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The Columbia Journalism Review asked me to pen a response to the new report on digital news economics, “The Story So Far: What We Know About the Business of Digital Journalism.” Here are my thoughts.
The Columbia Journalism Review asked me to pen a response to the new report on digital news economics, “The Story So Far: What We Know About the Business of Digital Journalism.” Here are my thoughts.
“The future of journalism will be a tale of smaller and smaller organizations making a bigger and bigger impact,” asserts Lisa Williams, founder of Placeblogger.com.
I couldn’t agree more. They will rise and fall, collaborate and compete, succeed and fail—and be replaced by new startups.
So what does this mean for the business of digital journalism? For one thing, it means we have to do business in dramatically different ways—not just collecting money differently. So here are three places to start. Many of these things are already happening and could add to “The Story So Far.”
Identify the players and mind the gaps: Traditional news organizations should take more cues from independent news startups. Value sells. And value derives from engagement and from unique kinds of content.
- Identify the gaps in news coverage and find ways to fill them. This may mean you create a niche product but it could also mean you enter a news partnership with another journalistic outlet that is covering something you’re not.
- Instead of trying to cover twenty areas poorly, pick six to eight and own them. Partner with other news creators locally or nationally for the rest.
- Make sure you know who’s doing what in your community. Map the media assets that you have. Know who the emerging power players are. I have found it shocking how some traditional news outlets are not paying attention to their own news ecosystem. As far as they are concerned, they are the only game in town. Yet we are beginning to see hyperlocal sites (not just Patch.com) expanding to start new sites in nearby towns.
- Nurture the nickels, not just the dimes. Multiple revenue streams begin to add up. Some of the independent news startups are looking at more than just grants and/or advertising. They are cultivating consulting income (web and social media development), content syndication, niche products, and event income that can include registrations fees and corporate sponsorships. These events can produce new kinds of knowledge networks in communities and open the doors for different kinds of support.
While there is much fretting about how new online news outlets have not fully taken the place of traditional news organizations, the fact is that many hyperlocal sites are covering communities that never had much, or any, coverage before. And a growing roster of statewide investigative journalism initiatives are doing some remarkable accountability journalism—and sharing it with other news organizations in their states.
Incubate your competitors. A radical thought or a new opportunity? Nurture not just what’s good for your company but also what’s good for the community and give it buzz. Make your competitors your collaborators.
- Pull a J-Lab. It may sound counterintuitive but invest $150,000 in a greenhouse fund to nurture the best of your local news providers with micro grants tied to collaboration opportunities. I guarantee you will raise the bar for everyone and begin to connect the news silos that are cropping up.
- Put out a call for collaborative enterprise stories. Since last fall, J-Lab helped to seed fourteen Philadelphia stories that are running on multiple platforms with only $70,000 in funding from the William Penn Foundation. You can do this, too.
- Take those empty desks in the newsroom and turn them into them into co-working spaces. Invite community site founders to work alongside you and even pay a token rent. See what ideas that proximity fosters. Know and nurture the ideas in your community before they blindside you.
- Develop citywide Networked Journalism initiatives. For instance, J-Lab’s Net-J pilot project, funded by the Knight foundation, helps support a community manager at a mainstream news organization and provides small stipends to at least five local news sites willing to try collaborating for a year. The Seattle Times has grown its network from five hyperlocal sites to thirty-nine sites; The Charlotte Observer from five to sixteen. The Portland Oregonian just launched its network with seven smaller news sites that want to partner.
As we learned in a recent survey to gauge Seattle readers’ perceptions of these networks, eight in ten of the 996 respondents said they valued both the network of partners and The Seattle Times itself for making it easier to connect with community news. Times editors said the partnerships had bolstered their brand, even if its website did not see a direct traffic gain.
Once you start erecting an infrastructure that helps all media, you are in a position to leverage different kinds of support.
Initiate a different “ask.” So far in the digital journalism world, we have asked people to be advertisers or to be subscribers. We have asked them to be donors or funders. We have asked them to be citizen journalists or poorly paid professional journalists. We have asked them to rate and share our stories.
We have not asked them to do something that might have more appeal: to be “media players”—media players who are charged with being good stewards of a robust local news and information landscape. It rang so true to me when Batavian editor Howard Owens explained, in “The Story So Far,” that many of his local advertisers don’t care about click-throughs, they just want to support the community. We’ve heard that from many startups.
What would such civic stewardship begin to look like? It could take the form of participating in a knowledge network—a series of events in which people meet and learn about civic issues, literary news, legislative priorities, and fun folks in town. It helps if your events generate some water-cooler chitchat.
Don’t laugh: The Texas Tribune has brought in more than $500,000 in event revenue in the last two years. Many of its events are now the place to be, and the Tribune is breaking news that others news organizations find they must cover.
Media players could also belong to statewide Journalism Trusts, donating funds, advice, and their non-journalism expertise (event production, anyone?) to foster robust news and information. Check out the early Vermont Journalism Trust.
Asking people to participate in ways that don’t require professional journalism skills helps re-channel energies and dampen concerns about authority or the accuracy of amateur journalists. And it gets a different kind of attention from prospective funders.
To be sure, the business of digital journalism gives us much to wring our hands about, as the Tow Center report attests. But having judged several journalism awards contests this year, I’m seeing some of the strongest entries coming from new journalism sites, not the traditional players. I’ve just finished vetting another 378 proposals from women media entrepreneurs; the ideas are enormously varied and the applicants’ skills run deep.
What I see missing from so many of the conversations about how we garner support for the future of journalism is the recognition of the low-hanging fruit growing in many communities—independent news entities that are going to continue to launch. We need more new thinking that validates and engages them in the overall enterprise.
How do you tell the story of 5,000-some inmates who will spend their entire lives in Pennsylvania prisons, with no chance for parole, because they are convicted of murder? Tom Ferrick, founder and senior editor of Metropolis, an independent news startup in Philadelphia, sought an enterprising way.
How do you tell the story of 5,000-some inmates who will spend their entire lives in Pennsylvania prisons, with no chance for parole, because they are convicted of murder?
Tom Ferrick, founder and senior editor of Metropolis, an independent news startup in Philadelphia, sought an enterprising way.
“The Ballad of Red Dog” captures the narrative arc and delivers an emotional tug of the story of Haywood Fennell, now 60, a model prisoner who’s been in jail since 1968 for a murder committed when he was 17.
And it’s all done in seven panels of illustration by Jacob Lambert, whose work occasionally appears in Mad Magazine.
The Ballad of Red Dog, as Fennell is called, is a graphic novel (or at least a non-fiction short story) published yesterday as the cover story in The City Paper and last month on Ferrick’s site. J-Lab funded it with a $5,000 Enterprise Reporting Award from the William Penn Foundation.
“I was interested in the narrative arc of the story of what happens to a lifer when ... they realize they’re never going to get out of here,” Ferrick said, referring to Fennell’s current abode, Graterford Prison.
Distilling Fennell’s story to its essence entailed hours of interviewing, tracking down the prosecutors, and searching for documents by Ferrick, who sharpened his journalistic chops as a respected reporter and columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer (where I used to work).
And it included five hours of interviews at the crowded, pre-cast concrete, barbed-wire facility where Fennell will likely die. Pennsylvania is one of several states that have life sentences without parole.
“For years, I have been reading or writing stories about young men - sometimes in their late teens or early 20’s - who end up being sentenced to life in prison for murder, usually over some trivial matter - a fight over a girlfriend, an insult to their manhood, or in Red Dog’s case, a petty robbery, that went awry,” Ferrick wrote in his blog.
But he was less interested in the crimes than in the life passages of these prisoners as they go from being macho young men playing basketball and lifting weights, to middle-aged inmates to prison elders. “How does that shape their behavior?” Ferrick asked.
Ferrick reached out to Bill DiMascio, head of the Pennsylvania Prison Society, who gave Ferrick the names of three lifers to profile. DiMascio visits these prisoners and is known to ask: How much punishment is enough?
As with any story, it got more complicated as Ferrick dove into the records and found a moment in 1992 when Fennell might have gotten parole for being an accomplice, and not the actual do-er. So he returned to interview Fennell some more.
Illustrator Jacob accompanied Ferrick for the first interview at Graterford, a two-and-a-half-hour session. “I think Jacob did a wonderful job. He captured Red Dog’s look.”
And the report succeeded in its goal: to tell a story in a new narrative way.
Contact: , , J-Lab (202) 885-8100
or Heidi de Laubenfels, The Seattle Times (206) 464-8556
Washington, D.C. - In a survey to gauge reader perception of The Seattle Times’ collaboration with local news websites, eight in 10 respondents said they valued both the network of partners and The Times itself for making it easier to connect with community news, J-Lab reported today.
Although the network has had little promotion, more than half (51%) of the 996 respondents said they knew about the partnership before taking the survey. Respondents who reached the survey via partner sites were more aware of the partnership (61%) than those from seattletimes.com. Another 77 percent said they would take advantage of the partnership in the future.
The online survey, conducted over two weeks in March, sought to determine whether online news consumers in the Seattle region were aware of the partnership, which has grown from five sites in August 2009 to 39 sites today, and whether it helped them meet their information needs. The Seattle journalism network is one of nine partnerships around the country supported by J-Lab with funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
“We worked with The Seattle Times to field this survey, not knowing what we’d learn. We’re extremely encouraged by the feedback from the community,” said J-Lab director Jan Schaffer.
The respondents comprised a voluntary sample, with roughly half accessing the survey from seattletimes.com’s home page and half accessing it via links on five of the participating sites.
For The Seattle Times, the partnership means presenting headlines from partner sites on seattletimes.com and incorporating links to the partner sites. More than half the respondents (54%) said they used links from the Times to go to partner sites. Others accessed the Times’ site from the individual community sites.
Although The Times is driving traffic to its partner sites, it also appeared to get the greatest benefit from the collaboration:
- More than half the respondents (52%) said the partnership improved their opinion of seattletimes.com strongly or somewhat.
- 84 percent said they valued the partnership for supporting improvements in community journalism.
- 78 percent said they valued The Seattle Times for making it easier to connect with community news sites.
“It bolsters our brand, even if we are not seeing a direct traffic gain,” said The Times’ Deputy Managing Editor, Heidi de Laubenfels.
A majority of the respondents (79%) said they would be willing to support the network as readers; some would donate, advertise or sponsor an activity.
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Participating partners were the West Seattle Blog, Capitol Hill Seattle, My Edmonds News, My Ballard and Three Sheets Northwest.
Breaking news is the most commonly sought community news topic, followed by “go-do” types of information about local events and activities. Events and activities are more popular on the partner sites, however.
More than 324 of the 996 respondents gave their impressions of the partnership in free-form text boxes. Positive comments outweighed negatives by more than 10 to 1. The positives liked the cooperation among the sites and thought it benefited them as readers. Negative remarks complained that the partner sites were giving up their independence to The Times or that The Times was giving credence to news not always produced by professional journalists.
The open-ended responses urged The Times to expand the network geographically, provide more partner headlines on its homepage and to make it very clear when a link takes them off seattletimes.com.
More than three-quarters (77%) of the respondents were comfortable clicking away from a site to a new page. Half, however, prefer to have the link open in a new tab.
About Knight Foundation
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation advances journalism in the digital age and invests in the vitality of communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Since 1950, the foundation has granted more than $400 million to advance quality journalism and freedom of expression. Knight Foundation focuses on projects that promote informed and engaged communities and lead to transformational change. For more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.
About J-Lab
J-Lab helps news organizations and citizens use digital technologies to develop new ways for people to participate in public life. It also administers the Knight Citizen News Network (www.kcnn.org and www.J-Learning.org), the New Voices community media grant program (www.j-newvoices.org), the Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism
(www.j-lab.org), and the McCormick New Media Women Entrepreneurs initiative (www.newmediawomen.org).
Read Jan Schaffer’s take in her Blogically Thinking post.
With nine Networked Journalism projects started around the county, we wondered if anyone in those communities had even noticed that independent news websites were partnering with a mainstream media organization in town.
With nine Networked Journalism projects started around the county, we wondered if anyone in those communities had even noticed that independent news websites were partnering with a mainstream media organization in town.
So 18 months into this experiment, we enlisted The Seattle Times to conduct an online survey to gauge the perceptions of its readers. Since August 2009, The Times has grown its network from its initial five partners to 39.
In short: Readers have noticed. They like it. They want more. And they like The Seattle Times for spearheading the collaboration.
Roughly half of the respondents came to the survey through a link on seattletimes.com; half through a link on the partner sites. See the results of the 966 surveys here.
Seattletimes.com is spending a lot of effort to drive more traffic to the smaller local sites in its community than it is getting in return. So what’s the value?
By a considerable measure, The Times seems to be getting a significant brand lift by collaborating with local news startups and other news creators.
- 84 percent of the respondents said they valued the partnership for supporting improvements in community journalism.
- 78 percent said they valued The Seattle Times for making it easier to connect with community news sites.
“It bolsters our brand, even if we are not seeing a direct traffic gain,” said The Times’ Deputy Managing Editor, Heidi de Laubenfels.
Some of the most interesting feedback came in the 324 open-ended comments the respondents offered. They fared 10-to-1 positive vs. negative in favor of the network efforts. Many were protective of their community news sites.
To be sure, many appreciated being able to see partner headlines on the homepage of seattletimes.com and link directly to stories they would not get in The Times itself.
“The links on The Seattle Times for the community news partners are the main way I access these sites… I love how easy it is to see the headlines from these community sites at seattletimes.com,” said one.
As interesting were how many respondents followed links to The Times from the partner sites.
“I’m not a Seattle area resident, so I wasn’t a Seattle Times reader at all until I started reading Three Sheets Northwest,” said another.
The collaboration even seemed to dampen some lingering bad feelings towards the Times: “The West Seattle Blog is my source for what’s happening in West Seattle… I am one of those people who cancelled her subscription [to the Times] in 2001, after the strike. While I am not planning on re-subscribing, I must say that this partnership has lessened my animosity towards the Times,” another weighed in.
“There is simply no way you could provide this level of neighborhood detail using your own resources, so it is a smart use of reliable, existing media - benefits you, the other sites & the readers - a win for everyone!” read another of the positive comments.
Negative comments reflected concern over whether links to sites with content not produced by professional journalists “devalued the credibility of any real news outlet that wants to consider themselves a serious news source. And, it just seems lazy as well,” said one objector.
And then there was: “Keep your corporate conservative bias and your dirty fingers out of our neighborhood blogs!”
It was clear that committed readers of the hyperlocal news sites valued them and wanted to see them stick around. Maybe an element of protective collaboration is just what the emerging news ecosystem needs these days.
The best way to drive innovation is to expand the definition of innovation. It needs to be more than new tools. To be sure, developing new apps or platforms is very cool. And these things often make journalism more efficient to produce and less expensive to distribute.
[This month’s Carnival of Journalism asks how we can drive innovation and encourage organizations like the Knight Foundation and the Reynolds Journalism Institute to help seed it.]
The best way to drive innovation is to expand the definition of innovation.
It needs to be more than new tools. To be sure, developing new apps or platforms is very cool. And these things often make journalism more efficient to produce and less expensive to distribute.
Often, too, we tend to label as innovation new skillsets (digital literacy), or mindsets (multi-platform production.)
I would like to see us all, not just the Knight Foundation and the Reynolds Journalism Institute, embrace innovations in journalism conventions, processes, and relationships.
In convening a couple dozen young journalists eight weeks ago to “Re-Imagine Journalism,” we stepped into a mother lode of frustrations about commoditized news and “muffin-top” journalism (metrics-based stories). Let’s try some innovations that remove the tension between what people want and what they need.
In exploring the possibilities around collaboration vs. competition, J-Lab has come to realize you can incentivize surprising possibilities. One of our Networked Journalism pilot sites, the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette, just launched a website, Pipeline, to collaborate with other information partners on the biggest economic, business and environmental story of its times - the controversial removing of natural gas embedded in the Marcellus Shale.
And hot off the presses is news from another site. A survey to determine whether Seattle residents noticed or valued the network of 39 sites coalesced by the Seattle Times found astonishing recognition with very little promotion: 51 percent of the 996 respondents were aware of the partnership and 84 percent said it was a good thing. How do we raise the bar to take this to the next level?
Finally, while many journalism awards programs honor “good journalism,” I’d assert that it’s equally important to award innovative changes in the processes of journalism: How we do our stories.
Consider how last year’s Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations honored Sunlight Live for aligning multi-faceted streams of information to cover the health care summit. We honored ProPublica’s Distributed Reporting efforts for innovations in systematizing the process of crowdsourcing to execute their impressive stories. And we recognized Longshot Magazine for flipping an entire magazine in just 48 hours using little more than Twitter to collect 1,500 submissions in one day.
There can be innovation all around us if we just pay attention to, and sometimes incentivize, the possibilities.
(And while you’re at it, apply for this year’s Knight-Batten awards. Deadline is June 6.)
Seattle Times this week announced it has added five more local news partners to the network it launched in 2009 with J-Lab support. That brings its network of local news and blogger sites to 39.
Seattle Times this week announced it has added five more local news partners to the network it launched in 2009 with J-Lab support. That brings its network of local news and blogger sites to 39.
The new members in Seattle include the network’s first ethnic media partners, “something we’re really excited about,” said Bob Payne, the project’s manager and director of communities. They include the Northwest Asian Weekly, Northwest Vietnamese News, Public Data Ferret, Rosiehood: The Roosevelt Neighborhood Blog and the Seattle Bike Blog.
So far, the 20 Patch.com sites in the Seattle suburbs are not part of the network. Soon, in a new twist, interns from the University of Washington will be available to report stories for the partners, building their journalism capacity and further building upon existing media assets.
Seattle’s is not the largest blog network in the county. But unlike some other blog alliances, its initial partners are mostly focused on news rather than opinions. The Chicago Tribune’s ChicagoNow network lists 286 blogs that cover everything from sports, to art to parenting. Likewise, TBD.com had assembled a network of 224 bloggers in its first six months before its recent morphing into a niche arts and entertainment site. Chicago’s Windy Citizen highlights content from 44 bloggers.
The Seattle network is one of nine around the country being fostered by J-Lab’s Networked Journalism project, funded by the Knight Foundation. The Lawrence Journal-World recently joined as a late added starter and has hit the ground running. The second year initiatives are starting to gel in interesting and diverse ways.
In Portland, Ore., Cornelius Swart, former publisher of the Portland Sentinel and founder of the Portland Media Lab, has been hired by The Oregonian to juice its network and he brings a refreshing indie media perspective to his new task.
“The folks here are well aware of the paper’s old reputation as ‘The Death Star’ and that some independents may be wary of working with them,” Swart said in a blog post this week. He’s optimistic, however, that the paper aspires to have journalists and bloggers working “in a peer-to-peer fashion to bring the most important local news to the widest possible audience.”
“As many of us know, being a successful online voice, whether you are in social media or traditional blogosphere, is as much about referring people to quality content as it is about producing quality content yourself. It’s all part of being a trusted source for your readers.”
J-Lab is compiling a report on the work, to date, of the Net-J sites. Stay tuned for more.
What happens when journalists fall into the habit of relying on their reliable sources? To be sure, they can turn stories quickly because they can ensure access to information. They can help their news organization keep up with breaking news that will be competitively distributed on other publications and platforms.
What happens when journalists fall into the habit of relying on their reliable sources? To be sure, they can turn stories quickly because they can ensure access to information. They can help their news organization keep up with breaking news that will be competitively distributed on other publications and platforms.
On the other hand, it’s more likely they will hear singular rather than multiple “truths” around an issue. They’ll need their “spin” radars on high. And they may find themselves rushing down the same rabbit hole as their colleagues - following a pack of journalists all reporting on, and often validating, the same master narrative, but often forgetting to test whether that narrative is really true.
Teasing out new sources for news and information provides a lot of added value for journalism. It helps journalists develop new listening posts. That, in turn, leads to an understanding of multiple perspectives - or multiple truths - surrounding a particular issue or topic. Multiple truths, in turn, help us avoid the bipolar contracts of pro/con journalism.
As important, I suggest they provide a different kind of connection for news consumers. They help ordinary people deal with their own internal conflict around a subject rather than the manufactured external conflict of partisanship or ideology.
Along the way journalism becomes more authentic. And journalists become more enterprising in asking different questions.
So how can we incubate these new sources? In response to this month’s Carnival of Journalism Challenge from Spot.us founder Dave Cohn, I offer 10 ways that have crossed my radar screen. And they don’t all have to come from the world of “Big-J” journalism.
1) Invite people to join a Reporting Network and assign them specific tasks, as ProPublica does. ProPublica’s News Assignment Desk won one of J-Lab’s Knight-Batten Innovation Awards last year.
2) Build venues to crowdsource stories and allow people to weigh in with their expertise. Check out Minnesota Public Radio’s Public Insight Network (another early Knight-Batten winner).
3) Invite readers to submit ideas for stories they want covered. VTDigger is about to launch such an effort with a New Voices grant from J-Lab.
4) Use humor to entice new viewpoints. Check out how GreatLakesEcho.org invites participation with “smack downs” or “carp bombs.” GreatLakesEcho is a spinoff from GreatLakesWiki.org, a New Voices grantee.
5) Invite knowledgeable members of your community to be a guest columnist or blogger. New Era News (yep, a J-Lab New Voices project) taps a legislator to weigh in.
6) Network and amplify all the news and information being produced in your community, giving a megaphone to existing voices. See the Seattle Time’s Local News Partners, part of J-Lab’s Knight-funded Networked Journalism collaborative.
7) Tap the university community not only to have students write news stories but invite academics to analyze data.
8) Validate those who want to contribute something other than a story. See how Voice of San Diego spotlights individual supporters.
9) Create venues for opinions like NewsWorks.org’s “Junto” or the Twin Cities Daily Planet’s “Free Speech Zone” (TCDP is also a New Voices grantee).
10) And if someone doesn’t want to write it, let that source sing it. Check out this musical op-ed on NewCastleNOW.org (also a J-Lab New Voices startup).
What happens when journalists fall into the habit of relying on their reliable sources? To be sure, they can turn stories quickly because they can ensure access to information. They can help their news organization keep up with breaking news that will be competitively distributed on other publications and platforms.
What happens when journalists fall into the habit of relying on their reliable sources? To be sure, they can turn stories quickly because they can ensure access to information. They can help their news organization keep up with breaking news that will be competitively distributed on other publications and platforms.
On the other hand, it’s more likely they will hear singular rather than multiple “truths” around an issue. They’ll need their “spin” radars on high. And they may find themselves rushing down the same rabbit hole as their colleagues - following a pack of journalists all reporting on, and often validating, the same master narrative, but often forgetting to test whether that narrative is really true.
Teasing out new sources for news and information provides a lot of added value for journalism. It helps journalists develop new listening posts. That, in turn, leads to an understanding of multiple perspectives - or multiple truths - surrounding a particular issue or topic. Multiple truths, in turn, help us avoid the bipolar contracts of pro/con journalism.
As important, I suggest they provide a different kind of connection for news consumers. They help ordinary people deal with their own internal conflict around a subject rather than the manufactured external conflict of partisanship or ideology.
Along the way journalism becomes more authentic. And journalists become more enterprising in asking different questions.
So how can we incubate these new sources? In response to this month’s Carnival of Journalism Challenge from Spot.us founder Dave Cohn, I offer 10 ways that have crossed my radar screen. And they don’t all have to come from the world of “Big-J” journalism.
1) Invite people to join a Reporting Network and assign them specific tasks, as ProPublica does. ProPublica’s News Assignment Desk won one of J-Lab’s Knight-Batten Innovation Awards last year.
2) Build venues to crowdsource stories and allow people to weigh in with their expertise. Check out Minnesota Public Radio’s Public Insight Network (another early Knight-Batten winner).
3) Invite readers to submit ideas for stories they want covered. VTDigger is about to launch such an effort with a New Voices grant from J-Lab.
4) Use humor to entice new viewpoints. Check out how GreatLakesEcho.org invites participation with “smack downs” or “carp bombs.” GreatLakesEcho is a spinoff from GreatLakesWiki.org, a New Voices grantee.
5) Invite knowledgeable members of your community to be a guest columnist or blogger. New Era News (yep, a J-Lab New Voices project) taps a legislator to weigh in.
6) Network and amplify all the news and information being produced in your community, giving a megaphone to existing voices. See the Seattle Time’s Local News Partners, part of J-Lab’s Knight-funded Networked Journalism collaborative.
7) Tap the university community not only to have students write news stories but invite academics to analyze data.
8) Validate those who want to contribute something other than a story. See how Voice of San Diego spotlights individual supporters.
9) Create venues for opinions like NewsWorks.org’s “Junto” or the Twin Cities Daily Planet’s “Free Speech Zone” (TCDP is also a New Voices grantee).
10) And if someone doesn’t want to write it, let that source sing it. Check out this musical op-ed on NewCastleNOW.org (also a J-Lab New Voices startup).
I have long said that more than the business model of journalism was broken. I believe the craft of journalism is broken, too. It’s all-too-often done on autopilot and overly reliant on some conventions that have turned into bad habits.
I have long said that more than the business model of journalism was broken. I believe the craft of journalism is broken, too. It’s all-too-often done on autopilot and overly reliant on some conventions that have turned into bad habits.
Last weekend, J-Lab tested this idea on a group of young journalists who gave up their Saturday to join what turned out to be a robust and animated conversation about “Re-Imagining Journalism.”
“Stimulating,” “ground-moving” and “galvanizing” marked some of the feedback. Turns out that while the industry is obsessed with technology, many journalists are quite passionate about their craft and are really worried about how it is being practiced.
We’ll come out with a report soon on our early conversation, supported by both the Knight and Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundations. For now, here is one of my takeaways.
We asked the participants to send us examples of stories that either inspired or angered them. A few picked the same stories. Studying these examples gave rise to this list of 10 benchmarks. We can produce good journalism if we:
1) Challenge knee-jerk master narratives
2) Reach for new kinds of accountability
3) Add historical context
4) Impart a sense of community, sense of place
5) Seek authenticity
6) Have impact
7) Make the invisible visible
8) Strive for attachment vs. detachment
9) Do less harm
10) Anticipate the future
This list will be refined as we engage more. Stay tuned.
I have long said that more than the business model of journalism was broken. I believe the craft of journalism is broken, too. It’s all-too-often done on autopilot and overly reliant on some conventions that have turned into bad habits.
I have long said that more than the business model of journalism was broken. I believe the craft of journalism is broken, too. It’s all-too-often done on autopilot and overly reliant on some conventions that have turned into bad habits.
Last weekend, J-Lab tested this idea on a group of young journalists who gave up their Saturday to join what turned out to be a robust and animated conversation about “Re-Imagining Journalism.”
“Stimulating,” “ground-moving” and “galvanizing” marked some of the feedback. Turns out that while the industry is obsessed with technology, many journalists are quite passionate about their craft and are really worried about how it is being practiced.
We’ll come out with a report soon on our early conversation, supported by both the Knight and Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundations. For now, here is one of my takeaways.
We asked the participants to send us examples of stories that either inspired or angered them. A few picked the same stories. Studying these examples gave rise to this list of 10 benchmarks. We can produce good journalism if we:
1) Challenge knee-jerk master narratives
2) Reach for new kinds of accountability
3) Add historical context
4) Impart a sense of community, sense of place
5) Seek authenticity
6) Have impact
7) Make the invisible visible
8) Strive for attachment vs. detachment
9) Do less harm
10) Anticipate the future
This list will be refined as we engage more. Stay tuned.
Professional journalists are launching scores of news startups around the country. Some cover community news, others hone in on special topics; some cover state government, and others aim to generate, and often share, investigative stories.
As published in the Quill (registration required).
Professional journalists are launching scores of news startups around the country. Some cover community news, others hone in on special topics; some cover state government, and others aim to generate, and often share, investigative stories.
But it takes more than an award-winning track record in journalism, a willingness to embrace risk and an ability to dip into your retirement accounts to make a go of a good news site.
You’ll need to develop some new skill sets — and probably some new mindsets. You’ll need to understand that you will be serving customers, not just readers.
J-Lab has funded 65 community and womenled news startups since 2005 (thanks to the Knight and McCormick Foundations). We have observed some sharp entrepreneurs in action. Here are 10 tasks that we’d advise any wannabe entrepreneur to undertake:
1. First, Assess the Landscape
Don’t duplicate. Define the unique value you’ll deliver to your audience. As Mike Orren, founder and publisher of PegasusNews.com, advised at the 2010 Online News Association convention: “Figure out whose problem you are solving.”
2. Test-drive Your Idea
This is just good old-fashioned reporting. Once you’ve firmed up your idea, seek feedback from your network on whether it resonates: Would readers visit your site? Would advertisers buy an ad on it? Would investors see a business model? Will anyone offer to help you?
3. Develop Your Project "Wireframe"
Sketch out just how you think your project would work. Who would build a website? Who would do the reporting? The editing? How often will you update? Will you have staff or interns?
4. Decide on the Best Business Structure For You — and File Your Paperwork
Will you be a for-profit business or a non-profit? Will you affiliate with a university? Will you look for a fiscal agent until you spin into your own 501(c)(3)? Check out the step-by-step guide for Launching a Nonprofit News Site on the Knight Citizen News Network for some pros and cons at tinyurl.com/ NewsSiteLaunch. Bottom line: do you want to sell ads, seek grants or woo members? Or do all three?
5. Develop a Business Plan
Start to answer these questions: How will your enterprise be funded to start? What’s your initial budget? How will it grow in a year and beyond? How will people find out about your project? Who are your consumers? Who are your customers? Gather demographic data on your target community: household income, education, broadband connectivity. Pick a name, but do research to avoid latching onto a moniker someone else has trademarked.
6. Refine Your Elevator Pitch
Distill your plan into a one-minute wrap-up that nails what you’re doing and for whom, and why people want it. Then start making your pitch — to donors, funders, advertisers, volunteers. Make sure to tell them what you’re looking for: Do you want them to meet with you? Look at your business plan? Make an introduction? Develop a PowerPoint to hit your highlights.
7. Build a Website
Start with a simple site that you can easily tweak yourself. WordPress is one easy option that will give you something to show quickly. Here’s a J-Lab how-to on launching a WordPress site: tinyurl.com/NewsSiteInABox
8. Gather Content
Write stories. Commission stories. Recruit guest columnists. Solicit photos. Assemble lists, data and resources. Firm up partners, links and content swaps. Sell, barter or give away your first ads or sponsorships.
9. Launch With Fanfare
Will you have a launch party? Develop a Facebook page? Take out ads? Have a social media campaign? Sponsor a table at a community event? Plan how to get noticed.
10. Start to Tell Your Tale
In addition to the stories you want to tell in your community, you must begin to flesh out your own story. Start collecting metrics. How many stories have you published? How many contributors have you recruited? Have your stories had any impact? Have your ads worked for your advertisers? Have you grown a network of members, subscribers or donors? How many unique visitors are coming to your site? How long do they stay? How is that growing? Check out this explainer ad kit from Baristanet.com: tinyurl.com/Barista-NetAdKit
Remember that you are not just a journalist any longer. You’re a marketer, publisher and business leader. Above all, stay focused, but be ready to change on a dime. As a local news entrepreneur, you will need to evolve and evolve. Make the surprises work for you.
What makes for a good grant proposal?
Nearly all funders have guidelines explaining what they fund — and what they don’t fund. Read them. It will save you a lot of wasted effort.
To receive a grant (that is, dollars that were donated for charitable purposes), you must be an official non-profit, not just a project that doesn’t make any money. Commercial or for-profit entities are not eligible for grants, although sometimes they may receive awards or contracts.
Among my pet peeves are journalists who inaccurately refer to everything J-Lab funds as grants. Be precise or just use the fallback term funding.
Be sure you have attained non-profit status before you seek a grant; saying you filed your application with the IRS isn’t good enough. It can take up to six months for the IRS to issue its determination, and there are no guarantees. One way around this is to find a “fiscal agent,” another non-profit that will sponsor your project. The fiscal agent will receive your grant dollars on your behalf but also has a fiduciary responsibility to ensure the dollars are appropriately spent.
Fiscal agents will often take a percentage of the grant — 5 to 10 percent — for their grant administration services.
Then, in your proposal, hew to the funder’s guidelines. If a foundation says it doesn’t fund youth media projects, don’t pitch training for high school students. If the guidelines limit grants to accredited journalism schools, you won’t make the short list with a proposal for a hyperlocal site unless your fiscal agent is an accredited journalism school. If a funder asks about frequency of updating, you’ll have a stronger proposal if you plan daily updates vs. monthly. A funder will almost always ask how you plan to sustain your project after any grant ends. Be
prepared with an answer.
Some foundations solicit pre-proposals, with deadlines for Letters of Inquiry. These are short pitches, one to two pages, for your idea. If your LOI appeals, you will be invited to make a full proposal. Research these LOI deadlines carefully. They only come a couple of times a year.
Once you get a grant, pace yourself on a number of fronts:
- Thank your funder.
- Deliver on time everything you said you would.
- Collect data on participation, outcomes, impact, Web traffic. It’s best to collect this information as you go along rather than try to re-construct it a year later.
- Monitor your “burn rate,” the rate at which you are spending down your grant dollars. You certainly don’t want to overspend, but you also don’t want to underspend or you will need to return unspent funds. Many funders require you to stick within a specified range, often 10 percent, of your proposed budget categories. If you find your spending significantly differs from what you proposed, you’ll need to seek a formal budget modification.
- File your grant reports on time. Better yet, communicate regularly any good news and successes as they occur. Good stewardship of grant dollars is often rewarded with more grant dollars.
It’s official: The William Penn Foundation has approved a $2.4 million grant for a Networked Journalism Collaborative project in Philadelphia.
It’s official: The William Penn Foundation has approved a $2.4 million grant for a Networked Journalism Collaborative project in Philadelphia.
A national search for a CEO to lead and further roll out the initiative begins in January with the goal of having a leader in place by spring.
Key input for this project came from J-Lab’s research and mapping of the Philadelphia news ecosystem in late 2009. We found a rich brew of media assets already in place, supplemented by a blogosphere of 260 blogs and websites - more than 60 of which had what we called “some journalistic DNA.”
In April, we released our report, recommending the creation of an independent news website focusing on pubic affairs coverage in a half dozen key areas, supplemented by broad collaborations with existing news sites such as PlanPhilly.com, thenotebook.org, Metropolis plus the city’s robust creative technology community. More research and planning was undertaken by OMG Center for Collaborative Learning.
In the last several months, a lot of collaboration has already begun occurring. Even more is being juiced by J-Lab’s recently announced Philadelphia Enterprise Reporting Awards to jumpstart 14 in-depth reporting projects that involve collaborations between news entities. This program is administered by J-Lab and also funded by WPF.
Philadelphia has become a hotbed of journalistic networking and innovation. In addition to the newly funded project, WHYY in November launched NewsWorks.org, a broadly interactive and collaborative local news initiative. Greg Osberg, CEO and publisher of Philadelphia Media Network Inc., the new owner of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com, is opening doors to new partnerships. He said in November he wants to launch a media incubator inside the iconic white tower on North Broad Street with co-working space for media creators. He also aspires to form content partnerships with universities and niche websites. At the same time, Jon Paton’s Journal-Register Co. in September announced it was launching a news and advertising portal to serve the city.
The William Penn Foundation awarded the new $2.4 million, three-year grant to Temple University, which for now will create a university center to incubate a new organization that is expected to produce original journalism, aggregate other news and information, and develop ways to support the city’s growing group of news websites.
The foundation has a deep commitment to the civic health of the Philadelphia region and a passion for supporting more public interest reporting. But it also wants to nurture the growth, collaboration and sustainability of the players in the city’s flourishing news ecosystem.
The center will operate under the auspices of Temple’s School of Communications and Theater, led by interim dean Tom Jacobson. Down the road, it may spin off to become a separate nonprofit entity.
Temple, meanwhile, has been incubating a lot of entrepreneurial news activity. In addition to alum sites such as TechnicallyPhilly.com and NeastPhilly.com, it houses the Philadelphia Initiative for Journalistic Innovation, shepherded by Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Jim MacMillan. And Professor George Miller runs a blog for Entrepreneurial Journalists of Philadelphia.
We are eager to see how this all plays out. And if you know of any good CEO candidates for this new venture, please pass the word.
J-Lab’s executive director Jan Schaffer and editorial director Andrew Pergam discussed a few of their many current projects at a recent Brown Bag Lunch at American University.
Topics of discussion included a major report just published about the New Voices initiative called “What Works: Five Years of Funding Community News Startups,” a new online learning module called “Launching a Nonprofit News Site” and a number of presentations across the country on the future of online news.
See all the videos by visiting AU’s School of Communication YouTube page.
I got a sneak peek at NewsWorks.org this week. This is WHYY’s new online networked news portal for the Philadelphia region set to launch on Monday, Nov. 15.
And I love the whole idea of it. The site has more targeted entry points for community involvement than any site that has crossed my radar.
I got a sneak peek at NewsWorks.org this week. This is WHYY’s new online networked news portal for the Philadelphia region set to launch on Monday, Nov. 15.
And I love the whole idea of it. The site has more targeted entry points for community involvement than any site that has crossed my radar. They all prompt users to get involved in clever, but different, ways:
- Junto, (a take-off on Ben Franklin’s early discussion groups) frames local topics to woo smart, civil, user posts.
- Snarl, where people can vent about a problem and seek advice on moving forward.
- Props, which invites compliments for people doing good things.
- Sleuth, where users can seek answers to local mysteries. (Like why do people get to park in the middle of the street on South Broad Street?)
- MindMap, which lets people create a profile of their influences and tastes.
- Sixes, where users can try to sum up news in six words or less.
- Sixth Square, which invites users to propose their own topics or questions they want answered. (Remember that William Penn laid out Philly around five original squares, or open parks, in the late 17th Century.)
The Civic Atlas maps community assets based on 12 data points.
There is also a Community News section that also has a Flickr photostream called “Eye on…,” and a Watchdog feature that focuses on public officials.
In community discussions leading up to the project, WHYY editor Megan Pinto observed in a Radio Times program, “People just light up when they have an opportunity to talk about issues where they’ve never had an outlet before.”
WHYY is collaborating with many other news and university partners in this effort, including the University of the Arts, LaSalle University, Temple University MultiMedia Reporting Lab (MURL), PlanPhilly.com, the Public School Notebook and others.
“The idea is to create a site as a network,” said Chris Satullo, WHYY’s executive director for news and civic dialogue. “We want to provide a platform where more people can find [the partners’] work.”
One advantage for the smaller partners, he said, is that WHYY has the brand and recognition to be able to pose citizen questions to public officials whereas the weekly newspapers and citizen-operated news sites “are not going to get their phone calls returned.”
The project is launching as an important pilot project for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting just as Philadelphia has become a hotbed of journalism experimentation. Much of this amped-up activity was jumpstarted by J-Lab’s work analyzing the media ecosystem and making recommendations to the William Penn Foundation (WPF).
WPF’s board is soon to decide whether to allocate major funding for another networked journalism collaborative. If the project is approved, a CEO search will begin immediately. Meanwhile, Temple’s B-School-affiliated Enterprise Management Consulting (EMC) Practicum is working on sustainability models for the new initiative.
Also recently, J-Lab, with WPF funding, announced 14 Enterprise Reporting Awards that married good ideas with new collaborations among various Philly media outlets.
NewsWorks.org is a logical next step for civic-journalism pioneer Satullo, who led many community engagement initiatives when he was The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Editorial Page Editor.
This year is the 20th anniversary of the first civic journalism experiment, led by editor Buzz Merritt, who engaged the Wichita Eagle in focusing on voter concerns in the 1990 Kansas gubernatorial elections.
How fitting that NewsWorks, such a excellent digital expression of those engagement concepts, is launching. Happy anniversary.
Check out the Radio Times program, featuring Satullo, Schaffer and Pinto.
I got a sneak peek at News Works.org this week. This is WHYY’s new online networked news portal for the Philadelphia region set to launch on Monday, Nov. 15.
And I love the whole idea.
I got a sneak peek at NewsWorks.org this week. This is WHYY’s new online networked news portal for the Philadelphia region set to launch on Monday, Nov. 15.
And I love the whole idea of it. The site has more targeted entry points for community involvement than any site that has crossed my radar. They all prompt users to get involved in clever, but different, ways:
- Junto, (a take-off on Ben Franklin’s early discussion groups) frames local topics to woo smart, civil, user posts.
- Snarl, where people can vent about a problem and seek advice on moving forward.
- Props, which invites compliments for people doing good things.
- Sleuth, where users can seek answers to local mysteries. (Like why do people get to park in the middle of the street on South Broad Street?)
- MindMap, which lets people create a profile of their influences and tastes.
- Sixes, where users can try to sum up news in six words or less.
- Sixth Square, which invites users to propose their own topics or questions they want answered. (Remember that William Penn laid out Philly around five original squares, or open parks, in the late 17th Century.)
The Civic Atlas maps community assets based on 12 data points.
There is also a Community News section that also has a Flickr photostream called “Eye on…,” and a Watchdog feature that focuses on public officials.
In community discussions leading up to the project, WHYY editor Megan Pinto observed in a Radio Times program, “People just light up when they have an opportunity to talk about issues where they’ve never had an outlet before.”
WHYY is collaborating with many other news and university partners in this effort, including the University of the Arts, LaSalle University, Temple University MultiMedia Reporting Lab (MURL), PlanPhilly.com, the Public School Notebook and others.
“The idea is to create a site as a network,” said Chris Satullo, WHYY’s executive director for news and civic dialogue. “We want to provide a platform where more people can find [the partners’] work.”
One advantage for the smaller partners, he said, is that WHYY has the brand and recognition to be able to pose citizen questions to public officials whereas the weekly newspapers and citizen-operated news sites “are not going to get their phone calls returned.”
The project is launching as an important pilot project for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting just as Philadelphia has become a hotbed of journalism experimentation. Much of this amped-up activity was jumpstarted by J-Lab’s work analyzing the media ecosystem and making recommendations to the William Penn Foundation (WPF).
WPF’s board is soon to decide whether to allocate major funding for another networked journalism collaborative. If the project is approved, a CEO search will begin immediately. Meanwhile, Temple’s B-School-affiliated Enterprise Management Consulting (EMC) Practicum is working on sustainability models for the new initiative.
Also recently, J-Lab, with WPF funding, announced 14 Enterprise Reporting Awards that married good ideas with new collaborations among various Philly media outlets.
NewsWorks.org is a logical next step for civic-journalism pioneer Satullo, who led many community engagement initiatives when he was The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Editorial Page Editor.
This year is the 20th anniversary of the first civic journalism experiment, led by editor Buzz Merritt, who engaged the Wichita Eagle in focusing on voter concerns in the 1990 Kansas gubernatorial elections.
How fitting that NewsWorks, such a excellent digital expression of those engagement concepts, is launching. Happy anniversary.
Check out the Radio Times program, featuring Satullo, Schaffer and Pinto.
Contact: or (202) 885-8100
Washington, D.C. - Stacey Borden and Meghan Muntean, who earlier this year launched ChickRx, a witty health website for 20-something women, today were honored with J-Lab’s New Media Women Entrepreneur of the Year Award. The idea for ChickRx.com was funded last year by a grant from the McCormick Foundation New Media Women Entrepreneurs program.
In addition to their $10,000 start-up award, Borden and Muntean, both invested personal savings into ChickRx to get the project off the ground. They began laying the groundwork for the company while Borden was an MBA student at Harvard Business School and Muntean was an Assistant Vice President at a Wall Street investment bank. Now supported with $400,000 from an angel investor, the website provides well-researched health news to women in a humorous, relatable way.
“It’s such a thrill to see two women take a site from an idea to a fully viable product in a matter of months,” said Jan Schaffer, director of J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism, which administers the program. “That’s the whole idea of the New Media Women Entrepreneurs program: Giving women entrepreneurs the backing and support to take their projects to the next level.”
ChickRx’s Borden and Muntean were selected to receive the $2,000 prize as New Media Women Entrepreneur of the Year because of the rapid launch and robust development of the site. The award was presented at the second annual New Media Women Entrepreneur Summit in Washington, D.C. on November 8, 2010.
“I left a stable, lucrative job because I believe in the very real need for ChickRx,” Muntean said in a press release when launching the site. “We have zero doubt young adult women need better health information that they’re currently getting. Aside from the delivering important info, we want to show our peers that they aren’t alone in their health concerns, and make them laugh at the same time. Who says an expert health site has to be boring?”
ChickRx is a DailyCandy-meets-WebMD type of resource addressing health issues that are increasingly discussed among young adult women. The site features expert Q&A, up-to-date news, product picks and celebrity tidbits across the following categories: sex & gynecology, fitness & nutrition, emotional health & relationships, dermatology, and general health.
ChickRx advisors include Chris Schroeder (CEO, HealthCentral), Trip Adler and Tikhon Bernstam (Co-Founders, Scribd), Janet Hanson (Founder, 85 Broads global women’s network), and Susan Kare (Principal, Susan Kare Design; former Creative Director, Apple).
The McCormick Foundation New Media Women Entrepreneurs (NMWE) is a unique initiative addressing opportunity and innovation, recruitment and retention for women in journalism by spotlighting their ingenuity and entrepreneurial abilities. Funding helps start-ups show what can be done.
To receive information on the 2011 call for proposals, go to http://www.newmediawomen.org. Deadline is April 4, 2011.
The McCormick Foundation advances the ideals of a free, democratic society by investing in children, communities and country.
J-Lab helps news organizations and citizens use digital technologies to develop new ways for people to participate in public life. It also administers the Knight Citizen News Network (www.kcnn.org and www.J-Learning.org), the New Voices community media grant program (www.j-newvoices.org), the Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism (www.j-lab.org), and the McCormick New Media Women Entrepreneurs initiative (www.newmediawomen.org).
American University’s School of Communication is a laboratory for professional education, communication research and innovative production in the fields of journalism, film and media arts and public communication, working across media platforms and with a focus on public affairs and public service.
You can be creative, dogged, well meaning and very hard working. You can produce excellent journalism. You can be willing to take risks. You can even mortgage your home to fund your startup. But that does not mean you can make a go of a good news site.
Increasingly, professional journalists are realizing that they can kiss their newsrooms goodbye and still do journalism by launching an online news site.
You can be creative, dogged, well meaning and very hard working. You can produce excellent journalism. You can be willing to take risks. You can even mortgage your home to fund your startup. But that does not mean you can make a go of a good news site.
Increasingly, professional journalists are realizing that they can kiss their newsrooms goodbye and still do journalism by launching an online news site. It can be an independent metro news site, a regional investigative news site, a community news site, or a topic site, covering health, local business or the environment.
And now “news entrepreneurship” has become a big buzzword at many journalism conventions. So, by all means, go forth, but do it wisely. It takes more than good content and good intentions to make a start-up news site work.
In funding 65 community and women-led news startups since 2005 (thanks to the Knight and McCormick Foundations), J-Lab has observed some sharp entrepreneurs in action. Here are 10 tasks that we’d advise any entrepreneur to undertake.
1) Assess the landscape. Don’t duplicate. Define your unique value. Who’s already doing news sites in your area? Are they competitors or collaborators? What gap are you seeking fill? Why will your audience value your particular efforts?
Or as Mike Orren, founder and publisher of PegasusNews.com advised at last week’s 2010 Online News Association convention: “Figure out whose problem you are solving.”
If it’s a journalist problem (ie: you’re an unemployed journalist and need a job), you should re-think your efforts. Be sure there is value to someone other than yourself.
2) Test-drive your idea. Don’t make assumptions. Do some reporting. Once you’ve firmed up your idea, test it with your network. You need feedback on whether the idea resonates with others: Would readers visit your site? Would advertisers buy an ad on it? Would investors see a business model? What advice can you elicit from other news entrepreneurs?
One clue: will they offer to help you in some way with financial backing, pro bono services, co-working space or introductions?
3) Develop a project “wireframe.” Sketch out just how you think your project would work. Who would build a website? Who would do the reporting? The editing? Post content? How often will you update? Would it be mostly a solo enterprise to start? Will you have staff or interns?
4) Scope out the best structure for you - and file your paperwork. Will you be a for-profit business or a nonprofit? Will you affiliate with a university? Will you look for a fiscal agent until you spin into your own 50(c)3? There are pros and cons to each option. Bottom line, what will inform this decision is: do you want to sell ads, seek grants, woo members? Or do all three?
Check out this new step-by-step guide for Launching a Nonprofit News Site on the Knight Citizen News Network for some good advice.
5) Develop a business plan. How will your enterprise be organized? How will it be funded to start? What’s your initial budget? How will in grow in a year - and beyond? How will people find out about your project?
Who are your consumers? Who are your customers? Gather demographic data on your target community: Household income, education, broadband connectivity.
Think about a name, a logo and business cards. And as David Ardia, of Harvard’s Citizen Law Project, pointed out at J-Lab’s Pre-ONA workshop: Don’t forget to research names, first, lest you stumble on someone else’s trademark.
6) Refine your pitch. Now take all this effort and distill it into a confident and concise, one-minute wrap-up that nails what you’re doing, for whom and why people want it. It’s part mission/part marketing. Hook your listeners with a factoid or question to whet their appetite. Tell ‘em what you need. Do you want them to take a meeting with you? Look at your business plan? Make an introduction?
Flesh this out with a full PowerPoint presentation to elaborate on your project when you actually meet with others.
7) Build a website. It might be best just to start with a simple site until you’re ready for something more, and you have a better handle on what you want. No doubt, you’ll be working on this while you’re moving on other fronts. But it’s important to let people be able to quickly see what you have in mind and not wait for some custom site to be finish. Once you have a site, make sure you can easily tweak it again and again.
8) Gather content. Write stories. Commission stories. Invite guest columnists. Gather photos. Assemble lists, data and resources. Firm up partners, links and content swaps. Sell, barter or give away your first ads or sponsorships.
If you’re planning to sell ads or accept donations, be ready with a page for people to heed your call to action.
9) Launch with fanfare. Will you have a launch party? Develop a Facebook page? Take out ads? Have a social media campaign? Co-sponsor and man a table at a community event? Make plans to get some notice.
10) Begin to tell your tale. In addition to the stories you want to tell in your community you need to begin gathering stories about your enterprise. Start collecting your metrics. How many unique visitors are coming to your site? How long do they stay? How many pages do they visit? How does that grow over time? How many stories have you published? How many contributors have you recruited? Have your stories had any impact. Have your ads worked for your advertisers? Have you grown a network of members, subscribers or donors?
Above all, stay focused, but be ready to change on a dime. If you’re finding your audience isn’t plugged in to Twitter but holds robust conversations on your Facebook page, engage them there. Not having luck with ad sales because your prices are too high? Find another way to open a valve to potential advertisers. Can’t rely on some contributors? Tease out others.
As a local news entrepreneur, you will need to evolve, and evolve. Make the surprises work for you.
Contact: or (202) 885-8100
Philadelphia - Fourteen in-depth reporting ideas will get underway soon in Philadelphia with $5,000 awards from an innovative program to help news organizations collaborate on discrete enterprise reporting projects, J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism announced today.
The Philadelphia Enterprise Reporting Awards are funded by the William Penn Foundation to help develop and amplify public affairs journalism in the Philadelphia region. The goal is to help reporting projects get off the ground and to explore collaboration opportunities among various news providers in the region. The winners, selected from 27 applicants, will launch their projects over the next six months.
“The depth and breadth of the ideas submitted were impressive,” said Jan Schaffer, director of J-Lab, which administers the program. “And it’s clear the proposal process got new-media and old-media makers talking to one another about partnering on the projects.”
The program originally aimed to fund 10 projects, however, the William Penn Foundation is supplying additional funding because of the range of good ideas submitted.
“We expect these awards to foster in-depth journalism on topics that need additional coverage and to demonstrate what’s possible when news organizations collaborate,” said Feather Houstoun, president of the William Penn Foundation.
The Enterprise Reporting awards are going to:
- Anatomy of School Turnaround. An examination of efforts to turn around three poor performing schools in the city’s Renaissance Schools initiative. Reporting will be by Philadelphia Public School Notebook (thenotebook.org) and WHYY in collaboration with the public broadcaster’s NewsWorks.org initiative to launch soon. WHYY will assist with additional multimedia content.
- NJSpotlight Library. To help create a digital library for the collection, analysis and presentation of New Jersey public-interest data and research reports on such topics as schools and state and local budgets. By NJSpotlight.com in collaboration with Philly.com and community web sites in New Jersey. Future plans call for seminars and workshops around the release of important data.
- The Power Map of Philadelphia. To create a web-based guide to the people who sit on the city’s governmental and quasi-governmental boards and commissions and control significant public funds with little accountability. It will reveal social and political connections, including campaign contributions. By the Philadelphia Daily News working with students from the University of Pennsylvania’s Fels Institute of Government, Philly.com and WHYY.
- The Abandoned City. The City of Philadelphia is the largest owner of abandoned properties in the city. The City Paper, working with PlanPhilly.com and TechnicallyPhilly.com, will compile the first publicly accessible master list and interactive database of these properties and examine how they came to be owned by taxpayers and why they are not being sold or redeveloped.
- ArtBlog Radio. A series of podcasts and slideshows, with interviews and gallery tours, explaining Philadelphia’s contemporary arts scene. By theartblog.org’s founders in collaboration with WHYY’s NewsWorks initiative.
- La Generacion Perdida. A report on the plight of young Hispanic males in the city, a population in danger of becoming a lost generation, troubled by brushes with the criminal justice system and the highest school drop-out rate in the city. By Metropolis (phlmetropolis.com) with Al D?a Hispanic newspaper.
- Redistricting the City. An examination of the issues and possible consequences of the forthcoming redistricting of the City Council districts, some of which have a history of gerrymandering. By the Committee of 70 good government group with Azavea, a local geomapping firm, and a Harvard University researcher.
- Delinquent. Nearly 20 percent of all properties in the Philadelphia are tax delinquent. This project will develop a searchable database and examine how unpaid taxes have cost the city more than $1 billion in lost revenue and thwarted development. By freelance investigative journalist Patrick Kerkstra with the Philadelphia Inquirer and PlanPhilly.com
- Drop Zone. A youth-led investigation into why young men of color leave school. By PhillyCam, the city’s cable-access station, with the Voice of Philadelphia website and YESPhilly youth training organization.
- Neighborhood Development, Politics and their Relationship. An examination of the revitalization of a commercial corridor in Northeast Philadelphia’s Mayfair neighborhood and any ties to a local politician awaiting trial on corruption charges. By Neastphilly.com and Temple University’s PhiladelphiaNeighborhoods.com.
- Broadband2035. A look at the economic impact of broadband connectivity - or lack thereof - in three diverse city neighborhoods to help inform the development of Philadelphia’s 2035 strategic plan now in the works. By TechnicallyPhilly.com working with PlanPhilly.com.
- The Unforgiven. Pennsylvania is one of six states where the sentence for murder is life without parole. Metropolis, working with the City Paper and the Pennsylvania Prison Society, will employ an illustrated graphic story and text to examine the journey of one of the 2,488 Philadelphia lifers, many of whom were locked up as teens. The project aims for distribution to schools.
- Stop-and-Frisk. A video and narrative examination of the results of the Philadelphia Police Department’s ramped-up stop-and-frisk policy on overall crime in West Philadelphia since its launch in early 2008. By Scribe Video Center with WPEB-FM community radio, the University City Review and West Side Weekly.
- Shame of the City. To follow up a 2007 report, locating and ranking the top 10 drug-selling corners in the city. By freelancer Steve Volk with Phawker.com.
Many of these projects have also have started collaboration discussions with other news organizations in the city.
The awards were selected by a panel of advisors, including Joaquin Alvarado, Senior Vice President for Digital Innovation, American Public Media and Minnesota Public Radio; Christopher Anderson, Assistant Professor, Media Culture, College of Staten Island; Glenn Burkins, Editor and Publisher, Qcitymetro.com in Charlotte, N.C.; Larry Eichel, Project Director, Philadelphia Research Initiative; Jon Funabiki, Professor, Executive Director and Founder, Renaissance Center for Journalism, San Francisco State University; Ellen Goodman, Distinguished Visiting Scholar, FCC’s Future of Media Project and Professor of Law, Rutgers University; Kathy Gosliner, fundraising consultant and board member, Generations on Line; Michael Greenle, project leader, OMG Center for Collaborative Learning; Jan Schaffer, J-Lab executive director.
About William Penn Foundation
The mission of the William Penn Foundation is to improve the quality of life in the Greater Philadelphia region through efforts that foster rich cultural expression, strengthen children’s futures, and deepen connections to nature and community. In partnership with others, the Foundation works to advance a vital, just, and caring community.
About J-Lab
J-Lab helps news organizations and citizens use digital technologies to develop new ways for people to participate in public life. It also administers the Knight Citizen News Network (www.kcnn.org and www.J-Learning.org), the New Voices community media grant program (www.j-newvoices.org), the Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism (www.j-lab.org), and the McCormick New Media Women Entrepreneurs initiative (www.newmediawomen.org).
J-Lab launched its Networked Journalism pilot project a little over a year ago. The goal was not to create an opportunity for newspapers to take content from others. Rather the project sought to explore ways to amplify news and information already being produced by many community websites and bloggers - and determine if there were some revenue opportunities to support these activities.
J-Lab launched its Networked Journalism pilot project a little over a year ago. It called for five traditional news organizations to partner with at least five new community news sites in their cities.
The goal was not to create an opportunity for newspapers to take content from others. Rather the project sought to explore ways to amplify news and information already being produced by many community websites and bloggers - and determine if there were some revenue opportunities to support these activities.
“Just try it for a year,” we said. The participants tried it; they liked it. The initial 25 partners have grown to 65. Moreover, all re-upped for a second year, seeking to add partners and activities.
So, now it’s time to announce a new round of partners. Today, we welcome four to The Net-J experiment for the coming year: the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The Oregonian in Portland, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and KQED Public Radio in San Francisco.
While a full report will be forthcoming, we can say that, much to our surprise, all of the first-year partners went about building their networks very differently. Here’s an update:
- The Seattle Times grew its network from five to 28 partners. They’ve agreed to link to, but not republish, partner stories. They’ve shared photos and undertaken collaborative enterprise reporting projects on such topics as graffiti and homelessness. Soon, in a new development, they hope to announce an ad network experiment.
- The Charlotte Observer’s partnership agreement, on the other hand, permits partners to reprint up to four of a partner’s stories a week. Beyond that, The Observer must negotiate some payment for the stories. The Observer counted 150 partner stories that it carried over six months.
- The Miami Herald was the only network that sought to have partners use the newspaper’s content management system. One advantage is that the partner pages have ad spots that can be sold by the paper or any of the partners. The Herald figures that partner site traffic grew from just under 84,000 page views to more than 182,000 over a four-month period. Five more partners have been added.
- The Asheville Citizen-Times partnership used a creative widget to allow any site to showcase partner content and reports almost daily content sharing.
- And TucsonCitizen.com decided to network sports bloggers, growing its network to nine partners. Now more than 20 percent of the site’s traffic comes from the Sports Network. The partners aspire to a statewide sports reporting network.
These pilot partnerships have gone a long way towards incentivizing cultural change at media outlets in their communities. Instead of the traditional journalists regarding the partner news sites as careless purveyors of information, these sites have proven to be valuable news generators. Indeed, many of the partners sought written agreements and ethical guidelines. Moreover, some of the networks tossed out partners that did not live up to their shared standards.
As well, the community bloggers and site operators have come to view their big-media brother as someone willing to share - not just take their content. And they all hope to generate revenues in the future.
We think these networks are going a long way towards amplifying all kinds of news and information that otherwise would sit in hyperlocal silos in their communities.
Stay tuned, however. Increasingly, collaboration is becoming the new competition. We are seeing various news organizations seeking to lock in local sites as their formal partners, in some cases seeking exclusivity in their network deals. How will it all play out?
It’s a work in progress.
Contact: or (202) 885-8100
Washington, D.C. - J-Lab’s Networked Journalism project will fund a new round of collaborations in the coming year between traditional newsrooms and community news sites in four cities around the country.
The Networked Journalism project, supported with a grant to J-Lab from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, will contribute $50,000 per city to help fund a project coordinator at the four news organizations, stipends for at least five local partners, and training or other investments that benefit the partnership while its members engage in a one-year pilot project. The project seeks to explore the opportunities for sharing or amplifying one another’s content and for developing advertising networks.
This year’s news organizations are:
- The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
- The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.
- The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
- KQED Public Radio, San Francisco
“The first year of the Networked Journalism project taught us how five different partnerships could approach the idea of collaboration in five entirely different ways,” said Jan Schaffer, executive director of J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism at American University. “There is much more to be learned from these kinds of experiments.”
In all, the initial Net-J partners started with 25 sites a year ago and have since grown their partnerships to more than 65 journalism sites. All the first-year partnerships are continuing for a second year and most aspire to enlarge their network and find ways to monetize their efforts.
First-year participants were:
- The Seattle Times
- The Miami Herald
- The Charlotte Observer
- Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times
- TucsonCitizen.com
Many of the first-year partners built special sections or widgets to highlight the work of their partners. In the case of the Miami Herald, the newspaper built new channels on its main website to house partner content. TucsonCitizen.com’s partnership focused on networking sports coverage rather than general news, and the site noticed a significant increase in web traffic as a result.
“At a time when anyone can publish local information, partnership like those offered by the Networked Journalism project add voices to the community dialogue and serve to inform and engage residents,” said John Bracken, director, digital media, for Knight Foundation.
J-Lab is convening a gathering later this month of project representatives to share lessons learned and develop a report for broader distribution. To see more, visit: www.j-lab.org/page/networked_journalism
About Knight Foundation
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation advances journalism in the digital age and invests in the vitality of communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Since 1950, the foundation has granted more than $400 million to advance quality journalism and freedom of expression. Knight Foundation focuses on projects that promote informed and engaged communities and lead to transformational change. For more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.
About J-Lab
J-Lab helps news organizations and citizens use digital technologies to develop new ways for people to participate in public life. It also administers the Knight Citizen News Network, the Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism, the New Voices community media grant program and the McCormick New Media Women Entrepreneurs initiative.
About American University’s School of Communication
American University’s School of Communication is a laboratory for professional education, communication research and innovative production in the fields of journalism, film and media arts and public communication, working across media platforms and with a focus on public affairs and public service.