A New Business Model for Journalism?

Our journalism class had a phone conference with journalist Philip Meyer recently. We all tossed out questions regarding the future of journalism and blogging.

One thing that Meyer said really struck me. He explained that journalism is going to have to start paying more attention to the business side of operations. No longer are newspapers succeeding in only print format. They are moving online, moving to mutlimedia platforms and beginning to blog.

Meyer said that as budding journalists, we need to keep our minds open to different business models that can support online and print journalism. As print news starts to decline, many papers are inclined to cut back on reporters and editorial staff. However, these are relatively fixed costs, says Meyer. Therefore, papers should be trying to cut relative costs, not fixed costs.

This conversation affirmed by belief that journalism is headed for rough waters in the upcoming decade. But, when we emerge from the madness, we'll be working in an entirely different context: new media platforms, new writing and a new business model.

Check out this link to an article that Meyer wrote on the topic of journalism’s transformationhere

Blogger Schmogger

Now time for the ultimate blogging question… Are bloggers journalists? I feel qualified to speak on this topic after successfully hosting a blog for a few months now.

In my own experience with this blog, I’ve found that the amount of time I spend writing a blog article and the amount of time I spend writing a traditional news article are drastically different. I exert much more effort and time on my traditional writing. Perhaps this is because I feel the need to fact check, attribute, edit and re-edit all my traditional entries. But in the blogosphere, who’s looking? Aside from my Professor (Hi, Scott!).

I do agree that blogs have power and potential. The ability to directly communicate with readers is so important, and blogs allow this. News will finally become interactive and conversational.

But I have to wonder if I can anticipate the same kind of success for independent, lesser-known bloggers, like myself. What are the chances that any poor soul would stumble onto Ye Ol Weblog? And, if they did, who guarantees they will stick around long enough to read my banter? Right now, the most popular blogs are those run by larger news conglomerates or professionals.

Furthermore, news and headlines may break in the blogosphere, but they never stay there. According to a survey by LexisNexis, when consumers read a breaking story in a blog, they go immediately to a trusted news source to get the entire story.

Still, I like the ability of blogs to target specific niches, like East Mediterranean cooking or rubber band enthusiasts. Blogs allow sub-topics like these to be covered in-depth, as the mainstream media giants traditionally ignore them.

I hope my own media-centered blog has interested a few journalists along the way. And, I look forward to the coming decade when, I believe, the blogosphere will realize its full potential as an information/entertainment source.

"The Landlord" and Other Internet Comedy

I was reading through the New York Times online this morning and I came across a story about comedy on the Internet. It explained the success of Will Ferrell’s latest video on FunnyorDie.com, The Landlord.

The video is a two-minute clip of Ferrell interacting with Adam McKay’s two-year-old daughter, Pearl. You may recognize McKay’s name as one of the producers of “Anchorman.” The clip has quickly become one of the most popular videos on the site with over 30 million views.

Ferrell and McKay started the video web site as a project that would incorporate the works of other famous comedians as well.

I am amazed that Ferrell and McKay, two stars who typically make millions on their blockbuster comedies, would put time and energy into a web video project. This site is a perfect example of the increasing power of the Internet as a content deliverer.

Clearly, Ferrell and McKay can see some sort of long-term benefit in working and editing a site like this. As the speed of broadband increases and the price decreases, I wonder if the Internet will become people’s primary source of entertainment. In a way, I think it already has – just look at the popularity of certain videos on YouTube, or the networking on Facebook. So, while Ferrell and McKay’s online work may not be paying off right now, I’m anxious to see what it means for the future.

This I Believe

In honor of NPR's This I Believe, our class experimented with our own audio personal statements.

To hear mine on gabcast, click here

Mainstream Blogs: The Good, the Bad, and NPR

It’s true that mediocre blogs plague the Internet. But I’m just talking about mainstream media blogs, here. The kind of blogs run by journalists from the Spokesman Review or the LA Times.

There’s two ways these blogs can fail: One, they suffer from being too much like their print edition, or they try to be too tongue and cheek, and fail to say anything worth reading. But in my search for the perfect news blog, I stumbled onto The NPR News Blog, by Tom Regan - that's National Public Radio. This blog combines the kind of interesting reporting that folks can find on NPR. And, I especially appreciate it because it tackles subjects that have been neglected by other mainstream media.

In a recent posting, the NPR News Blog discussed why the American-run Al Hurra satellite news station can’t measure up to competitors, like Al Jazeera. I didn’t even know the U.S. was providing this kind of satellite news station. That’s what I’m talking about here. I’m fed up with watching and listening to the same three news topics: the 2008 election, the war and Paris Hilton.

The NPR blog succeeds because it tackles these untouched issues. Also, it does so with the tact and freshness that accompanies most NPR reports. The language is neither too elitist, nor too snarky, and it provides links to the items it discusses. Lastly, I appreciate the standards that NPR has set up in regard to the news blog. Some of the rules include, no swearing, no plagiarism, “don’t use the comment section like that jerk talking to loudly on her cell phone on the bus,” and no conspiracy theories (to name a few).

To wrap things up here: the writing’s strong, the topics are interesting and there’s trust – what more could you ask?


Check out this link to NPR’s blog here

Beating the Figurative Drums of Journalism

Last Thursday I had the privilege of sitting in on the Journalism school’s 31st Ruhl Lecture. The speech was given by Leonard Pitts Jr., who has worked for the Miami Herald as a music critic and won the Pulitzer prize in 2005 for commentary. He published a book in 1999: “Becoming Dad: Black Men and the Journey to Fatherhood.”

His speech, “A Legacy of Drums” tackled the concept of race and ethnicity in the media. Pitts compared the media to drummers, beating the pulse to which the nation walks.

“As journalists we have the privilege to be gatekeepers,” Pitts said. “Whose drums, whose stories will we tell?”

Pitts believed that stories, especially from the media, could have the power to change expectations, stereotypes and preconceived notions. His passion about the subject was tangible in the room, as he expressed stereotypes that he has dealt with in the past.

After a few minutes of conversation with some folks who he had just met, he could tell they weren’t listening to his own story.

“I could tell they weren’t speaking to me at all,” said Pitts. “They look at me and they know my love for Reverend Sharpton and my love for Jesse Jackson. They look at me and they know I’m ill-educated.”

Pitts kept emphasizing dialogue. As journalists our job is to promote this dialogue because “you cannot know someone until you know their story.” A journalist’s job then, is to convey the stories, beat the drums that people need to hear.

There is a false notion in this country, Pitts said, that racism ended after the Civil War, but it still exists. As a country, we only have these conversations after flare-ups, like Michael Richards and Don Imus. This approach will never solve anything. We should be talking all the time about race, Pitts said.

I think Pitts’ remarks were absolutely true. As journalists we have taken on this culture of “what’s going to bring in revenue, what’s going to bring in viewers?” And, in doing this, we’ve started to abandon the quiet, but significant events that happen everyday. I think we’ve all seen this in local news outlets in particular. Here in Eugene we have the honor of getting our news from KVAL and KMTR. These stations are more about the entertainment, the show, than they are about the news, said Pitts. They highlight petty crimes and waterskiing squirrels more than powerful local issues.

So what can journalists do? How do we know which drums we should be beating? Pitts said that for a lot of people diversity is like broccoli. You only put up with it because you know it’s good for you. Well, as journalists we should eat our broccoli; report the stories that are a challenge, stories that challenge the stereotype.


For audio or a transcript of Pitt's speech, click here

Addressing and Reporting on Genocide

Nicolas Kristof spoke tonight at the University of Oregon’s symposium entitled “Witnessing Genocide: Representation and Responsibility.” Amid graphic pictures and testimonies of dead infants, sexually assaulted women and young men with their eyes gouged out by bayonets, Kristof painted a moving picture of the Darfur genocide.

Kristof, who has won the Pulitzer numerous times for his work with the New York Times, said that once he began writing about and visiting the area, he found it hard to pursue other topics. Darfur was too brutal to ignore.

In particular, Kristof underscored the violent rapes and assaults that are plaguing the women of the area.

“Rape is extraordinarily stigmatized in Darfur,” Kristof said. “Well, the government realized this would be a powerful tool. It wouldn’t get the government in trouble the way piles of dead bodies would.”

He stressed that these rapes aren’t just a normal bi-product of an ongoing ethnic cleansing, but they are deliberate efforts by the government. Even worse, the state uses force to ensure that these women’s stories are never heard. Sudan recently outlawed post-exposure drugs that would prevent rape victims from harmful diseases, like AIDS. Pregnancy from a rape is taken as proof of a woman’s adultery, and many victims are punished with prison time.

Kristof said this is a problem that can get better with more exposure, not military power. I believe that’s where journalism enters. The coverage thus far of this humanitarian crisis has been despicable – an embarrassment. In 2004, CBS spent three minutes covering Darfur. The following year, it was just two minutes.

“We need to draw attention to this because governments are embarrassed about slaughtering their people,” Kristof said.

As journalists our duties are twofold. First, we are obligated to address this genocide because it is an emerging international crisis that the public knows little about. Secondly, and more importantly, we must write about it because the simple act of reporting it - drawing attention to it - could save millions.