Good morning.
I’m Nora Paul and I’m a faculty member at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies. We had one of our first seminars on new media way back in the early days of the web–three years ago! We gathered together some of the early pioneers of online news to talk about the issues they were encountering as they brought these new news products into their organizations.
One of the issues areas we discussed was called Relationship with the Core Product — because back then, the idea was that new media was just a little twig off the mighty oak of the print product. Some of the concerns in that area which people were already dealing with were:
competiton for resources
the culture clash between the mediums
standards and integrity in new media
re-engineering the newsroom
We discussed concerns such as how to overcome in the old media newsroom the sense of fear and mistrust about new media, what the organizational relationships should be between old and new media, and whether new media is simply a new function of the core product or whether it should be an entirely separate effort.
Well, three years and a thousand news websites later, the problems of integrating the print newsroom with the new media effort continues to stymie many organizations. Some have taken a definite “we must merge” stance, such as the new media approach at the Chicago Tribune and at the Orlando Sentinel. Others have a philosophy of separation with new media a completely different organization such as with Cox’s new media efforts.
No matter what approach is used, the issue of tapping into the talents and resources of the vastly larger print newsroom and figuring out ways to combine efforts at some level continues to the source of much angst.
At the recent leadership for new media program we held at Poynter, we asked the participants to rank concerns they have in new media products. Concerns about developing great online content ranked first; a close second was how to integrate the old and new media newsrooms’ efforts more effectively.
In a survey of the managers of online newspapers conducted by Poynter Fellow Michelle Jackson of Florida State University, only 20% of the respondents said reporters contribute special material to the website; 31% said newsroom editors who work on the print paper also have some editorial responsibility for the website; and only 23% said photojournalists or graphics designers contribute special material to the web.
When you consider that almost 60% of the website operations surveyed have fewer than two employees, it’s clear that tapping the talents of the print newsroom to contribute to the new online presence is going to be very important.
As one recent seminar participant put it, “We’re in a very competitive market…we have three online producers. We have more than 200 journalists in the newsroom. We can either hit the competition with our three people against their 20 or 25 or we can throw the resources of 203 people against them. ” But how to tap into it continues to be a problem.
Just what does integration mean…well there are several definitions.
The standard one: The condition of being formed into a whole by the addition or combination of parts or elements.
There’s the sociological definition: Ending the segregation of and bringing into equal membership in society or an organization.
But the one I prefer is the biological definition:The sum of the processes by which the developing parts of an organism are formed into a functional and structural whole.
New media really is a new life form in newsrooms.
But the processes referred to in the biological definition of integration are not adding up–evolution is stuck in many newsrooms. Why is that?
There are a number of newsroom hurdles to integration that have been set up by years of routines, attitudes, and protocols. Do you recognize any of these hurdles in your news organization?
It’s important to understand why you get that eye-rolling reaction from the print editors when you suggest some great new web feature you’d like their reporters to contribute to, or why the reporters are not thrilled at the idea of putting their e-mail addresses on their stories is important.
If you know about the hurdles operating in your newsroom, figuring out how to clear them will be easier.
The hurdles can be:
LOGISTICAL: Someone at a northeastern website said, “Where I work is as far back in the building as one can go. The actual building isn’t that big, so they couldn’t put us anywhere closer to the newspaper office if they tried. But, I can see how this makes it difficult for the newspaper staffers to understand exactly what we do back here.” Logistical hurdles can make your work invisible and it’s hard to integrate with something you never see.
TECHNICAL: The technologies used to create a print page and a web page are very different–there is a different language and coding. The software and access required to even look at the web technology is often non-existent in the print newsroom so there is little opportunity for them to begin to understand it, much less get involved or excited about the possibilities.
CULTURAL: New media is all about quick changes, new approaches, on-the-edge attitude. It wants constantly updated news, it wants fresh and different. The print newsroom, on the other hand, has taken years to develop the way it does things and that stability and “write up to the deadline” style serves them quite well, thank you very much. They don’t understand your culture and they feel you don’t respect theirs.
PERCEPTUAL: Nod your head if you have the sense that the folks in the print newsroom think of you as some techno-babbling geek, not a solid, reliable journalist with values and journalistic goals. Nod your head if you think of the majority of the print newsroom as hopelessly archaic luddites with, frankly, little to contribute to this new world. This perception and how you reveal it to your newsroom can be a huge hurdle. Be careful of techno-arrogance — the managing editor at a small newspaper said one of his reporters had gone to the webmaster with what he thought was a great idea but the webmaster just shot it down, giving the reporter the sense that he was hopelessly uninformed. The managing editor said, “Once burned, twice shy – that guy won’t be offering to work with the web staff anytime soon.”
ATTITUDINAL: A friend who runs the library and the website at a small newspaper told me how she excitedly told the photo editor at the newspaper about this great panorama photo program she got and the great new ways he could photographically report stories for the web. “We don’t do that kind of photograph; that’s not a news photograph.” was his reply. That kind of attitude is rampant in some newsrooms: “That’s not what we do and that’s not how we do it” That along with the, “We don’t have time to do what we have to do now, much less do anything new” is a real integration and innovation killer.
HISTORICAL: Many people in the newsroom have been through the “next big technology” before. Many remember the move from hot type to cold type, many are going through the agony and esctasy of pagination. Frankly, to them, this new media is just another technological fad that’s just going to mean disruption and quite possibly, more work for them.
ETHICAL: Reporters see their news webpage and there’s the front page–full of ads (if you’re lucky). This uncomfortable mix of crass business and holy editorial is enough for them to think that new media is the devil’s work. The now infamous incidences of the rush to publish before a story is fully formed because of the pressures of the continually updated news product also gives print journalists ethical twinges that may make them reluctant to fully embrace the new medium. When one large eastern news website decided to include a book ordering service at the bottom of their book reviews area, a print side editor threatened to quit.
PROCEDURAL: Sure, put e-mail addresses on the reporters’ bylines, but has anyone figured out what the guidelines are for answering the e-mail they get. Journalists need to know what they need to do, and often no one has figured it out, or if they have, they haven’t told the journalists yet.
GENERATIONAL: Headline for the generation gap between new and old media: “Gen X meets Woodstock.” The average age of the new media staff is considerably lower than the average in the newsroom. Ageism on both sides can be a real issue.
MOTIVATIONAL: And just what is in this for me? You are going to be fighting an uphill battle unless you can help the newsroom figure out how contribution and collaboration with the new media effort can help serve their individual journalistic purposes.
SCHIZOPHRENIC: Do any of you work in an organization that has decided not to put browsers on the reporters’ and editors’ pcs? “The web is just a big waste of time. If we put browsers on their computers they will just be out there playing.” This, of course, is coming from the same newsroom pumping money into creating an invaluable information service for their readers. What is going on there?
BUDGETARY: The perception in the newsroom is that new media gets the great computers: We’re still banging away on crummy machines. They see you adding staff (and don’t really see what you’re doing with it) and they know you’re not making any real profits yet. They resent the money going to new media.
ORGANIZATIONAL: Job titles and descriptions in new media operations just don’t correspond to print newsroom titles, nor should they. The whole organizational structure can be mysterious to the print newsroom people. Newsrooms with the guild can have another level of difficulty integrating new roles. And then there is the fact that in some organizations the new media operation is an entirely separate company, so even if the “old media” newsroom wanted to get more involved there is no organization pipeline to new media.
A reporter at a large newspaper in the south I was talking with said their newsroom wanted to produce some packages for the web but that the website people were only interested in developing entertainment resources, and since they were, in essence, a separate company, there was no way to get them to help make the story packages a reality.
TERRITORIAL: They can see you as invaders of their space, their scoop, their jobs. People get defensive when they don’t understand what is going on and the lack of communication and understanding about the place new media is playing in the organization can create severe territorial issues.
DIRECTIONAL: In a message thread about web staff / newsroom relations someone wrote. “How many ceo’s / publishers are regularly online? It’s a lot easier when it starts at the top, or has reached the top of the organization –as decisions, like other things, tend to run downhill. ” Ultimately, the most important foundation for integration is a clear mission. The mixed or, often, missing messages about the vision of new media can only lead to scattered efforts. In that survey I told you about earlier, only 30% of web editors said that senior news executives were involved in the website – but these are the very ones who must be involved because only they can ensure their troops will get involved.
So, do any of these sound familiar? Hopefully these have helped you have some insight into what might be going on in your newsroom. If they have, then now you know, and, as GI Joe says, knowing is half the battle. But the other half is doing something about it.
Here are some suggestions:
Have a clear mission.Make sure someone is guiding and communicating just what you all are about in this new media effort.
Provide rumor control Have an ear out for what the current misconception is in the newsroom about new media, the Internet, and what you are trying to do.
Help ease techno-angst. Some of those who have been most successful in getting their print side colleagues interested and involved in new media attribute it to a constant and ongoing evangelistic role. They provide training to help people understand.
Raise their consciousness. Part of the easing of techno-angst is helping them to see just what new media can do for them.
Finding out what motivates them will help in the raising of their consciousness. Are they frustrated by the limited space available in the newspaper? Offer them the expandable space. Can’t get all those photos in? Here is an opportunity for an online gallery.
Establish clear procedures / guidelines Help ease the angst and confusion by helping them to see that guidelines they’ve used in the past still work and for those new procedures or modes of working make sure that clear guidelines are developed.
Be their technology advocate The more literate and comfortable the newsroom is with the technology, the more of a basis you will have to build on. Help the newsroom by using your expertise with technology to build their access.
Let me read you the vision for the future written by one of the participants of our last new media seminar:
“What I’d like in the future: The new media and old media staff are working closely together, with the folks in new media creating compelling packages that take advantage of the new storytelling devices the web makes available while utilizing the incredible amount of reporting and information gathering that occurs in the newsroom. ”
“I’d like to see our print columnists develop web personas by hosting chats or forums. I’d like to see our print product promoting the online product, and the online product returning the favor. I’d like to see us viewing the web not as something totally different but simply a new way of providing information to our audience.”
Is that a future you’d like to see? Getting to that future is going to require a lot of changes.
So, for a final piece of advice, consider the little phrase I’ve got on the front of the handout–I saw it on a bumper sticker.
“Change is good. You first.”
If you are going to integrate the old and the new, someone is going to have to start the process.
If not you, who? If not now, when?
If you want to read more about the online ethical issues that are of such concern to the print journalists, the recent issue of Editor & Publisher has an article, teased on the cover “Internet Eroding Newsroom Standards” — but called a little more positively inside “Upholding journalistic standards online.” It has the musings and thoughtful comments of Philadelphia Online general manager Fred Mann.
