Help from the academy

Ryan Thornburg of UNC poses some questions for discussion at his blog, "The Future of News," about how universities can help newsrooms. His questions stemmed from a panel discussion at the Online News Association's recent meeting.

Unfortunately, the panel discussion had morphed into a session of preaching to the choir, with most people in the room being from academia, instead of being working journalists who could learn from academia.

Too often, working journalists tend to see academic people as falling into two camps:
1. Isolated, slow, behind-the-curve ivory-tower inhabitants, or
2. Incubators for products that have to be pitched like all the other vendors competing for our dwindling dollars.

As Ryan Thornburg quoted Paul Volpe, the deputy politics editor at washingtonpost.com:
“Pitch me.”

Unfortunately, with that approach, the transaction becomes all about the sizzle and not about the steak. Many of us have had experience with stories that landed on 1A not because they were good, but because they had a good sales pitch in a meeting. And many of us have had experience with software that landed on websites not because it was good, but because it had a good salesperson.

And then let's go back to No. 1 for a moment: Many of us have had experience with journalism classes that taught out-of-date skills or that were staffed with professors unaware of new technical developments.

But a middle ground exists. As we all deal with sad, sad news of losing good colleagues or jobs, academic works can help us remain focused on the long view. And academic research can give us independent views on business models, trends, staffing and management. That's quality information that can fuel important decisions.

So if you need to be reminded of what we're all trying to do, go back and read Phil Meyer.

If you need research information into attitudes, skills and diversity among staffers over time, check out the Newspaper Research Journal.

If you're looking for information on new technical developments, keep an eye on business incubators and information-related academic fields like online learning and information science.

Go give Ryan a comment on his blog. Give the academics a chance to help us.

And chin up, head down, ears open.

Send good thoughts for all.

How online journalists see themselves

Ryan Thornburg of UNC surveys online journalists in North Carolina, with a little help from Phil Meyer, Teresa Edwards and McClatchy's own Julianne Mulhollan.

A snippet, about the "Gannett" effect:

"Several panelists from Asheville ... contacted me to say they really didn’t work online. In their email signatures and in phone conversations, the job titles that they chose for themselves never included the online elements we found next to their names on the paper’s masthead. Among this group who declined to participate in the survey were people who I found had created online-only content for the Citizen-Times during the month the survey was conducted. I’m fascinated that despite what I perceive as obvious participation in the creation of online news, they still declined to self-identify as someone who worked primarily online."

Watch for more results at Thornburg's blog.

Thoughts on Innovation from a Disney exec

CNET asked Chris Heatherly, vice president of technology and innovation, Disney Consumer Products, The Walt Disney Co., how he defined innovation. "I think innovation is understanding people and what they need and giving them the most perfect solution you can to their problem even if they might not know they have it yet."

Heatherly talks about why companies like Apple, Google and Target have succeeded in their industries; why it's imperative to have management that nurtures the innovative spirit; and some examples of what's worked and not worked for Disney. He also discusses which comes first: technology or the art?


(Oh, to be a Disney imagineer and dream up ideas all day long! Talk about creative story telling.)

Some highlights from the piece:
"I think too many people confuse innovation and technology. I have seen a lot of designers try to make a mediocre concept innovative by putting Bluetooth or some other whiz-bang technology du jour in it. That's not innovation. It's cheating. Innovation is about solving problems for people."

"What are the most important areas of innovation in your organization (product, process, IP, marketing, etc.)?
To be a creative company, you have to have a creative core, whatever that means for your company. For Disney, that's people like storytellers, animators, and Imagineers. For a company like Apple, it's designers and engineers. The people at the core of what you do have to be the heart that pumps innovation through the vessels of the organization. ... Pixar is very clear that it is about telling stories and that everyone who is there is there for that purpose. Technology plays a really important role for them. They like to say that 'art challenges technology and technology inspires art.' They don't look at technology as being a second-class citizen to their artists. It's a respected peer. There are lots of other parts of the organization that have to be part of an innovative mission."

A cautionary tale - at the Washpo

Very long story by the Washington City Paper, worth the read, about the divide between digital and paper at The Washington Post.

Summary quote:
"It’s all about control—the news people and the Web people are grappling over who hires whom, who edits what, who pays for what, and who gets what first."

The story offers specifics, deep within, about technical and workflow barriers, particularly with photos.

There's no mention of the departure of technical whiz Adrian Holovaty from The Post, but you can read more about his thoughts on the divide via the long tail of the web here. Holovaty himself showed class in his departure announcement.

So about that business model...

Former Observer business editor Jon Talton rants about what's really wrong with newspapers.
He got a link from Romenesko, so you've probably already read it, and it's not the business of this place to focus on the negative.
But Talton is worth a read not only because his words can be so biting but also because he approaches the topic from a business point of view.
And many discussions are finally moving beyond lamenting the death of a business model to looking for solutions. Online advertising might not be enough (Project for Excellence in Journalism).

Let's hope the vision is broad and progress has begun.
Other links:
American Journalism Review on nonprofit journalism.
TechCrunch on whether government should support media companies.
Columbia J-dean's response.

Really want to dig deep and be surprised? Go to Charlotte's Urban Planet forum for outsiders' views. As always, consider the sources, put on your thick skin and look for the hope.

Brick walls, brain drain and dreams

You know those days when you read the comic "Dilbert" and you could swear Scott Adams has a spy in your office?
Many journalists might have felt that way when reading Alan Mutter at "Reflections of a Newsosaur." He wrote about the brain drain that traditional newspapers face as young journalists get frustrated with the pace of change.
The comments tell the story: Several anonymous postings say, "Yeah, that's my shop."
Add some perspective and seek the positive: The post has 10 comments, two of which I recognize, one of which I respect. Many other journalists are out there, quietly working to be the change.
What the elders and managers need to remember: Brick walls can drive talent away. Many young people have never experienced the frustrating lack of success that can sometimes accompany work in a corporation.
Then the elders need to do what dying professor Randy Pausch did in his "Last Lecture." Give perspective and help others fulfill their dreams. The short WSJ version of the Pausch lecture is here; if you want the nine-minute version, search YouTube.

We should be thinking hard about the recent bridge collapse, and all the news coverage that came out of it from non-traditional sources, plus Will Sullivan's musings.

Designers rule, others drool?

I know a designer who suggested this link, but was concerned about sharing it because of designer-hate backlash.
But hey, now Howard Weaver has it on his "I'm reading..." list, so here are a couple of quotes and a link:

"CEOs and managers must know Design Thinking to do their jobs. CEOs must be designers and use their methodologies to actually run companies. Let me be even more precise. Design Thinking is the new Management Methodology."

"Innovation is no longer just about new technology per se. It is about new models of organization."

--Bruce Nussbaum, BusinessWeek

Newspaper staffing levels

Jack Shafer at Slate compares staffing levels at The Washington Post and The New York Times in 1972 and now. Credit goes to Trent for finding the article.
One quote:
If hard-news sections take a disproportional hit as papers rescale, all the iPhones and Googles in the world won't matter.
The full story.
Read the comments too. It's worth pondering how our new technology has broadened the work of newsroom employees, not just made it easier. And is it more efficient to have mojos who do everything vs. assembly-line jobs? Indianapolis is outsourcing photo toning; but if someone sends a reporter an emailed mugshot, should that reporter be able to put it into production herself, or should she hit the forward button through three other people to get it in the paper?

A contrarian

Consultants telling newspapers what to do are a dime a dozen, particularly because blogs are cheap and free.
Still, reading contrary views can make one think, whether it's about how to do online stuff better or how to reorganize a newsroom.
John Duncan writes long as The Inksniffer, but he quotes Lenny Kravitz at times. He's now added to the journalism links.
An older post on McClatchy, called "Dear Gary Pruitt: aka Calling All Angels," gives provocative suggestions on what we should stop doing, always the hard question.
Scary provocative quote:
---Stop rearranging deck chairs. ....redesigns alone rarely move readership permanently on its own. You have to rethink what a newspaper can be before that will happen. And you have to believe energetically in the product that drives most of your revenue instead of hoping that its decline will be slow and its death painless.
---Stop reducing staff by attrition. I know this is part of the McClatchy way and it feels warm and nice. But this is the cheapest and worst way to cut staff costs because it involves abdicating control of your staff to coincidence. I've done this. The people who leave are generally experienced (retirement) or talented (recruited elsewhere) and often both. It causes huge problems for management in getting the right people in the right chairs. The shuffles and compromises involved usually have little to do with the needs of readers and you can get saddled with them for years. Make a decision about where the resources need to go to match your vision.

Learning from the library

Edited quotes from a blog by a librarian, teaching other librarians about new technology. Try to substitute the word "journalist" for librarian:

I had conversations with so many passionate and motivated librarians that were just so disheartening. One lovely woman even burst into tears. “You don’t know how much your talk meant to me and gave me new hope. I’ve been trying to get our management to look at these things for years, but ... I’m sorry to cry. My tears aren’t because of you. They’re just from all my frustrations.”

This type of frustration I heard echoed in almost every conversation (but thankfully not all) I had over the past three days. ... I’m beginning to wonder if what the profession really needs is just to give some administrators a good swift kick in the head. Those that I spent my time talking with clearly got all the 2.0 concepts, in fact they were apostles. But after trying to move their libraries forward for the past year or so, they felt stippled and oppressed by stale management and old world politics.

My heart melted a bit every time I heard a story from a passionate librarian whose gallant efforts to provide new and fresh services were crushed by the old guard. Clearly things need to change… but I’m struggling even myself with exactly just how?

The answers I know aren’t simple, but my sense is that these woes can be summed up in one question … Is your library, your management, your leadership culture built around policies and practices that “control” or are they open and flexible to “empower” both employees and your customers?

...It’s hard to fight battles through small change, but with enough small battles, it creates some erosion. And the thing about erosion is ... that if it continues long enough, it eventually leads to an avalanche of new opportunity!