media and other digital innovations) and pushing us to experiment in new ways of news creation and delivery." Named were: Jeff Jarvis (an author and associate professor and director of the Interactive Journalism program and the new business models for news project at the City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism; Jay Rosen, PhD (a professor and former chair of the journalism program at New York University and a member of the Advisory Board of Wikipedia); and Betsy Morgan (a former CEO of the Huffington Post and former senior vice president and general manager of www.CBSNews.com).
- Earlier this month, Paton announced the launch of the Ben Franklin Project. Two JRC newspapers are empowering their communities to decide what information readers would like to see covered, and to become active members of the news-gathering process by submitting tips, personal stories, photos, videos and more using tools found for free on the Internet. Part of the project's mission is to create a web and print publication for one week that uses only free tools widely available on the Internet to demonstrate just how easy it is for citizens to become 'citizen journalists'. One newspaper had a community forum this week to field ideas of what readers would like to see the paper cover as part of the process.
- And last week Paton announced "a major citizen journalism initiative" with a partnership with SeeClickFix that allows Web site visitors to observe, report and follow issues - from poor road conditions to blighted buildings - in their communities.
Other changes include giving EVERY reporter in the company a digital Flip HD camera to contribute video to our Web sites (these were quickly paid for through new digital sales initiatives); the establishment of community media labs at six JRC newspapers (to encourage citizen journalism); restructuring at corporate to flatten the company and give more decision-making powers to the field; a considerable amount of training through Webinars and corporate conferences (touching more than one-third of the company's employees); and announcement of an employee profit-sharing plan.
Paton and JRC have been garnering considerable press for this recent activity. From trade industry magazines such as Editor and Publisher, to bloggers such as Judy Sims, a former vice president of Digital Media for the Toronto Star Media Group, the industry is eagerly watching the transformation at JRC.
But much more change is coming - most importantly, developments that will radically improve all of our print and digital products. You can follow these here on my blog and/or on John's blog.
My gut tells me the activity in this company in any 90 day period over the next few years will equal or exceed the pace of the past three months. Employees are on notice this transformation isn't for the faint of heart, and readers have been encouraged to expect more - and engage more - with the various products that comprise this emerging leader in U.S. community journalism.
After a year of uncertainty as the company went into, and later emerged from bankruptcy and conducted a search for a leader, JRC has not only been reporting the headlines but making them almost weekly for a series of announcements about the bold steps it is taking to transform to a digital company.
Here are some highlights:
- John started work on Feb. 1; his first two days on the job were attending an already-scheduled meeting of JRC publishers, a handful of editors and corporate executives. He told those gathered the company's current business model was broken and that "all employees must recognize we have to change. And fast." He explained that the company must be "digital first and brands first" and set goals for significantly increasing operating cash flow from the digital side of the business over the next 3 to 5 years. He also charged those in the room with ensuring that the company is the "number one choice" for news in all of the communities that it serves. He restated these and other goals to all employees later in the week in both a companywide phone conference and in a letter.
- An advisory board was named in mid-March. Paton said in the announcement that the board "is charged with helping us assess the changes we need to make (to participate in social media and other digital innovations) and pushing us to experiment in new ways of news creation and delivery." Named were: Jeff Jarvis (an author and associate professor and director of the Interactive Journalism program and the new business models for news project at the City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism; Jay Rosen, PhD (a professor and former chair of the journalism program at New York University and a member of the Advisory Board of Wikipedia); and Betsy Morgan (a former CEO of the Huffington Post and former senior vice president and general manager of www.CBSNews.com).
- Earlier this month, Paton announced the launch of the Ben Franklin Project. Two JRC newspapers are empowering their communities to decide what information readers would like to see covered, and to become active members of the news-gathering process by submitting tips, personal stories, photos, videos and more using tools found for free on the Internet. Part of the project's mission is to create a web and print publication for one week that uses only free tools widely available on the Internet to demonstrate just how easy it is for citizens to become 'citizen journalists'. One newspaper had a community forum this week to field ideas of what readers would like to see the paper cover as part of the process.
- And last week Paton announced "a major citizen journalism initiative" with a partnership with SeeClickFix that allows Web site visitors to observe, report and follow issues - from poor road conditions to blighted buildings - in their communities.
Other changes include giving EVERY reporter in the company a digital Flip HD camera to contribute video to our Web sites (these were quickly paid for through new digital sales initiatives); the establishment of community media labs at six JRC newspapers (to encourage citizen journalism); restructuring at corporate to flatten the company and give more decision-making powers to the field; a considerable amount of training through Webinars and corporate conferences (touching more than one-third of the company's employees); and announcement of an employee profit-sharing plan.
Paton and JRC have been garnering considerable press for this recent activity. From trade industry magazines such as Editor and Publisher, to bloggers such as Judy Sims, a former vice president of Digital Media for the Toronto Star Media Group, the industry is eagerly watching the transformation at JRC.
But much more change is coming - most importantly, developments that will radically improve all of our print and digital products. You can follow these here on my blog and/or on John's blog.
My gut tells me the activity in this company in any 90 day period over the next few years will equal or exceed the pace of the past three months. Employees are on notice this transformation isn't for the faint of heart, and readers have been encouraged to expect more - and engage more - with the various products that comprise this emerging leader in U.S. community journalism.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
This newspaper wants to partner with you to 'fix' issues in our communities
The Record and the Oneida Daily Dispatch - both papers at which I am publisher - are part of a major citizen journalism initiative to empower citizens to improve their communities.
Starting today, all 18 Journal Register Company daily newspapers and online publications in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Michigan and Ohio - including in Troy and Oneida - are partnering with www.SeeClickFix.com in the communities they serve.
The partnership provides SeeClickFix portal pages on our websites that allows users to observe, report and follow issues - poor road conditions to blighted buildings - in their communities.
This benefits our community by:
- Encouraging our audience to utilize the SeeClickFix platform to alert fellow residents of impact issues.
- Empowering residents to work with our journalists to address the needs of the community.
- Highlighting those who participate and make a difference through news reports.
We all have some issue - a broken sidewalk or a graffiti-marred public sign - near our home or workplace that drives us a little mad. Chances are someone shares our frustration, and experience has shown that municipalities and others will generally respond to those who shout the loudest. This tool is as effective a way as I know to 'shout' pretty loud.
Visit Oneida Daily Dispatch's or The Record's Web sites and look for the SeeClickFix information on the front page. Troy has had dozens of viewers participate in recent weeks; Oneida just launched theirs today.
Starting today, all 18 Journal Register Company daily newspapers and online publications in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Michigan and Ohio - including in Troy and Oneida - are partnering with www.SeeClickFix.com in the communities they serve.
The partnership provides SeeClickFix portal pages on our websites that allows users to observe, report and follow issues - poor road conditions to blighted buildings - in their communities.
This benefits our community by:
- Encouraging our audience to utilize the SeeClickFix platform to alert fellow residents of impact issues.
- Empowering residents to work with our journalists to address the needs of the community.
- Highlighting those who participate and make a difference through news reports.
We all have some issue - a broken sidewalk or a graffiti-marred public sign - near our home or workplace that drives us a little mad. Chances are someone shares our frustration, and experience has shown that municipalities and others will generally respond to those who shout the loudest. This tool is as effective a way as I know to 'shout' pretty loud.
Visit Oneida Daily Dispatch's or The Record's Web sites and look for the SeeClickFix information on the front page. Troy has had dozens of viewers participate in recent weeks; Oneida just launched theirs today.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Do citizen journalists need legal protection from frivolous lawsuits?
Does the First Amendment offer citizen journalists legal protection to say what they believe? Yes and no.
Companies regularly use lawsuits - which have become know Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) - to silence and punish critics, usually individuals who have posted a negative comment on the Web. Legal experts say the plaintiffs lose more SLAPPs than they win because the First Amendment is on the defendants' side, but that is not the point. The goal of the lawsuits is to get the critics to back down - or face financially rehabilitating legal action.
A bill now working its way through Congress - The Citizen Participation Act (H.R. 4364) - was introduced to protect either “petition activity and speech or conduct in connection with an issue of public interest with a set of procedural mechanisms", according to the Public Participation Project". "An 'issue of public interest' includes any information or opinion related to health or safety; environmental, economic or community well-being; the government; a public figure; or a good, product or service in the marketplace."
Twenty-seven states have signed similar provisions into law, but the levels of protection vary. According to the Public Participation Project, the proposed act "allows a defendant to bring a special motion to dismiss the lawsuit at an early stage in the proceedings. The defendant must show that the lawsuit against him arose from his protected speech or petitioning activity. The plaintiff must then demonstrate that her claim is both legally sufficient and supported by a sufficient prima facie showing of facts to sustain a favorable judgment."
One expert - speaking on National Public Radio's "On the Media" show - also suggests anyone who blogs regularly to add defamation coverage to their homeowner or renter's insurance coverage; he estimated such coverage could cost as little as $3 a year.
Companies regularly use lawsuits - which have become know Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) - to silence and punish critics, usually individuals who have posted a negative comment on the Web. Legal experts say the plaintiffs lose more SLAPPs than they win because the First Amendment is on the defendants' side, but that is not the point. The goal of the lawsuits is to get the critics to back down - or face financially rehabilitating legal action.
A bill now working its way through Congress - The Citizen Participation Act (H.R. 4364) - was introduced to protect either “petition activity and speech or conduct in connection with an issue of public interest with a set of procedural mechanisms", according to the Public Participation Project". "An 'issue of public interest' includes any information or opinion related to health or safety; environmental, economic or community well-being; the government; a public figure; or a good, product or service in the marketplace."
Twenty-seven states have signed similar provisions into law, but the levels of protection vary. According to the Public Participation Project, the proposed act "allows a defendant to bring a special motion to dismiss the lawsuit at an early stage in the proceedings. The defendant must show that the lawsuit against him arose from his protected speech or petitioning activity. The plaintiff must then demonstrate that her claim is both legally sufficient and supported by a sufficient prima facie showing of facts to sustain a favorable judgment."
One expert - speaking on National Public Radio's "On the Media" show - also suggests anyone who blogs regularly to add defamation coverage to their homeowner or renter's insurance coverage; he estimated such coverage could cost as little as $3 a year.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
We’re looking for a few (well, at least 28) citizen journalists
The news business is getting turned inside out. The folks who used to be our audience are now our competition.
Historically, our platform was the iron that comprises our press. Our distribution channels included our carriers, stores and news racks. Access to the public was limited mainly to “professional” journalists; an enlightened few who wrote for the masses.
Today, anyone with access to a computer and Web access can set up shop and write to a wide audience. Want to broadcast instead? A camera-enabled phone or a $150 Flip camcorder will give you about as much authority and technical capability as a multi-million dollar news studio. The new platforms and distribution channels - which include YouTube and Blogger.com - are readily available and free. The only qualification is possession of minimal computer skills.
This movement - years in the making but getting larger by the day - is often referred to as “citizen journalism”. The first news reports of the U.S. Airways crash in the Hudson River and the Fort Hood shooting last November are just two of innumerable major stories that first broke by eyewitness citizen journalists. Add to that, tens of thousands of daily posts and Tweets by witnesses to celebrity sightings, car wrecks, natural disasters, workforce cutbacks, weather anomalies and more ... and we are quite literally becoming a nation of journalists.
The smartest newspaper companies - including the one I work for - are embracing the change and looking for ways to partner with citizen journalists. It is on some level the old “if you can’t beat them, join them” adaptation. We offer promotion across various distribution channels, access to significant audiences, and credibility working with one of the community’s most trusted brands. Citizen journalists give us more eyes and ears on the ground, much-needed alternative perspectives, expertise in many areas that we don’t possess in a newsroom, and ultimately they bring audiences to our products. It is a symbiotic relationship that works very well.
For instance, a trained journalist can write professionally about a local economic development issue and communicate the basic facts of a story. But a trained economic developer with some basic writing skills can communicate with more passion, authority and understanding on the subject, and he or she can write more frequently and more comprehensively than a general assignment reporter. And that person likely is someone who a significant number of people would value - and take the time to follow - his or her opinions.
Going forward we are going introduce citizen journalism more into our news projects in a variety of ways, but to get a head start we are going to be aggressive about expanding our roster of local bloggers. At 4 p.m. today we’re having a discussion in our newsroom on the subject and I am setting a goal of doubling the number of bloggers we have (from 14 to 28) by April 30, and then looking to triple it from our current number (to 42) by June 30. We’ll brainstorm how to do this and invite community members.
But ... please don’t wait for an invitation. If you have the expertise, time and interest to blog for us on a particular subject, send a brief bio, contact information and a sample blog (or link to one) to editrecp@troyrecord.com and we’ll review and get back to you quickly.
Whether you want to blog to express yourself and have fun, to build credibility as a thought leader in your field of interest, or to bring visibility to your personal and/or business brand, please give it consideration. And thanks for reading my blog.
Historically, our platform was the iron that comprises our press. Our distribution channels included our carriers, stores and news racks. Access to the public was limited mainly to “professional” journalists; an enlightened few who wrote for the masses.
Today, anyone with access to a computer and Web access can set up shop and write to a wide audience. Want to broadcast instead? A camera-enabled phone or a $150 Flip camcorder will give you about as much authority and technical capability as a multi-million dollar news studio. The new platforms and distribution channels - which include YouTube and Blogger.com - are readily available and free. The only qualification is possession of minimal computer skills.
This movement - years in the making but getting larger by the day - is often referred to as “citizen journalism”. The first news reports of the U.S. Airways crash in the Hudson River and the Fort Hood shooting last November are just two of innumerable major stories that first broke by eyewitness citizen journalists. Add to that, tens of thousands of daily posts and Tweets by witnesses to celebrity sightings, car wrecks, natural disasters, workforce cutbacks, weather anomalies and more ... and we are quite literally becoming a nation of journalists.
The smartest newspaper companies - including the one I work for - are embracing the change and looking for ways to partner with citizen journalists. It is on some level the old “if you can’t beat them, join them” adaptation. We offer promotion across various distribution channels, access to significant audiences, and credibility working with one of the community’s most trusted brands. Citizen journalists give us more eyes and ears on the ground, much-needed alternative perspectives, expertise in many areas that we don’t possess in a newsroom, and ultimately they bring audiences to our products. It is a symbiotic relationship that works very well.
For instance, a trained journalist can write professionally about a local economic development issue and communicate the basic facts of a story. But a trained economic developer with some basic writing skills can communicate with more passion, authority and understanding on the subject, and he or she can write more frequently and more comprehensively than a general assignment reporter. And that person likely is someone who a significant number of people would value - and take the time to follow - his or her opinions.
Going forward we are going introduce citizen journalism more into our news projects in a variety of ways, but to get a head start we are going to be aggressive about expanding our roster of local bloggers. At 4 p.m. today we’re having a discussion in our newsroom on the subject and I am setting a goal of doubling the number of bloggers we have (from 14 to 28) by April 30, and then looking to triple it from our current number (to 42) by June 30. We’ll brainstorm how to do this and invite community members.
But ... please don’t wait for an invitation. If you have the expertise, time and interest to blog for us on a particular subject, send a brief bio, contact information and a sample blog (or link to one) to editrecp@troyrecord.com and we’ll review and get back to you quickly.
Whether you want to blog to express yourself and have fun, to build credibility as a thought leader in your field of interest, or to bring visibility to your personal and/or business brand, please give it consideration. And thanks for reading my blog.
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