The Working World
Listen Up, Old-School Journalists
It always makes my heart skip a little beat each time I see even a reference to “themediaisdying,” the Twitter feed that has tracked the steady, eerie erosion of the media industry. For 15 years or so, I’ve made my living as a journalist. And yet, now, people are writing stories for free and few full-time writing positions are left. Sure does sound like “dying” to me.
But after hearing a few of the folks at the Mediabistro Circus conference last week, I got a little hope back – journalism and writing jobs are not going away, but thanks to the recession, they’re undergoing a swift, head-spinning transformation, and the profession’s new iteration will take some hard work.
The changes underway aren’t simply in the domain of journalism, though. New work and new careers are emerging in the recession based on approaches that everyone needs to pick up in order to survive and thrive, and emerge from this downturn intact and better than ever.
Here are some of the new rules for old careers that were highlighted by the Mediabistro Circus speakers:
- Readers Are Your Competitors – and Your Friends. The user-generated content trend isn’t over, but it’s different – it’s all about collaboration now. Co-opt them to improve your work and raise your profile. When the US Air plane crashed into the Hudson River, it was a regular pedestrian who captured the most enduring image. The New York Times published it. Everyone did. Consider adding readers to your army of resources.
- Identify Your Expertise. The era of the generalist journalist is pretty much over. Expertise comes at a premium, and writers who want that premium should find some ideas and threads to get behind—and promote the hell out of.
- Build Your Brand. Bylines are one thing, but journalists have otherwise tended to align their identity with their publication. No more. Going forward, the name of the game is personal branding. Start a blog. Twitter. Be consistent and persistent in the ideas you get behind—they’ll get noticed and you’ll get a following. That following is valuable to editors who can count on you to help them build their readership.
- Be Transparent. It may seem anathema to some long-time journalists, but keeping a developing story top secret is no longer absolutely necessary—and can occasionally hurt your progress if it keeps good ideas from finding their way to you. You can get the word out about your story through Twitter and other networks, without giving it all away, and some unexpected leads may pop up in response. (This is true for products and companies in development – ideas benefit from more input and contributions.)
- Crowdsource. This concept builds on the idea of “transparency,” but it refers specifically to actively seeking participation in the development of your story. Take advantage of the efficiencies the Internet provides by sending out parts of your story to your following, as Business Week writer Stephen Baker did for one of his stories: He published the first sentence of each paragraph on his feed and let his followers help him fill in the ideas, according to John Byrne, executive editor of BusinessWeek.com, speaking at the conference.
- Use Self-Service. The Internet currently offers several tools to practically automate the reporting process. HelpAReporterOut.com is one channel for posting your request for sources. Spot.us is a site that helps raise money for your ideas.
- Interact with Your Readers. This is another area that is a radical shift for journalists who are used to simply sending their words out into the ether. In the new order, journalists absolutely must interact with their readers – learn from them and, yes, serve them – to ensure their careers. To make his point, Byrne tells his writers that their stories will stay on the homepage longer if they post responses to readers on the comment board.
These new ways of working are hardly unique to journalism—but journalists may be among those who resisted the trend toward immersion with their audience.
The bottom line is that journalists must be more entrepreneurial and more community-minded. The Web is a web – of information, leads, and audiences and funding sources. “Digital technology allows us to collaborate with our audience at every step from idea to story to aftermath,” said Byrne, speaking at the conference. True dat.
P.S. If you’ve got experiences of this new way of doing journalism, please share them in the Comments section below!
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23 comments for “Listen Up, Old-School Journalists”
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Excellent wrap up of the event themes. Thanks or writing this, Laura!
-Seamus
Community Manager
@mediabistro
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This post makes some great points. Many journalists have been resistant to change and have to step out of their comfort zone to survive. Anyone who doesn’t have a website, blog or use some type of social network may get left behind. I blog about personal finance issues for other blogs and my own site http://supersavvyspender.blogspot.com/ and find that it’s a good way to build a personal brand.
Thanks for distilling it down and giving me some new ideas!
love it! am posting this on my FB page!
Glad you all like it! DeAnn – let us know how it goes.
Thanks!
Laura
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P.S. If you’ve got experiences of this new way of doing journalism, please share them in the Comments section below!
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That would be an example of encouraging the very first thing you talked about – “Readers Are Your Competitors – and Your Friends” – wouldn’t it?
Well said, Laura. You get it.
I was a journalist for nearly 20 years before moving to the business side, and I’ve worked with many other talented journalists over the years. They have largely been trained to to write into a vacuum — putting out the content, knowing there will be little if any feedback. Only those who can truly flourish in an environment where feedback becomes part of the product will find their way into the future.
This was a great article, it’s refreshing to hear about the proactive steps that can be taken to “save” journalism.
Great story Laura. I’d add to “build your brand” the importance generally for writers and editors to be active marketers. At YourTango.com, we always say that the creating a great story, blog post or video is just the beginning of the editorial process. Whether posting to twitter or facebook, clicking yahoo buzz, etc., our editorial team is being trained to work through the entire process. I believe it’s been very gratifying to them, esp those that considered themselves technically challenged, to see how their outreach efforts materialize into such success.
That’s well put. It’s hard to see it that way for some of us who have seen the story as the pristine, *end* product of our perfectionist efforts to find the most evocative stories, colorful sources and quotes, and the work gone in to select the most dead-on language. But you’re right – that’s pretty much just the beginning.
TwoPuttTommy: Correct.
Interesting post – though I’m not sure how useful it will be for many in the field.
I’m now freelance, an author as well as a journalist, after 20-plus years in the field and I have a blog, a facebook page. I tweet, etc., because as a freelancer and author, I am the brand. But I am thinking about my husband, who works for a small paper. Over time, his job has grown to the point where he’s working huge hours, often blogging on what can’t fit into the paper. He’s on FB, but his job takes his all. I’m going to pass this along to him, but I can’t see him doing the independent branding – not for lack of will so much as time.
Maybe I can get him to start linking his pieces to his FB page at least…
All the techniques and branding in the world won’t do anything for your bottom line. As a freelancer for 20 years the going rate has dropped from $3/work to $0. Setting up a corporate model where the work is less important than the comments on it or the delivery method is counter productive. If you’re working on your facebook page, twittering and branding, you’re not researching, verifying and writing. There are only so many hours in a day and all these suggestions that fact as well as the fact that without places that buy a journalists work, it’s all just advertising a product, journalism, that doesn’t exist.
That’s $3 per word, not work.
Thanks, Laura, you captured the spirit of the room last week. I’m less worried about journalism (which can be supported by nonprofits as public media) than I am about publishing as a business. A week earlier in DC, we heard about some new models for monetizing online journalism and content. A user-centric model like PayCheckr.com – which lets the reader choose HOW (but not Whether or What to pay) – may offer the best chance of success.
MCM and Clea – I understand all the frustrations. And the good journalism shouldn’t get lost. But the additional promotion, and being part of the conversation and community, is the new reality, and the “hard work” I mentioned. It’s just part of it now. Even for people who have jobs.
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I too understand the frustrations. Reporting should be the priority, rather than promoting it, especially if time is limited. Isn’t it always? that’s why i fear that good journalism can get lost. All about the number of hours in the day.
and of course, being able to pay rent while you do it.
I’m with MCM. What an incredible load of crap. Let’s all jump on the bandwagon, get in touch with the buzzwords, and run around like chickens with our heads cut off doing all the “hard work” necessary to keep up with the “swift, head-spinning transformation” of journalism and writing jobs into non-paying exercises in futility! Yeah, that’ll work.
Ironically, I came on this site to review it for one of the two semi paying writing jobs I’ve been able to find since graduating from Journalism school in December. So thank you so much for the ideas. It gave me alot to think about
[...] whether or not it’s through a traditional channel. What journalism students need today Listen up, old-school journalists The future of news is [...]
Thanks for some helpful suggestions that I will try to act on, and pass on.