- Terry Field, Media Columnist, Troy Media
Reporters, editors and media researchers gathered in Montreal this past weekend to discuss the impact and potential of social media in news gathering and presentation.
The tone of the event, held during the Canadian Association of Journalists’ annual convention and called Good Journalism in 140 Characters or More – 140 characters being a reference to Twitter’s tweet limit – was less than upbeat. Journalists have had a tough time over the past year or more, not unlike other sectors of the recession-ravaged economy.
The delegates’ consensus was that Canadian news organizations face significant challenges, including finding new revenue sources, understanding, engaging and serving news audiences, and effectively using technology and social media.
Less than upbeat
One panel, on the future of printed newspapers (as opposed to online), reiterated many of the assertions and observations in this ongoing discussion. But John Stackhouse, editor-in-chief of the Globe and Mail, and Kirk LaPointe, managing editor of the Vancouver Sun, provided a more nuanced take on the question.
Stackhouse said the newspaper as we have known it has no future beyond a yet-to-be-determined endpoint, and he reported that the Globe is redesigning the look of the printed paper to align it more with the expectations of Internet readers. He believes journalism is in flux across the board – in terms of economics, presentation, audience development and content development.
Stackhouse used as an example the work of Globe reporter Mark MacKinnon, who was in Thailand during the recent political/social upheaval and tweeted and blogged in near real time from the streets of Bangkok. Audiences have come to expect, or soon will come to expect, this level of connection, said Stackhouse.
His comments raised an interesting question in my mind: Will MacKinnon’s “brand” (assuming his Twitter followers or Facebook friends are primarily his) overtake the Globe’s brand in some way? Or will the Globe gain from his followers?
Social media creates more exploitable points of access for news organizations in their search for audience. A younger audience might be more inclined to follow the exploits of a specific reporter who, through a blog, shares both the news as well as his/her personality. Because much of what we read online is personality-driven, it stands to reason that some, even many, Internet users are attracted to journalists who develop a personal connection with their audiences.
Unlike Stackhouse, the Vancouver Sun ‘s LaPointe said printed newspapers will be around long after the deaths of most members of the conference audience – although newspapers will adjust to the impact and potential of technology and social media in particular. But LaPointe, one the country’s first new media adopters, said newspapers need to know more about their “customers.”
News organizations have tended toward simple, cheap and less-detailed preferred-topics, where audiences are asked to rank the importance of stories. An editor knows crime news is important to an audience, for example, but does not actually know why that’s the case.
Back in the day when advertising in newspapers was sufficient to cover costs and provide profit, there was little need to know about the reader, and little interest. Now, with news organizations needing to find new sources of income and particularly to find ways to make money through online news sites, connecting with an audience on multiple levels is likely a necessity for survival.
LaPointe said newspapers might have to create much more distinction between the printed newspaper and their websites. The tendency has been to more-or-less replicate the printed newspaper in an online format. Having differentiated products in the same newsroom might reach more people than having one product produced in two forms.
While Stackhouse and LaPointe hold similar overall views over the state of the journalism industry, their differences can be explained in part by the differences in the news products they help produce. The Globe and Mail is national in scope with regionally orientated content as well for different news markets, while theVancouver Sun is principally, though not parochially, focused on the Vancouver area. Their respective audiences come to the products with somewhat different expectations – so different, they might someday dictate different choices and directions for the Globe and Sun. It is conceivable that within a decade the Globemight choose not to have print editions. Conversely, the Sun may choose to maintain some form of print publication because its audience still wants them.
The fluidity of audiences is a real challenge for larger media companies with high cost operations, but an opportunity for alternative models of news delivery where the cost and scale is more modest. Rob Curley of theLas Vegas Sun and David Beers, editor of The Tyee, have very different and successful online news sites. TheLas Vegas Sun is in some ways a traditional news organization that is now focused on online delivery, while maintaining a “hyper-local” focus in its news coverage. By contrast, the British Columbia based Tyee is regional, focusing on province-wide issues, and socially conscious special story series made possible through donations from foundations and others.
Some news formats will disappear
If there is a trend to be underscored in the news business in 2010, it is the development of new models of information design and presentation. Some of those models will emanate from large news organizations reworking their business practices and content offerings, while others will spring from the demands of particular news markets and the imaginations of the journalists who produce them.
Traditional news media is changing. Some news formats will disappear as others evolve and new business models emerge. But professional journalism is in no danger of disappearing. The need to know is an essential component of our lives, our politics, our democracy and our sense of community, and citizens will demand and support quality journalism that suits their interests and needs.
Terry Field has worked in print and broadcast media, and he is an associate professor and program chair for the journalism major in the Bachelor of Communication program at Mount Royal University, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. 
