Lessons
from the comics, a merger and a newspaper called ‘Wort’
By Doug Fisher
As I thumbed through newspapers and magazines recently,
three things jumped out as guideposts about where journalism
is headed and how we might react.
My first stop was the comics
section in my local paper. There, atop the page, two strips
one after the other clearly
showed how those readers we too often have talked at now
can talk around us, if they wish.
“Foxtrot” had
the family’s two boys using Wikipedia,
the online encyclopedia produced and updated by users.
Right below, in “Doonesbury,” Ray, the soldier,
was blogging from Iraq.
Seldom are comics the bleeding
edge, but they’re
a great indicator of trends making it to the mainstream.
Lesson one: Not everyone will be a “citizen journalist” or
online publisher, but there no longer should be any doubt
that this isn’t a fad and that the balance of power
has turned significantly in favor of the reader.
Next came word of the merger
agreement between MCI and Verizon. This seems as much as
much a parable for the media
industry as it is a business story. Remember those halcyon
days of deregulation and predictions that alternative phone
companies would spring up and you’d be able to shop
for all sorts of rate packages? The alternatives sprung
up, but why, in less than two decades, has there been massive
consolidation? Lesson two: Never underestimate the power
of human nature.
While many journalism futurists
envision people clicking around to build a mosaic of the
news, interpretation and
opinion, I’ve talked to dozens of people who don’t
want to spend the time figuring out their phone service – or
their news. They’re willing to make reasonable trade-offs
for the convenience of getting that cell phone, Internet,
long-distance and family plan in one bundle. I predict
they’ll do the same in getting news and information.
But the phone companies
have an advantage. Even with Internet calling, it still
is a lot harder to build a phone system
than to find, or even create, news and information. So
newspapers can’t presume they’ll automatically
be the big players in readers’ information systems.
It’s going to take work to land those readers, and – remembering
those comics – even if readers make you their first
stop, trying to capture them entirely on a site won’t
work. Lesson three, especially for editors, is that we
are moving from gatekeepers to guides. If you want credibility
in the new-media world, and truly want to provide the “full
package,” you can’t be afraid to link to sites
other than your own.
It shows you understand
people are not captives. While they might have come to
you because you provide the best
time value, you also are willing to help guide them to
other sources.
As Lincoln Millstein, senior
vice president of Hearst Newspapers, said (as recorded
by a blogger taking notes during an April
conference): “That's another publishing sensibility
that I've had to shed. I create a walled garden, lock everyone
out; doesn't work. In this space, you need to embrace your
enemies.”
Lastly, look at the Luxemburger
Wort, a European paper that considered its future and its
readers’ needs
and created a central desk where editors, with new titles
like “desk head” and “news officer” collaborate
on the day’s output – print and online. Teams
are formed to deal with topics as needed.
This idea of collaboration
across media is the underpinning of the almost three-year-old
Ifra Newsplex at the University
of South Carolina. And it is being used in a few places
in this country, such as the often-cited Lawrence (Kan.)
Journal-World.
But what caught my eye in
Ifra’s “news techniques” article
was the elevation of the “events head” to a
key role on Wort’s desk. This position at most papers
is in a metaphorical, and sometimes actual, newsroom corner
often filled by a clerk or an intern to sort though things
and assemble the calendar.
Wort, however, understands
that events are not just the property of reporters and
editors anymore. To the readers
we all want to reach, what’s happening – now – has
become important information. So the newspaper created
a position more like that of a TV assignment editor to
ensure coordination of coverage and presentation across
all sections and all media.
The final lesson then: Listen
to your readers. They may just change the way you do business.
