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September 23, 2005

Flash as a journalistic tool

This story in Online Journalism Review should be of interest as you begin thinking about the multimedia story you'll be working on. (Remember the link I offered to Random This? That's another piece you should be looking at ...) Flash is a tool that most of our online newsrooms use in some way, shape or form.

An excerpt: "Want to put multimedia content on the Web? You’ll quickly find out that the free Flash player and the Flash authoring application top the list of solutions at most online news organizations."

Posted by Bob Benz at 08:54 AM | Comments (0)

September 22, 2005

Random this: Check it out

For an upcoming assignment, I'd like you to take a look at Random This, an ongoing web project that four young women at the Knoxville News Sentinel are working on. Very cool. Very fun. We'll be discussing this in class next Tuesday (and I will be in Athens for that class, so you won't be able to sleep through it the way you do on the conference calls.)

Posted by Bob Benz at 10:07 AM | Comments (0)

September 18, 2005

Week 3 lecture: The competitive landscape

In today’s class, we’ll look at a few real world examples that will help you get your head around the issues you’ll address in your final project.

Case studies

A. KansasCity.com

The goal: To get media outlets throughout the metro area to work together to drive traffic and build something bigger than any individual outlet could drive.

Kansas City Star was at the center

Pulled in TV, Radio and other groups. But over time, the portal unraveled.

Compare

KansasCity.com 2000

KansasCity.com 2005

B. BostonWorks.com

Notice the list of partners...

http://bostonworks.boston.com/

Common threat: Monster.com.

Seacoast Online (an Ottaway paper) promotes Boston Works on its jobs site

C. Knoxville News Sentinel and WBIR TV

PrepXtra-- News Sentinel
PrepXtra -- WBIR

GoVolsXtra -- Knoxville
GoVolsXtra -- Memphis

D. New Century Network

From Business Week article: "Started with $1 million each from Knight-Ridder, Tribune, Times Mirror, Advance Publications, Cox Enterprises, Gannett, Hearst, Washington Post, and New York Times, New Century seemed an entrepreneurial dream.
The Internet had just opened to the world, creating vast new competition for readers--and for the advertisers that pump $40 billion into newspapers. But it also gave newspapers a chance to capture national accounts that favored the one-stop-shopping convenience of TV and national magazines."

E. TBO.com

F. Aggregators

Oodle

So in summing up, here are key questions we should be asking in these situations:

  1. What is the goal of your partnership? What is the “win-win” for each side, and how will you define success?
  2. In entering the partnership, what are your risks? Could you end up giving a competitor an edge? Is there a danger of confusing your audience or diluting your marketing message?
  3. How will the partnership function? Who will give, who will take and how will that occur?
  4. What incentive does each partner have to remain in the partnership and ensure that it succeeds?
  5. What is your exist strategy? If the partnership doesn’t work out, how do you extract yourself from it with minimal impact on your existing business.

Click here for your lab assignment ...

Posted by Bob Benz at 03:57 PM | Comments (0)

Week 3 lab assignment

Here's your assignment for this week's lab. It will be a great time to start thinking about your final project. Make sure you review the sites we looked over in this week's lecture, and pay particular attention to the questions at the end of that post. They'll help you formulate your response here.

You are the new media director for the Deadtree Gazette, a 100k circulation newspaper in Deadtree, Okla., with a good website. It earns about $2.5m a year in revenue and is profitable. You have an average of 30k monthly unique users (about 30% of your print audience). A few key points and statistics:

As you survey the market, there are several potential media and non-media sites that you could try to partner with. Here are the candidates:

Your assignment:

Tell us what you’d do to try to expand your revenue and audience at the Deadtree Gazette. Take time looking over the options. You are welcome to consider other alternatives that might not be listed above. Don’t be afraid to be creative. Post your proposal as a comment to this blog entry. The proposal should be short. Three paragraphs, tops. You don’t need to fill in all the details. Just float a proposal and quickly state why you believe this is what senior management should do. I want you to spend most of your time thinking about what you'd do, not drafting a detailed plan of how you would do it.

Posted by Bob Benz at 03:30 PM | Comments (15)

September 17, 2005

Final project rosters

By Oct. 5, post a comment here to let us know if you'll be working alone or in a group on your final project. If you're a group, please list all members of the group. For final project tips, click here.

Posted by Bob Benz at 12:31 PM | Comments (6)

Final project paint by numbers

I realize your final project (“Strange Bedfellows”, see syllabus) is somewhat vague. But that's the way it often works when you're trying to pitch your ideas in the "real world." There isn't necessarily a strict format you follow when you're trying to convince senior management to follow your recommendation.

But despite this, here is a "paint by numbers" approach to the final project. This will help you cover key items that will need to be addressed as you present to your board of directors.

  1. Introduction: Set the scene and explain the competitive landscape and issues that we're facing as a business.
  2. Discuss several possible options for addressing the problem (in this case, we're trying to decide if we should partner with or compete with another site in our market).
  3. State your proposed solution.
  4. Explain how your solution will deal with content/audience.
  5. Explain how your solution will deal with advertising.
  6. Explain how your solution will address marketing.
  7. Sum up why, given the above points, your solution is the best business case. Convince the board this is the direction to take.

In items 4-6, you should be drawing on things we're discussing in class to bolster your argument. You need to be laying out strategy in the context of what you're proposing.

For instance, if you're proposing the sites remain separate and you compete aggressively, you'll be explaining why it makes more sense from a content, advertising and marketing perspective to pursue this route and how our company will be better off for having done so.

Now the critical part. How long should it be?

That's up to you. But know this: The average senior executive has the attention span of a gnat. I would keep the written version of this as concise as possible. I'd favor bulleted lists over verbal flourishes. Think memo, not treatise. I guarantee you we will be grading these based on how well you argue, not how long you argue.

You also will need to present your recommendations to the board. This is where the rubber hits the road. Again, long, rambling presentations will have the board members reaching for their Blackberries and answering e-mails rather than listening to you.
Follow the outline you laid you in your written proposal. In addition:

The real test here will be when the board asks you questions about your proposal and challenges you on assumptions you're making. Don't get rattled when a board member is disagreeing with you. Acknowledge his or her concerns. Explain that you considered that particular point. And here's why you don't agree and believe your course is the better option. This is about persuasion.

And finally, a note on working as groups vs. individuals. That's up to you.

If you work as a group, I want to be able to see the contribution each member of the group is making. Each member of the group needs to be responsible for delivering a section of the proposal. You will be graded as a group, not as individuals. So you'll be only as strong as your weakest link. But I'll also take the group dynamic into account when I'm grading. In other words, I'll cut groups some slack if there are a few rough edges in their presentations. In the "real world," you will find yourself working in groups more often than not in these situations. It's more difficult than operating alone, but it also has more value. Collaboration and playing well with others is a critical skill in the business world.

If you work as an individual, you will succeed or fail based on your own work. That's an advantage in some senses, but a disadvantage because a group has the ability to challenge assumptions and think problems through from a lot of different perspectives.

By Oct. 4, I would like you to post a note in this thread of the blog that tells us if you are going it alone or working in a group. Group should list all of their members. I'd like to know this in advance so I can figure out scheduling for the final presentations.

Posted by Bob Benz at 12:29 PM | Comments (0)

September 13, 2005

Citizen journalism lab assignment

Your lab assignment:

You've all been appointed to a new Executive Committee for a small daily newspaper.

The paper is 100 years old and serves a community of about 300,000. The circ. is around 60,000 and has shown a slow decline over the years.

The other media in the market is television (about three stations) and radio (12 stations, including two all-news stations).

There is also a craigslist of middling success and Yahoo! has a community page for the city.

There is no nearby major metro area.

The city, for its size, is pretty cosmopolitan, with a pretty significant immigrant community. The socio-economic mix is pretty varied. There is nothing homogenous about the community.

The population has been growing significantly, but the circ of the newspaper has not.

Your job – develop a business model that will ensure another 100 years of business for this media company.

What is your plan?

You should consider what you've learned from Innovator's Solution, Epic2015 and your studies on citizen journalism.

Both as a business and as a journalistic enterprise, what should this newspaper be doing today to ensure strong financial results both now and in the future.

Use the comments on this post to make your suggestions, challenge the suggestions of others, and defend your position, or modify it if somebody makes a point that gets you to rethink your suggestion.

At the end, each person should summarize a "business plan" based on what each reads as the consensus of input in the comments and turn that into Bob.


Posted by Howard Owens at 09:34 AM | Comments (20)

September 08, 2005

Citizen journalism -- the next steps

Online Journalism Review has a story on citizen journalism that's worth taking a look at.

A quote:

"Now we're seeing the next stage take hold in the citizens' media movement. People are beginning to contribute rich media -- photos, video and audio -- to news sites."

Also, note that at the comments at the end of this story, one of the sources writes in to complain that she was misquoted and to point out several other problems with the story. Very interesting. This is the kind of thing that starts happening when journalism becomes dialogue, and it can be a very positive thing.

Posted by Bob Benz at 04:31 PM | Comments (1)

September 05, 2005

Week 1 lecture: Journalism in Crisis

Here's a link to the lecture for week 1, Journalism in Crisis.

Posted by Bob Benz at 12:44 PM | Comments (0)

Introductions: Post your bio here

Since this class is being done via conference call, it really helps to provide a few details about ourselves so we can get acquainted. I'll start. Each of you can post a comment providing details about yourself.

I'm general manager for interactive media/newspapers at the E.W. Scripps Company. We own 21 daily papers, and I've been in the newspapers business in some way, shape or form since 1984. You can learn more about me in the following places:

1. My blog and website. I tend to steer clear of work issues here and focus mostly on travel and fun stuff.

2. My resume.

3. My biography.

Now it's your turn. Tell us about yourself ...

Posted by Bob Benz at 11:49 AM | Comments (17)

Epic 2015 video: Post your thoughts here

During the second half of Tuesday's class, you were asked to watch the Epic 2015 video. When I show this video to newspaper people, the room goes dead quiet and the rest of the conversation is very somber.

I'd like each of you to post your reaction to the video. Does it seem likely? What specific indications are you seeing that this prediction is on the mark or off base? This will be a good chance for you to get a feel for how the blog operates.

Posted by Bob Benz at 11:37 AM | Comments (16)

September 04, 2005

Welcome to J415

Welcome to J415, OU's online journalism practicum. I'm Bob Benz, and I'll be teaching this course with OU’s Dr. Bob Stewart. Our goal is to give you a "real world" view of issues confronting journalism in the 21st century. And there are a lot of them. In fact, the very foundation of the fourth estate is at risk. But times of great crisis also breed opportunities. That’s where we’ll be focusing.

This course is something of an experiment, and its success will depend as much on you as it does on the instructors. We will be using this blog as a primary means of communication. I'd strongly recommend that you check the blog daily and try to post at least a few times a week. We'll also hold a weekly conference call on Tuesdays. The first hour will introduce you to a high-level concept in online journalism, sometimes with the help of a guest speaker. During the second hour, you’ll break into two groups: ATHENSi and Speakeasy. Thursdays will be a lab, during which you will respond to posts on the class blog and work on assignments related to the subject we’re focusing on.

You will be able to respond to posts in this blog. You also can initiate threads of your own using the username and login we provide.

Your grade will be based primarily on a business case that you will present. Details on this, as well as other details about how you will be graded, can be found in the course syllabus.

If you have questions, don't hesitate to let me know. I can be reached via e-mail at bbenz@scrippsweb.com or by phone: (865)971-5920.

If you want to know more about me, my personal website is a good place to start. I've also posted a bio and my resume .

Posted by Bob Benz at 12:19 PM | Comments (0)

September 01, 2005

Is citizen journalism a "joke"?

The following story, from the Denver Business Journal, looks at the pros and cons of YourHub, a citizen journalism project in Denver. (Full disclosure: Scripps, the company I work for, owns the Rocky Mountain News and is half-owner of the Denver Newspaper Agency).

EXCLUSIVE REPORTS
From the August 26, 2005 print edition
Publishers say YourHub no threat to 'burb papers
Amy Bryer
Denver Business Journal

Suburban newspaper publishers have a few cheers but mostly jeers for the Denver Newspaper Agency's (DNA) new YourHub.com publications and Web sites for more than 40 metro-area communities.

Rocky Mountain News publisher John Temple has been touting YourHub in his columns and even on National Public Radio as the newest form of community journalism -- where Average Joes and Janes can post neighborhood news, pictures of their pet's birthday party or even their golf score.

But area newspaper publishers call it bad for journalism and a vehicle for free advertising. Some say it's just plain bad.

"It's the biggest joke I've ever seen," said Bob Sweeney, owner of the Villager in Greenwood Village and recent past president of the National Newspaper Association. "It's the worst piece of journalism. I'd be embarrassed to publish it."

Temple has written that Your Hub is supposed to be a platform where citizens can share stories, calling it a "virtual town square."

But on a recent YourHub Web site, readers found "news" items promoting car wash services, a networking event and a college investment service.

Temple, whose staff directs the editorial operations of YourHub, tells detractors that the beauty of YourHub is that everyone is welcome to post anything as long as it isn't obscene or violent.

"I believe advertising is a form of free speech," he said.

He likened the Web site to a bulletin board at the gym.

The Denver Newspaper Agency, which publishes the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post, explains on the YourHub.com Web site that it doesn't monitor content that's posted by users and can't be held responsible.

YourHub staffers do edit the content that's taken from the Web site submissions and placed in the weekly print edition that goes to Post and News subscribers in 15 communities.

But newspaper publishers around town say the Web sites and their print counterparts are being misused by public relations agencies looking to plug their clients.

"They call it news, but it's not journalism," said David Lewis, publisher of Mile High Newspapers Inc., which publishes the Golden Transcript, Lakewood Sentinel, Arvada Press and Wheat Ridge Transcript.

Public relations agencies admit they use YourHub to promote their clients, but some say they have tried not to overuse the Web sites.

"You can cynically look at it as another venue for advertising, but we've tried not to abuse it and tried to be a good citizen," said Gwinavere Johnston, CEO of JohnstonWells Public Relations.

Temple said it should be obvious to consumers where the message is coming from. "I don't think the First Amendment says it protects free speech, except for people we don't like or PR agencies."

But PR agencies admit that they don't always include the source of the information when they submit a story on behalf of their client.

Although some PR agencies have said they don't see the value in using the YourHub sites.

"We don't think it gets a serious read because it looks like a throwaway," said Peter Webb, president of Webb PR.

The publishers said they haven't lost any advertising to YourHub.com, but Lewis said he did lose his advertising sales manager to the DNA. Some advertisers are talking with the DNA about advertising with YourHub.com, Lewis said, but his staff is monitoring the situation.

What YourHub is passing off as news is insulting to professionals who are in the field, said Scott Perriman, publisher of MetroNorth Newspapers, which prints the Northglenn-Thornton Sentinel and the Westminster Window.

"The only [readers] who will stick with it are the people who consistently write angry letters to the editor," he said.

And with a political season approaching, YourHub may be exposing itself to a libel suit if it doesn't filter submissions that claim "Joe Schmo politician is a thief and a crook," the publisher said.

Sweeney believes YourHub is destructive to an industry that's already teetering on the brink of total distrust by readers. If the Web site posts enough incorrect, inaccurate or misleading stories, it will give readers one more reason not to trust the media, he said.

"People are already angry with inaccuracies in the media; this concept encourages that," Sweeney said.

But Temple said YourHub.com is better for the journalism industry because it involves more people in the product.

Readership of metro daily newspapers is slipping across the country, and this concept of community journalism is a response to a fear that free dailies -- such as those proposed by Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz -- will beat traditional paid subscription papers, Sweeney said.

Anschutz bought the San Francisco Examiner in February 2004 and turned it into a free daily paper. Circulation jumped from 76,000 to 160,000 after the switch. This past February, he did it again in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., delivering the Washington Examiner free to 260,000 homes and newsstands -- and he's trademarked the Examiner name in 70 U.S. cities, including Denver.

"[The DNA] would be much better off spending their time and money to improve their daily newspapers' product," Sweeney said.

All of the suburban publishers interviewed by the Denver Business Journal didn't view YourHub.com as a competitor in their markets, but Harrison Cochran at the Aurora Sentinel called the publication the "boldest experiment" he's seen.

"Everything that competes for a minute of eyeball time is competition," he said. "We'll know in a year if it's worked out."

Posted by Bob Benz at 08:33 AM | Comments (14)