Trends in Online Journalism

Online Journalism One of the biggest growth opportunities is online journalism Web Editors often make more money than their print editor counterparts Web Editors Expectations include writing AND technical skills

Jobs Web editor and producer positions pay higher than the equivalent print positions Web editor (Seattle) $65,000 Web producer (Seattle) $89,000 NOTE: The above info comes from Salary.com survey data

Online Journalism Jobs Job titles may vary, but there are typically these positions: Web Editor Senior Web Editor/Managing Web Editor Web Producer Senior Web Producer/Managing Web Producer Other titles: Multimedia Assignment Editor Multimedia Assignment Producer Presentation Editor Internet Content Editor

Recent Survey Results Highest valued Editing and Copyediting Skills among New Media Content Producers: News judgment Grammar and style Headline writing for the Web Story combining/shortening

Recent Survey Results Highest valued Content Editing Skills among New Media Content Producers: Photo editing Reporting and writing original stories Alternative story forms (polls, quizzes, etc.) Audio production Video production

Recent Survey Results Highest valued attitude and intangible skills in New Media Content Producers: Multitasking ability Attention to detail Communication skills Ability to work under time pressure

Reading Habits Reading online is typically 25% slower than print Some tricks to keep a reader interested: Layout with bullet points and bold subheads Break longer stories into chunks Include multimedia elements Polls Slideshows Audio/Video

Web Journalism What works online? Breaking news Links to credible sources Instant archives Interactivity Multimedia

Storytelling or Presentation Convergence New ways of telling the story are emerging Use more than just audio, video or text Readers/Viewers can participate Unlimited space to tell the story Non-linear structure

Example Being A Black Man in The Washington Post Being A Black Man

Backpack Journalism Online journalists need to know how to write, shoot and record They also have technology skills for posting/uploading stories online Backpack Journalism = All the tools for reporting fit in your backpack Self-contained reporter from story creation to distribution

Backpack Journalist Employers want to hire someone that can do it all Write an accurate story fast Use new media tools to tell the story

Examples KRON-TV San Francisco Current TV

Journalists Moving Online Some established journalists are moving online to have more control over their reporting Example: CNNs Daryn KaganDaryn Kagan Walter Cronkite blog Walter Cronkite

Welcome to Web 2.0

Web 2.0 The term is subject to hype and remains in debate and in flux

Web 2.0 Content power shift to the masses rather than the mass media Mass media is de-massed Its all about YOU

Web 2.0 & Journalism Architecture of participation User-generated content Blogs Wikis Crowdsourcing Social networking sites

User-Generated Content These sites build content from the submission of users, rather than staff editors or writers Blogs/Personal Journals Photos Podcasts Video sharing (Vlogs) Reviews/Advice Forums

Photobucket vs. Kodakgallery

Beyond the Computer Web serves as a platform for other technologies to interoperate with Mobile devices Home entertainment devices Appliances

Online Publishing Tools Publishing information online has become easier due to several self-publishing tools and content management systems

Example: Blogs Popular Blog Tools Blogger.com LiveJournal WordPress

Blog Popularity A new blog is started every second Many remain unread and semi- anonymous A few end up with a strong following Most are not created by journalists!

Who is Blogging? Bloggers are young More than half (54%) of bloggers are under the age of % of bloggers blog under a pseudonym, and 46% blog under their own name. SOURCE: PEW INSTITUTE 2006 SURVEY

Is it Journalism? Most bloggers do not think of what they do as journalism. 34% of bloggers consider their blog a form of journalism, and 65% of bloggers do not. SOURCE: PEW INSTITUTE 2006 SURVEY

Is It Journalism? Most have not trained to be journalists 57% of bloggers include links to original sources either sometimes or often. 56% of bloggers spend extra time trying to verify facts they want to include in a post either sometimes or often. SOURCE: PEW INSTITUTE 2006 SURVEY

Beyond Text Bloggers are using more than simple words to tell their stories 72% Photos 30% Audio 15% Video SOURCE: PEW INSTITUTE 2006 SURVEY

Moblogging Mobile phone blogging Instant on location blogging via ones mobile phone Photo share publishing on the go Uses camera phones to see what the publisher sees instantly

Moblogging Mobile phone blogging Instant on location blogging via ones mobile phone Photo share publishing on the go Uses camera phones to see what the publisher sees instantly

Moblogs and Breaking News U.S. east coast blackout London subway terrorist bombing

User-controlled News Internet users like to have some control over the media they consume Personalized news Peer-recommended news Open-source news

Personalized News Google News No editors are employed Uses traffic analysis and readership patterns to determine what is most newsworthy

Peer-recommended News Digg.com Readers vote on what they like Highest votes = highest news placement on site

Open-Source News OhMyNews Huge in South Korea Expanded to international audience 41,000 citizen reporters 20% of content created in-house by only 55 staff reporters

Open-Source News WikiNews User-created news reports Collaborative editing by peers A Russian-language version is now available

Mainstream News Dominates Independent news is thriving, but mainstream news still dominates online Top U.S. news sites: 1. Yahoo! News 2. MSNBC 3. AOL News 4. CNN 5. The New York Times SOURCE: 9/7/2006 COMSCORE REPORT

Mainstream News Blogs Mainstream news outlets are adapting their own blogs The New York Times The Washington Post CBS News MSNBC

The Aggregators News site aggregators have proven to be very popular…and influential They do not write news, but they do create headlines and selectively choose which stories get coverage

The Aggregators Drudge Report Conservative in nature Monica Lewinsky/Bill Clinton Scandal Huffington Post Liberal response to Drudge Report

The Aggregators Beyond news, there are several popular aggregate blog sites for specific areas of interest Examples: Technorati.com BoingBoing.net

Crowdsourcing Crowdsourcing is a new trend in online journalism that has many supporters and skeptics

What is Crowdsourcing? A collaborative form of reporting Each contributor researches and contributes a component to the overall piece The actual story may or may not be written by a collaborator Content is usually overseen by a centralized editor

Pro-Am Journalism Crowdsourcing is often referred to as pro- am journalism A combination of both professional and amateur contributions

Examples of Crowdsourcing In Journalism: Wired.com and NYU: AssignmentZero.com Minnesota Public Radio: Public Insight Journalism

Gannett Restructuring Major media company Gannett restructured most of its print and Web operations to include crowdsourcing in Nov Information Centers Gannett is the largest newspaper publisher in the U.S. (by circulation)

Pros Community involvement Transparency of reporting process Micro-reporting of events and developments normally missed by mainstream media Hyper-local reporting Builds valuable database of content Tomorrows reporters may also be database managers

Cons Amateur reporting has its risks Majority rules Stories only developed because users ask for it (or participate in it) Subject to manipulation Political or personal agendas might inspire disproportionate coverage of particular issues Staff reporters might lose some value

Assignment Zero Launched March 2007 Users log in to find potential news story assignments that they can contribute to Suggest questions for the reporter to ask Conduct research/interviews for the story In some cases, you can actually write the full story