Submitted by kpowers@cnc.com on Fri, 02/20/2009 – 9:32amin
Conversationalists: Jennifer Hemmingsen/Kat Powers
KAT POWERS’ RESPONSES:
What is the story of your work and how did it lead to saying “yes” to this gathering?
Kat is managing editor for two of Boston-area weekly newspapers that became Web first in December 2006. It was a big leap – her papers are two of the oldest continually publishing weeklies in the US – and not all staffers were able to manage the transition. “Now I have a small, fast moving crew,” she said. That means a staffer-and-a-half at each paper, a shared obits writer and office manager: “We’re all out there – we all have cameras, we all shoot video.” She also has a cadre of readers who generate content – photos, stories — a natural transition, since the papers had a history of user-generated community notes. Kat’s running the smartest and fastest organization in her newspaper group, and she’s exhausted her staff’s ideas. She’s ready to learn from somebody else.
We’re well beyond the debate that journalism is changing. Tell me about an experience you.ve had with these new realities — roles, tools, relationships, economics — in which the emerging news ecology actually made a difference in telling a story that mattered. What did that experience teach you about the gifts of both new ways of working and the traditional roots of journalism?
When a school caught fire recently, Kat had a freelance photo and initial police comments posted to the Web site before she even left to go to the scene. It was shift change at the local TV station, so she owned the story for five hours.
During that time, students and teachers at the school used the story comment section to talk with each other about their fears and concerns. When school leaders finally met hours after the fire had started, they realized they had lost control of the story – they couldn’t control the news any more. Top down wasn’t going to work.
Now, the paper’s site hosts the mayor’s blog – where he communicates directly to citizens (one recent entry: apologies and explanations about why the Christmas trees hadn’t yet been picked up). Kat’s state rep texts her from the statehouse floor. The skills are the same: gathering information — verifying it and getting it out to readers – but the vehicle is different. Kat calls it working without a net. “Every once in a while somebody tells me I need a copyeditor,” she said,. But other readers quickly leap to her defense. She’s still serving her longtime subscribers (“We’ve been around since 1870,” she said. “I have readers who used to deliver the paper before the big war.”), by offering in print traditional fare like crime and politics, along with a digest of the best of the week’s Web news. But she’s also attracted a younger online audience that can be fiercely loyal.
Without being humble, what do you value most about yourself? What do you see yourself bringing to this meeting?
“I work really, really hard and – I work with really, really young people all the time so I might be at the vanguard of some of the things like Twitter that some of my colleagues might not know about.”
What is it about journalism without which it would cease to be journalism; what is its essential core? What are you ready to let go of?
Journalism is about the ability to ask questions beyond your own point of view. Journalists aren’t necessarily better at gathering information, but they are trained to get all sides and a greater perspective.
The year is 2014 and the new news ecology is a vibrant media landscape. What is journalism bringing to communities and democracy that matters most? What steps did we take back in 2009 to begin to bring this about?
“In 5 years I think we’ll be able to bring more tools to community members – so newspaper web sites will have easy portals where you can load your own video of a car crash or a parade.” To get there, we have to train our community journalists about how we do what we do.
JENN HEMMINGSEN’S RESPONSES:
What is the story of your work and how did it lead to saying “yes” to this gathering?
My Facebook friends are automatically notified when I update my blog. My followers on Twitter have contributed to a half-dozen columns so far in addition to providing feedback about what I’ve written. I’ve taken some baby steps toward full-time interactive content, but I’ve got a million miles to go. Where exactly? I’m not sure.
What I do know is that the opinion department has historically been the most interactive part of the news business and we should lead the way in expanding that to include new technologies, new audiences and new ideas. People are used to using us to talk back to the newspaper or directly to their neighbors. We should capitalize on this energy and tradition, while recognizing and meeting the unique technical and ethical challenges of the new news ecology.
The Gazette has “blown up the newsroom” and is going information first – as subject matter experts, reporters will be more aggressive than ever in soliciting community content and raw information in addition to their traditional tasks. As a columnist, I’ll also need to develop new strategies to capture an ever greater share of this fragmented online audience.
We’re well beyond the debate that journalism is changing. Tell me about an experience you.ve had with these new realities — roles, tools, relationships, economics — in which the emerging news ecology actually made a difference in telling a story that mattered. What did that experience teach you about the gifts of both new ways of working and the traditional roots of journalism?
The news broke over the weekend: the state fire marshal had shut down a century-old school building turned bunkhouse where 21 mentally disabled men were living in unsafe conditions. Soon after, we learned the men’s caretakers and employers were accused of taking all their wages from jobs at a nearby turkey processing plant. As more information became available, it seemed there were 10 questions remaining for every one question answered. So I reported in public: posting to my blog the questions I had and asking for readers to tell me what they wanted to know. As I interviewed, I posted snippets of source responses to the blog. As I read the clips, I posted stories to the blog. When my Wednesday column appeared I put that up, too. I felt good about keeping people posted, and getting their feedback during the process. Since it was all work I was doing anyway, it wasn’t a huge burden to post.
Without being humble, what do you value most about yourself? What do you see yourself bringing to this meeting?
Openness to new ideas but a healthy skepticism about how we’ll be able to do good journalism in this new atmosphere.
What is it about journalism without which it would cease to be journalism; what is its essential core? What are you ready to let go of?
Providing timely and accurate information that helps people make decisions and make sense of their communities; providing public oversight of public business (watchdog). Everything else is negotiable to me.
The year is 2014 and the new news ecology is a vibrant media landscape. What is journalism bringing to communities and democracy that matters most? What steps did we take back in 2009 to begin to bring this about?
I hope that we’ll be able to help make sense of the cacophony, that we’ll be sense makers helping people sift through unlimited content. A digital marketplace of ideas where truth really does float to the top. I think we’re getting there in terms of quantity and opening the gates for more information. I wonder about the sense part.
JENN’S REFLECTION:
The interview process got me excited about meeting everyone. I was intrigued by Kat’s stories about how plugged in her readers are and hope to learn some tips. I was surprised by how much of what we do that I’d consider negotiable if it serves the greater purpose.
Kat’s reflection:
My new buzzword came from Jenn. She described the process of putting bits online that folks comment upon (while writing the larger story) as “writing in public.” That knocked me out.
I think Jenn is able to put into words this whole — we’re building the future, holy cow that’s scary — aspect of our jobs. I think it will be great to hear from others how they deal with this.
