fix journalism a conversation about journalism’s future

Author: Donica Mensing | 01.30.2010

The word “networks” gets thrown around a lot. In terms of journalism, one could argue that journalists have always been about networking. We network with sources, subjects and readers and use that networking to our advantage when finding and writing stories.
“Social” networking in this age, however, means something different. A recent post on the Harvard [...]

Author: Donica Mensing | 01.29.2010

Does “community engagement” belong in the j-school curriculum?
Robert Niles, writing in the Online Journalism Review, Doing journalism in 2010 is an act of community organizing, says absolutely, yes:
The journalists who succeed online are the ones who understand that they are no longer simply reporters… they’ve become community organizers.
Consider these examples:
Jonathan Weber, the new editor-in-chief of [...]

Author: Michael Higdon | 01.27.2010

About a year ago, I and many others suggested making an iTunes for newspapers but we see now that that might not be such a great idea considering the music industry and a million other blog posts about paying for stories.

iTunes also would prohibit the type of content possible and revenue potential considering Apple would become a distributor and the interface would be locked into Apple’s design.

So without a whole lot of predictions and turning myself into a fool, I’m going to say the iPad represents another platform or perhaps a more flexible mobile platform for news content.

If news companies are able to create their own reading/viewing environments for the iPad, then I think that’s a good thing.

Will it save journalism? Pft. No. But it opens up to yet another market and business model/revenue potential.
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Author: Michael Higdon | 01.20.2010

In response to the previous post, Brian Duggan, Donica Mensing and I began an interesting disucssion via email. The question: Is advertising capable of being journalism ever?”
Brian Duggan said:
Ads provide objective information, yes, but to what degree? Does that baked potato in your Locals BBQ ad always look picturesque for every customer?
Ask yourself this: how credible [...]

Author: Michael Higdon | 01.13.2010

A lot of people in the hardcore journalism world don’t think advertising is journalism (it’s threatening) and many people don’t believe advertising should be in journalism schools. But I think advertising is journalism and belongs in J-schools.
Advertising can serve the same purposes and affect the same goals as journalism when done a certain way for [...]

Author: Michael Higdon | 12.15.2009

Has anyone asked you these questions lately?

1. What has happened in the “external” world that could affect the way we do business?
2. What challenges and threats do we face as an organization from the “external” world?
3. What are the opportunities we should be taking advantage of in order to: a. Make us more sustainable as an organization
   b. Help us be a better company?
4. What information do you have that you think is important to share with others in the Innovation Station group?
5. What are the important strengths of [your publication/branch/company]?
6. What weaknesses are preventing us from being a better organization?
7. Make some notes about what you think our vision, values and mission are as an organization.
8. What challenges have we failed to meet in the past two to three years and why have we failed to meet them?
9. What challenges have we met well in the past two to three years and what helped us to meet them?
10. What is the most important outcome that you would like to see emerging from Innovation Station? Why do you think it is so important?

Author: Donica Mensing | 12.10.2009

Google Labs, The New York Times and the Washington Post are experimenting (together, itself a noteworty point) on creating “Living Story” pages that aggregate information about a topic with a timeline, pictures, summary and links to major stories. Readers can read stories without navigating away from the main page, getting deep information on a single [...]

Author: Michael Higdon | 11.24.2009

My point is, anyone can innovate any time, anywhere. You can do it in small increments so no one will notice. A method I’ve heard here is that you innovate and change in small ways over a long period of time. At the end of your journey, everything is completely different but everyone thinks of it as something that needed to be done and they look back at the old way of doing things and scoff.

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