Unofficial ASNE10 blog

Journalists Can use Social Networking

2010-04-14T14:09:00.004-04:00

Session presenters Andy Carvin and Patrick Cooper from NPR and USA Today respectively gave examples of ways reporters can use sites such as Facebook and Twitter to create good journalism. Journalists can use tools via the Internet to increase audience interest and participation in their stories.

The session was designed to give journalists some ideas on how to incorporate social networking tools in their stories. Andy Carvin, a journalists at NPR News, started by saying that reporters should not be afraid of Internet tools because crowd sourcing and citizen journalism is not a new concept. He told a story about Benjamin Harris the editor of the very first independent newspaper, Public Occurrences both Foreign and Domestic, would only print on three of his four pages. The last page was for people to fill in any news they thought was important. "This man at the same time created both crowd sourcing and citizen journalism" Carvin said.

Mediator, Cory Haik, of the Seattle Times, said that editors have to remember that there is an audience out there that is ready to engage if only given the opportunity.

USA Today's, Patrick Cooper, said that journalists were responsible for training the Internet spaces to do what worked for them. Often writers and editors are mediators in the Internet communications between news entities and the audience and they are able to mold the spaces and make sure that participants remain ethical. "We had our guidelines of ethics; they worked in print and during our online transition so we knew they would work again" Cooper said.

Cooper added that USA Today knew they had to add this new social network aspect because that kind of innovation was what USA Today was known for; "there was no one way to do it. We figured out what worked and what didn't."

Haik had some advice for those that were wary of social networking, "the only right way to use it is the way it works for you."

Carvin added, "All of this participation only happens because people love NPR and they cared about the news we created."

Compiled by Dilane Mitchell, Howard University

Improving Demand: News Literacy for Local Audiences

2010-04-14T14:03:00.004-04:00

How can we as news consumers and educators jump-start journalism education in our communities? Clark Bell [McCormick Foundation], Alan Miller [The News Literacy Project] and Howard Schneider [SUNY, Stony Brook] presented their ways of unconventional journalism education in the seminar, Improving Demand: News Literacy for Local Audiences

Through an interactive video showing his project with students at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, MD., Miller showed how there is a lack of education amongst the general population pertaining to what news is.

Howard Schneider says that SUNY, he was teaching smart kids. Students who knew everything about science, history, math, English, but who were not as educated as they should be on news. "I began by teaching values and ethics of the press," said Schneider. "These kids were brilliant, but they believed everything they saw or heard on the news," he said.

Schneider says that students began to question what journalism was and if people like Michael Moore could be considered a journalist. It was at this time Schneider says he saw a need to educate news consumers, not solely journalism students. From this, Schneider created a general elective course for any student at the University that could be used for graduation on News Literacy. The course was a three credit class and was highly recommended for all students.

Schneider began the course by imposing a news blackout telling his students not to read or watch any news for 48 hours. "They don't think they look at news often, but after the day they were worried because they didn't know what was going on," said Schneider.

Schneider's main objective was to teach the importance of news in everyone's lives and the difference between news and opinion. The second part of the course was deconstructing the news; watching the news and pulling apart stories and putting them back so that students can distinguish between assertion and verifiable information.

Schneider wants to make the course online, in high school and community colleges. He envisions getting out of work journalist to come to Stony Brook to learn to facilitate a news literacy course so that they can go and facilitate similar courses across the country.

For more information on the News Literacy Project visit, www.thenewsliteracyproject.org

-Compiled by Gerron Jordan; Howard University

Watchdog Collaboration

2010-04-14T10:57:00.006-04:00

Collaboration between non-profit news networks and traditional newspapers has had a shaky history in the news industry. At "The New Watchdogs: Investigative Collaborations" panel, representatives from investigative news organizations discussed the benefits of partnership.

The panel, moderated by Knight Chair Brant Houston, featured Charles Lewis, founder of the Investigative News Network, Maggie Mulvihill, associate director and senior investigative reporter for the New England Center for Investigative Reporting and Robert "Rosie" Rosenthal, executive director of the Center for Investigative Reporting.

According to Mulvihill, partnerships with these organizations help to offset the decrease in content due to newsroom downsizing while increasing in depth reporting pieces.

Here are some of the highlights from the discussion.

"You're not going to survive unless you're deep in the community and have the community's support." -Brant Houston, Knight Chair, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

"I'm not a business person, but I know I need somebody who can come in and see the opportunities… [including] social networking skills." -Robert J. Rosenthal, Executive Director, Center for Investigative Reporting

by Seth A. Lemon and Nikole L. Pegues

vLog: Thoughts from San Diego

2010-04-14T10:01:00.007-04:00

"We measure our success in impact," said Andrew Donohue.

Donohue is the editor of the Voice of San Diego. He spoke on how his company looks at the services it provides to San Diego in order to create more than a news organization. It is important to him that the reporters use their intellectual capital to teach people through the news the produce.

When responding to a question, Donohue answered that no city can be served by only one daily newspaper. The question led to some stimulating responses and opinions from the panelists, which included Jeff Light, the editor of The San Diego Union-Tribune, Barbara Bry, the associate publisher of the San Diego News Network, and Lorie Hearn, the executive editor of the Watchdog Institute.

"You want your reporters to feel like someone's breathing down their neck because it makes them better," said Hearn.

by Seth A. Lemon

Sustainable Journalism; Collaboration or Competition

2010-04-14T09:06:00.005-04:00

The 24/7 news cycle time-crunch and money losses makes it difficult to produce well-crafted or in-depth journalism. Niche reporting and media collaborations offer some possible solutions to these problems and, consequently, are beginning to make competition more obsolete, according to a Wednesday ASNE 2010 panel.

"You are going to see more and more partnerships because of the efficiency and effectiveness on both ends," said Editor of The San Diego Union-Tribune Jeff Light.

The panel mentioned a couple of of reasons these partnerships could flourish.

Media partnerships allow for companies to focus on their strengths, making the end-product better and increasing revenue on both sides.

"We do what we're good at, which is reporting, and they do what they're good at, which is production," Voice of San Diego's Andrew Donohue said about his company's partnership with NBC.

But its not just reporting and production skills. Sometimes it's as simple as knowing the issue.

Investigative nonprofit models, for instance, allow for small groups of journalists to focus on in-depth reporting on very specific problems or tips of interest.

Many times daily paper's reporters are assigned to a beat and can cover an investigative piece "if it comes up." However, these nonprofits can spend time picking out prominent issues without worrying about daily product.

Nonprofit media organization are separate from newspapers and can receive outside donations, grants, or even payment for product in order to conduct their research with the depth it deserves.

By working with other news organizations, the audience expands and there can be increased revenue.

It's typical for 8 percent of the adult population, approximately 160,000 people, to view a local newspaper Web site, said Light. To get to 10 percent is difficult.

Just because there are collaborations doesn't mean there won't be any competition. For instance, daily papers or daily news sites can still compete since there's a likelihood they will cover the same news.

But with a down-turn in many newspapers' profits, playing to your strengths and supplementing with specializing news or other multimedia are not out of the question.

"We don't need to be the number two or even number three to be profitable," said Associate Publisher of San Diego News Network Barbara Bry. "There is room for more than one journalistic enterprise to make money."

by Rachel Leven for the University of Maryland

The Power of Technology

2010-04-13T21:32:00.000-04:00

Nicole Austin
Team Howard University

Mac Notebooks sat atop the tables in the the conference room designated for the Talents and Tools workshop - "This is Serious! Developing Information Toys and News Games".

Attendee's listened intently as they took advantage of the availability of the free wi-fi offered at the ASNE convention . The "information highway" ran parallel to the information given.

Nora Paul, director of the institute for new media studies at the University of Minnesota and Joshua Hatch, interactive director for USA Today led the discussion.

In the 50 minute seminar they touched on: interactive news games, geared towards making news fun;the use of maps to locate homicides and airport reliability, among other things and web tools like dmTools and Dabble.

The crowd non-verbally interacted with both Paul and Hatch during their respective lectures, but more focus was given to Paul's final slide. He demonstrated a unique web device, instituted by USA Today, used to find deceased soldiers by name, age, race, gender and marital status.

All Fun and Games...

2010-04-13T18:51:00.002-04:00

The power of the Internet and online content is undeniable in the world of journalism and the dissemination of information.

Interactive online tools were the topic of this afternoon’s second Talents and Tools workshop titled: "This is Serious! Developing Information Toys and News Games".

The method of storytelling was explored through various online sites, games and other forms of multimedia with the moderation of Nora Paul, Director of the Institute for New Media Studies at the University of Minnesota and Joshua Hatch, interactive Director for USA Today.

Paul showed ASNE members how web tools and online games can do such things as recreate sequence of events which is helpful in readers interested in crime stories for example.

She also showed a visual aid that displayed the degrees of separation between individuals/businesses and a Minnesota former auto mogul accused of fraud.

USA Today offers a plethora of interactive charts and graphs that delve deeper into a story such as their presidential approval rating tracker which displays all presidents rates on the same graph in comparison or stretches out their respective tenures for detailed specific research.

Using web tools, USA Today plotted the aftershocks following the Chilean earthquake with detailed zoom options using Google maps.

amMaps, another mapping application, was utilized to display swine flu cases and outbreaks around the world.

Regardless of the approaches, Hatch and Paul both assured workshop participants that multimedia was not difficult for a newsroom or individuals to produce. In fact, most journalists have the technological skills to create these online tools.

Not only do these multimedia assets supplement a story, said Paul, but it also allows reporters to stay organized by having all of their researched work accessible and available in an easy medium.

"These tools provide ways to go deeper into a story and allows readers to gain background to what’s going on in the story," said Hatch. "A newspaper is not going to be a satisfying way to gain all my information or answer my questions...online tools help you do that."

Alexis K. Barnes

Teaching New Media, Not Pushing It

2010-04-13T17:43:00.002-04:00

It took just 50 minutes for six companies funded by the Knight Foundation to present their innovative new media tools to an audience of prominent news editors. In that short amount of time, leaders of the nation's newsrooms were told how RSS feeds and news video widgets could make their publications more interactive.

But how much information can one person take in before there's too much to comprehend?

At an earlier session, David Carr of The New York Times said he thinks journalists are getting "dumber and dumber" because they are constantly busy pushing media out.

So in respect to Carr's comment, some of the most beneficial advice given Tuesday might have been from USA Today's Joshua Hatch, who focused not on forcing endless new media templates on editors, but more on how and when to use them.

In an industry clearly beset by financial handicaps, Hatch was realistic in providing editors with examples of cheap and effective web tools that foster interaction. He opted not to push customized interactive tools requiring designers, knowing a majority of his audience couldn't afford them.

Instead, Hatch set guidelines for "fun, easy, informative and personal" tools, such as linking to Google maps and conducting reader surveys, which seemed reasonable for any publication looking to increase interactions with their readers.

By Adam Kerlin

Yahoo! Previews Upcoming Local-Mobile App

2010-04-13T17:10:00.003-04:00

Yahoo! gave ASNE attendees a sneak peek of a new app the tech company is planning on unveiling in an unnamed city in the near future.

The app combines two popular trends in the news business: hyperlocal coverage and mobile content.

The local-mobile app will serve up relevant content throughout the day depending on geographic information about the user.

The app features a “News Around the Corner” section that can scan dozens of local blogs for content relevant to an area within a few blocks of a user’s location.

Localized public information like health/safety inspections and crime reports will also be offered.

Yahoo! Vice President Matthew Idema said the app will bring in advertising revenue by promoting local deals and circulars.

Presenters said it’s no longer funny to feign ignorance of technology, and news organizations should make mobile content a top priority.

Steve Buttry, the director of community engagement at Allbritton Communications, demonstrated the necessity of thinking mobile by asking the audience to think about how often they buy a car versus how often they do routine tasks like find parking, fill up with gas or get the car serviced. If companies can provide useful information to the reader’s everyday decision-making process, Buttry said, it would open up a whole host of new opportunities for location-based advertising.

“Mobile opportunities are the big story in our industry,” said Buttry.

Allbritton, the parent company of the political news site Politico, is putting together a local news site covering the D.C. metro area and mobile content is expected to be a key part of the new endeavor.

By Graham Moomaw

4th estate, 5th estate values differ

2010-04-13T17:07:00.002-04:00

It's important for people to have discussions about the difference between traditional journalists and citizen journalists, but those discussions aren't happening around the country, a Connecticut newspaper editor said after an ethics workshop.

During the workshop, Poynter Institute ethics group leader Kelly McBride and former Seattle Times editor Mike Fancher said ethical values are changing and journalists must decide which values to leave behind, which to keep and which new values to adopt.

McBride outlined some of the differences between traditional journalists and what she dubbed the "fifth estate" -- citizen journalists, bloggers, activists and non-profits. She said that traditional journalists value truth, while the fifth estate generally values truth as they see it.

Tim Dwyer, executive editor of The Day of New London, Conn., disagreed with McBride's opinion that the fifth estate has more influence than traditional journalism. He also argued that "truth as you see it" is not truth at all.
But he said it is important to have those discussions, and that editors must listen to and learn from the fifth estate.

Dwyer's paper recently launched a redesign of its Web site, moving from moderated comments to unmoderated. Initially, they were "terrified" of the kinds of comments that might go up, he said.

But the paper decided to raise the bar as high as possible, and made sure reporters policed the comments for the first few weeks, reporting inappropriate posts. Commenters who had three or more comments flagged as "inappropriate" were eligible to be banished, Dwyer said.

There was pushback, but eventually the level of discussion was raised and readers started policing the comments themselves, Dwyer said.

"It's a painful experience, but so far for us it's been successful," he said.

McBride said she sensed some defensiveness in the workshop -- a hurdle she said she often faces.

"I'm not suggesting we have to compromise our core values," McBride said, but it is important for a news organization to know its values so it can work with the fifth estate and explain to citizens the difference between their values.

Dwyer agreed.

"It's a great discussion to have," he said. "I think we have a lot to learn."

By Jennifer Hlad

'Fifth Estate' influence surpasses traditional media, ethicist says

2010-04-13T16:28:00.000-04:00

Kelly McBride, an ethics group leader at the Poynter Institute, said today that a “Fifth Estate” has become more influential than the traditional Fourth Estate.

“The Fifth Estate is tied to information in ways that resonate with the audience, because that is their first goal, to be influential,” she said. It’s made up of former journalists, citizen activists, bloggers and nonprofits who commit acts of journalism but are not paid as professional journalists, she said.

In an era of transitioning news media, the values and audience of journalism are changing as well, said McBride and Michael Fancher, a former executive editor for the Seattle Times.

Traditional journalists value independence, inclusion and balance, truth and financial stability, McBride said. The Fifth Estate values advocacy, unheard voices, truth as members see it and influence, she said. Both value storytelling.

So how can traditional journalists adapt from the lessons of the Fifth Estate?

Fancher said journalism needs to put “the public back in public trust” through adapting to methods of crowd sourcing, including more voices in content creation and using social media in ways beyond just pushing content.

McBride said newsroom best practices should include transparency, minding the back channel, moderating citizen comments and seeking partnerships, both professional and amateur.

--By Daniela Feldman

The 2010 Census: Covering the Best Story of Your Life

2010-04-13T16:18:00.006-04:00

Speakers LaBarbara Bowman [ASNE], Charlotte Hall [Orlando Sentinel] and Gregory Moore [The Denver Post] discuss the importance of this year, 2010, from a journalist's perspective in their workshop The 2010 Census: Covering the Best Story of Your Life. This year marks the year of the 2010 Census and as a journalist, this is a time when coverage means everything. The major theme of this year's census is: major racial changes in 21st century America,

"Cover the story as a human piece", said Hall. "It's amazing to see what makes a family a family, so don't just focus on the numbers," she said. To Hall, the 2010 census is a way for this 21st century America to see just how far we really have come as a people. It is a way for us to begin to know and learn about the people that make up this power-house of a country.

Moore, who serves as Senior Editor of the Denver Post shared an anecdote of people who he has encountered who are ignorant to who the people of the county are. Ignorant in terms of categorizing all latinos as Mexicans or Puerto Ricans, without taking the time to learn who they really are; their true countries of origin.

"We don't know who makes up our communities," said Moore. "We don't talk about our Indian communities, or being here in DC, our Ethiopian community. As journalists, we have the chance to go out and represent these communities with our coverage of the census," he added.

The breakdown for the 2010 Census Calendar dates are as follows:

April 1-April 16; U.S. residents mail back their census forms

May; Census workers visit every address that has not returned their census form

July; December; Crunching the numbers

Christmas Week; First numbers to show political winners and losers

For more information on the 2010 Census, including an up to date news room full of press materials, visit

-Compiled by Gerron Jordan, Howard University

Mobile journalism is a friend to print

2010-04-13T15:27:00.006-04:00

The general consensus among publishers and editors seems to be that more mobile journalism and technological advancements are a threat to the future of print journalism. The presenters at the "On the Go" session of the ASNE 2010 conference beg to differ.

Stephen Buttry, the director of community engagement for Allbritton Communications, believes that you can't have a successful news organization today with being "mobile-first."

"Every staffer needs to have a smart phone," said Buttry. "I think it's essential."

Buttry seemed to have a great understanding of new technology and how the convergence between mobile and print is the future. He stressed the importance of regularly using mobile apps like Twitter and Foursquare.

"I still don't fully get FourSquare. But I get that location is important," said Buttry.

He suggests putting the ideal of "mobile-first" at the forefront of your planning. News organizations should discuss the use of hashtags, interactive maps, Ushahidi, and short codes. He suggests changing the typical front-page meeting to a mobile-planning meeting.

Matthew Idema, the vice president for Local at Yahoo!, followed Buttry and gave quick look at the future Yahoo! app for iPhone. The app will use location and interests to tailor the information it provides to the mobile user. The "Marketplace" allows one to flip through pages of the weekly store circulars, just like you do now with the Sunday paper.

Idema said the idea of checking in your location with websites like Foursquare offers potential to provide local deals to a user.

Audience members who asked questions seemed reluctantly receptive to the idea of partnering with companies to further mobile journalism efforts. Buttry and Idema reassured them all that this future joint effort in journalism is mutually beneficial for everyone.

"We can leap tall buildings with a single bound. Remember Clark Kent was a reporter," said Buttry.

By Seth A. Lemon

Knight Apps Simpify, Improve Online Content

2010-04-13T15:01:00.007-04:00

Over the past two days one thing has become painfully obvious at the ASNE conference; the industry needs to not only focus on online content, but make the content better.

The Internet poses a unique set of problems and opportunities for news media. Long gone are the days when a Twitter feed and Facebook fan page meant your organization was keeping up with the tech trend. No, today's web-based news consumer expects bells and whistles to hold their attention.

Enter the "Six Innovations You Can Use in Your Newsroom" panel. These products, presented a la carte by their respective organizations, are all currently being used by news organizations all over the country. All of the projects were funded by the Knight Foundation and each offers a unique service that can be used to enhance your online content.

Snagfilms Ever written an article and had a flashback to a National Geographic documentary that would go perfectly with your piece? With Snagfilms, you can actually insert full-length, professionally produced non-fiction films from major film companies and independent film makers. The free Snagfilms library features over 1,100 films ranging from three minute shorts to theatrical length features on everything from public policy to sports and entertainment.

Poltiwidgets So you're writing an article about your local congressmember's bid for re-election and you want to illustrate the candidate's earmark record. With free Politiwidgets you can embed a customizable, resizeable infographic with a headshot and the exact information you need. The information is pulled from websites such as Opensecrets.org and OpenCongress.org and can be set to update automatically or show as a snapshot. The widget can be set to feature earmarks, sponsors, top contractors, vote report and business card information.

hNews One of the problems with online news content is that it is often missing provenance information such as the source and licensing terms. hNews is a microformat that identifies information such as source, dateline, geographic location and license information in a consistent machine readable way. This information adds credibility to a story and also makes it easier to track.

Printcasting Want to put out a short newsletter style publication but have no design or software experience? Printcasting may be able to help you. Printcasting is a niche publishing solution that pulls information from blogs and RSS feeds to create a printable, PDF magazine. The content is uploaded to templates that the "publisher" can play around with the get just the right look. The service also has a self-serve ad feature.

NewsCloud Having a Facebook page is essential for any news organization today. However, no consumer wants to look at a screen shot of your paper's website labeled as a Facebook app. NewsCloud has gone beyond the Facebook page to create a new fanpage experience. Instead of just repurposing content from your website, NewsCloud takes advantage of the Facebook platform to create new content to engage consumers. Tabs like "answers" and "ideas" let users not only communicate with each other but with you as well.

DocumentCloud Although research is an essential part of any reporting process, no reporter can honestly say they love curling up with an 800 page government report. DocumentCloud is a microformat for news documents that helps annotate and organize source information. Documents are uploaded to the website which can then pull out information such as names and dates in an easily searchable format. Documents are kept private unless published and can be used as supplementary information for consumers. Reporters can even make public and private annotations for co-workers and consumers to read.

Reporter: Nikole L. Pegues, Howard University

Coffee and newspapers

2010-04-13T14:53:00.002-04:00

Editors at the ASNE conference are getting a taste of the Chesapeake's best -- with a side of Yahoo!

Travelling Bean Cappuccino Catering is serving up brews from the Crofton.-based Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company at the ASNE NewsNow Ideas Summit. The cappuccino bar, and the biodegradable cups the drinks are served in, is sponsored by Yahoo!

Travelling Bean owner Marcos Vieira said the company works with hotel chains across the country, and uses Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company exclusively. CBRC uses only fair-trade certified coffee, Vieira said. That is important to him because he is Brazilian and his wife is from Nicaragua, he said, so they have seen families devastated by unfair payment practices.

But the best thing about Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company is that they give 2 percent of the profit from each can of coffee to the organizations that work to restore the Chesapeake Bay, Vieira said.

"We all grew up in (the D.C. area)," Vieira said. "Now I live in Virginia, and I think it's horrible that my kids can't swim in the Potomac (River)."

According to the Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company's can, all their packaging is completely recyclable.

"We couldn't take on a name like Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company without also taking on some responsibility," the company says on its Web site.

So far, the group has received positive feedback about the coffee, Vieira said.

"We did close to 650 drinks yesterday," he said. "People like the jolt of espresso."

By Jennifer Hlad

Bureaucrats to the Rescue?

2010-04-13T12:20:00.005-04:00

It's safe to assume that everyone at the ASNE conference agrees that journalism needs saving. But at this morning's third panel session, there was little agreement about whether government should be the industry's savior.

John Nichols, a Washington correspondent for The Nation, argued that worries about getting government too involved in news are nothing more than knee-jerk hysteria.

Nichols said it's "fundamentally absurd" to say that the hand of government will destroy anything it touches, and pointed out that Norway and Holland are considered to be two of the freest media systems in the world, despite being heavily subsidized by their respective governments.

But not everyone was so eager for a cozy relationship.

"We're better off talking about solutions than subsidies," said Frank Blethen, the publisher of the Seattle Times.

Nichols and Blethen agreed that it's the newspaper ownership model that is broken, and that the government can help foster responsible, committed ownership by regulating the industry further. The specifics of what that regulation might look like went unmentioned.

Katherine Funk, an anti-trust lawyer with the firm Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, said innovation is the answer to the industry's troubles, not asking the government for money.

"There is a window of opportunity to figure out what the future looks like, and to innovate," said Funk, who added that -- from a business perspective -- many newspapers simply aren't run well.

The one government official on the panel said direct subsidies for newspapers are unlikely to happen.

"Framing it as a bailout for journalism is a losing way to frame it,” said Susan DeSanti, the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission. "I agree totally that getting money out of Congress is going to be extremely difficult."

DeSanti suggested that government could provide some indirect aid to the industry by lowering the costs of reporting by making government information more accessible and manageable.

Nichols and other skeptics may be right that the industry can't innovate it's way back to health without some outside help, but most newspaper executives aren't ready to crawl to Capitol Hill with their hands out.

According to a new study by the Pew Research Center, 88 percent of news executives have "serious reservations" about taking direct government subsidies. About half that many said they also had concerns about tax credits for news organizations.

With newspapers eager to protect their integrity and a Congress that can't afford any more generosity with taxpayer dollars, it doesn't look a full-fledged newspaper bailout will happen any time soon.

By Graham Moomaw

Adapting to the 24/7 News Cycle

2010-04-13T10:46:00.005-04:00

Maybe things aren't as bad as we thought?

That seemed to be the general sentiment of The Huffington Post's Arianna Huffington, David Carr of The New York Times and Mark E. Russell, print news manager for the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel.

"I think we are getting to the good part," said Carr, "that's what it feels like to me."

All agreed that new media is still a developing aspect of the news industry, and each spoke of the challenges and benefits of adapting to what has now become a 24-hour news cycle.

"Its all a work in progress, it isn't like, 'This is it,'" Huffington said.

The Huffington Post has used original content, news aggregation and modern media tools to be an innovator for new media journalism. But Huffington warned that tools making it increasingly easy to shoot out information might be weakening the depth of stories.

"There are more and more stories without context," Huffington said. "We have so much data, but we don’t have enough stories that capture the public imagination.

"How do we do journalism in a way that breaks through the static, captures the public imagination, and makes an impact?"

The panel also addressed the issue of public involvement and the best ways of monitoring reader participation.

The Huffington Post and The Washington Post have both made strides to monitor reader comments and eliminate "fiery" posts in hopes of creating a trustworthy community.

"If we are going to invite people to join in on a conversation," Russell said, "it should be a civil conversation or they're not going to come back."

Russell said in order to be successful, publications have to connect with the people they want to connect with by being in the spaces they're in.

This public outreach has been a successful venture for the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel, which used Facebook to develop the story of a high-profile Orlando shooting.

Unable to get the police to confirm the name of a downtown Orlando shooting victim, Russell said the Sentinel turned to the public Facebook page of the suspected victim. Through the page, reporters connected to family and friends of the victim who were able to confirm the shooting and enable the paper to write a compelling story for the print edition.

"It's not how many times we tweet or update our Facebook," Huffington said, "but how effectively we can use the new media and new technologies to tell the stories of our time."

By Adam Kerlin

News on the go

2010-04-13T10:32:00.002-04:00

The panel for Tuesday afternoons workshop "Charging for Digital Content: Fix or Folly?" decided, for the most part, that as print dies, digital will rise.

Can digital platforms really save the news?

Jim Brady, president of digital strategy of Allbritton Communication, believes that mobile is the answer.

Mobile gives the advertisers a "location based" advertising model, he said. You can shoot an ad over to a user depending on where they are.

Traffic alerts are also something they will pay for, he continued.

Echoing the point that Eric Schmidt made on Sunday night, these devices know you, more than just as a person, but know you on a live, minute-to-minute basis.

Kenneth J. Doctor, affiliate analyst at Outsell/Content Bridges, expanded that idea to a "trifecta."

Mobile, video and social are the bases of this pyramid. They can connect with their viewers, give them what they want through video and then share it with their friends, he said.

Through mobile and other forms of digital media, ads can become targeted, to a person.

Mobile Content Gives Publishers a Chance for a 'Do-Over'

2010-04-13T10:10:00.009-04:00

News organizations may have missed the boat on creating effective revenue streams from online content, but the emerging mobile market offers an opportunity to rethink and rebuild, said panelists at this morning's session on charging for digital content.

“You can’t build business models on what people should pay for. You build business models on what they will pay for," said James M. Brady, the president of digital strategy at Arlington-based Allbritton Communications.

Instead of worrying only about how to erect paywalls on the Web, Brady said, publishers should start to take advantage of the new frontier of apps, iPads, and smartphones.

“This is the biggest opportunity in a decade for a do-over,” said Kenneth J. Doctor, an analyst for Outsell/Content Bridges.

Location-based advertising, which could give businesses the opportunity to only serve their mobile ads to people within a certain distance from their location, is one possible way for publishers to build mobile revenue, said Brady.

Brady: "Should" is not a viable business model

2010-04-13T09:56:00.005-04:00

In the online world, content is king.

Jim Brady, vice-president at Allbritton Communications and founder of a new local news startup in Washington, D.C., said that he thinks pay walls will find themselves under siege as they try to keep content away from consumers.

Brady said that competitors and amateurs will do their best to fill in the gaps in coverage, reducing the value of content behind the pay wall.

He said that people online and on Twitter have said that he is part of a group of people who believe content should be free. But for Brady, its less about his philosophy and more about how the increasing amount of news and information online drives the economics of news gathering.

"For me its a lot less that content wants to be free and just looking at basic business principles," Brady said. "You can't build business models based on what people should pay for, you build business models based off of what they will pay for."

By Andy Medici

Pay walls: To charge or not to charge

2010-04-13T09:41:00.002-04:00

The owner of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazzette thinks a pay wall is just fine.

Hussman said that their site went behind a pay wall, and that he got a "tremendous" number of complains from people who said all this information should be free.

"We don't understand how we can spend 10 million a year editing gathering and reporting the news and give it away for free," Hussman "We don't understand that."

He said that their decision to make people pay online has not placed them at a competitive disadvantage, and that they compare favorably to other area newspapers. He said they only lost about one third of their total page views.

They don't give away local sports and school board meeting information, but they put things online that the don't have room for in the newspaper, such as photo galleries, video clips and free classified ads.

"Today we have more audience than all the television stations in our area," he said. "We have lots of free content, its just none of what is in the newspaper."

By Andy Medici

Merrill Brown: New paid system will launch soon

2010-04-13T09:36:00.003-04:00

Merrill Brown said his company is ready and willing to tackle pay walls soon. The founder of MMB Media has been working to develop a system that will allow media companies to charge for content.

"We all have to take this plunge," he said. And that his company is offering a change "to engage in a product development process that helps you think of your most important customers and how to engage them best."

He said his "Journalism Online" venture will unveil a set of testing sites that will test our economic assumptions, and that it will probably happen within the next four weeks.

Brown said if news companies do not begin to look at alternative ways and stop sticking "their heads in the sand" the situation will only get worse.

By Andy Medici

Arianna Huffington: News orgs need to do better

2010-04-13T09:24:00.002-04:00

The New Entertainment: Self-Expression

2010-04-13T09:13:00.005-04:00

Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post discussed the attitude of some news organizations and the value of consumer-generated content. She said citizen reporting is an opportunity for finding sources and providing multiple perspectives. She cited the Iran elections as the largest success story of this type of reporting.

She said readers should be embraced, as they can be contributors. They are already reporting for free, so news organizations should utilize this content.

"Self-expression is the new entertainment," Huffington said.

By Jackie Turner

David Carr: Best is yet to come

2010-04-13T09:06:00.001-04:00

David Carr, a New York Times reporter and columnist, said that the media is slowly developing better models for the online world, and that the best is yet to come.

"I think we are getting to the good part, that's what it feels like to me," Carr said.

David Carr said that legacy media is adopting some of the tools of the "insurgent media" like The Huffington Post, but is weighed down by costs and a lack of free and user-contributed content.

He also said that collaboration is part of the future, citing a Pulitzer Prize shared by non-profit Pro Publica and The New York Times Magazine.

By Andy Medici

New technology can help news organizations break through the static

2010-04-13T08:52:00.003-04:00

While the coal mine disaster in West Virginia produced great front page stories, Arianna Huffington said, the real work begins on piecing together the story as new information comes in. She said new technology helps news organizations follow up on a story.

"New technologies allow us to stay on the story and develop the story in bits and pieces as the story comes in," Huffington said.

Above all, Huffington said, news organizations need to be able to break through to reach people and make a difference in their lives. She cited coverage of the Iraq War as an example of how news coverage does not always have a meaningful impact on the everyday reader.

"How do we do journalism that breaks through the static, captures the public imagination and has an impact,"Huffington said. "We have not been able to do this in a way that is transformational."

By Andy Medici

Trust is key, Huffington says

2010-04-13T08:25:00.004-04:00

The constant news cycle of the Internet is a great way to break a story, but it might also be a way to break a reader's trust.

Arianna Huffington kicked off the panel discussion on the 24/7 news cycle at the ASNE Conference Tuesday morning by talking about how important reader trust is to all news organizations. She said that experts, and what they have said before, also reflect on the news organization that gives them a platform.

"Mistrust of all our institutions has reached a new high," Huffington said. "Whatever trade offs we make, trust cannot be compromised."

By Andy Medici

Kids at Texas high school use ASNE's my.hsj.org to do journalism

2010-04-13T07:36:00.002-04:00

Eric Schmidt at ASNE

2010-04-12T22:14:00.002-04:00

Good Outlook for Opportunities in Online Journalism

2010-04-12T16:37:00.004-04:00

Despite the growing opportunities online, Joel Dreyfuss, managing editor of The Root finds that diversity in online staffs lags behind its more traditional news counterparts.

“It has not been a priority,” he said. “The majority of large sites – Huffington, Slate – are not very diverse and have not had the pressure to diversify.”

The panelists of “Online Journalism: New Opportunities for Journalists of Color?” shared their perspective on the opportunities online journalism offers for journalists of color, which, in reality, is applicable to journalists of all backgrounds.

For journalists, deterred by the new techniques of reporting online, the panelists agree there’s always room to adapt to online reporting.

While the mediums may have changed –social networking, search engine optimization and video – the skills necessary for online content are the same as traditional media: story telling and news judgment. And, because online technology is learnable, the door of opportunity online is open to journalists of all levels of technology know-how.

“This is a industry that’s evolving so much that the knowledge base keeps shifting, so even the people who were experts last years are not experts this year,” Dreyfuss said.

What gives a reporter an advantage in the news industry is a unique angle, Eduardo Hauser, founder and CEO of Daily, Me. Inc. said. That may come in the form of ethnic background, interest or personal experience. The fragmentation of converged media allows for more perspectives to be shared among the public.

The Bottom Line: There’s growing opportunity for journalists of all backgrounds online. While new media comes with a lot of new rules and methods, those are all learnable. Story telling is the fundamental root of all types of reporting, online included.

“I don’t think that training is necessary,” panelist Ty Ahmad-Taylor, founder of and CEO of FanFeedr, said of new talent. “I’m just looking for people that can communicate.”

- Aleesa Mann

Improving the Demand of News Literacy

2010-04-12T15:10:00.002-04:00

Clark Bell, the director of journalism programs for the McCormick Foundation, introduced a panel about news literacy in local communities. The panel's objective is to show reporters and editors ways to reach out into their communities to make people more interested in the value and importance of well written and reported journalism. Bell said that their were some vital factors to the future of journalism. One was that journalists understand the value of producing good good writing and that readers understand the importance of recognizing and demanding well-written journalism.

Alan C. Miller then presented a video created by students that participated in the News Literacy Project in Bethesda, Md. As the director of the program Miller relayed that its main purpose is to teach students about why news is important, why freedom of speech is vital to American democracy, and how to know which information is creditable. The program sends seasoned journalists into middle and high school classrooms to teach students about these topics.

The next presenter, Howard Schneider, said that "if we are going to create the newest journalism school we can't just train the journalist we have to train the consumers. The audience is just as confused as we are." Schneider is the dean of the School of Journalism at SUNY. He recognizes that part of the problem is that students are not clear, in this "glutton of information, what news really is." Schneider's students spend months analyzing the reliability of information they ingest from various sources including examining the sources used by the reporters. "Once they read the story they have a very clear idea about what they know and what they don't know and why." Schneider said. He plans to create an online version of the course that community colleges and even high schools will be able to access.

Information was made available for organizations that were interested in partnering with the programs and for students who wish to bring the programs to their institutions.

Compiled by Dilane Mitchell, Howard University

Partner Up: The Benefits of Collaborations Between Universities and News Organizations

2010-04-12T14:26:00.016-04:00

The fun thing about journalism is that it's a hands-on experience. You don't wait to be a journalist, you just are, and the best way to strengthening your skills is to write. The panelists of "You and U: Finding Partners at Local University" know this, and shared their take on how partnerships between universities and local new outlets can be beneficial to both parties.

Why would a local news outlet want to partner with a university?

Students are a source of enthusiastic, raw talent
Students offer a different perspective that can generate new ideas and projects for the paper
Faculty can contribute their expertise to student efforts
The sponsorship is cost effective
Students can devote substantial time to a problem
The paper gets new content through student contributions

Why should universities partner with a local new outlet?

Students can get professional experience

Jody Brannon, News21 National Director, offered one example of how a partnership can work. At Arizona State, sophomore or junior students partner with the Arizon Republic. They enroll in a program for credit and are also paid for working with the paper two days a week.

The students get experience, and the paper gets new content. The students report mostly on breaking-news issues and the traffic generated by this new content accounts for about 10 percent of page views for the Republic, Brannon said.

There are other programs at other universities that serve as examples of successful partnerships between students and local publications. These relationships bridge the gap between student and professional journalists, proving there is a lot the two can learn from each other.

"There are fields where the academy leads the industry," panelist Rich Gordon, association professor at Medill School, Northwestern University, said.

In areas like medicine and science many breakthroughs occur in research labs on university campuses, outside of the professional sphere.

"It's time we apply the same line of thinking to journalism," Gordon said.

- Aleesa Mann

Amy Webb Introduces the Five Hot Tech Trends You Need To Know About

2010-04-12T13:04:00.002-04:00

Amy Webb, founder of Webbmedia in Baltimore, gave one of the most interesting presentations of the morning with "Five Hot Technology Trends You Need To Know About."

The importance of technology in news media is undeniable in this day and age, but Webb challenged editors to think about tech ideas from the consumer's point of view instead of from the journalist's.

Here are the Five Hot Tech Trends according to Webb:

1. Hyperlocal content. Hyperlocal content refers to content that is intended for a very specific audience based on geographic location. This is not a new idea however it has been largely unsuccessful in the past. Webb suggests that editors concentrate their information either further to reach niche audiences. For example, traditionally if The Anywhere Times were to publish The American County Weekly it would not do very well. Instead The Anywhere Times should focus on a tighter niche, say The American County Dog Lovers Weekly. Webb went on to stress the importance of providing real-time content because consumers have become accustomed to getting information immediately with sites such as Twitter and Facebook. She went on to discuss aspects that should be incorporated into these hyperlocal projects such as "opportunities" for users to gain points or badges. The lesson of this trend is "local is not local enough".

2. Check-In Culture . Long gone are the days when people didn't even put their full names on the Internet. Today users post everything from what they had for breakfast to what they plan to do today. Websites, in keeping up with people's never ending fascination with telling the world their business, have now added a function where people can "check-in" where they are at. Any Twitter user has noticed that the site now allows you to automatically tag your location in your status. This new trend has spawned several apps and websites where user's locations are automatically picked up on and options made available. Webb encouraged editors to look at how they can create custom content that follows this trend. By knowing where your consumers are at any given time, a news organization can then stream relevant information to those consumers based on that information. The interactivity of this trend also engages consumers in a way that news organizations have not been able to do before.

3. Real-Time Sharing. The Internet is a 24 hour drive through of information and the news needs to keep up. According to Webb, technology has created a more sophisticated consumer who wants their information not only based on where they are, but when they are there. Mobile apps that let you know who's in your immediate area and if you two are compatible are already available to the public. News organizations should take this technology into mind and develop strategies to seek out the "serendipity factor" and offer it to users.

4. User-Generated Geo Content. The idea of user generated content is not a new one. However, taking into account the location tagging that has become popular, news organizations can use this technology to vet the information that comes to them. Regular people have become increasingly interested in reporting news with the creation of segments like iReport on CNN. Using a location tagging feature not only makes it easier for editors to sift through content, but it also makes it easier for consumers to do the same.

5. Ubiquitous Content. Webb emphasized focusing less on paper and more on news. She said that newspapers should begin to look at themselves as news distributors and not just newspapers. News media should look into tablets and e-reader technology and creating content specifically for those platforms instead of just repurposing stories from the newspaper.

Reporter: Nikole L. Pegues, Howard University

Digital Pioneers Weigh In on the Future of News

2010-04-12T10:47:00.005-04:00

The "Next Generation Digital Visionaries: What Do They Think" panel brought together young journalists riding the wave of technology with seasoned reporters to discuss the new generation's take on news in the digital age. Moderated by Ken Auletta, media critic for The New Yorker, the panel discussed the changing role of technology in the news industry.

Panelists Megan Garber, assistant editor at the Nieman Journalism Lab, Zachary Seward, outreach editor at the Wall Street Journal and Matt Thompson, editorial product manager for National Public Radio addressed the tools and business strategies news organizations need to adapt to keep up with their consumers.

Garber highlighted fact-checking technologies available to journalists to ensure accuracy as one of the things she's excited about.

"I hope that they don't stay separate from news organizations," she said. "[I hope] that the ethos that they embody will actually be embodied by news organizations generally."

The legitimacy of blogging and the professionalism of bloggers also came into question during the panel. Throughout the day the topic has come up in several different discussions but the opinions were less harsh with these panelists.

Thompson stressed the importance of not asking whether or not bloggers are professional journalists, but what good journalism is.

Garber insisted that intentions were more important than the platform or the identity and that some blogs are legitimate while others may have other motives or an ax to grind. She went on to say that the difference between the former and the latter are usually very apparent by the content.

Auletta posed the question of the iPad's impact on the news industry and received strong responses from the panelists.

Seward said the iPad is a good opportunity for news organizations to develop apps but that the technology will not be a game changer for the industry because it doesn't change the fundamental ad revenue issue most publications are facing.

"To think that a device is going to transform an industry is not true," said Seward. "I think there are many aspects to executing a newspaper business plan; I would say one of the smallest is any kind of paid apps on these devices."

Thompson related the industry's excitment with the iPad to the industry's excited about a transformative pricing model which, according to him, has still not been done.

Overall the panel was very optimistic about the opportunities the digital revolution presented to today's newsrooms.

Quoting Charles Dickens, Thompson said that it is the best of times and the worst of times for the industry. Although he admitted that he harbors feelings of both pessimism and optimism, Thompson believes that the savvy news consumer can find a great news product.

Reporter: Nikole L. Pegues, Howard University

Editors Stress Convergence at ASNE10

2010-04-12T10:03:00.004-04:00

Convergence was the word of the day during the "Where We Are, Where We're Headed, How Editors Can Help Steer" panel at ASNE 2010.

Moderator Ken Auletta tossed out questions on new digital media, the affect of advertising on editorial decision and the future of the news media as we know it.

Panelists Jane Hirt, managing editor News/Features of the Chicago Tribune, Evan Smith, CEO of the Texas Tribune and Steven Swartz, president of the Hearst Newspapers discussed the importance of embracing new technologies to distribute news.

"We need to look for new ways to present out content," said Swartz. He went on to urge editors to ask themselves, "What can we do to reinvent how we package?"

Although the panelists disagreed on the issue of "pay walls" with online news services, they all agreed that even with the economic pressures facing the newspaper industry advertisers should have no say in editorial content.

"Tell, not sell," Smith stressed. He went on to say that at no point should editors make content decisions based on the wants of an advertiser, despite the revenue incentive.

Even though all agreed that the wall between advertisers and content should remain high, there was a general consensus that the separation between the news and business sides should be lowered.

With circulation and readership on a general decline, editors must take into account how they will get and hold their readers attention, which include taking marketing into mind.

On to future of journalism, Hirt said that what we today consider newspapers will change into news organizations, dispersing information for multiple platforms.

The panel was generally optimistic about the future of the industry as long as editors make the effort to adapt to the needs and wants of their readers.

Reporter: Nikole L. Pegues, Howard University

Google CEO, Eric Schmidt on Net Neutrality at ASNE10

2010-04-12T00:37:00.001-04:00

Google, Inc. CEO & Chairman, Eric Schmidt speaks on net neutrality during a question and answer session following his keynote address at the American Society of News Editors Convention in Washington, D.C.

Reporter: Kendra Desrosiers, Howard University

Google CEO, Eric Schmidt Talks Social Networking and Politics at ASNE10

2010-04-11T23:45:00.000-04:00

Google, Inc. CEO & Chairman, Eric Schmidt speaks on the impact social networking can have on the role of money in politics during a question and answer session following his keynote address at the American Society of News Editors Convention in Washington, D.C.

Reporter: Kendra Desrosiers, Howard University

Google CEO, Eric Schmidt on Chinese Censorship Rules

2010-04-11T23:18:00.007-04:00

Google, Inc. CEO & Chairman, Eric Schmidt speaks on Chinese censorship rules during a question and answer session following his keynote address at the American Society of News Editors Convention in Washington, D.C.

Reporter: Kendra Desrosiers, Howard University

Photos from Opening Night

2010-04-11T19:53:00.013-04:00

ASNE President Martin Kaiser congratulates Charlotte Hall of the Orlando Sentinel for helping ASNE through the recent economic crisis

David Boardman of The Seattle Times welcomes everyone

Rex Smith of the Albany Times Union gives a presentation about high school journalism with my.hsj.org

Anders Gyllenhaal of The Miami Herald talks about how journalists in Haiti coped with the recent earthquake

Ken Paulson, president of the Newseum and Freedom Forum, talks about the Liberty Tree Initiative and its First Amendment ad campaign set to launch in July

Google chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt gives the keynote address

ASNE members and press in the audience

Schmidt talked about the power of the Internet, especially the growing amount of access from mobile phones

Schmidt and convention co-chair Pam Fine

Kaiser previews his upcoming presidential address

Welcome Reception

2010-04-11T19:40:00.004-04:00

New members and partners meet and greet at the welcome reception

Loosing the paper, keeping the news

2010-04-11T19:30:00.003-04:00

We can now stop wringing our hands, and start rolling up our sleeves, Marty Kaiser, the current president of the American Society of News Editors (ASNE), said as he thanked Charlotte H. Hall, last year's president.

Last year, the ASNE conference was canceled due to the tough economic times that newspapers were facing. The conference was suppose to be held, ironically, the day that the Rocky Mountain News filed for bankruptcy.

"We needed to be in our news rooms, we needed to support them, and we didn't need to be off at a convention," Kaiser said.

Things have gotten better, but not by much.

ASNE reports that in 2009, 5,200 journalists lost their jobs. In 2008, the number was 6,000.

Many speakers shared this optimistic outlook, including Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google and the keynote speaker of the opening night.

"What you do is incredible important," Schmidt said.

The "power of information" is something that Google and newspapers both realize, he continued.

Schmidt also emphasized the differences of the current generation with the past.

"It is a sense of connectiveness," he said.

With the power of mobile phones and computers, we have the ability to access so much information. In terms of bytes, we consume more information in two days than we have consumed in the entire history of man, he said.

In the end, electronics will change the way that people interact with the news.

Schmidt held up three devices: a mobile phone, the Kindle and the iPad.

"What makes these different than newspapers?" he asked.

The answer: They are personal, they know you.

"They remember me, know what I like and they challenge me," he said.

In this conference, attendees can expect to find new challenges and advice to overcome them. Hopefully, take them back to the newsrooms, roll up their sleeves and make news profitable once more.

How to post to the ASNE10 blog

2010-04-01T11:07:00.004-04:00

This site has been designed to make it convenient for you to share your take on ASNE10 -- in real time or whenever you want.

We encourage comments from anyone who is reading the blog posts -- even those who are not attending the conference -- although we will require users to register and identify themselves in order to comment.

Blogspot/Blogger

The first 100 attendees to contact Craig Branson at cbranson@asne.org can get added to the blog list to blog about the event.

Twitter

To be part of our Twitter-stream use hashtag #asne10.

CoveritLive

Like live blogging, but want it in longform? Let Craig Branson at cbranson@asne.org know.

Flickr and YouTube
To add photos, use the ASNE10 tag to your Flickr photos from the event. For video, contact cbranson@asne.org.

Welcome

2010-04-01T10:23:00.003-04:00

The unofficial blog for the American Society of News Editors News Now Ideas Summit is ready for your posts. Everyone who visits this site can take part in the action.

Whether or not you're with us for the entire April 11-14 conference at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Washington D.C., your ideas and observations are welcome 24-7.

Blogs will appear here, and a Twitter-stream (use hashtag #asne10) will run on the CoverItLive portion of this site.

Anyone who is registered to blog can also use the CoverItLive tool on the site to live blog events during the conference. Tweets will appear in real time adjacent to blog posts within the CoverItLive frame.

There's also an area on the blog where you can upload photos.

If you haven't yet registered for the convention or want to see a detailed schedule, you can get to it under "Links we like."

Once the convention begins, you can view presenter handouts made available to us after their sessions. It will also be under "Links we Like."

Please see Craig Branson's post for details about how to register for this blog to post, add photos or comments.

Looking forward to seeing you at ASNE10.

Do you think social media has lowered the financial barrier of entry in Politics?