Video: Future of Media, April 2011
For those who missed the Future of Media event on April 6, 2011, the following clips have been made available. You can also read a written recap of Future of Media 2011 here.
The discussion topic centered on the relationship between start-ups and media companies; entrepreneurial journalism; gamification; paywalls; and the future of media. The panel was made up of the following individuals:
- Jamie Angus, Acting Head of News at BBC World News.
- Jon Taylor is Senior Director of Content for CTV Digital Media.
- Mathew Ingram, a senior writer with the technology blog network GigaOM.
- Chris Boutet is the senior producer for digital media at the National Post.
- Kathy Vey is Editor-in-Chief of OpenFile
The panel discussion was moderated by DigitalJournal.com Managing Editor, David Silverberg. The clips from Future of Media April 2011 event are in order below.
Each clip is rendered in low- and high-resolution versions depending on your bandwidth. You can view each clip in high-definition.:
Part 1: How optimistic should we be about media’s future?
Part 2: Digital-first strategies
Part 3: Journalists, Twitter & Facebook
Part 4: Mobile
Part 5: BBC’s coverage of the election using social media, user-generated content
Part 6: Revenue, paywalls
Part 7: Start-ups working in news
Part 8: ROI from tablets/mobile development
Part 9: Augmented reality
Part 10: Is the news media over-staffed for the global age?
Part 11: News sites VS. aggregators
Future of Media recap: Start-ups, gamification and ‘pay-what-you-can walls’
by David Silverberg and Chris Hogg
The future for media organizations is not all doom and gloom, and there is more opportunity and experimentation happening today than ever before. That was the overall discussion at Digital Journal‘s Future of Media panel discussion last night in Toronto.
In a meaty conversation that sunk its teeth deep into topics of start-up culture, gamification and paywalls, editors and experts discussed why we should be optimistic for legacy media and start-ups experimenting with innovative news projects.
The insightful debate included a wide array of media experts: Jamie Angus, acting head of news at BBC World News; Jon Taylor, senior director of content for Bell Media Digital; Chris Boutet, senior producer for digital media at the National Post; Mathew Ingram, a senior writer at GigaOM; and Kathy Vey, editor-in-chief of OpenFile. The discussion was moderated by David Silverberg, managing editor of DigitalJournal.com.
The theme of the night could be summed up by Ingram’s poignant one-liner: “When you’re on Death Row, it’s easy to find religion.” He referred to the important wake-up call many newspapers faced with plummeting ad revenue and an upturned business model.
Boutet of the National Post agreed and said his outlet has adopted a digital-first strategy to allow readers to easily consume online news, while making sure the print product still had strong long-form content. “It needs to start with digital and end in print,” he said.
The conversation often veered into the benefits and dangers of using on-the-ground reporting from citizens in global hot spots. Angus said the BBC had previously ignored social media but now the organization is increasingly incorporating tweets into its reportage. “That could never happen two or three years ago,” he admitted.
Ingram replied, “When Twitter came out, I don’t think anyone would have predicted newspapers would have entire staff devoted to their Twitter account.”
Vey, who runs the collaborative news start-up OpenFile, said she’s optimistic about journalism’s future, considering how many important news start-ups have made an impact in the U.S. She just wishes Canada could better nurture start-ups and entrepreneurs.
The conversation around start-ups took up a better part of the night, with each panelist discussing how a news organization could benefit by having an entrepreneurial approach to media production. Panelists agreed the lean approach without expensive overhead and the willingness to try new things is an important part of determining media’s future.
That said, Boutet, Vey and Ingram agreed entrepreneurial skills are not something journalism students learn in school, and students don’t enter j-school with the goal of graduating, starting their own company and trying to compete with a big newspaper.
Boutet said newsrooms need to create an environment where experimentation is encouraged, and an entrepreneurial mindset helps. He noted how the National Post has designers, programmers, digital media producers and journalists within the same area to facilitate collaboration.
Ingram agreed, saying a news experiment today can happen in an afternoon with $1,500 and a programmer who fires out some code. But that often doesn’t happen because the small numbers and quick turn-around time are not how media executives typically think. “They think in terms of months, not days,” Ingram said.
Some mainstream media outlets are stepping up their online news initiatives and experiments. At the National Post, for instance, the newspaper partnered with GeoPollster to allow people to check-in to venues with Foursquare with their political party affiliation, so a certain restaurant can be Conservative if enough Conservatives check-in to that spot en masse. “We wanted it to be fun,” Boutet said, and many panelists agreed entertaining media projects and “gamification” could benefit news outlets.
Taylor, from the newly minted Bell Media, said the growth of mobile and tablet platforms have also dramatically shifted focus and opened up many new opportunities for media outlets, especially broadcasters. “My job has 100 per cent changed because of those platforms,” he said. “We’re learning with everybody else. It’s constantly evolving.” Taylor said he’s hopeful the rules of the TV game will evolve into a more futuristic model, where it’s not just watching TV on your tablet PC, say, but also being able to swipe something from your tablet onto your TV somehow.
He also spoke about new revenue possibilities for broadcasters, saying there’s “no magic bullet” but that old ideas are becoming new again. “I think the answer is going to be a multitude of things, which include digital sponsorship, we have sponsors we have advertisers,” he said. “In the TV world you can only get so innovative, in the digital space it’s nearly unlimited.”
Taylor said the “This show is brought to you by…” line is something we’ll likely hear more often, but that media organizations have to be careful how they balance sponsorship and production. He said sponsors need to be happy with the presence, but broadcasters have to make sure content is not overly swamped with advertising messages.
Angus agreed that mobile is an integral part of the future of media, noting that rapid adoption of mobile phones in some places such as Africa have replaced more traditional platforms such as radio. Angus said the BBC, and media organizations that reach massive audiences in very rural places, have new challenges because they must think about the medium or platform through which the message is being delivered. In some areas, media is consumed through more than just a newspaper or Internet connection. Angus said organizations who want to reach wide audiences now have to think about how much the end-user will have to pay to consume content via mobile versus other platforms when they decide where to invest and how they want to target new audiences.
On the topic of cost, the panel discussed paywalls and how they fit in the media’s future. The BBC’s Angus and Ingram were at odds on this issue. Angus suggested the paywall experiment by the Times of London and New York Times could be the harbinger of things to come. ”What if they’re right, doesn’t that change things?” he asked. Ingram shook his head and said “But the Times of London lost a lot of pageviews…and now they’re just an expensive newsletter.”
After some debate among panelists, Angus went back to the idea and admitted that while it may not be popular among readers it may be necessary for media outlets. He said if it becomes the norm, it may give media organizations enough of a revenue stream to encourage them to invest in the digital media space.
Boutet didn”t like the idea of a paywall because it’s an ultimatum that does not allow the reader to suggest how much they think content is worth. Telling a reader to pay $10 per month or go away, Boutet believes, is the wrong approach because it’s an all-or-nothing attitude. “What about a pay-what-you-can wall?” he suggested, saying some readers may not want to pay $10 per month but would be willing to pay $5. Having the option to let people price a product themselves provides a news organization with the opportunity to market-test various pricing options and determines what people will pay.
The panelists generally agreed a paywall or pay fence would work with specialty content, such as Wall Street Journal‘s financial news or ESPN.com‘s in-depth sports coverage. Ingram was unsure what metric would be used to measure success, though. “Does it look like 200,000 people paying to read your content, or does it look like millions?”
So what’s in store for the future of media? The panelists all seemed to agree experimentation is important and that the news industry as a whole is in better shape today than it has been over the last few years. That said, there are still a number of questions that need to be answered as far as concrete business models that will take shape.
New technologies such as augmented reality provide some really interesting opportunities to media companies, and mobile phones, apps and tablets are a game-changer for how, when and where people consume content.
The overall tone of the night was optimistic, with panelists agreeing wholeheartedly the future looks much brighter than the past. Media organizations now need to focus on experimentation, and partnering with start-ups is a cost-effective way to innovate new ideas.
The panel also agreed newsrooms need to shed old attitudes and get people to talk to their audience in a two-way conversation via social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter, while at the same time remember that every word they say is essentially speaking on behalf of their respective media outlets. What you say, when you say it, and how you say it, are guidelines that media organizations need to quickly decide.
Watch video from this event here
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:
Bio: Kathy Vey
Kathy Vey is Editor-in-Chief of OpenFile, Canada’s first collaborative local news site, with outlets in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa, Hamilton and Waterloo Region.
Before she made the jump online, Kathy killed many trees and held many roles at the Toronto Star, including deputy city editor, news editor, assistant national editor, training and development editor and restaurant critic.
She has also worked for the Ottawa Citizen and the Toronto Sun and written for Canadian Gardening magazine.
Kathy spoke at Future of Media on April 6, 2011 in Toronto. Watch video from the April 2011 Future of Media event. You can also follow Kathy on Twitter @kvey
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