Mar 10, 2010

Keep on rockin’ in the free world.

It feels like a while since I’ve written anything, probably because it has been a while. But while my fingers have been idle, my brain’s been crunching through all kinds of concepts, namely what will be my next venture.

The first step in that process (for me, anyway) is to map out the kind of editorial content I want to generate. Should I aim for general hyperlocal news or niche stories? What’s the best way to present that content in terms of editorial voice, tone and structure? How should I structure my editorial calendar?

Question number two is the whopper, the one that will either set things in motion or quash them for good: Is there a need for this kind of content? Would I be duplicating the work of others, or do I have a new and distinct product to offer? This is when all the research and corporate espionage happens, the endless hours of scouring the internet to learn how others have succeeded and failed.

If my concept passes the muster of questions one and two, the next issue to tackle is funding. As mentioned previously, I’m shit broke. So should I take on full-time work until I have enough capital saved for this new venture, or should I seek donors as a nonprofit media outlet?

Decisions, decisions! But that’s how things roll in Hyperlocal Land. The thinking never stops. Trial and error becomes a lifestyle. Failure is always a viable option, as long as one learns to succeed from it. Seriously.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Dena Flows.

Feb 23, 2010

The song remains the same.

There have been a couple of things lately to remind me that the more things change, the more they stay the same. First, there’s my new-found fascination for rock band Cage the Elephant, a crew of twenty-somethings who crank out the dirty blues like Led Zeppelin did back in the day.

Next is a New York Times article on Victorian-era postal service. In those days, people mailed whole newspapers as a way of sharing current events without having to compose anything original. It was social networking before the advent of the Super Poke or the fail whale.

Finally (and most relevant to this blog) is this Times profile of Paul Smalera, a 29-year-old former print journalist who’s had to hustle, self-promote and network to earn his daily bread in the freelance world. The article, written by Smalera’s former colleague at Condé Nast, laments the loss of steady-paying journalism gigs and the even greater loss of youthful idealism:

“Assessing his next move, [Smalera] knew that magazines and newspapers were not options — they were almost all shedding staff, and people with far more experience than he had were looking for work. ‘The Web was the only place I was going to go,’ he said. ‘I decided that without the heft of a big print magazine pushing my work out there that I needed to push it out there myself, and make sure that people who might be interested saw it.’ He entered the sea of tiny cutout heads broadcasting thoughts and opinions all day online. He tweets; he has an e-mail list; he posts links to his articles.”

Well, here’s a newsflash for Smalera and (more importantly) Sheelah Kolhatkar, who wrote the article: Get used to this kind of life. Entrepreneurs have been doing the hustle forever, with no expectation of healthcare, dental coverage or a 401(k). Now mainstream journalists, long sheltered from the bottom line, must do the same if they plan to eat and keep a roof over their heads.

I won’t begrudge new entrepreneurs their learning curve — I’m still trying to get over mine. But this mourning for the loss of traditional journalism jobs must stop. That game ended years ago, and all the whining and technological innovation in the world isn’t going to bring it back.

Of course, not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But without a monumental shift in how mainstream media operates, an entrepreneurial mindset is the only thing that will keep reporters and journalists from fading into unemployed oblivion.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Stephen Poff.

Feb 9, 2010

No job left behind

Last Friday, I had a long conversation via Twitter (it’s possible) with Dan Hugo, a hyperlocalist in the Bay Area who recently ended his Radio Sunnyvale news podcast because of poor funding. Despite that, he was still interested in creating a forum that would “make participation ‘worthwhile’ [for] contributors and consumers while creating sane, relevant, information-rich content.”

Hugo also mentioned that he was a software engineer.

So I asked him: Is your goal to generate content that facilitates civic discourse, or to build an application that does the same? If I had his software skills, I’d pump out location-based mobile apps and develop ways to break Apple’s and Amazon’s chokehold on content delivery to e-readers. Content creation is all for nothing without content distribution.

Outside of this conversation, Hugo’s background reminded me that many hyperlocal journalists don’t have journalism on their resumes. They have backgrounds in event planning, microbiology (ahem!), information technology, whatever. They just don’t have journalism degrees.

That doesn’t mean they’re not journalists. They cover local beats, interview witnesses, write and edit content, fact check and verify — stuff that J-school grads do. Hyperlocalists just do it on a community level, stuff that larger media outlets don’t do.

But in pursuing their interest in journalism, I hope they don’t ignore their prior work experiences. Instead, they should use those experiences and skills to create new revenue streams for their media outlets. Seriously, if Hugo solves the mystery of e-reader content distribution and then monetizes it (by offering content on a subscription basis, or by selling the technology to other content producers), he’ll have one more revenue stream for his journalism project.

I don’t mean to add more work to the busy life of hyperlocalists. If the revenue stream doesn’t benefit the hyperlocal news project either financially or in terms of publicity, then don’t bother. And remember that there are other ways to contribute to a hyperlocal news outlet — as an apps developer, event planner, even as a microbiologist — without creating content.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user silverlinedwinnebago.

Feb 1, 2010

Stay classy, journalism!

In a terrific blog post, UC-Berkeley J-School adjunct Alan D Mutter equated dirt-cheap “filler” journalism — the fluffy kind performed for “exposure” or some pittance of a fee — with empty calories. That kind of content fills pages but offers nothing to local, state and national conversations and devalues quality journalism. And it’s why journalists should demand compensation equivalent to their time and labor, he argued.

Can I get an amen?

Mutter’s argument against devaluation is why I fear the marriage of big news outlets with local journalism schools. For example, The New York Times last month announced it was partnering with CUNY J-School to produce content for two of its hyperlocal ventures in Brooklyn. The J-school students will be responsible for reporting as well as recruiting citizen journalists, while their professors will keep editorial tabs on things.

It’s great that budding journalists will earn experience, but will they be paid fairly for their work? I hope so, but I won’t bet the bank on that one. Instead, the Times-CUNY arrangement smells like the exploitation of a relatively skilled labor force willing to work for nothing more than a byline, exposure and a good grade.

Teaching student and citizen journalists that craft and livelihood are incompatible is the wrong lesson. Instead, quality journalism should be rewarded, unless the craft is willing to lose true talent to higher-paying positions in marketing and public relations.

And what does this say about The New York Times, a company that pays its staff reporters $92,500 annually, according to The Newspaper Guild? It tells me they’re willing to offer good hyperlocal news, if only because it’s the publishing world’s revenue flavor of the month. But it also tells me they’re not willing to pay for reporters who will stick around after graduation.

Transient reporters aren’t good for any beat, but especially for the hyperlocal one. It takes time to develop contacts and to learn a neighborhood’s quirks. If a newsroom flushes that away with each graduating class, then any prospect for hardcore investigative reporting is lost.

Let’s teach student and citizen journalists the true value of their work.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Stephen Poff.

Full disclosure: The New York Times isn’t the only publication working with journalism students and citizen journalists, but I do enjoy picking on them.

Jan 22, 2010

Engineering the happy medium

On Thursday, I received a comment from Bruce Ritchie, who reports for FloridaEnvironments.com. He wrote:

“I find it difficult to stop being a journalist to be an entrepreneur. Everyone can say it’s necessary, but a journalist isn’t trained to STOP reporting and writing.”

My response (more or less) was this: I hear ya, brother.

During my three years as editor of The Silver Spring Penguin, content always came before commerce. I was so focused on covering my beat and interacting with readers that I forgot to sell ads and devise other revenue sources.

Even worse, the responsibilities of being a one-person newsroom were imposing on other facets of my life. I actually stopped reading the news, perhaps as a way of divorcing my free time (what little there was) from my working hours. Physical activity was limited to mouse clicks, so my weight ballooned into the “How are you still alive?” range. I won’t even get into how work affected housekeeping and personal hygiene.

It’s difficult, maybe even impossible for one person to carry that much professional responsibility without something giving way. So if one is intent on running a solvent hyperlocal newsroom, the question becomes this: What are you willing to give up in order to earn an income?

Personally, I won’t sacrifice my editorial standards — that was The Penguin’s backbone, and it’ll be the backbone for any future project. However, I’d be willing to give up some of the reporting to trained freelancers, even if it means paying them before the publication makes its first dollar.

I’d also gladly give up some of the entrepreneurial duties: ad sales, networking events, stuff like that. I have neither the face, stomach nor personality for such work, and it would be a disservice to the publication to maintain professionalism in the newsroom but not on the sales floor. Unfortunately, how to pay that sales professional is still lost on me.

And for my dear friends and loved ones, I will no longer abdicate my responsibilities to shower, brush my teeth, do the dishes or treat the laundry. Please don’t toss me out of the house.

I’m convinced that there’s a happy medium between journalist and entrepreneur. It’s just a matter of creating it.

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