Clyde H. Bentley, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Missouri School of Journalism Opening the Door Making...
-
date post
21-Dec-2015 -
Category
Documents
-
view
220 -
download
0
Transcript of Clyde H. Bentley, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Missouri School of Journalism Opening the Door Making...
Clyde H. Bentley, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Missouri School of Journalism
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
The Missouri School of Journalism
Established in 1908 as world’s first school of journalism.
Missouri Method: Real experience.
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
Cowboy Journalism
101
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
A revised script
The Good
The Hey, This
Might Work…
The Bad
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
The Newspaper Story
The only game in town
But we go to every house!
We raise rates whenever we want
Just TRY to find our complaint department
The Bad
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
Then someone had a new idea
Cheaper delivery
Niche customers
Fast - fast - faster
Extensive marketing effort
The Bad
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
And now they want our presses
No printing costs
Fastest yet
Attractive to youth
Direct delivery
User controlled
The Bad
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
People still read newspapers
53% weekday
61% Sunday
“Web style” -- 72% Weekday 75% Sunday
(monthly average)
The Good
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
30 more years of Boomer Times
The Good
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
Web Use is SoaringThe Hey, This Might Work
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
Online newspapers are read
A third Internet users (55 million) visit a newspaper Web site over the course of a month.
Unique visitors to newspaper Web sites increased 21 percent from January 2005 to December 2005.
Newspaper Web sites increased the total newspaper audience, particularly among younger readers. Combination of Web and print is greater than either alone.
Source: ADbase -- Newspaper Association of America
The Hey, This Might Work
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
But … competition is fierce
May 2006 81,565,877 Web Sites
And every site competes for attention with them all…
Source:
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
First three quarters, 2005
And the money isn’t there -- yetNewspaper Print and Online Revenues
0
5000000
10000000
15000000
20000000
25000000
30000000
35000000
40000000
1 2
First three quarters, 2005
$33,934,000
$1,373,000
Print Online
4.38%
Source: NAA Quarterly Newspaper Advertising Expenditures
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
The Citizen Connection
Blogging: Easy way to post text. 28 million blogs online, doubling every 5 months
MoBlogs: Blogs driven by photographs. Can be filed from a cell phone.
Social Networking: MySpace, Facebook, etc.
Open Source Journalism: Journalists mediate between the writer and the reader.
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
So what might work?
The Hybrid
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
Combining assets at Mizzou
Web and Print
Users with Journalists
Paid with Free
News with fun
The sum is far greater than the
whole
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
The “other” side of journalismInformation from non-professional communicators Bulletin boards
Civic club presentations
“News” releases
Coffee klatches
Chat rooms
Gossip
Blogs
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
18 months with “citizens”
A participatory project under “The Missouri Method.”
Real-world challenges, real-world solutions
Empowered students who developed management skills
http://mymissourian.com launched Oct. 1, 2004
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
Inspired by others
OhMyNews was well known to professors and popular with our Korean students
Launch of Northwest Voice generated a faculty discussion.
Dean Mills recognized the potential and asked us to move quickly.
Proposed in late May 2004, launched
Oct. 1.
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
A challenge to tradition
Missouri is the home of traditional newspaper journalism education
Some faculty questioned the ability to maintain credibility
Could we teach a journalism where “we” were not in control?
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
So why do it?
To give voice to those traditionally excluded from the media
To allow non-journalists to help set the community agenda
To test our knowledge of audience values
To train students in a new form of journalism
…And to make money
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
Online alone is not enough
The revenuelines don’t cross for more than a decade
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
A hybrid strategy
Gather content via an online citizen journalism product
Use that content to fill a printed TMC product
Use revenue gains in TMC to underwrite the online product
Which led to one more BIG goal…
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
End Driveway Rot!
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
TMC = The Money Cow
Total Market Coverage products often produce a substantial portion of a newspaper’s budget.
At the Missourian, our TMC is budgeted at about 25% of our revenue but actually brings in 33%.
Depending how you count it…
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
It more than adds up
“Also, we will do about $230,000 with the Real Estate This Week magazine this year. That would not be possible if we did not have the Saturday TMC for distribution purposes.”
Dan PotterMissourian GM
“What’s deceptive is that much of the daily revenue comes from the TMC agreements in a forced buy, so even more of our revenue is the result of our TMCs.
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
Back to print
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Print edition launched Oct. 1, 2005
Allows use of the efficient advertising pattern of print
Increases readership by 23,000 households
Reverses the print-to-Web paradigm
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
Compelling content is the key
TMC’s are often filled with old, trivial or syndicated material
Lack of reader interest can cause “pickup failure”
Citizen-generated material is unduplicated, compelling and does not compete with our own daily product
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
Readers reach readers
“I have seen newspaper companies spend thousand of dollars annually to determine what readers expect. Few of their findings, however, are ever implemented.
Hans K. Meyergraduate student
Citizen journalism succeeds where others have failed.
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
Is there a future for journalists?
YES -- both professional and citizen journalists
Blogs pose both a threat and an opportunity
The power relationship in information is being re-negotiated
Journalists provide continuity and quality control
Story tellers become story guides
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
New journalism skills
“Covering stories and collecting, cultivating, sharing stories are very different things. Helping others to share their lives is still journalism, and it needs to be taught.”
Brian Hammangraduate student
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
Inviting the public to our table
Many editors are concerned about errors, credibility and libel
Some fear that citizen writing quality is low
How do we know if those untrained people are lying?
WILL WE LOSE CONTROL?
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
Mix logic with understanding
Most participants in citizen journalism have little reason to cheat or lie.
The “WBC” category is primarily the realm of blogs.
By and large, most Americans will conform to rules that are both simple and logical.
Focus on broad concerns; keep rules simple.
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
The arguments
“Decency” - How do we treat profanity and adult topics?
“Commercialism” - What about the promotion of a business, organization, religion, etc.?
“Literacy” - How much editing and rewriting should we do?
“Banalism” Is anything just too stupid to appear on the site? If so, how dumb is dumb?
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
Logical solutions
“Decency” No profanity, no nudity - use normal newspaper standards of propriety
“Commercialism” Don’t ban businesses that self-promote -work with them
“Literacy” Keep editing to a minimum, focusing on readability rather than style.
“Banalism” Journalists are poor judges of what or who is stupid.
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
And… Just Four Simple Rules
No profanity
No nudity
No personal attacks
No attacks on race, religion, national origin, gender or sexual orientation
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
The end of “NO”
“I worked in newspapers for seven years, and as an editor most of my dealings with the public were about telling people “no” due to limited space.
NO, we can't cover your event. NO, we can't run your youth baseball
photo in the newspaper. NO, your story idea isn't good enough for
publication.
Jeremy Littaugraduate student
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
So let them write . . .
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
Enlist “senior” photogs
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
Give them disposable cameras
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
Gut-level journalism
Everyone has a recipe
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
Let them express their faith
Religion is one of the most popular topics
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
Earth Day: Natural news
Annual festival celebrates environmental awareness
Provided wireless laptops so citizens could comment on the spot
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
Earth Day Photos
Digital cameras loaned to participants produced 100+ photos
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
And the bottom line?
Less than $1,000 new costs in a year and a half
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
Unexpected reader issues
Political issues are much less popular than we predicted.
Religion is far, far more popular than we predicted.
Pictures of dogs, cats and even rats trump most other copy.
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
Unexpected teaching issues
Traditional journalism students want to write, not “guide.”
Many were at a loss at how to cover “non news” topics like Little League.
Few students are well prepared to work with the public.
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
The hybrid lessons
Use Citizen Journalism to supplement traditional journalism, not replace it.
User-generated copy isn’t free. Online attracts the eager, but print serves the
masses. Give people what they want, when they want
it, how they want it. Americans are better “journalists” than you
think.
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
And next?
Integrate blogs with print
Multiple Web sites using databases
Mashups like Chicagocrime.org
Citizen advertising
… (Clyde’s list?)
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
Or a hybrid print / Web daily…
WednesdayCitizen edition
FridayEntertainment tab
SundayTraditional paper
MondayBusiness
focus
SaturdayAuto focus
TuesdaySchool focus
ThursdayHispanic
focus
Opening the DoorMaking Citizen Journalism Work
Clyde BentleyMissouri School of Journalism
The Computer Reaction
Blogging: Easy way to post text. 1.8 million blogs online
MoBlogs: Blogs driven by photographs. Can be filed from a cell phone.
Open Source Journalism: Journalists mediate between the writer and the reader.