Digital Journal offers editorial blueprint for newsroom success
Our sister site, Digital Journal, issued the following press release this morning:
After receiving widespread praise for its Global Editorial Meetings, Digital Journal today released feedback to give newsrooms and editors a chance to hear about the types of content people are looking for.
Throughout the month of July, Digital Journal hosted online story meetings that were open to the public. The live-chat discussions invited reporters, citizen journalists, bloggers and average news consumers into the editorial process to help shape the coverage being produced by Digital Journal. Participants were invited to provide input on the type of content of interest to them.
Participants interacted with Digital Journal editors and management to express their thoughts on stories and topics they believe were under-reported; emerging trends and topics that needed more media attention; and geographies and local stories that were being missed by the press. Readers chatted live and responded to polls and questions, and that feedback was used to assign stories to thousands of contributors via Digital Journal’s content assignment technology.
“We learned a lot about what people look for in a news site, and we were surprised by some of the feedback we got,” said Digital Journal CEO, Chris Hogg. “One of the most interesting things we noticed was that local content matters to people, but those people are also likely to read local content from other regions if the right context is provided. Several people told us they will read foreign news coverage if it’s presented to them through a single content source, and they really enjoy reading about news from other cities.”
Several key themes surfaced in the Global Editorial Meetings, including:
- Local content is widely sought-out by news consumers, but the majority are also interested in local stories from other geographies when context is provided.
- Readers are increasingly turning to social media sites to discover new information, following content feeds from media organizations on Twitter and Facebook because they are often curated and timelier than a website.
- Readers view their social media friends as content sources, often citing their social circles as sources of information.
- When a major or developing story breaks, a large percentage of online news consumers turn to their social media circles to validate information and to get updates rather than turning to a specific news site. Readers will often follow a story as it breaks on Twitter and Facebook, and then look for validated information from news sources after.
- Several readers want to see more investigative journalism and original work in the mainstream press and less content from wire services.
- A large percentage of readers enjoy reading opinion pieces, even if it’s an opinion contrary to their own sentiments.
- Most readers want to see more editorial coverage from regions such as South America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Several readers said they hope to learn more about these regions beyond the typical headlines that come from these areas.
- When it comes to content verticals, several readers said they want more business, science, and environmental news, regardless of the geography from which a story originates.
- Readers want to see more photography with news stories, citing preferences for photo essays and on-the-ground reports filled with high-quality visuals.
In addition to these overall themes, participants also noted that while a lot of the news they read informs them about what’s happening around them, deeper context is often missing in news articles in the mainstream press. That is especially true when it comes to discussions on the debt crisis and global financial markets, readers said. In addition, readers said geographies such as Africa and the Middle East are often in the news because of conflict occurring in those regions, but they believe media outlets need to do a better job of explaining the various sides of a story, such as who is involved, historical context and why the story should matter to them.
“Digital Journal is well-known for giving a voice to anyone who wants to take part in the news-gathering process,” said Hogg. “Learning from our readers, as well as people who are just discovering us as a news source, helps us improve our news offering and I would encourage every newsroom to start experimenting by bringing their readers behind the curtain to involve them in the everyday process of reporting news.”
Full transcripts from Digital Journal’s Global Editorial Meetings are available on request.
About Digital Journal:
Digital Journal is a global digital media network with 32,000 professional and citizen journalists, bloggers, photographers and freelancers in 200 countries around the world. Regarded as a pioneer and leader in crowd-sourcing and user-generated content, Digital Journal is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Digital Journal also consults news organizations on how to empower their audience to acquire content, drive revenue and increase engagement from digital media properties. For more information, visit digitaljournal.com.
Digital Journal commended for opening newsroom story meetings to the public
Our sister site, Digital Journal, issued the following press release this morning:
Digital Journal, a global digital media network with contributors in 200 countries, reported a strong response to its series of Global Editorial Meetings, ushering in a new precedent for how newsrooms interact with their audience and how editorial content is produced.
Online story meetings were open to the public, taking place throughout July. The live-chat discussions invited reporters, citizen journalists, bloggers and average news consumers into the editorial process to help shape the coverage produced by Digital Journal. Participants were invited to provide input on the type of content of interest to them.
“In an age where people go online to find content appealing to their tastes, it’s important for news organizations to adapt and ensure their editorial process aligns with reader interests,” said Digital Journal CEO, Chris Hogg. “By opening up our story meetings to the public, we provided a platform for people everywhere to tell us what they care about. We received a lot of great feedback that will allow us to target geographies and stories we know people care about.”
During the Global Editorial Meetings, participants interacted with Digital Journal editors to express their thoughts on stories and topics they believe were under-reported in the media; emerging trends and topics that needed more media attention; and geographies and local stories missed by the press. Readers chatted live and responded to polls and questions, and that feedback was used to assign stories to thousands of contributors via Digital Journal’s content assignment technology.
Several participants said they enjoy reading and contributing to Digital Journal because of the variety of content.
“I like Digital Journal because it gives me a mix of everything,” said Denise, a reader based in the UK. “I enjoy visiting a news site that offers me news I want to read from my location but also something else.”
Kim was also fond of Digital Journal’s diverse editorial mix. “I like a variety of hard-hitting news and politics as well as the odd news and light-hearted stuff, the same mix as Digital Journal provides,” she said.
Participants were very happy to have the opportunity to participate in a discussion about what is newsworthy and what stories they felt were not being covered by international press. Participants were also happy to have an opportunity to speak directly with Digital Journal staff members.
Pulling back the curtain and offering the public a chance to take part in the news-gathering process has earned Digital Journal kudos and praise from people all over the world.
“Thank you [Digital Journal] for great moderation, openness, and opportunity for feedback,” said Sam Halaby.
“Thanks for asking us what we think,” wrote Darren W. “Don’t see that often in the media.”
Full transcripts from Digital Journal’s Global Editorial Meetings are available on request.
Digital Journal will also be publishing an editorial summary to provide media organizations with an overview of the type of content average readers enjoy consuming, as well as input on how to improve online news coverage. The summary can be found here.
About Digital Journal:
Digital Journal is a global digital media network with 32,000 professional and citizen journalists, bloggers, photographers and freelancers in 200 countries around the world. Regarded as a pioneer and leader in crowd-sourcing and user-generated content, Digital Journal is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Digital Journal also consults news organizations on how to empower their audience to acquire content, drive revenue and increase engagement from digital media properties. For more information, visit digitaljournal.com.
News outlets, Facebook in talks about exclusive content
by Stephanie Medeiros (Guest Contributor/Digital Journalist)
Several news sources are in talks with the social network giant to provide exclusive news and content through Facebook.
Major news sources such as The Washington Post, CNN and The Daily are currently negotiating a deal with Facebook that would give the behemoth social network the ability to offer “exclusive” content and contend with similar services of competitors.
Facebook would provide the platform for the content and the news outlets will give Facebook access to content made available only through the social network, similar to a Web app.
All Facebook reports that Forbes Mixed Media analyst Jeff Bercovici said that this service could be provided as early as September. He also added that Facebook will more than likely be receiving compensation through ad-revenue from sales as well as a percentage of sales from subscriptions.
Facebook currently has several partnerships with major movie and television studios, which offer specialized offers through the social network. Bercovici pointed out that users have the ability to rent episodes of Doctor Who from BBC through Facebook.
Facebook’s aim is mostly on Google, who also have a similar partnership in the works with news outlets in offering exclusive content, Bercovici says. Also, Facebook must now compete with Google’s own fledgling social network, Google+, which already have several news networks such as ABC, Al Jazeera English and MSNBC using the service and a rapidly growing membership base.Other tech giants have already created similar content services, like Yahoo Pulse and LinkedIn Today.
However, with roughly over 700 million people using Facebook, the social network might prove to be the leader among the pack soon enough.
This article was originally published on Digital Journal [Link]
CTV News Quebec City Bureau Chief quits job in 3,000-word essay
By Andrew Moran (Guest Contributor/Digital Journalist)
CTV News Quebec City Bureau Chief and former CBC News reporter, Kai Nagata, quit his job in a 3,000-word essay where he explains that he was “disillusioned” and cited a “loss of faith” in television news.
There is a lot of pressure on the average journalist to bring both interest and viewership to a news story, but the report may not bring satisfaction to the reporter. Sometimes a reporter can feel that “junk news” has become the primary goal for news outlets and real shoe leather journalism has been blown in the wind.
That one journalist is Kai Nagata.
A 24-year-old CTV News reporter, also a former correspondent for CBC News, has quit his job as a Quebec City Bureau Chief in a 3,000-word farewell letter. In the essay, Nagata cites several reasons for his abrupt resignation, including an industry that “casually sexualizes its workforce” and television news not being the “best use of my short life.”
To put to rest any claims, Nagata explained that he didn’t quit over a “falling out” with CTV management, he didn’t quit “because it was too hard” and he didn’t quit his job because his career was peaking.
Nagata does believe CTV puts together a high standard of fact checking and its editorial managers are “critical thinkers.” “But there is an underlying tension between ‘what the people want to see’ and ‘the important stories we should be bringing to people.’”He quit for several reasons.
Journalistic Priorities
“The Kate and Will Show,” which Nagata referred to as his network featured extensive coverage of the royals visiting parts of Canada for their Royal Tour.
“On a weekend where there was real news happening in Bangkok, Misrata, Athens, Washington, and around the world, what we saw instead was a breathless gaggle of normally credible journalists gushing in live hit after live hit about how the prince is young and his wife is pretty.”
Hiring Practices
Nagata believes the media/journalism industry “casually sexualizes its workforce” instead of hiring “confident, intelligent journalists.” They hire attractive talents, which seems to make up for their paucity of other qualifications.
“The idea has taken root that if the people reporting the news look like your family and neighbours, instead of Barbie and Ken, the station will lose viewers.”
Politics
Everything that Nagata wanted say to his colleagues, industry professionals and casual conversations with public officials and even his tweets “were carefully strained out.” But now since he has quit his job, he is “coming out of the closet” to say that he has problems with Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government.
Specifically, Nagata has “serious problems” with the Canadian policy on fiscal issues, social issues, climate change, “the war against science” and its foreign policy.
“The people who are supposed to be holding decision makers to account are instead broadcasting useless tripe, or worse, stories that actively distract from the massive projects we need to be tackling instead of watching TV.
”The letter has caught the attention of several publications, including famous Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert, who tweeted the letter on his Twitter account. The farewell address was republished in the Huffington Post, Rabble and J-Source.
This post was originally published on Digital Journal [link].
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:
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