2nd
another shot at citizen journalism. take 2.
You know, it’s funny. I never thought I’d be thinking so much about the news industry, but each day I hear about reputable orgs going (or soon going) under (rocky mountain, sf chronicle, etc). And it’s sad. The industry is in shambles and needs a savior. But you know what? I really believe that the organizations, themselves, can be their own saviors.
Richard Gingras visited the d.School to chat about the future of journalism. And the man knows what he’s talking about. I sat, listened, put pen to paper and then let my mind run wild. Let me know what you think.
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Richard and I both strongly believe that news organizations really need to rethink the content architecture. The content, itself, is just fine. But major news orgs have to answer the following questions:
1) What is the day-to-day role of the reporter when creation and publication can be in the reporter’s own hands?
2) What is the day-to-day role of the editor in an edition-less environment, with a crowd of participants to lead, guide and harvest?
New organizations can start to answer these questions by no longer thinking of ephemeral streams of articles. They need to start thinking about articles as living resources (which Wikipedia does so damn well), always changing. Like Wikipedia, the companies can (and must) leverage the trusted crowd to create rich, compelling content. Richard would definitely agree. He says “Sure we will see some chaff but also a hell of a lot more wheat.” News organizations should learn to harvest high quality, self-determined work. They have the power to lead work into areas of interest or need and can certainly provide guidance on ethics and style. If they can then develop appropriate compensation models, there will be a huge benefit to those who develop the skills and processes to do this well.
At the end of the day, I am a true believer that ‘people trust people, and not institutions,’ and institutions are shrinking!
So, how can this be done?
1) The organizations’ value and values should be clear.
2) Delineate ethical policies and editorial processes.
3) Author’s bio/past ’work’ & contribution history. (this is something I have always wished Wikipedia would incorporate into their service. I would like to know how reputable the source is through some kind of feedback loop/system). Show the name of everyone involved, including the editor.
4) Give the editor ownership of their page/article.
5) Encourage the content providers to bring their followers to help in the creation of their content
6) Database Journalism. This is key. Create databases and build ongoing resources that are ever-changing
7) Pay based on page views/traffic
8) Watch the Marc Andreessen interview with Charlie Rose (about 17 times…and then 4 more times after that)
9) Read # 8 again.
Here it is. No excuses.
Peace.
