SuperMedia

Journalism is changing. 

Page views for newspaper websites increased 52 percent in the first half of 2006, according to the New Media Institute.  In the same time period, more than 55.5 million people a month visited newspaper websites, on average. The Institute also reported that 35 percent of all Internet users in July of 2006 visited a newspaper website.  The numbers could go on and on, or rather, up and up.

As the statistics suggest, readers are moving online quickly. So whether journalists like it or not, media is shifting to the web. This shift is addressed by Charlie Beckett in “SuperMedia: Saving Journalism so It can Save the World.”  Beckett evaluates the rapidly changing world of journalism and suggests the answer to gaining readers and fixing newsrooms’ economic woes is using Networked Journalism.

He sums up his thoughts about Networked Journalism well when he says:  “Networked Journalism is about the journalist becoming the facilitator rather than the gatekeeper” (52).

While most editors and journalists are evaluating New Media in every day terms, Beckett looks at how New Media will change journalism in the long run. Networked Journalism doesn’t change the way journalism works, Beckett explains in the book, but adds to it. The system becomes more relaxed and not so structured.  Old Media and traditional forms of journalism aren’t going to disappear all together, but they are going to evolve into a more involved form of journalism, not only by allowing the mainstream population to be part of sharing news but also by getting news to readers quicker and in a variety of ways.  Beckett even takes his explanation a step further and says that newsrooms will have to consider whether they separate citizens from journalists.

The idea that readers might eventually become journalists is insightful because it is so far from where the newsrooms are today. However, I think there always needs to be a distinction between readers and journalists. Although Networked Journalism can improve accuracy and fairness to a certain degree, New Media and the Internet also make it much easier to be inaccurate and unfair. As Beckett says in his book, anyone can shape the media. That’s great and true, but it also means more people can use these tools to distort the truth. While journalists should consider utilizing readers and citizens more often, it is also essential that journalists become better at using credible sources and determining the difference between credible and unreliable.  Using the Internet to attract readers does not always mean we should use the Internet in our reporting. Sometimes we should, after careful and skeptical evaluation, and other times we should follow the traditional reporting methods.

I think a lot of Networked Journalism is explained simply by moving traditional reporting methods to the Internet. I don’t think New Media and Old Media should be separated thoughts. Separating the two makes using New Media seem daunting and scaring. Rather than think we have to start using Networked Journalism, I think it’s more about evolving traditional journalism. It’s moving traditional journalism online.

 In addition to the usual methods, journalists should use blogs, wikis, Facebook, YouTube and the myriad of other social media tools because Beckett’s right, that’s the best, easiest, and only way journalists can reach the mainstream public today. More people are spending time online than ever before. According to a “Huffington Post” article, 96 percent of millennials have joined a social network, social media has overtaken porn as the No. 1 activity on the web and the fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55 –to-65-year-old females. Fewer and fewer people read books and the printed newspaper. The only way journalists can reach readers and return to a thriving media is by shifting journalism online. This doesn’t mean getting read of old media and all of the sudden making reader’s reporters, just moving journalism to a different location.

This process is occurring slowly, whether it’s intentional or not. A journalist’s job is to attract readers. So if readers are online, journalists will put there information online. A New Media Institute study confirms this fact.

According to the Institute, more newspapers are reaching 25 –to-34-year-olds through its website. For instance, “The Washington Times” saw a 60.2 percent increase. “Tampa Tribune” saw a 36.7 percent increase. “Boston Globe” saw a 32.8 percent increase, and “The Seattle Times” saw a 31.9 percent increase.

Beckett explains in his book how we can take this a step further. He says that using Networked Journalism can bring more content to the reporting process, bring the audience back to the process and bring moral and political value to the process. In effect, speeding up what newspapers are slowly trying to do.

In the book, Beckett also touches on how Networked Journalism can help the media convey culture, people and humanity. Using terrorism and the Muslim population in Britain as an example, Beckett explains how conventional media keeps people from getting a full picture the people around us. Networked Journalism can convey multiple messages, he says (129).

This aspect – using technology and the online world to reach different cultures – is one of the most crucial aspects in Networked Journalism.  A journalist should hope to reach the world and to report accurately and fairly about the people in the world. Journalism should not only strive to bring news but also strive to help readers better understand people and culture.  If Networked Journalism, which is essentially using social media tools, can help reporters and editors reach people across the world and not just the people in their surrounding city, then reporters and editors should take advantage of the benefits Networked Journalism can offer.

Wrapping up his book, Beckett says: “Networked Journalism offers the possibilities of ‘closing’ the distance between people, even on a global scale. It does this not just through the technology of communications, but by more contextualized reporting that gives voice to the subject. Instead of simply reporting upon ‘the other,’ we are able to report ‘with’ people who are separated from us by geography, class, or other social factors” (166). 

Although it might be important to use Networked Journalism in response to how society is changing, it is even more important that journalists look at Networked Journalism as Beckett explains it – a way to close the gap between us and them. Networked Journalism has the ability to connect people across the world and potentially bring cultures together.

That’s something every journalist should strive for.   

Becoming an editor

I was geekishly excited when I made the quick decison to take Advanced Editing, a senior capstone course at UF.

I wasn't going to take classes at all. But if I took this class in the summer, I could take two capstone classes. The other is Applied Journalism, a workshop-style class that produces "Orange and Blue" magazine.  Although it was a quick six weeks, I learned quite a bit in Advanced Editing.

One of the biggest things I learned was that I am a writer. I like editing, though. I like being able to pull apart a story and figure out its meaning. I like knowing parts of speech and definitions and grammar. So, don't get me wrong - I still loved this class. But I found that I prefer writing to editing.

I supposed this confirmed something I've been ignoring. I really want to not only write feature stories, but I also want to write books, not necessarily be the executive editor at some big magazine company in New York City, the dream job I held on to through high school and much of college.

That said, I've learned being an editor and a writer can go hand-in-hand in many ways. Being a good editor will make me a better writer. Besides that, just because I'm an editor doesn't stop making me a writer.

There are important distinctions, though, between writing and editing. As I've learned in class, editors help writers become better writers, and they make sure a story is fair and accurate.

I've learned that editing goes beyond reading a story and fixing what you see wrong. Editing a story is a process that you build on. Editing is taking a story apart word by word and line by line to ensure it flows, it's grammatically correct, it's accurate, it's fair, it's attention-getting, it's news appropriate and a myriad of other things.

Not only did this class help me hone by AP Style and grammar skills, but it helped me realize that I should be balancing other type of judgment decisions, such as keeping a writer's style in a story and rewriting stories, which was one of the hardest challenges I had in this class.

I'm excited because this class taught me the skills I need to continue to be a good editor and to improve as an editor.

I think editing is something that can always be improved on, but it's something that, to a certain degree, needs to be taught. I also think that only by editing over and over again can you learn the art of being a good editor, something I have the opportunity to do as I continue my career.

Reading, Reading, Reading...

Ah, reading. If there is anything journalism students hear over and over and over again, it's the importance of reading.

As many of my journalism professors have said, every good journalists reads. To be a good writer, you must be an avid reader.  Sadly, I find it's the easiest thing to skip in a busy schedule.

It's logical, though. How are writers (specifically me), supposed to improve if they don't read other writing?

So, you ask, what do I read? 

I've become a feature writer, rather than a news writer. It didn't necessarily start that way, but I soon found that I had no desire to pursue anything other than writing. I like stories that allow me to be creative, and stories that tell of something or someone special and stories that make a difference.  Because of that, I try to read a lot of feature stories. I read the news, but I only read it to be informed of the world around me.

One of the series I like is The Neediest Cases  in the New York Times. The Neediest Cases stories are about different New York families that are helped by the New York Times Neediest Cases Fund. The feature stories written about the families are similar to the stories I like to write, so I enjoy reading them not only for pleasure but also to learn.

I also try to read The New Yorker. I like to read some of their essays and feature stories when I can, although I don't get the chance very often.  I keep up with Christianity Today, as well.  Not only do I really like there stories (for myself, mostly), but I also want to work at a Christian magazine when I graduate.

For news, I read the USA Today. I don't really look at anything else, except the Wall Street Journal occasionally.  Like I said, I read the USA Today to stay informed, and it's easier for me to persuade myself to sit and read the news than to sit and watch the news.

I also prefer to read books rather than a bunch of articles. I have a long list of summer reading books, which includes British classics, American favorites, historical books (like David McCullough's "1776") and literary journalism. There's more literary journalism on the list than anything else.

I think reading is something that's sometimes taken for granted. I think it's very easy to skip a day's reading, especially considering everything each of us has going on in our lives. However, I also think if we make a commitment to read every day, then we will see our writing improve tremendously.

Journalism in a digital world

I'm usually a traditional kind-of girl. I don't mean I don't like change. I do. I just prefer writing and traditional editing to some of the new forms of media. But I've recently been enlightened.
 
Why, you ask?  Because every conversation I've had about the classes I'm taking this semester has gone something like this:

"How's summer going? You taking classes?"
"Yeah," I reply. "It's not too bad. I'm taking Advanced Editing."
"Editing," they say, rather surprised. "You mean like photo or video editing? Cool!"
"Um... no, like writing editing," I say, rather awkwardly.
"You mean words? Oh..." they respond, with a that-still-exists? look. 

No joke. It's happened about four or five times so far this summer. For a brief few minutes, I almost felt lame for writing and editing stories. But, I suppose what they say is true.  The digital world is taking over. No longer (as we all already know) can we get by with just writing and editing. We have to take videos, pictures and the whole lot of it.

So, I suppose I should jump on the bandwagon. I'm actually excited about getting on it.

The role of networked journalism and digital media is something most journalists are understanding and beginning to apply more often.  I think journalism is in an in-between stage, where we still do the writing and the editing, but we are increasing the time and content that goes toward multimedia reporting.

This can also be a difficult stage for colleges and journalism students. Figuring out what area you want to pursue in any field is difficult, but especially in journalism, a field with many different facets. Then, of course, many colleges are still increasing the number of multimedia-based classes offered. Luckily, the UF College of Journalism and Communications has a few.

New Media, however, is not simply photos, graphics and videos. Networked Journalism has become a very important key to communicating with readers. Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are important places to network and communicate with others around the world.  Using Facebook and Twitter is something that can be done much easier than learning how to take great pictures and shoot awesome videos.

The below video sums up how rapidly journalism is changing. In the video, VOA's Philip Alexiou talks about how society is moving more to online news and how journalism is reacting:




The problem now (at least for me) is, as a student, how do I actually learn to use some of these tools? So, I went somewhere I can usually find help with situations like these: Poynter's News University.  Poynter has free courses available in a lot of different areas, including photojournalism and multimedia.

With society changing even quicker than journalism, I suppose every journalists should jump on the bandwagon, too.

Keeping the reader hooked

One of the first things I learned as a journalism student was that you only have three seconds to get a reader's attention and keep it.

When I first began as a journalism student, I thought that writing an amazing lead very well would be the hardest part. However, the more I wrote, the easier it got.  But as I began to read the news more and read it not only as a reader but also as a writer, I noticed that getting a reader's attention is not the hard part. The hard part is keeping reader's attention.

In Think Like An Editor, a book by Steve and Emilie Davis that is full of strategies to become a  good editor, Steve Davis shares an experience in one of the newsrooms he worked in. The staff invited readers to the office, gave them copies of the paper and told them to mark where they stop reading.  Davis said the results were brutal. 

Everyone gets bored with a story at a certain point. It's because we're busy people with busy lives, and we want to read something that's either a really good story or really informative.

One of the keys to writing informative and telling stories is to provide lots of context (background, research, statistics, etc.) and to include good descriptions of people and places, as well as good anecdotes and details.

Strategy 16 in Think Like An Editor offers way to help editors and reporters include more context in stories, such as using background, numbers and comparisons. One of the Strategy 16 assignments specifically helped me to think more about incorportating more details and information into a story:

Chose and enterprise story (or any other story) and look for ways to add context. What opportunities exist? What else is there to this story? What's missing?

Another important way to keep a reader's attention  is to use the Show, Don't Tell method. 

Journalists probably hear this all the time. I did, especially in my feature writing class. It was always Show, Don't Tell over and over and over again. But there's a reason I heard it so much.

It's because readers want to be there. Think about it. Why do you read a book (other than textbooks)? It's most likely because something about it appeals to you, or maybe you've read something by that author you liked before.  I think journalists should strive to have that same affect on readers. 

Of course, I can say all this as much as I want, but that doesn't make it easy. Including background, anecdotes, examples, details, etc. into a story is not always doable. And  for all we know, we could do ALL of that, and readers still would read passed the third or fourth graph.

I guess it's a toss up....

Enterprise stories: Finding good story ideas

There's a saying I've heard a few times before. It goes something like this: There are reporters who write stories and reporters who have story ideas. 

I've written for a variety of different magazines, all with different styles. They all asked me, at one point in my time with them, if I had any new story ideas. Aside from the importance of finding new stories for your beat, journalists shouldn't get into the everyday routine of taking only assigned stories. Some of the best stories are those that you looked for and are most passionate about. In fact, all of the stories I came up with myself are some of my best and most in-depth pieces.

According to "Think Like An Editor" by Steve Davis and Emilie Davis, there are 10 steps to better enterprise stories. Here's what they recommend:

1. Make a list.
2. Think about change.
3. Think about the unusual.
4. Ask yourself what interests you.
5. Think about the next steps.
6. Think about people.
7. Apply the five W's
8. Ask how.
9. Ask others.
10. Read.

 In addition to the above suggestions from Strategy 3 in the book, I found a few other sites that might be useful in coming up with new story ideas:

The Student Newspaper Survival Guide:
This blog has tips for student journalists working at a college paper. One blog includes finding story ideas. Although the blog is geared for students, the suggestions and tips would be beneficial for any journalist.

Off The Wall: Bruce Byfield's Blog:
This blog post has great suggestions for practical ways to find story ideas. The blog offers very useful suggestions and answers a question writers often have, how do I come up with story ideas?

Hold The Front Page:
This page has useful tips that might spurn other ideas or might get writers thinking in different ways. The site offers a list of different questions or ideas, with links to more in-depth explanations.

All this said, I don't think any of the suggestions matter as much as listening, observing and thinking matter.  Granted, all of the above tips are methods to get people thinking, but even then I sometimes think it's too complicated. 

It's simple. Write what you think. Write what you feel. Write what you wonder. Write what you like. Write what you don't like. The list could go on and on, but essentially, everyone has a story. Everyone has something special to tell.  I think too often journalist (myself included) get too caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, and we forget why we became journalists.

I don't mean to detract attention or importance from the above tips, however. When you're in a crunch, some of these tips can be great resources to get you thinking in ways you might not have previously. 

I looked at the tips. I read them. I read them because I always want more story ideas - that makes me a better journalist. I just don't think we should over analyze it.

Tip four from Think Like An Editor hit the nail on the head: Ask yourself what interests you.

So with all that in mind, I hope journalists can remember the basics.

Happy writing!

The Storytellers' Summit: Tips from a few of the best

This past weekend the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications held the Storytellers' Summit, featuring big-name journalists from around the country. The Summit, which was free for journalism students, offered journalists and students the chance to learn some of the secrets to good storytelling.

Here are some tips from a few of the speakers:

Jeff Klinkenberg:

Klinkenberg is a writer for the St. Petersburg Times and focuses his writing on Florida culture. Klinkenberg spoke at a session about writing about place.

A story can be broken down into two parts, broccoli and ice-cream cones, he told the audience on Saturday. Broccoli is often the nut graph, while ice-cream cones are the special gems in a story, such a place or setting.

Klinkenberg's biggest advice was the importance of in-person interviews and getting to know the person or place the story is about.

"You need to take feild trips with whoever you write about," he said. "Don't do storytelling by phone. Get there early and stay late. Let things soak in."

He also advised the audience to become experts about the community they write about and to always be students, constantly learning something new.

Rick Bragg:

Rick Bragg was one of the highlights of the conference. For good reason: Bragg has won the Pulitzer Prize and is a master storyteller.

"If you can't paint a picture, then you fail," Bragg told the audience. "You have to be more into the reporting than the writing."

Bragg said he thinks writing has become too complicated. The secret to good storytelling, he said, was to write clear and thoughtfully and to think about what you're writing.

"If you can't make them see it," he said of writing, "then you won't make it. Writing is like coloring--make it as vivid and colorful as is true."

Lane DeGregory:

Lane DeGregory, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for her "The girl in the window" story, spoke Sunday about 20 different ways to find story ideas.  The tips were taken from DeGregory's own experience as a reporter at the St. Petersburg Times and included links to stories she has written. Here are five of her tips:

1. Talk to strangers
Be a noisy neighbor, DeGregory suggested, everybody has a story.

2. Celebrate losers
Dreams don't always come true, ask people about their failures.

3. Write stories no one else wants.
Make people care, write for other sections, find a way it hasn't been done before, DeGregory told the audience.

4. Listen to the quiet
The sound of silence--what doesn't happen? What's not answered? she asked.

5. Don't be afraid of yourself
Share your life, open up, tell stories, take risks, she said.

Although many speakers at the conference were journalists, book editors and literary agents also turned up for the Summit, giving aspiring authors a chance to learn more about the publishing business. The conference featured tons of talented writers, and sadly, they all couldn't be captured in a few tips and paragraphs.

However, there was at least one common theme in all of the sessions and speeches. Go there and get to know the subjects. Good storytelling, the speakers advised, can't be done over the phone. To be a good journalists, writers must capture the place and the person and try to recreate it for the reader.

The conference served as a good reminder about what a journalist's job is. They all made it sound SO simple.  But at the end of the conference, I'm was left with one question:  Can it really be THAT simple. It must be, though, because each reporter was no different than the average reporter (well, other than the Pulitzer and years upon years of awesome experience).

The basic idea is to get to know the subject as well as possible. The problem arises when you calculate deadlines and other stories. So, taking that into consideration, it is not a matter of trying to write a wonderfully telling story every time, but rather to balence your stories and every now and then, write a wonderfully telling story.

Maybe that's the secret to being a good storyteller.