It’s all in your head.
The ability to “think online” is the most important skill a journalist can acquire or develop today. The previous 11 chapters detail several skills that are important for a journalist to function online, but it is the mindset that will imagine the digital possibilities of a story or a project. If you can’t develop a digital mindset, all the digital training in the world won’t help.
This was the highlight of a study released in October 2006. The independent study by C. Max Magee, as part of his master’s degree program at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, surveyed 239 professionals working in online journalism and 199 people who are observing its evolution. Its goal: To define the skills and intangible characteristics that are most important in online newsrooms.
The problem is that everybody wants progress but nobody wants change. — Ulrik Haagerup, editor in chief of Nordjyske Media, Aalborg, Denmark
Online journalists agreed that what makes online journalism different isn’t so much the technical skills as it is a way of thinking.
A willingness to learn new things, to multitask and to work in teams were especially appreciated, in addition to other skills that most working journalists already know such as attention to detail and ability to work under time pressure. “The crucial obstacle is the mental one we impose on ourselves in sticking with the belief that our job is to print ink on paper and deliver it with the help of small boys in shorts before 7 a.m.,” Ulrik Haagerup wrote in the December 2006 Nieman Reports. “This change can be a hard one for journalists to make; it means realizing our task is to serve people in our community by telling them useful and entertaining stories through whatever technology they want to use.”
Journalists are smart people. Many have already learned how the Web and digital technologies allow for nonlinear storytelling. They have learned the power of database reporting and new styles of writing thanks to blogs. They understand—even appreciate—a new world order where journalists and editors are no longer preaching to the readers/users/viewers. No longer a lecture, news is, indeed, a conversation, vibrant in its many facets, directions, layers and continuum.
Hopefully, you feel like the curtain has been pulled back on the wizard (to some degree). The digital way isn’t for propeller heads only. Anyone who can use the Web and e-mail has the skills necessary to begin blogging or building multimedia projects. Now, all you need is to open your mind to the possibilities and dip your toe into the water.
Scratch that. It’s time to jump in.
Making time
Just as digital skills are beginning to identify job candidates for newspaper job openings, the lack of digital skills will identify those who are expendable. And with more than 3,000 newsroom job cuts just since 2000, anyone still working in a newsroom should be looking for ways to become more valuable to the operation. The same holds true whether the medium is newspaper, magazine, television or radio.
The two most popular excuses working journalists use when trying to avoid this new era are: “I don’t know how” and “I don’t have time.” Now that you know “how” you need to address “when.” Here is one suggestion: Today.
Not tomorrow or next week or the next time something presents itself. Find the digital skill that interests you the most and start immersing yourself. Whether that is blogging or podcasting or producing video stories, make a plan to sample content in that medium and start doing it yourself, if only for practice. Give yourself a deadline and tell your manager. Then it will become part of your job and you will find a way to make time for it.
Remember, scores of working journalists didn’t think they had time for e-mail when it came along. Some even protested the publication of reporters’ and editors’ e-mail addresses in fear that they would spend all their time answering inane reader requests. Today there is no way you could take away e-mail. The digital skills discussed here are no different.
Practice for fun
The beautiful thing about digital content is that it’s disposable. You can practice recording audio or video, setting up spreadsheets or even practice blogging without cost or publication. At the end of each chapter there are suggestions on how to get started with each skill or discipline. Find one that’s interesting and play around with it. That’s right, “play” with it. That’s how most journalists got into this game in the first place—they enjoyed it (remember your college newspaper or radio station?). And that’s how most journalists have adapted to the digital age. They found some fun in learning new skills and creating content in a new medium.
The beautiful thing about digital content is that it’s disposable.
Once you begin, look for working examples of the content you’re playing around with. Once you start blogging—even with a practice blog that no one else can see—it will give you a different view of existing blogs, especially the better ones. It’s the same with audio or video. You’ll notice where good editing or use of natural sound really added to a segment.
Identifying opportunities
There is a natural tendency to “swing at the first pitch” when suddenly armed with new skills, meaning you try to force a multimedia element on a current story because it’s in your focus. It might work, but it’s more likely that you’ll need to be patient and wait for the right opportunity. After all, this stuff does take time—an ultra-precious commodity today—and you don’t want to waste it on a project that doesn’t come out well.
Talk to your Web folks, your manager or managing editor. Brainstorm about stories you are currently working on or those that you’ve always wanted to do. Once you have an idea, fight for the time to do it well. We are past the point of producing a multimedia project just because we can; we need to be producing multimedia projects that are professional-looking and high in quality and meaningful to our audience. And that’s not something that can be rushed, especially for beginners.
Understand, too, that much experimentation has been going on across the news industry for many years now. Your idea may have been tried somewhere else, only to fail. Find someone who has been plugged in to the new media movement in news for some time to help you fine-tune your ideas so you don’t take your efforts down a previously discovered dead-end road.
Fostering community
The easiest way to get involved in the digital age is to simply start reading the user-generated content on your Web site (if applicable) and others. Peruse the comments posted on the blogs on your site and others. If readers comment on your stories, pick your opportunities to chime in and contribute to the discussion. Even something as simple as, “Great comments, everyone. Keep them coming,” will get you involved in this new paradigm of news consumption, which is more like a conversation and less like a lecture.
If your site doesn’t have blogs or allow comments on stories, ask why not. Start the conversation. It will force you to think differently and that simple exercise will help you open up to the possibilities of Journalism 2.0.
It’s time to learn how to survive and thrive in the digital age. Good luck.