(Steve Duke)

I've had a peek behind the curtain concealing the future of journalism, only caught a sliver of what that might look like, and don't pretend that what I've seen represents more than a tiny portion of where we're going. But what I've seen is exciting, exhilarating - and contains a cautionary note for current newspaper executives.

I'd like you to meet the journalists who got me so excited: Sarahmaria Gomez and Alex Fledderjohn. Sarahmaria received her bachelor's degree from Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism in 2004. Alex earned a B.A. in anthropology at the State University of New York in Binghamton, then got his master's in photojournalism from Ohio University in 2004.

Sarahmaria and Alex met when they were interns at the Chicago Tribune in the summer of 2003. With this foot in the door, these talented young journalists were poised to launch careers on a traditional path that would invigorate the news organizations that employed them.

But they hesitated. Both felt they couldn't do their best work under the limitations and restraints of a traditional newsroom. They decided to throw their lot together to do independent journalism, and launched their own company, [tu]multimedia.

Together they tell moving, enlightening multimedia stories that inform and engage the viewer. They have produced work for National Public Radio and a variety of non-profit organizations, created a documentary on Guatemala, and Alex has completed a book, Antigua.

Alex and Sarahmaria are old-fashioned storytellers using cutting edge technology to spin their tales. They do what the best journalists do: they don't just provide information, they grab their audience's emotions. They've never read the Readership Institute's work on the importance of delivering experiences. They didn't have to. It's in their bones.

Here's an example: their tale about a community organization's efforts to create a safety zone in which kids can be kids. How do I know this piece delivers experience as well as informs? When I showed this audio slide show to my wife, she teared up. Powerful. Or try this one about an inventive program to get kids off the street, learn a skill and gain some life lessons.

This pair brings all the traditional values to their journalism - "We are journalists by trade, and our journalism ethics and standards are extremely important to us," Sarahmaria said - and enough passion to fill a dozen newsrooms.

This is exciting, gripping storytelling using new forms. So where's the cautionary tale?

"I felt like I didn't really fit with (mainstream) print or broadcast or Internet (companies)," Sarahmaria said. "If you find your niche, you don't have to go down the typical track."

The barriers to entry in the media world have dropped to the point where a couple of near-broke youngsters can set themselves up as multimedia journalists. The outlets for good storytelling have proliferated. Nonprofits, foundations, corporations, politicians and others are finding ways to bypass traditional media to get their stories told. Independent journalists have avenues for their work and opportunities for income never before available.

Newspaper hiring managers can recruit clones of themselves - and there are a lot of young journalists eager to emulate the traditional formulas - or they can hire and nurture newcomers with fresh approaches and new skills. If traditional media outlets can't give passionate young journalists like Sarahmaria and Alex the room to breathe, the freedom to flex their creative muscles and pursue moving stories in innovative ways, more will find alternative paths as this pair has. That's a loss we can't afford.


Brittany Risher, a Medill senior in my Urban Affairs reporting class, contributed to this post.

By Steve Duke (s-duke@northwestern.edu)
Steve Duke is managing director for training at the Media Management Center and Readership Institute, and lecturer at Medill.

(Limor Peer)

Last week, Nielsen//NetRatings released a study that showed Web traffic to the blog pages of the top ten online newspapers more than tripled in December 2006 compared with December 2005 (an increase of 210%). Overall traffic to these newspapers grew only 9%, suggesting that all that blog traffic doesn't necessarily translate into overall gains for the newspaper sites.

Still, this is phenomenal growth. But how you interpret it can make all the difference for your site. So, keep this in mind when you think about what these data mean:

First, one reason for this growth in audience is that many newspaper sites have been adding lots of blogs recently. The baseline for this study was low to begin with. If you have more blogs today than you had yesterday, it is not surprising that your blog audience today is larger than it was yesterday.

Second, and more importantly, what are all these blogs that people are flocking to? What are these blogs in USA TODAY, for example, that generate so much traffic? I suspect that, as Jeff Jarvis points out, many newspaper blogs are used merely "as a means to get up news updates and such; it is the world's lightest, easiest, cheapest content management system." That makes it a good thing for newspaper sites. And what makes it appealing to users is the casual writing style - it's often punchy, short and to the point. And you can use links to dig in if you want to.

In other words, many of these are not blogs in essence, but blogs in format.

But I would argue that the true reward - your users' engagement and loyalty - lies in the essence of blogs, not their format. At its core, a blog has a character of its own, it is based on personality, it fosters conversation, it lets people be heard, and it attracts and helps form a community.

Newspapers should remember that the circumstances for the development of blogs means that they carry some baggage: blogs started out as tools of those who have no means of distribution. Now they are being co-opted by major news and information companies that do not lack these means. Naturally, there's going to be some tension.

This issue has come up several times in the last few years. One example is Bob Cauthorn's slightly hysterical piece from 2005 called, "Note to mainstream media: You don't get to blog." In it he wrote,

"The DNA of blogging is a complicated matter that touches on being outside voices and taking personal control of the media. But at minimum the DNA of blogging has to do with distributing the conversation. Contrary to that, the DNA of mainstream media - to date - is all about dominating the conversation."

Martin Stabe replied that "newspapers do get to blog if they use blogging tools to read as well as write - in other words, if they chose to participate, as equals, in the conversation among other bloggers."

In other words, if newspaper companies remember (and respect) blogs' raison d'etre - conversation, community, giving voice to the voiceless - they will stand a better chance at making real gains with their users.

So, should you add more blogs to your site? The answer is "yes, but." But to get the long term reward, you will have to make them meaningful and than means being there for your community (see Rich Gordon's posts about Huckleberries Online and online communities on this blog).


By Limor Peer (l-peer@northwestern.edu)
Limor Peer is research director for the Media Management Center and Readership Institute.

(Michael P. Smith)

I had noticed more reader participation -- contests, quizzes, and fun things to download -- in my local newspaper, The Chicago Tribune, so I emailed Denise Joyce and asked her about it. Sure enough, the Trib has undertaken being more interactive with readers as a growth strategy for 2007.

Denise's response made me wonder what other newspapers were planning for readership growth. I turned to the email again and asked: What are you doing to grow readership in 2007? Here are some ideas from friends in the readership wars.

The Palm Beach Post in West Palm Beach, Fla., is increasing its coverage of interest to women. The Post has a life-style feature called Charm. Nicole Neal says, "We are trying to expand our Charm franchise, which is coverage for women that runs four days a week in Accent, and make it a stand-alone section on Sundays. We're hoping this keeps the "brand" fresh, and, yes, sells some ads!"

The Star-News in Wilmington, N.C., also has women on the radar screen. Says Amanda Kingsbury: "To grow readership, particularly among women, we're looking at the idea of taking an approach that's more wholesome -- and less clever. I read a story in Atlantic Monthly about the new Walt Disney biography, and it made mention of the fact that the popularity of his movies really gained strength when he started exploring more wholesome features (as in Mary Poppins) as an avenue to reach his audience.

"I'm not at all talking about making the section PG or aimed at kids. I haven't defined 'wholesome' yet, but as one example, we might rework the Sunday section. Inspired by the tradition of the Sunday dinner, I started thinking about how food, faith and family are so intertwined in the South. So, I'm proposing a Sunday section that might be called "Sunday Dinner," and include stories about religion/spirituality, family/relationships, and food/entertaining as a leisurely pastime.

"That's one idea, but it's only in the proposal stage right now. A couple years ago, I attended a presentation ... by one of the editors at Real Simple, and she said that women say they love the magazine because it helps them relax. That's the kind of experience I'd like readers of a Sunday Dinner section to have, before the hectic work week begins."

Nicole and Amanda have hit upon ideas that the women's magazines have been exploiting. Among the motivating experience for readership of those magazines are "It's my personal time out," "I feel good when I read it," and "It improves me and helps me try new things." These are experiences from our magazine industry research.

The Dallas Morning News plans to increase the number of narrative-style stories it runs on the front page. Tom Huang says: "We know from the Readership Institute that adding narrative stories to the mix can help increase readership. And whenever we run such stories, we get tremendous reader response. We recently ran a 7-part narrative series on a young Mexican girl who was long abused by her uncle and brought illegally to the United States, ending up in Dallas. The series got more than 70,000 page views online and appears to have had an impact on single copy sales."

The Herald-Journal in Spartanburg, S.C., is going to initiate a query to find out what readers miss when they do not get the newspaper. Jose Franco explains: "We really want to examine why people just aren't picking up the newspaper and how we can make it a 'must have' item. Or why they should log onto our website on a daily basis.

"We made a DVD last summer talking to college students on why they didn't pick up the paper. We shared the DVD with staff and it was eye opening to hear it from people on why they didn't bother to read us."

What are you doing to grow readership in 2007? Share your ideas below in the comment section or email me.


By Michael P. Smith (m-smith3@northwestern.edu)
Michael P. Smith is executive director of the Media Management Center.

(Mary Nesbitt)

We're awash in reports about how traditional news organizations (read "old newspaper companies") are making the transition to the Web. Tim Rutten of the LA Times observed last week, a propos of the Wall Street Journal's redesign and print/online strategy, that it's back-to-the-future mode, with newspapers recapturing the AM-PM zeitgeist. Online is like the AM edition with mostly breaking news and factual information; print is like the PM paper, offering mostly "analysis, context and exploration of the important back story."

Rutten sees a "simultaneous and complementary stance in both venues" and his publisher, David Hiller, agreed, writing in a memo to staff: "This means most critically, being focused on how, where and when people want and get their news and information."

Who can disagree? The consumer is in control. (Hey, not only are YOU person of the year, YOU are ad agency of the year as well. How do YOU get the time to do so much?)

Heck, the consumer has been in control for quite a while now.

But I wonder about the wisdom of a focus on the how, when and where of consumption without an equal focus on the what's being eaten. Because the consumer has taste.

A print edition of reflective thumbsuckers would have limited appeal; and beyond the magic of fast, refreshed and sometimes multimedia news (no small things, to be sure) what are you giving people online that they really care about, that's more than diversionary?

So it seems to me that all roads lead back to the age-old question: where do good stories, and good story ideas, come from? And how can we get more of them, in any medium?

Three ideas for starters:

1. One place they don't come from, Edward Wasserman might say, is the current newspaper beat system. Wasserman, Knight professor of journalism ethics at Washington and Lee University, wrote in The Miami Herald this week that beats as currently constituted and operated are "an endemic conflict of interest" because beat reporters can't afford to burn the sources and contacts that feed a reliably steady flow of information.

I wouldn't do away with beats, because they give reporters a defined yet roomy area to explore. But I'd focus them differently, putting your intended audience at the center and representing and writing to their real interests -- because we're now richly and digitally equipped to discover, quickly and constantly, what those interests are, what they're thinking about, what they're talking about, what keeps them up at night, what they'd like to know, the questions they'd ask, how we can help them solve problems, and so on.

2. I like Carla Savalli's idea for enterprise "hit teams." Savalli is senior editor for local news at The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, WA. This confessed "technology curmudgeon" spent last fall gathering ideas for the newsroom of the future and blogging as she learned. As part of her just-published report and recommendations, she identifies the need to bring "something unique and surprising to our online journalism" because only providing real-time breaking news is not enough.

In previous years, the City Desk successfully generated a steady stream of enterprise
news and feature stories by creating rotating teams of reporters and photographers who worked together for two or three months at a time with the goal of producing several packages per month and as many dailies as possible. The concept increased the number of good stories we were able to tell, but it also offered staffers a chance to step back from their regular beats to stretch their interests and abilities.

Although the staff was much larger at the time, careful planning might allow us to try it again, especially if it leads to news and feature stories that can be told both on the Web and in print.

3. Identify the reporters and editors in your newsroom who routinely come up with the most creative and compelling off-agenda story ideas, both serious and light-hearted – the kind that turn up on the Web site's most e-mailed list, or regularly make the front page, or generate the most talk and feedback.

Then figure out why this is so. What are these journalists like? Their personal characteristics? Interview them to find out how they think, live, who they talk to, what they read and watch, how they go about their daily life, their routines. Get inside their heads. What could other journalists learn from them? What does this tell you about the people you should be hiring? Are there more people like them elsewhere in other departments? How can you tap into them?

These ideas are three small inroads into a large and critical challenge. We'll return to it periodically this year. Your ideas, comments, successes and learning experiences are welcome.


By Mary Nesbitt (m-nesbitt@northwestern.edu)
Mary Nesbitt is managing director of the Readership Institute.

(Rich Gordon)

In the past few weeks, American Journalism Review and an editorial page editor at the Wall Street Journal have weighed in with criticisms of blogs.

AJR, focusing specifically on newspaper blogs, worries about a "clash of values" between newspapers and "a swiftly changing medium that has grown in power and prestige precisely because it has flouted many of journalism's traditional rules." At the Journal, Joseph Rago writes that "journalism as practiced via blog appears to be a change for the worse."

Both pieces make good points, but I think they also both give short shrift to one of the most powerful ways blogs can be used by news organizations: as a hub for communities, both virtual and real.

Here's one example of a newspaper blog that seems to be creating just such a community hub.

Dave Oliveria is a longtime columnist and editorial writer for the Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Washington. He works in the paper's bureau in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, about 32 miles from Spokane. Besides writing editorials, he is the longtime author of the paper's Huckleberries column, a grab bag of names, news and gossip for residents of northern Idaho.

Oliveria started blogging almost three years ago because he thought the paper needed a blog expressing a conservative point of view. His first blog, "No Holds Barred," was published during the months leading up to the 2004 election. The blog gave Oliveria a chance to skewer "J. Flipflop Kerry" and generally advocate conservative positions. But he also started building a community around the column by linking frequently to other bloggers in Washington and Idaho.

After the 2004 election, Oliveria tried to figure out what to do next. For a while the blog was renamed "Hot Potatoes" and consisted mostly of short opinion pieces. Finally he relabeled the blog "Huckleberries Online" to connect with his print column. Most recently, at his boss's suggestion, he modified the format for the print Huckleberries column. Instead of running once a week (at about 20 column inches), Huckleberries the column became shorter (4-6 inches) and more frequent (five days a week).

The Spokesman-Review takes blogging seriously. The newspaper now publishes 33 blogs, a pretty remarkable number for a paper with an average weekday circulation of less than 100,000. Huckleberries Online has the most traffic by far, almost 150,000 page views in November, according to traffic data provided by Online Publisher Ken Sands.

"Huckleberries Online gets closest to the strategic model of what a newspaper blog can be," says Spokesman-Review editor Steve Smith. "It’s a blog that breaks news, it engages citizens and the movers and shakers in dialogue. In some ways it has become its own 24/7 source of news and information for people in that community."

Take a look at Huckleberries Online. Like the original Huckleberries print column, it's a grab bag. If you don't live in Idaho or Washington, you may not immediately grasp what makes it special. But here are some of the kinds of things you'll find:

• A lengthy "blogroll" linking to other bloggers in the region;
• A roundup of reactions to major news stories;
• Photo caption contests;
• A regular feature on "best of the local blogs"
• Nature photos;
• Breaking news;
• Questions for his readers;
• Lots of reader comments.

"My philosophy is, 'It’s a new day, let’s have a whole bunch of fun,' " says Oliveria.

What makes Oliveria a good blogger? "He understood that the blog isn’t a place where he goes to preach his particular point of view or opine, though that's how he started," Smith says. "He understands that his role is part reporter, part moderator and part synthesizer, and if he identifies the points of interest and presents them in the right way, then he can generate citizen dialogue that moves the community forward. It’s interactivity, but it has a strong journalistic core to it. You can really see the reporter, the journalist, the analyst in his work."

Smith says, "Our least successful blogs are those where the author simply states a point of view. People respond, they get angry, but they rarely advance an issue or an idea."

Oliveria also benefits from being a longtime local columnist, and from the association between Huckleberries Online and its print counterpart. But it's also worth pointing out that Huckleberries Online generates several of the online experiences that Readership Institute research indicates will drive site usage. For instance:

• Entertains and absorbs me ("The site has a very distinct personality to it" or "Often I go to this site just to see if it has anything new since the last time I checked it");
• Looks out for people like me ("The people who run this site really seem to care about their visitors" or "This site has a strong sense of community to it");
• Connects me with others ("A big reason I like this site is what I get from other users" or "This site does a good job of getting its visitors to contribute or provide feedback.")

Huckleberries Online has proven to be so successful that Oliveria's boss has modified his job description. He won't have to write as many editorials and expects to spend 80 percent of his time on the blog. Smith also wants Oliveria to coach other Spokesman-Review bloggers.

Oliveria is already thinking about creative ways he can take Huckleberries Online to a new level. He'd like to blog live from the scene of an important story, such as a key commission vote. He'd also like to take his laptop to a coffee shop and interact in person with some of his readers. He's looking forward to having more time to experiment with new approaches.

“Blogging the way I do it just consumes you," says Oliveria. "I’ve been just flying through this thing and haven’t had time to think about what works and where I’d like to go."


By Rich Gordon (richgor@northwestern.edu)
Rich Gordon is Associate Professor and Director of Digital Technology in Education at Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University.