Future of Media Preview: A Q&A with the National Post’s Chris Boutet
Chris Boutet, senior producer for digital media at the National Post, discusses the changing media landscape and working with a “digital-first” strategy. Boutet will be speaking about journalism at Digital Journal’s Future of Media event on April 6.
Chris Boutet is senior producer for digital media at the National Post.
Originally from Edmonton, Boutet moved to Toronto where he was the night news editor at Dose magazine. In 2006, Boutet joined the National Post as a part-time sports copy editor after his hockey blog caught the attention of sports staff during the Edmonton Oilers’ Stanley Cup run.
When the National Post relaunched its website in 2007, Boutet joined the new online team as a blogger and homepage editor. He was named the Senior Editor of product and engagement in 2009 and became Senior Producer in 2010.
Boutet and his team have worked to change the way the National Post thinks about its digital presence by introducing innovative reporting and content delivery strategies that have shifted the focus toward serving the needs and interests of an online readership. He has led the charge in integrating the use of social media and real-time reporting techniques into the daily workflow of the newsroom.
Leading the National Post’s social media strategy, Chris’s team has cultivated thriving networks on Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and Tumblr that have helped the National Post reach vast new communities of readers. He has helped to establish a collaborative newsroom environment that encourages innovation, whether it’s creating new ways to engage with casual readers or turn a static online graphic into a runaway viral hit.
In a Q&A with Digital Journal, Boutet discussing the skills a modern-day journalist needs to have and what it’s like working with a publication with a digital-first mandate.
Digital Journal: To make it as a journalist today, what core skills do you need? What core skills will you need in the years ahead?
Chris Boutet: I’ve always felt the most important character trait for a successful journalist to have is fearlessness. Whether you’re walking up to the front door of the family of a murder victim to try get a quote, or walking up to your editor to sell your big story idea, it’s a job that requires remarkable courage and confidence.
Beyond that, though, it’s also vital to have a strong sense of curiosity, adaptability and a willingness to experiment. With so many new storytelling tools and platforms emerging every day, journalists need to be constantly evaluating how effectively we are using these tools to tell better stories and connect with our readers.
There’s so much discovery and evaluation happening right now in online media. We can’t be afraid to fail if we’re going to find new ways to succeed.
Digital Journal: You work for a company that says it wants to take a digital-first strategy. How does that play out in your day-to-day and what does that look like?
Chris Boutet: The “digital first’ mandate was a wake-up call to newsrooms that we needed to change the way we think about how our print and online properties work together.
In most newsrooms, the workflow has traditionally been built around the print product, with web, mobile and social media presences thought of as separate from, or supplementary to, that core.
At the National Post, this mandate helped to further shift our reporting and editing resources to towards creating a dynamic and robust online product first, then using those same resources to build out a print product that was both complementary and distinct.
Digital Journal: How has your printed newspaper been affected by digital media and what will it look like in years to come?
Chris Boutet: In print, the National Post is as great a read as it’s ever been. It’s a boldly designed paper with an insightful, cleverness and irreverent wit that makes it unlike any other newspaper in Canada.
If our increased focus on digital has changed print at all, it’s perhaps freed the newspaper up to focus less on the “breaking” and day-to-day news that online does better and more on analysis, features and commentary to create a more thoughtful, “long read” experience.
To me, the long read is one of print’s greatest strengths. The tactility and slower pace of consumption make the time spent feel luxurious and almost decadent, especially after a long week of chasing an endless stream of news developments online.
I think in the years to come we’ll see more news organizations start to cultivate an image of their print product as a luxury, boutique item that should be pored over and savoured.
Digital Journal: What kinds of editorial experiments have you tried in order to create audience? How do you measure success?
Chris Boutet: At the National Post, we are constantly exploring and evaluating new and better ways to reach our audience and improve their reading experience.
In the last two years especially, social media experimentation and expansion has been a major focus for our news organization. Gone are the days where you could create a great website and expect people to come to you.
Today, our online readership wants us to come to them, to be engaged and active in the same networks they use every day.
The National Post‘s reporters and editors use Twitter to deliver breaking news and create new contextual content streams that make the news easier to follow, understand and share. Our Facebook fan page has evolved into an online hub for lively debate, especially around our political coverage and commentary.
In the last year, we’ve also found unique new ways to deliver our content on Tumblr and Foursquare.
With social media, there are myriad ways to measure success. Follower counts and referral traffic back to the site are decent core metrics, but a good social presence goes beyond that. We keep a close eye on what content is being shared, how it is spreading and what people are saying about us.
Digital Journal: What should digital media outlets be doing that they’re not doing now?
Chris Boutet: Some of the best online news organizations are where they are today because they embraced a more agile, startup-like approach to their product development.
Experimentation and innovation is key as the industry forays deeper into the digital space and we learn better ways to reach and serve our readers. Top-down, boardroom-style direction can’t react quickly enough to the ever-changing landscape. Building a product system around small, independent teams of reporters, editors, designers and developers is an excellent way to encourage creative thinking and speed up the implementation/evaluation cycle.
Also, bring more developers into your newsroom. You really can’t have too many.
Digital Journal: What revenue channels beyond advertising do you think we’ll see become more prevalent in the digital media space?
Chris Boutet: It’s an interesting question. Online readership numbers are now outpacing print, and the pressure is on to build a stable revenue model around digital.
But a major reason that news organizations were able to build that online reader base in the first place was by making our content easy to find and free to read. So how do we make money without shutting out our readership and losing that scale and reach?
The key is not just to create something that has value to your readership, but also to have your audience agree with you on what that value is to them in real dollars.
I think we’ll be seeing a lot of experimentation with costing on mobile app products and paywall/content metering models.
The industry needs to get away from trying to tell our readership what they should be paying, and instead let them tell us what they will pay. Rather than throwing up another paywall, why not try a “pay-what-you-can wall” and see what the value of your product really is to your readers?
Digital Journal: Outside of Facebook and Twitter, what start-ups do you think are making a big difference or impact in the world of media? How so?
Chris Boutet: So many to mention, but a few of my favourites at the moment:
Toronto’s own ScribbleLive: Their real-time CMS is a powerful reporting and crowdsourcing tool that is getting better every day. They take user feedback very seriously and are always thinking about how to improve the product.
Foursquare as well has opened a lot of doors for the National Post and other forward-looking media organizations who are interested in exploring the value of geo-located news delivery.
Tumblr has been around for a while, but it’s just now building out the organizational framework that is making it a more meaningful and effective broadcast tool.
The National Post is also intrigued by Instagram as a content platform. NPR is doing some interesting work in that space and we’re seeing others like NBC and CNN get into the game as well.
I’ll also mention WordPress, as the National Post has been using it to power our blog network for almost a year now and it’s done so much to improve the agility and visibility of our online news product.
This Q&A is part of a 5-part series:
Future of Media Preview: A Q&A with journalist Mathew Ingram
Mathew Ingram, senior writer of technology blog network GigaOM, talks about the changing media landscape and offers some simple advice. Ingram will be speaking about journalism at Digital Journal’s Future of Media event on April 6.
Mathew Ingram is an award-winning journalist who has spent the past 15 years writing about business, technology and new media as a reporter, columnist and blogger. He is currently a senior writer with the technology blog network GigaOM.
Prior to joining GigaOM, Ingram was a blogger and technology writer for the Globe and Mail newspaper, and was also the paper’s first online Communities Editor, where he helped the paper learn about and appreciate the benefits of social media tools.
In a Q&A with Digital Journal, Ingram offers some straight-up advice for media outlets and talks about the differences between working for a big media company and a small start-up.
This Q&A is part of a 5-day series with media leaders who will be speaking at Digital Journal’s Future of Media event which takes place April 6 at the Drake Hotel Underground in Toronto. Check back each day for a Q&A with other media leaders from the BBC, National Post and CTV. Part 1: An interview with OpenFile Editor Kathy Vey
Digital Journal: To make it as a journalist today, what core skills do you need? What core skills will you need in the years ahead?
Mathew Ingram: I think the skills you need are mostly the same as journalists have always needed — curiosity, intelligence, the ability to analyze things quickly, interviewing skills, a good BS detector, and so on.
But on top of that, I think the Web and social media require journalists to learn new skills as well, ones they aren’t always that good at, including how to listen to readers — even when you don’t want to — how to respond, how to share, how to link, aggregate and “curate” to use an overused word.
Digital Journal:You’ve worked for big media (The Globe & Mail), and for independent media/start-up (GigaOM). How have the experiences been different and what does one teach you that the other can’t?
Mathew Ingram: The two couldn’t really be more different, in pretty much every way — the Globe is a huge organization, and the main part of that is a newspaper, although I worked for the web side mostly. People routinely write one thing a day, or sometimes one or two things a week.
GigaOM and other Web-native publications are tiny startups with very few people, no print at all, and most of the writers are doing three or four or five posts a day.
So at the Globe I learned most of the traditional things that journalists learn — how to report and file in newspaper style, how to work with different editors, and so on.
At GigaOM and through my own blogging and social-media use, I’ve learned how to be fast and how to link and how to be part of a community.
Digital Journal: When it comes to changing media, what medium do you think is likely to change the most in the next year or two? Why?
Mathew Ingram: I think they are all changing, but print is in the hot seat more than anything, simply because the business models for many print publications are continuing to disintegrate, and there aren’t a whole lot of obvious solutions to that problem.
Digital Journal: What revenue channels beyond advertising do you think we’ll see become more prevalent in the digital media space?
Mathew Ingram: We’re probably going to see more newspapers and other publications and media outlets try pay walls and subscription models, and possibly new kinds of advertising relationships. What is out there right now just isn’t working. But I think pay walls, as they are currently configured, are a waste of time.
Digital Journal: What do you think makes a good “digital-first” strategy for a media company, and should modern media businesses approach with a digital-first mindset?
Mathew Ingram: I think “digital first” means exactly what it says — the Web and mobile and other real-time options become the primary publishing vehicle, and print or whatever becomes secondary. The problem with doing that at most traditional newspapers is that they still rely on print for the bulk of their advertising revenue, and that still drives the bus — not just administratively but psychologically.
I definitely think more should approach it the way that John Paton at the Journal Register Co. has — digital first, and let the digital folks run things.
Digital Journal: How should media organizations collaborate or compete with start-ups in the media space?
Mathew Ingram: I think co-operation and partnerships are essential when you’re in a time of great upheaval the way we are right now in media because you don’t know what the best opportunities might be, or where they might lie, and you can’t afford to try everything.
Digital Journal: Beyond Facebook and Twitter, what start-up(s) do you think could become stand-outs in the world of media?
Mathew Ingram: I think the community model that Quora and some other sites are taking could become very interesting. They aren’t really media right now, but they are playing an interesting role. And so are WikiLeaks and all of the similar sites that have popped up — that could be and has been very disruptive already.
Digital Journal: How will rapid and significant changes in digital media over the last few years affect the average person at home in the years to come?
Mathew Ingram: I don’t think it’s going to be that dramatic for most people — they are probably just going to notice, as many have already, that they are reading fewer newspapers and listening to the radio less and probably watching less TV as well. They are getting more and more of their news and other content from the Web and from social networks and other sites that pull content from everywhere and give it to them in the way they want it.
This Q&A is part of a 5-part series:
Future of Media Preview: A Q&A with OpenFile Editor Kathy Vey
How can a lean start-up survive in a busy media market? Kathy Vey, editor of community news site OpenFile, divulges her online recipe for journalistic success, days before she speaks on the topic at Digital Journal’s Future of Media event on April 6.
OpenFile is a collaborative news site, allowing members to suggest stories for trusted reporters to cover. It covers stories the legacy media might not pursue, but where does it fit in a crowded marketplace?
In a Q&A with Digital Journal, OpenFile editor Kathy Vey talks about the challenges her outlet faces and where she sees it fitting in the coming years.
Vey’s venture into online news is a broad step away from her print days. She worked at the Toronto Star as deputy city editor, news editor, assistant national editor, restaurant critic, among many positions. She’s also worked for the Ottawa Citizen, the Toronto Sun and wrote for Canadian Gardening magazine.
This Q&A is part of a 5-day series with media leaders who will be speaking at Digital Journal’s Future of Media event which takes place April 6 at the Drake Hotel Underground in Toronto. Check back each day for a Q&A with other media leaders from the BBC, National Post, CTV and GigaOM.
Digital Journal: Journalism via the mainstream media is still very much about one reporter telling a story. How can collaborative journalism change a story and how can media organizations incorporate collaboration into their businesses?
Kathy Vey: We’ve had success appealing directly to readers for story ideas and asking them about angles to pursue after we’ve done the initial reporting.
One example was the 204 Beech file, a story that was initially about a city councillor’s attempt to prevent a Toronto family from tearing down a 100-year-old cottage in order to build a wheelchair-accessible home. It drew an enormous number of comments and evolved into a lively debate about heritage issues, property rights, disability rights, social media campaigning, political meddling — all sorts of interesting angles.
The original file was opened by the homeowner’s business partner, and the people who took part in the ensuing discussion were usually upfront about their stake in the issue. Many chose to use a real name rather than a pseudonym. I had to kill only one abusive comment, which came from a lawyer who lived nearby. I offered him the opportunity to tone down his libellous remarks or to sign his real name to the comment. He declined.
I’d like to see more media outlets address the nasty free-for-all in their comment sections. Moderation is expensive and time-consuming but it’s valuable if you can create a reasonably civil forum that doesn’t make your eyes bleed. There’s no point trying to add something constructive to the conversation if it’s already a shouting match.
I can’t think of any local media outlets that encourage their journalists to respond to commenters — something that we insist on at OpenFile.
Some media organizations are already exploring ways to collaborate. CBC News, for instance, is asking for readers and viewers to weigh in with their federal election questions and they’re also signing up citizen bloggers to contribute to Your Take.
Digital Journal: You’ve worked for big media (Toronto Star), and for independent media/start-up (OpenFile). How have the experiences been different and what does one teach you that the other can’t?
Kathy Vey: I miss the luxury of resources that were available to me at a big, fat corporation — the library staffed with helpful researchers, the online databases, the automated payroll, the dental plan. Your calls typically get returned more quickly, too, when you’re phoning from the Toronto Star rather than from a small operation. I also learned that it’s much easier to be a bad, feared boss than one who’s respected and will be missed when he or she is gone.
I wish I could give my OpenFile editors, who are spread out in seven cities across the country, the experience of the camaraderie that exists in a newsroom, even the newsrooms that have been decimated by downsizing. Mentors seem to be a dying breed, too. We have to find other ways to support one another and strengthen our team, even if it just means having a chat window open in the corner of our computer screens and kibitzing online with our Twitter accounts.
The Toronto Star has an excellent program for summer students and year-long interns that pays them a full salary and provides training and seminars, rather than just dumping them in the biggest newsroom in the country to sink or swim. Competition is fierce, as anyone who has applied will tell you, but it’s a great model to emulate.
At OpenFile, we’ve started a series of what we hope will be monthly webinars that we offer to our editors and freelancers. Our first session was led by Ottawa editor Nick Taylor-Vaisey, who gave an introduction to making interactive maps using Google Fusion Tables.
Digital Journal: The average person at home typically goes out and consumes media via traditional sources or via legacy brands. How can a start-up compete with those habits?
Kathy Vey: Well, I have to disagree with this premise. People are still consuming media produced by legacy brands but they’re increasingly getting it in ways that are anything but traditional. The State of the News Media survey released last month by the Project for Excellence in Journalism had some telling statistics.
In 2010, the percentage of Americans who got most of their news online surpassed the number who got it from newspapers. Most of the newspapers I see people reading on the streetcar are the free commuter tabloids, and I think Sudoku and celebrity photos have more to do with that than the calibre of the news coverage.
We also know that Canadians spend more time online than anyone else, and that people have embraced the idea of having internet access in their pocket or their purse. With a mobile device, you don’t have to wait for the six o’clock newscast to be informed — you can go to the TV stations’ or newspapers’ websites, or to your Twitter feed to catch up with the news whenever you want.
As smartphones become ubiquitous and electronic tablets such as iPads catch on, it makes sense to provide news content in a form that’s convenient for people to consume on the go. That’s a great opportunity for startups.
Digital Journal: Should media organizations take a more collaborative rather than competitive approach with start-ups in the media space? How and why/why not?
Kathy Vey: I’d love to see more collaboration. Our OpenFile Vancouver editor, Karen Pinchin, wrote a blog post last November about “co-opetition,” a word coined by David Beers, founding editor of The Tyee.
She said: “By creating opportunities for excellent journalism within our own organizations, by challenging our colleagues and our competitors to increase the quality, depth and breadth of reporting, and by constantly finding new ways to tell stories and connect with readers, then we’ll be helping the journalism industry citywide…It’s only when we invest in them, throw our weight behind new ones, and create a market where writers, photographers and broadcast freelancers are paid what they’re worth and are comfortable taking risks that we’ll see a real media revolution.”
Also, working with startups enables larger companies to test out new approaches without having to rejig their organization. It’s very tough for big media organizations to innovate and they should approach that challenge by working with smaller organizations that are focused on trying new things. It’s a good match.
Digital Journal: Outside of your own company, what start-ups do you think are making a big difference or impact in the world of media? How so?
Kathy Vey: Many people, including me, had high hopes for TBD.com, a local news project that launched last summer in Washington, D.C. It was an ambitious, expensive undertaking with some great people in charge — Jim Brady and Steve Buttry — and a genuine focus on community engagement, interactivity and mobile news.
But its owner, Allbritton Communications, pulled the plug on the experiment when it was only six months old, gutting the site and laying off most of this amazing team of young digital journalists who had been brought on board. Last I heard, it was going to become a niche arts and entertainment site.
So instead of being a shining example of a great new venture, TBD has become a dire warning about the dangers of getting into bed with the wrong partner.
Digital Journal: What do you think makes a good “digital-first” strategy for a media company, and should modern media businesses approach with a digital-first mindset?
Kathy Vey: Anything but a digital-first strategy right now would be madness. In a recent speech about the future of the newspaper industry, Lord Conrad Black referred to the “terrible albatrosses” of printing presses and delivery infrastructure. Remember, this is coming from a former press baron. There’s enormous value in newspaper brands and integrity, and in the talent of their staff, but trucking tonnes of newsprint around in the wee hours doesn’t make much sense any more.
Here in Canada, the Postmedia Network has been upfront about being digital-first and has gotten off to a good start by appointing an impressive digital advisory board, with people such as Jay Rosen, Jeff Jarvis and Judy Sims, some of the best thinkers and idea-sparkers in the digital journalism industry. I’m keen to see the effect they’ll have.
This Q&A is part of a 5-part series: