Very cool blog on Media Start-Ups here…

…from Adam Westbrook’s blog today concerning journalism new ventures – an essential checklist to consider.

I particularly liked point 8 on Westbrook’s checklist for start-up success: ‘Would it be fulfilling for journalists to work for?

This got me thinking. When was the last time as a journo or Editor you really, truly, completely loved working in your current newsroom? Are you fulfilled, challenged – and rewarded – every day? Is your obsession to keeping deadlines noticed? Ever?

Maybe an additional point to go on your checklist, Adam, should also be: ‘Is it run by Editorial and not Advertising managers?’ This would certainly tip the scales for me, having seen many, many Editors de-motivated and ground down by the money-men and number-crunchers. A journalism start-up run by the writers for the absolute benefit of the readership? A novel idea indeed.

Social media makes inroads to older audiences

Interesting statistics here today highlighting the rise of older audiences engaging across a range of social media platforms.

Interesting, in particular, for journos as this indicates that the ‘faddish’ nature of social media as initially discussed by traditional newsroom management is not accurate.Not accurate at all, in fact.

It appears that the age range of tweeters bloggers and facebookers is aligned closely to the age range of newspaper readerships – except these same readerships are now accessing free news content online, unfortunately, rather than via paid printed news.

Another area of concern for media-land could well prove to be the fact that platforms such as Twitter anticipate leading the news agenda within the next 12 to 18 months: look at the pick-up on Stephen Fry’s publicly-aired near-step-down from tweeting this week.

The fact that this tweetathon made National news headlines surely points the way which journalists are being forced to source and share news items. After all, if social media is making the news, surely engaging with social media is also a must?

Unconvinced?

Where will traditional newsrooms be in 18 months? If they’re continuing to bury their collective heads in the sand, the future will be bleaker than the last 18 months. And God knows, that’s been bad enough for 1000’s of journalists in the UK already.

As I’ve said before – stop moaning, start upskilling, and embrace digital. Either that, or a career change. Choice is yours. Enjoy.

Great post on News accuracy…

…from Freelance Unbound here.

Apparently, readerships in the States have issues with news accuracy – or lack of accuracy from journalists.

Less than 30% of readers polled felt confident in the facts presented to them by reporters in American newspapers – shocking statistics, or an indication of the lack of trust in traditional media? Is online reportage, via bloggers and tweeters, becoming the new journalism in which the masses will gravitate towards? Only time will tell, but the early indicators are not positive for the old-school Hack, according to the facts highlighted in this excellent media blog.

Personally, I think if News-gathering doesn’t wake up and embrace the variety of tools and techniques available, readerships will continue to move away from traditional newsroom reporting and more towards the sources of news in the places where they want it – ergo, audiences looking for news will find it where they want it. This usually also includes the most trustworthy sources for them, as they see it at that time.

So, to build trust, what to do? How about engaging your readership, in the medium they want, when they want it, and in a style they can relate to? This is perhaps the biggest lesson regional UK media managers have failed to learn in the last three years.

 

 

Top 10 questions to consider before blogging…

Many have been advocating blogging over the last 18 months – since they realised it was something they had to propose, whilst not necessarily understanding the real deal with setting up a blog – and although it is encouraging to see members of the UK editorial community seeming to embrace the blogosphere, take note.

Before you embark upon setting up a blog, or are advised by your hip, trendy and oooh sooo absolutely fabulous tweeting PR contacts to set up an editorial blog to drive traffic to you online and increase journalistic commissions, consider these Top 10 Questions:

1. Do you have a blogging strategy in place, and does it align itself with your overall Comms plan for the year?

2. Who will update the blog content if you can’t?

3. Who will monitor the stats, trackbacks and site reports?

4. Are you comfortable with being challenged by other bloggers?

5. Do you actually have something to say, on an ongoing basis?

6. Does blogging align itself with the services and products you offer?

7. Have you checked out competitors’ blogs and researched?

8. Why do you want to blog – are there a specific set of reasons, other than you think you should?

9. Are you able to integrate blogging with other activities such as tweeting?

10. Which platform are you using and who will organise the technical elements for you?

If you can answer the above with clarity, confidence and consistency, it’s likely that blogging will probably be an excellent addition to your Comms mix, particularly when we journos need all the differentiators we need in dwindling newsrooms.

The media forgot to nurture readership relationships…

…At least, according to this recently – reposting after a query.

Actually, in part I agree: many of the traditional publishers in the UK observed the coming of digital and internet-based publishing, blogs, twitter, and the numerous online innovations, instead remaining focused on the print options only.

The readerships, as consumers, have voted with their feet and mouse clicks, and more of them are migrating to free content online than ever before: the hundreds of redundant journalists across the UK lay testimony to this.

But still, in spite of overwhelming evidence indicating that newspaper management needed to engage the audience, the reader, the market, in the places they choose to get their news, what have many done? Continued observing, done nothing, introduced no innovations, given minor allowances to the digital age by copying content from print to the web…and wondering why readerships walk.

Let’s not forget one simple economic fact: when a product or service no longer serves the market, it becomes obsolete.

And so we see the current state of the British newspaper industry. They forgot to nurture the relationship with readers. And then bemoan the state of advertising and consumer interest when the paginations keep plummeting on a daily basis.

It’s all about listening to the market demands and repsonding accordingly. It looks like for some it’s too late. As we all know, when you lose their interest, readers rarely ever come back. This simple business rule applies to the publishers too.

Facts, facts, facts…the one thing citizen journalists forget?

Great post here on the importance of fact-finding, fact-checking and why trained journalism still offers something the increasing army of citizen journalists, bloggers and forum commentators can’t give. The upshot? Trained journalists represent the reinforcement of fact-checking at its best: the power and credibility of a balanced, thorough and fact-checked editorial item.

Of course, the initial news value from a tweet, blog post, or forum item can lead journos towards a valuable investigation of an issue, but it’s the fact-checking process, the collation of facts and the trained execution of facts which makes the difference between an amateur piece of citizen journalism and a well-rounded, informative and thought-provoking piece of journalism.

One of the most concerning elements, for me, of untrained editorialists as I call them, is the rise in commentaries and the lowering in quality content. It seems that everybody’s got something to freakin’ say online these days. Progress?

The thing which makes a difference for me, as one who sits firmly in the ‘trained’ editorial camp, is that without the correct and professional usage of fact-collation, fact-checking and fact-integration into an editorial item, we’re left with a shabby represntation to the readership. At best, conjecture. At worst, fact-less content. Propoganda, as it used to be called.

Terrifying prospect, huh? Without the trained, fact-orientated journos in place, how can content remain at a premium?

State of the blogosphere – read it & weep?

Not really, but Technorati’s annual report makes for fascinating reading.

The state of the blogosphere – apparently we are taking it more seriously and bloggers are finding it easier to blog now with authority than ever before. And bloggers are certainly attracting more kudos as content creators. Competing with hacks, in fact – just look at the case study of the Huffington Post in the USA to see where British Blogging could go with the right push.

I would say this new-found seriousness applies to the one-man brand bloggers, rather than the corporate bloggers working within an organisation and not gaining the limelight, of course. These marketers are not branding themselves, big difference.

But, ultimately, anything which raises the bar for blogged content is, I think, a good thing. Great research from Technorati, too.

“Adapt to digital or die” – we get the message.

Re-iteration of a point made consistently for months now here, and although it is aimed primarily at creative ad agencies, it’s relevant for anybody in a creative space. And yes, that includes you, newsroom journalist. You, too, need to go digital now.

Damien Blackden makes solid points, but we’ve heard it all before, to be honest. For a long time now. And to me, it raises simply one question.

If you’re working in creative industries, why wouldn’t you adapt to digital ways of doing business, and quickly, given where audiences are migrating? Anything less is surely a form of commercial suicide.

Well, the senior management in regional newspapers aside, of course – unless they know some cosmic secret the rest of us haven’t been allowed to access as yet regarding the state of journalism offine in the UK.

Oh crap, I’m being sarky again about the media managers in print. But, having done my time in Northcliffe Group and seen the erosion of the motivation of literally 100s of talented journalists and editors across the UK there, it gets a little hard to sit back and let the inefficient management carry on nailing our editorial talent to the cross of outdated management models anymore.

The choice? Simple really.

Do yourself a favour – get out. Fast. Run to the nearest organisation which embraces content, digital, online and is serious about offering you, as a trained media professional, an industry-level salary. Enough is enough! Or, carry on moaning in the newsroom, until the axe falls and you’re left moaning at the Job Centre.

Remember, adapting and moving on is a sign of strength not weakness in British journalism. I know, for me, adapting has meant surviving and retaining a successful content-based career.

Actually, the thought of still being in a Northcliffe Group newsroom fills me with dread. Phew, lucky escape.

Or did you actually expect a job for Life? Really? Oh dear.

1,200 applications for 1 editorial post? Life after journalism…

Great article here from www.journalism.co.uk, indicating that a recent Sunday Times vacancy for an online reporter has attracted more than 1,200 applicants for the position. The article then goes onto discuss what’s left after a life in Journalism for the out-of-work, redundant, laid-off Hacks out there.

I think a bigger question comes from this – if you’re taken out of the newsroom, perhaps it’s time to stay out?

After all, there are a plethora of other content-based positions which give as much if not more job satisfaction, more security, more money, and – in all likelihood – a better work/life balance. Oh, how I love the 13-hour days on deadline.

Online content production, blogging, tweeting, copywriting – there are endless opportunities to continue to craft compelling content when the redundancy axe crashes its blow through the newsroom. Heck, journalists may even have to learn digital skills.

Would you apply for a position on a daily newspaper ever again, or seek brave new frontiers to deliver your content? I’ll pick the latter option, thanks.

A PR firm with about as much use as a chocolate fireguard…

(Re-posting this after an inquiry about the worst example of bad PR I’ve seen. Think of it as educational rather than critical)

…and the dubious award goes to these guys.

A huge thumbs-down to the PR Directors at PR firm Dada.co.uk today: following a mis-pitch yesterday on behalf of their client Whyte & Mackay, in which a press release on the drinks firm’s re-brand was sent to a printing industry-based Newsroom (ie mine) a follow-up email was sent by myself, asking the PR Account Director to remove us from their irrelevant PR issues.

Email received back, apologies accepted, we all move on and continue to cypher the 250 daily emails from PRs.

Or so I thought.

This morning, another email from a different PR Account Director at Dada, telling me about the wonders of how Whyte & Mackay are using Twitter to promote and launch Campaigns for consumers. Fabulous. And totally irrelevant. Again.

Many thanks to the second PR Director at Dada – this guy. He was too busy to take my call earlier, asking if they could actually confirm that they had removed our newsroom email address from their database, and if they would please, please, please stop PR Spamming us. Too busy to talk to the Press? Another clanger for a PR firm to commit.

So, in the absence of a decent resolution, here we are.

To top it all, Dada’s PR pitch on their site claims that ‘No-one can offer you a PR service like DADA’ and – for completely the wrong reasons – I am now inclined to agree.

Now pass me that chocolate fireguard, it could come in useful.