The State of American Journalism

The State of American JournalismJim Brady / October 2011Jim Brady / October 2011

Today’s PresenterToday’s Presenter

Jim Brady

Current

• Editor-in-Chief, Journal Register Company

• Vice President, Online News Association

• Board Member, American Society of News Editors

Past

• Former General Manager, TBD.com

• Former Executive Editor, washingtonpost.com

• Former AOL executive

• Member of washingtonpost.com launch team

• Former reporter & sportswriter, The Washington Post

• Pulitzer Prize juror, 2010 & 2011

State of the Business

State of the Journalism

U.S. Strengths & Weaknesses

March 11 Coverage by US Media4

3

2

1

Today’s AgendaToday’s Agenda

The State of American JournalismThe State of American Journalism

Questions & Discussion55

STATE OF THE BUSINESS

PART ONE

Print Revenue Is PlummetingPrint Revenue Is Plummeting

Print Dropoff Has Been SteepPrint Dropoff Has Been Steep

All Segments Are DownAll Segments Are Down

Classifieds Revenue DisappearingClassifieds Revenue Disappearing

Circulation Trending DownCirculation Trending Down

Newspaper Readership DownNewspaper Readership Down

Journalism Jobs Being Wiped OutJournalism Jobs Being Wiped Out

Fewer Reporters, More WorkFewer Reporters, More Work

Newspapers Going Out of BusinessNewspapers Going Out of Business

Cable TV Profits Still StrongCable TV Profits Still Strong

Network TV Audience PlummetingNetwork TV Audience Plummeting

Local TV Revenue Trends ShakyLocal TV Revenue Trends Shaky

News-Producing TV StrugglingNews-Producing TV Struggling

Magazine Circulation DroppingMagazine Circulation Dropping

News Mag Circulation DistressedNews Mag Circulation Distressed

News Mag Staffs Dropping FastNews Mag Staffs Dropping Fast

Consumers Are Moving to DigitalConsumers Are Moving to Digital

Digital Revenue on the RiseDigital Revenue on the Rise

Newspapers Getting Bigger ShareNewspapers Getting Bigger Share

Mobile Revenue Small, but GrowingMobile Revenue Small, but Growing

Web Audience Larger Than PrintWeb Audience Larger Than Print

Users Spending More Time OnlineUsers Spending More Time Online

Web Audience Is the FutureWeb Audience Is the Future

Source: Pew Research Center

Web Audience Is the FutureWeb Audience Is the Future

NICHE MARKETS• Newspapers are wonderful general interest publications.

But the web is all about niche.• There’s been a rise of niche web publications that are

making money: Business Insider, WebMD, AutoTrader, Mint, Babycenter.com, POLITICO, Epicurious, countless others…

ADVANTAGES• Strong revenue potential, as advertisers prefer subject-focused audiences.• Strong editorial focus keeps overall costs down.

DISADVANTAGES• Most verticals starting to get crowded.• Harder to expand when you’re focused on one subject.

Emerging ModelsEmerging Models

NON-PROFITS• Market is currently strong for non-profits in the United

States.• Relatively new sites such as ProPublica, Texas Tribune,

MinnPost, Voice of San Diego are making waves in the industry.

• Non-profits are doing the type of journalism that for-profit companies have struggled to support financially.

ADVANTAGES• Lack of intense revenue pressure provides editorial freedom• Non-profits willing to support investigative and enterprise journalism

DISADVANTAGES• Flow of money to support non-profits unpredictable• Non-profits have trouble building large, influential audiences

Emerging ModelsEmerging Models

PAY MODELS• Many American news organizations are currently

implementing -- or planning to implement – pay walls or other pay models.

• New models are emerging, i.e. the New York Times’s metered model and CivilBeat’s membership model.

ADVANTAGES• New revenue stream• More loyal, focused audience to monetize• Aids print circulation retention

DISADVANTAGES• Negative impact on traffic and ad revenue• Creates opportunity for free competitors• Blocking off content works against the ways of the Web

Emerging ModelsEmerging Models

MOBILE• Morgan Stanley predicts that, by 2015, use of the mobile

web will be greater than use of the desktop Web.• Many news organizations are hiring mobile editors,

developers and product managers as new devices proliferate.

ADVANTAGES• Consumers are already used to paying for mobile content, and will pay

for things on mobile they won’t pay for on the web• Gives publishers the ability to reach consumers on a 24/7 basis• Location-based services open new doors for publishers and advertisers

DISADVANTAGES• Advertisers have not yet embraced mobile in any meaningful way• Large number of mobile device types means business not easily scalable• Mobile development expensive

Emerging ModelsEmerging Models

LOCAL DEALS• The success of companies like Groupon and Living Social

has created a wave of local deal programs, many created and run by newspapers.

• Needham & Co. predict the daily deals market will be more than $10B in the U.S. by 2015.

ADVANTAGES• Relatively low-tech and simple to launch• Good way to reach small local advertisers, traditionally a hard group to

win over

DISADVANTAGES• Low barriers to entry for new competitors• Significant amount of administration required• Daily deals space already overrun, and still dominated by a few big dogs

Emerging ModelsEmerging Models

STATE OF THE JOURNALISM

PART TWO

Current Trends in Journalism

Current Trends in Journalism

• Community Engagement / Crowdsourcing

• Social Media• Curation• Multimedia Storytelling• Mobile Journalism• Database Journalism• Location-Based Services

Community Engagement / Crowdsourcing

Community EngagementCommunity Engagement

This is how most news organizations view “engagement.”

Community EngagementCommunity Engagement

This is how news organizations should view engagement.

Why Engage?

Why Engage?

• Because news organizations always have…– Used experts as sources– Interviewed citizens for stories– Accepted tips from the community– Run photos & videos not taken by staffers– Run freelance pieces by citizens & experts

• Because you need readers more than they need you– Collectively, the community knows a lot more about each subject

area than you do– Consumers have a lot of choices & not a lot of time– They don’t need to come directly to you to access your content– Without committed readers, you have no business

• Because working with consumers produces better journalism

• Launched in 2006• More than 750,000 registered users• Received the seminal video from the Virginia Tech shootings• In 2011, held the first iReport Awards

Ushahidi: Japan Earthquake

Ushahidi: Japan Earthquake

SeeClickFix

SeeClickFix

• In more than 25,000 cities and 8,000 neighborhoods• Has gathered more than 50,000 reports• SeeClickFix has relationships with local governments

Guardian: MP Expense Scandal

Guardian: MP Expense Scandal

ProPublica: Network

ProPublica: Network

• 5,000 Reporting Network members• They’ve helped conducted spot checks on federal stimulus

spending, unraveled loan modification stories, and tracked the oversight of a state nursing board, among other efforts

TBD: Complete This Story

TBD: Complete This Story

• The audience can help you find out things you couldn’t• It’s a tacit admission media companies can’t – and don’t

– know everything

Register Citizen Newsroom Cafe

Register Citizen Newsroom Cafe

• Audience invited to sit in on newsroom meeting, watch a live stream or participate in a live chat

• Free public wi-fi access offered, as well as coffee and snacks

TBD Community Network

TBD Community Network

• More than 225 sites joined

• We sold advertising for about 75 blogs

• We linked to them aggressively, and put them in our geo-coded feeds to expose them to relevant audiences

• Provided training sessions for network members on blogging, SEO, social media, etc.

Don’t Forget the Human Touch

Don’t Forget the Human Touch

• At TBD.com, we did public events with local bloggers and other interested parties.

• We held public office hours at coffee houses in the region.

• We offered free training to community members on social media, blogging, SEO, etc.

Benefits of Engagement

Benefits of Engagement

• Improved news gathering capacity– On-the-spot reporting– Geographically-specific reports

• Additional research bandwidth• More subject-area expertise• An expansion of your coverage area by

building contributor network• Useful feedback & direction• Increased on-site participation in contests,

polls, commenting, etc.

If You Do This Right…

If You Do This Right…

• The community will view you as a partner, not a rival. That means:– They will come to your site more often– They will link to you more from blogs, social

media– They will send you tips– They will tell their friends about you– In short, they will root for your success

• You will produce better, more relevant journalism

• More relevance = more audience = more revenue = more jobs

Social Media

Social Media UsageSocial Media Usage

• Facebook has over 800M active users, with half logging on daily.• More than 2B posts are liked and commented on per day.• More than 250M photos are posted per day.

• Twitter recently announced it had 100M users logging in once a day, and 50M logging in daily.

• In the U.S., in a survey done by the Ponemon Group showed:– Workers spent an average of 62 minutes each day using social

media for personal reasons, compared with 37 minutes for business purposes.

– Almost 60 percent of the organizations increased their Internet bandwidth to accommodate employees’ use of social media in the past 12 months.

– Social media is essential or very important to meeting business objectives for 67 percent of respondents.

Social MediaSocial Media

Source: Universal McCann Wave 4

Why Social Media?Why Social Media?

• You need to go where your readers are• Social networks are great for attracting new users• Great venue for starting conversations with and

getting feedback from readers and/or viewers• More and more business being transacted via

social networks

Social Media TipsSocial Media Tips

• Dedicate staff to social media• Use a more conversational tone on social

platforms• Use social tools not just to disseminate

information, but to gather it as well• Leverage the audience already using social

media for crowdsourcing projects

Curation

CurationCuration

• If you want to be the first stop for consumers interested in any topic, you should curate:• TBD linked out to all members of our community

network• TBD linked out to local sites that were not part of the

community network• We linked out to other local news organizations• We even linked to TV stations that were competitive

with us• In short, we linked to EVERYONE

Why Curation?Why Curation?

• Some of the Web’s largest news sites are based on the concept: • Drudge Report• Huffington Post• Yahoo News• Google News

• Readers are looking for sites to serve not just as chefs, but maitre d’s.

• If you are a fair arbiter of the best content out there, readers will start their day with you. If that happens, you’ve already won.

• We drove traffic to the work of our community network members.

TBD Community NetworkTBD Community Network

Multimedia Storytelling

Why Multimedia?Why Multimedia?

• Video usage on the web increasing dramatically• Photography remains one of the most popular

types of content on the web• Radio usage on the web remains high• Interactive graphics becoming a story form all of

its own

Why Multimedia?Why Multimedia?

• Video usage on the web increasing dramatically• Photography remains one of the most popular types

of content on the web• Radio usage on the web remains high• Interactive graphics becoming a story form all of its

own

• Remember, the first 15 years on TV were radio guys in front of a camera. The first 15 of the web were print, TV and radio guys trying to repeat their format on the web.

• The web is evolving into something all its own; you have to evolve with it.

Before and After ImageryBefore and After Imagery

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/

Integrated Multimedia StoriesIntegrated Multimedia Stories

Old Media, New PlatformsOld Media, New Platforms

Reporter-Shot VideoReporter-Shot Video

http://www.npr.org/series/131394847/the-best-music-of-2010

Mobile Journalism

Why Mobile?Why Mobile?

• Mobile devices are attached to consumers on a near 24/7 basis.

• In most cases, you know exactly where your mobile users are, so you can provide geo-specific services

• Consumers are in the habit of paying for mobile content in ways they never were on the web

• Unlike the web, mobile payment systems are built-in, seamless and guilt-free (at least initially)

The Right Way to Think MobileThe Right Way to Think Mobile• Reject the “platform agnostic” mantra• Remember that mobile is a mindset of its own,

with unique consumer needs and revenue opportunities

• Remember that each mobile device is a product in and of itself: The iPhone, iPad, Droid and Kindle require different strategies

• Dedicate people to building good mobile products• Make your mobile app and/or site complementary

to your web site, not a mini version of it

The Right Way to Think MobileThe Right Way to Think Mobile• Remember what makes a mobile device unique:

portability, location tracking and 24/7 access to the consumer.

• Remember that mobile allows you to get content from the reader, not just send it out

• Don’t just focus on your own mobile sites. Get into the streams of Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Instagram, etc.

• Focus on utility: weather, stocks, alerts, traffic, public transportation data, sports scores, etc.

Typical News Mobile Apps

Typical News Mobile Apps

TBD Mobile PhilosophyTBD Mobile Philosophy

Mobile NewsgatheringMobile Newsgathering

QR CodesQR Codes

• Many papers are starting to use QR codes in newspaper or via e-mail.

• Lots of potential for these…• For example, why not QR

codes on all your newspaper boxes that list places to eat, places to show, historical landmarks near that box?

Database Journalism

N.Y. Times Olympic MusicalN.Y. Times Olympic Musical

ProPublica’s Recovery TrackerProPublica’s Recovery Tracker

N.Y. Times Netflix MashupN.Y. Times Netflix Mashup

Congressional Voting DatabaseCongressional Voting Database

Issues Coverage TrackerIssues Coverage Tracker

Vote MappingVote Mapping

Candidate TrackerCandidate Tracker

Local ExplorerLocal Explorer

Fixing D.C.’s SchoolsFixing D.C.’s Schools

Location-Based Services

Why Location-Based Services?Why Location-Based Services?• In an increasingly mobile world, where you are

matters more and more every day• Consumers only sporadically care about regional,

national or world news. They always care about what’s going on near where they live or work.

• Being able to target location opens the door to significant editorial and revenue possibilities.

GeocodingGeocoding

• At TBD.com, we delivered geographically relevant news to users.– We had a team of real humans

reading and adding geo-codes to stories from TBD, our blog network and other local news organizations.

– TBD’s home page had a module that delivered news to up to five zip codes that a user signaled as important to them

– TBD’s mobile app allowed you to see geographically-relevant stories

Augmented RealityAugmented Reality

• The combination of the phone’s GPS with use of the camera provides a near-virtual reality experience.

Foursquare / GowallaFoursquare / Gowalla

• Knowing where consumers are offers major reporting opportunities:– Looking for sources– Communicating news to location-specific audiences– Distribution of your reviews and tips

The Future Journalist

The Future JournalistThe Future Journalist

Core Skills– Reporting– Writing– Interviewing

New Skills– Ability to shoot and edit video– Ability to take and edit photography– Willingness to engage with community– More business knowledge, stronger entrepreneurial

instinct

Career Path– More Startups, Less Established Players

STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES OF AMERICAN JOURNALISM

PART THREE

Strengths of U.S. JournalismStrengths of U.S. Journalism

• Freedom of the press remains a core value• Exciting new tools at our disposal• Entrepreneurial opportunities increasing, which

means journalists are better able to pursue passions

• New business models emerging• Stronger coverage of niche subjects• More voices being heard, not just the elite

Weaknesses of U.S. Journalism

Weaknesses of U.S. Journalism

• Less accountability journalism• Coverage of local areas getting weaker • Too much overlapping coverage• Public opinion of journalists is poor• Still seeking working business models• Consumers seeking sites that affirm their views• The world has changed, and many news

organizations are still acting as if it hasn’t

U.S. COVERAGE OF MARCH 11

PART FOUR

March 11 Coverage WeaknessesMarch 11 Coverage Weaknesses• The U.S. coverage was largely supplementary

• Not nearly enough U.S. journalists on the ground• For most part, cable networks did not send top on-air

talent• Too heavy an emphasis on visuals; not enough depth• Particularly weak explanatory reporting on Fukushima

• The U.S. coverage was largely temporary• Cable TV talent didn’t stay long once immediate

danger passed• Follow-up reporting – especially on Fukushima and its

long-term effects – has been poor.

March 11 Coverage StrengthsMarch 11 Coverage Strengths

• Early coverage dominated all news cycles, and the front pages of all major U.S. print publications

• U.S. media made good use of social media and other citizen-driven sources of information

U.S. Foreign Coverage Issues

U.S. Foreign Coverage Issues

• High costs at time of severe budget cuts• Sporadic interest in foreign news from U.S.

consumers• Most U.S. news organizations trying to

refocus on coverage of local issues• Lack of money, people and sometimes

widespread interest means sustaining focus on foreign news is difficult

Questions &DiscussionQuestions &Discussion