Producing news you can use, part 1

Posted on | March 31, 2009 | Comments Off

So, I’m watching this with great interest, partly because this is my line of work and partly because it’s just another facet of the way the entire economy is changing … if somebody would just come along and put the pieces together.

What is she talking about?

I’m talking about what some people are calling (erroneously) the Death of Journalism and some are calling the Death of Newspapers. It’s neither of those, exactly. More like the Death of Journalism As We Know It — with emphasis on the As We Know It part.

Somebody tweeted this post about a rather acrid resignation letter to Gannett from WUSA/DC’s Alan Henney.

I’ve been following several conversations in professional circles about what is happening to the news business and, for that reason, Mr. Henney’s letter is quite instructive.

For starters, there is his description of his corporate bosses and their hired guns (consultants) who “have ruined the newscasts with repetitive Web clutter, endless sidebar packages, and their preoccupation with the Internet.”

~ Here we go again! It doesn’t seem to matter what industry sector we’re talking about, too many corporations and the folks they talk to who are steeped in that culture don’t appear to understand (smart people and all that they are) that the various Web 2.0 platforms available are more than just new tools that can be used to do the same thing you used to do. Blogging and tweeting and rich media and comments on articles are all very nice but, if you’re not going to use Web interactivity in order to be genuinely interactive, what’s the point? You’re not going to fool anybody.

Here’s another salient quote from that resignation letter: “We are doing less news gathering these days and more information posting. Somebody needs to be driving the news machine at all times, actively pursuing news leads.”

~ You know, there has been a lot of talk about how news organizations are failing because they can’t figure out a business model that will work in this Brave New World with Brave New Communications Tools. And that is true … but that’s not all.

Theoretically, businesses create wealth when they take something and add value to it. When a news organization trades ‘information posting’ for news gathering, it is not adding value. When a news organization trades speed for depth, it is not adding value.

I am a citizen journalist. The only formal training I have ever received (or a somewhat reasonable facsimile) was the three weeks during the spring of my senior year in high school that I spent in the city room of the Philadelphia Daily News. What I learned there, which has always stuck with me, is that a reporter is supposed to take the facts and/or events, and then conduct interviews and do research, so that she can inform the readers about not only what happened, but what it means and why it matters.

If you are not doing all of that, then you are not adding any value with your tweets and your blog posts and your other razzle-dazzle New Media tools and your 24/7 news cycle.

People want the news, not an events calendar or a daily diary. And that is true no matter the medium.


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