SoJ Web Report | Dec. 13, 2011
By Amy Wimmer Schwarb, BAJ'98 |
| Ben French, BAJ'98, Kristen Kemp, BAJ'96, Chris Moeller, BA'90, Jennifer Emily, BAJ'99, Raju Narisetti, MA'91, and Kristi Oloffson, BAJ'09, talk about their career paths as journalism evolves in a digital world. |
A medium is a device for moving information through time or space.
Media is the plural of medium.
The medium is not the message, although the media may alter the message’s accuracy.
Brown also noted the threats facing traditional media. At the time, network television was encountering challenges from both the videocassette recorder and cable television. Only a year earlier, CNN’s coverage of the first Gulf War had redefined broadcast news and created the 24-hour news cycle, so students could understand that peril.
The obstacles presented to print, on the other hand, seemed more abstract. That day, I wrote in my lecture notes:
“Two problems associated w/continuing newspaper industry. 1.) cost of newsprint. 2.) expense of delivery. SOLUTION: newspaper on computer.”
The notes contain another nugget from Brown’s discussion. He was apparently insistent on this point, because it is underlined for emphasis:
“Media is continually changing.”
Today, the course number for J110 remains the same, and the class still meets exclusively in Ernie Pyle Hall, Room 220. But the class is now devoted to that singular, emphatic footnote from Brown’s lecture.
“The course is about how journalism is transforming,” says Hans Ibold, an assistant professor who teaches J110. “The approach to this course used to be, ‘Here are all the answers. Here are the facts about journalism and history and what mass communication is.’ And now, there is so much more uncertainty.
“The students are so excited about the media landscape,” Ibold continues. “There are so many opportunities — problems, but opportunities. At the end of the course, we sort of end up with more questions than answers.”
That, of course, is a common refrain for journalism these days: More questions than answers, more problems than solutions. Twenty years later, Brown’s message — that the media are continually changing — remains the most certain statement on the uncertain journalism landscape.
In search of industry news that is more concrete, we turned to IU journalism grads working at the forefront of digital forms of journalism. The conversations didn’t exactly yield a consensus about the industry’s future but did produce something else that has been in rare supply: optimism.
Ben French, BAJ' 98
Strategic planning manager, The New York Times
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| Courtesy photo |
| Ben French, BAJ'98, is strategic planning manager at the New York Times. He's worked for several online news organizations and calls recent changes "an incredible tectonic shift." |
Talk about a tough act to follow.
“I wanted to be a metro beat reporter for a notable newspaper somewhere. I wanted to grow up to be Tom French at one point,” Ben French says. “I don’t know when that stopped being the case. Probably when I actually worked at a newspaper.”
French had logged long hours at the Indiana Daily Student, but his internship at the now-defunct Cincinnati Post made him reconsider whether newspapers were in his future.
So, when an entrepreneur friend offered him a job at UWIRE — essentially a wire service that shares content produced by student journalists — French took his first step toward a career online.
“I got lured by what a lot of folks who came out in the late ’90s got lured by,” French says. “We were at a wire service that was basically run by 23-year-olds. Everybody was young and energetic, and you start finding out you’re in love with the medium itself.”
And that’s how French found his passion for digital journalism and the opportunities it creates. From UWIRE, which was purchased by CBS, he went to CBSNews.com. Then he made the leap to Rolling Stone and spent two years as executive producer of Rolling-Stone.com. Recently, he joined the New York Times as strategic planning manager.
“It’s totally different than the love I had for newspapers,” says French, who resigned from Rolling Stone when his contract expired in July. “Newspapers are fairly codified, so if you’re falling in love, you’re falling in love with a craft that’s been honed forever, whereas if you’re falling in love with digital news and the presentation of that, it’s falling in love with the madness and the creation and the evolution of the whole thing, which is happening constantly.”
And, he points out, the medium is still in its infancy and has already demonstrated that it can expand, and even improve, storytelling opportunities. French calls all the changes “an incredible tectonic shift”—but believes in the power of online journalism, even moneymaking
online journalism.
And that’s how French found his passion for digital journalism and the opportunities it creates. From UWIRE, which was purchased by CBS, he went to CBSNews.com. Then he made the leap to Rolling Stone and spent two years as executive producer of Rolling-Stone.com. Recently, he joined the New York Times as strategic planning manager.
“It’s totally different than the love I had for newspapers,” says French, who resigned from Rolling Stone when his contract expired in July. “Newspapers are fairly codified, so if you’re falling in love, you’re falling in love with a craft that’s been honed forever, whereas if you’re falling in love with digital news and the presentation of that, it’s falling in love with the madness and the creation and the evolution of the whole thing, which is happening constantly.”
And, he points out, the medium is still in its infancy and has already demonstrated that it can expand, and even improve, storytelling opportunities. French calls all the changes “an incredible tectonic shift”—but believes in the power of online journalism, even moneymaking
online journalism.
Kristen Kemp, BAJ'96
Founding editor, BaristaKids.com
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| Photo courtesy of Johan Svenson |
| Kristen Kemp, BAJ'96, founded Baristakids.com. She said Web-based media provides outlets, but comes with a price. |
“I wanted a site for parents that would just be news and updates and some rumors and gossip, too,” Kemp says. “I just saw an opening for something that wasn’t there.”
The website fulfilled a more selfish need as well.
“I also wanted to stay current,” Kemp says, “so I wouldn’t be just a washed-up print journalist who didn’t know about the Internet.”
She invested in the design and construction of the site and began writing stories. As its popularity grew, Kemp hired other writers to contribute stories and even began looking for someone who could sell local advertisements to support the website.
“I had all these blank pages to fill every day,” she says, “and I realized, ‘This does cost money. I need to get some ads.”
Then, a serendipitous opportunity arose: An established local website dedicated to community news approached her, hoping to form a partnership. Suddenly, BaristaKids.com had a revenue stream.
Today, three years after launching the site, Kemp writes a couple of stories for the site each week and remains the co-owner and founding editor. But a business associate who joined her as co-owner is now the editor-in-chief, managing the site’s content and business operations.
“It’s awesome because it’s exactly what I had in mind — somebody else to take it over and run with it,” Kemp says. “It didn’t make enough money for me to stay with it forever.”
And that’s where this successful story of a hyperlocal news site takes a different turn. Because even though the site has a savvy editor, relatively steady revenue and a devoted audience, Kemp found that she could not use it to earn a living.
She says she can visualize a future for journalists in intensely local websites like hers that fill a niche. But even the successful ones might not support an income.
Now that her children are nearing school age, Kemp plans to return to freelancing, armed with fresh entrepreneurial experience in the digital realm.
“The Web is great because it provides us so many outlets, but it just doesn’t pay what we’re used to being paid,” Kemp says. “It’s very rewarding, but it comes with a price.”
Then, a serendipitous opportunity arose: An established local website dedicated to community news approached her, hoping to form a partnership. Suddenly, BaristaKids.com had a revenue stream.
Today, three years after launching the site, Kemp writes a couple of stories for the site each week and remains the co-owner and founding editor. But a business associate who joined her as co-owner is now the editor-in-chief, managing the site’s content and business operations.
“It’s awesome because it’s exactly what I had in mind — somebody else to take it over and run with it,” Kemp says. “It didn’t make enough money for me to stay with it forever.”
And that’s where this successful story of a hyperlocal news site takes a different turn. Because even though the site has a savvy editor, relatively steady revenue and a devoted audience, Kemp found that she could not use it to earn a living.
She says she can visualize a future for journalists in intensely local websites like hers that fill a niche. But even the successful ones might not support an income.
Now that her children are nearing school age, Kemp plans to return to freelancing, armed with fresh entrepreneurial experience in the digital realm.
“The Web is great because it provides us so many outlets, but it just doesn’t pay what we’re used to being paid,” Kemp says. “It’s very rewarding, but it comes with a price.”
Chris Moeller
Senior director, Global Design, Yahoo.com
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| Photo courtesy of Cuong Nguyen |
| Chris Moeller, senior design director at Yahoo.com, focuses on making content accessible and compelling. |
But he does have advice for journalists hoping to be part of whatever the next wave of profitability might be.
“I think that journalism is expanding to be a lot of different things to different people,” Moeller says. “And the important thing is to think what the core of the experience is that you want to have as an individual. What do you want to do? What do you want to deliver?
“For me, the core of what I wanted to do was listening and understanding, and less actually getting published,” he says. “The choices I made were somewhat reflective of that.”
Moeller graduated from IU with a double major in fine arts and journalism, and a minor in anthropology. He also studied Mandarin, and when he graduated, he headed to China to study at the University of Hong Kong. He then remained in China for a few years to work in business in the mid-1990s.
“About that time, I heard about this thing called the Internet, and it seemed like a wonderful combination of journalism and design and art,” Moeller says. “I left Shanghai, moved to L.A., and I got the tools of the trade and taught myself the software and how to actually go about Web design.”
At Yahoo, where he has worked for more than six years, his job is focused on making content as accessible and compelling as possible. The role is similar to his vision for his career, though he couldn’t have imagined the position when he left Bloomington in 1990.
Media is changing so rapidly, Moeller says, that budding journalists need to hold tight to their best skills and be malleable to an employer’s ideas for how to use them.
“What is the center or the core of a journalist’s path?” Moeller asks. “And how do you hold onto that so that the platform and the methodology can change around the core, and you can adapt?”
At Yahoo, where he has worked for more than six years, his job is focused on making content as accessible and compelling as possible. The role is similar to his vision for his career, though he couldn’t have imagined the position when he left Bloomington in 1990.
Media is changing so rapidly, Moeller says, that budding journalists need to hold tight to their best skills and be malleable to an employer’s ideas for how to use them.
“What is the center or the core of a journalist’s path?” Moeller asks. “And how do you hold onto that so that the platform and the methodology can change around the core, and you can adapt?”
Jennifer Emily, BAJ’99
Criminal courts reporter, Dallas Morning News
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| Courtesy photo |
| Jennifer Emily's job is all about writing, from iPhone stories while covering a case to tweets to blogs to a final print version. |
But that’s not all she does.
“Many times, while covering a trial, I will write iPhone stories for the Web while the testimony is going on,” Emily says. “I will tweet. I blog, and then at the end of the trial, I fold it all into a story.”
The pace has been quickening for about 10 years, she says, though the constant movement among several platforms has become more intense in the past two or three. As she adds new technologies to her repertoire, she tries to stay true to the passion for storytelling that brought her to journalism in the first place. She writes longer Web stories, taking care to give the prosecution and defense equal billing, just as she would in print.
“It’s hard to write those stories in two or three paragraphs,” Emily says, “because I feel the reader deserves so much more.”
Her job in the future, she imagines, will be much like her job today: She’ll still have to seek information at the courthouse. She’ll have to know people, and she’ll have to listen. When and if the Dallas Morning News exists only in digital form, it will still need people who can write a story and bring professionalism to their jobs.
“You have to have people who know what they’re doing,” Emily says, “and what it means to be fair and accurate.”
And while the industry is still trying to ferret out the future of journalism, Emily notes, some of the tools that pose the biggest threats have helped make her job easier. Facebook, for instance, has revolutionized how she deals with sources. Initially hesitant to “friend” them, she found that once they could interact with her on a personal level, they become more willing to share with her. And texting makes multitasking easy — especially when she’s stuck in a courtroom listening for testimony, as generations of reporters have done.
“You have to have people who know what they’re doing,” Emily says, “and what it means to be fair and accurate.”
And while the industry is still trying to ferret out the future of journalism, Emily notes, some of the tools that pose the biggest threats have helped make her job easier. Facebook, for instance, has revolutionized how she deals with sources. Initially hesitant to “friend” them, she found that once they could interact with her on a personal level, they become more willing to share with her. And texting makes multitasking easy — especially when she’s stuck in a courtroom listening for testimony, as generations of reporters have done.
Raju Narisetti, MA'91
Managing editor, The Washington Post
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| Photo courtesy Ramesh Pathania |
| Raju Narisetti, MA'91, said he feels a sense of urgency in developing ways to generate income from online and mobile products. |
“It was 2007,” Narisetti says. “You’d be foolish not to think of an integrated approach.”
So when Narisetti joined The Washington Post as managing editor in 2009, he was confronted for the first time with questions of how to retool a proud, traditional newspaper to make it successful in an era of free online content.
“The Post has a rich tradition and history, so you can’t ignore our successes and our heritage and people’s image of who we are,” says Narisetti, who is now responsible for all digital content and the paper’s expansion to mobile devices. “You don’t start with a clean sheet of paper; that has its advantages.
“The downside is it’s somewhat more challenging to get a newsroom focused primarily on the newspaper,” Narisetti continues, “to think of the newspaper as one of many things that they should focus on.”
The other things, of course, are the other platforms through which The Washington Post makes itself available to readers. The newspaper still makes 80 percent of its revenue through its print edition, but like other papers, the profitability of the print product is declining fast.
The analogy Narisetti uses doesn’t sound promising.
“It’s almost like trying to hang onto a bunch of falling knives while trying to also figure out new ways to find audiences and new ways to make money,” Narisetti says. “That’s why it feels like we have a sense of urgency.”
He points out that the Post’s online audience has grown by the millions in the past two years. The problem, of course, is convincing that audience to pay for the news it has been getting for free.
And answering that challenge is what excites Narisetti and makes him optimistic about not just the future of journalism, but the news business.
“Having missed the Web bus, we are now, 15 years later, trying to figure out how to undo that,” Narisetti says. “You’ve got the inertia, an unwillingness on the part of Web audiences to pay.”
Mobile technologies, however, could write a new chapter for newspapers.
“The thing about mobile is that people seem to be willing to pay,” he says. “It is a small window of opportunity to take advantage of so we don’t make the same mistakes we did with the Web.”
The analogy Narisetti uses doesn’t sound promising.
“It’s almost like trying to hang onto a bunch of falling knives while trying to also figure out new ways to find audiences and new ways to make money,” Narisetti says. “That’s why it feels like we have a sense of urgency.”
He points out that the Post’s online audience has grown by the millions in the past two years. The problem, of course, is convincing that audience to pay for the news it has been getting for free.
And answering that challenge is what excites Narisetti and makes him optimistic about not just the future of journalism, but the news business.
“Having missed the Web bus, we are now, 15 years later, trying to figure out how to undo that,” Narisetti says. “You’ve got the inertia, an unwillingness on the part of Web audiences to pay.”
Mobile technologies, however, could write a new chapter for newspapers.
“The thing about mobile is that people seem to be willing to pay,” he says. “It is a small window of opportunity to take advantage of so we don’t make the same mistakes we did with the Web.”
Kristi Oloffson, BAJ’09
Interactive news assistant, The Wall Street Journal
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| Photo courtesy Dustin Drankoski |
| Kristi Oloffson, BAJ'09, says the goal of any news organization is to get products in as many forms as possible, and to get people to pay for it. |
But Kristi Oloffson, BAJ ’09, an interactive news assistant for The Wall Street Journal who works almost exclusively on wsj.com, says that despite her close affiliation with online news, she sees how much audiences still value the print product. And for the foreseeable future, she believes, the news business might closely resemble what it looks like now.
“I’m still more of a print person,” Oloffson says. “I love the print product and always have. There’s this sort of mentality that if something is published only online, everyone’s a little disappointed.”
Certainly, public relations professionals still look at the print product as the place to get recognition for their clients. Space is more limited there, and so a story published in a print edition is viewed as holding more value.
And Oloffson points to the popularity of the Newseum.org website featuring newspaper front pages from around the country. The site became overloaded with visitors on the Monday after the shootout at the Osama bin Laden compound in Pakistan.
“You couldn’t even get on that site, and all it is are front pages,” Oloffson says. “I think people still care.”
As a senior at IU, Oloffson covered the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama for the Indiana Daily Student — another story that led readers to seek out and save print editions.
Not every day can be a history-making news day, of course. But the print side still accounts for the great majority of revenues, and Oloffson is hopeful that that print’s decline slows and levels off.
In the meantime, though, she’s preparing for whatever form her career might take.
“The goal of any news organization is to get the product on as many platforms as possible,” Oloffson says, “and to get people to like it, and to get people to pay for it.”
“You couldn’t even get on that site, and all it is are front pages,” Oloffson says. “I think people still care.”
As a senior at IU, Oloffson covered the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama for the Indiana Daily Student — another story that led readers to seek out and save print editions.
Not every day can be a history-making news day, of course. But the print side still accounts for the great majority of revenues, and Oloffson is hopeful that that print’s decline slows and levels off.
In the meantime, though, she’s preparing for whatever form her career might take.
“The goal of any news organization is to get the product on as many platforms as possible,” Oloffson says, “and to get people to like it, and to get people to pay for it.”
Questions? Comments? Email the Web editor.
