Mobile reporters and an idea to help save papers
Cory Bergman May 21st, 2008
With laptops and WiFi, is there any reason for newspaper reporters to file from the newsroom — or even work out of a newsroom at all? “With most editing, ad placement, layout, and design done on computers anyway, it’s conceivable that the newsroom as it exists today could be eliminated, with folks working from home, their car, or even the local Starbucks,” writes Joe Strupp in Editor & Publisher. But some worry that reporters will lose the valuable exchange of ideas that comes from working in a newsroom.
Personally, I don’t understand why newspapers haven’t split off half their reporters to neighborhoods (requiring them to live there) and launching a network of hyperlocal news sites that all seamlessly feed back to their core site with an integrated CMS. (Beat reporters, meanwhile, would categorize their stories across relevant neighborhoods.) Having a neighborhood reporter is a powerful idea, especially when that reporter covers the small stuff in short form. This forms a relationship and an online community that generates more tips and a larger aggregate audience. But that’s just me. Culture, my friends, is the highest of all barriers.
17 Comments Add your own
1. Jeff V | May 21st, 2008 at 11:04 am
“Culture, my friends, is the highest of all barriers”.
Cory, can I use that quote in a presentation to some municipal colleagues of mine?
That’s a great one, and a great idea re: neighborhood reporters.
2. tdc | May 21st, 2008 at 11:15 am
quick!
before the spelling police arrive and say that mis-spelling “loose” hurts your credibility…
then delete this comment.
3. David Johnson | May 21st, 2008 at 12:33 pm
there is a marketing adage that the toughest sell is the one inside your own company.
i have wondered this for a long time while i was managing technology for newsrooms. the quick answer was that the collaboration of working with other reporters helps with contacts, inside information, tips, leads, etc. while virtual community can make up for some that, real face time is still the most efficient when you prairie dog over the cube wall to get help to punch up the lede or get a source for another quote.
big media still own access and collaboration, resulting from brand equity and the associated trust among sources and readers/viewers.
4. Pete Liebengood | May 21st, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Is there any reason newspaper reporters shouldn’t carry a Flip Cam with them to enhance their stories for the web? Flip Cams can be plugged into a MAC and a good story can be edited on IMovi and FTP’d for inclusion on the web.
5. tdc | May 21st, 2008 at 1:49 pm
it’s amazing yet tragic to watch these companies being taken apart on seemingly a daily basis.
i was watching mcclatchy earlier today and just now noticed ah belo got whooped at the end of the day.
one thing i found odd in reading about the number of employees papers have is that while they employ a huge number of people only a fraction are making news.
that would lead one to believe the dead tree version takes alot of hands to knock out and deliver.
there is a swift answer to that.
6. B | May 21st, 2008 at 6:01 pm
better question…why haven’t local TV folks done this?
One guy, hard drive, HDV Camera, deck, and laptop. Can’t find WiFi then use a EV-DO card.
I know it works…I do it.
7. wtf TV people? | May 21st, 2008 at 6:06 pm
good point #6.
Why are you tv people pointing fingers at newspapers?
Everything TV folks do can be done from the field just as well.
8. Anonymous | May 21st, 2008 at 6:12 pm
A1: Where I come from McClatchy and Belo readers and viewers are already a bit contemptuous for BOTH.
A2: B, maybe because I heard such flak over Young Broadcasting/KRON doing this from Bay Area posters to Usenet that I figured Max Headroom was a FLUKE (and that didn’t run for long on ABC either).
A2B: Then again, my ABC station bumped American Bandstand mercilessly or preempted it and wasted Saturday mornings for most of my good teenage years so what do I know?
9. TR | May 21st, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Even without the neighborhood aspect, what TV does now could largely be done from home. At my ex-station, all we did was sit around computers anyway … the video came in off servers viewed and edited on desktop, both local and national; the shows were written and produced in newsroom software; most communication, including story plans and daily idea sheets, happened via e-mail or other online posting. I always said, we could all just be sitting in our living rooms, and if you REALLY think we need to see each other, stick a webcam atop everybody’s monitor and wave now and then. But as Cory wrote … it’s the culture … those at the top refused to believe it coulid be done without everyone spending at least a half-hour in their car each way to get to The Newsroom each day/night. Perhaps $4 (and beyond) gas will start to make some of this look appealing?
10. discreet_chaos | May 22nd, 2008 at 3:47 am
Culture has to play in it, as does some form of tradition.
What used to set Yahoo! apart in the internet space was their directory. For as long as I can remember, going back at least to the mid-90s, they advertised for minions to verify submitted links and to make certain that they were on-topic.
Each directory submission was manually verified, but for some reason, Yahoo! required their people to work in the valley and due to the difficulty of competitively paying and recruiting people in that location, eventually they switched to a “free submissions may get into the directory, but if you’d pay to underwrite the verification”, kind of policy.
I realize it’s not the same thing, but if one of the original internet companies stuck to the whole “you must be in a cubicle” philosophy, why would any other industry be any different?
11. Liz Foreman | May 22nd, 2008 at 6:54 am
cory, you’re right as usual! it is appalling to see reporters hanging out at their desks all day. they’re supposed to be out there in the heart of it all, not locked away in newsrooms.
i, too, don’t know why more people don’t do this. as icing on the cake, give them tracksticks and then mash the data with a map to show that the reporters are out and about. (or, is that too big brother?)
12. tdc | May 22nd, 2008 at 10:25 am
they track helicopters, don’t they?
13. LVeee | May 23rd, 2008 at 7:55 am
#6, why do you need the deck?
A newsroom is important so the Managing Editor can have a place to smoke cigars and preach to the underlings, tell war stories and critique their work.
A flip video camera (I have one) in unskilled hands guarantees a new low in quality. You can get still frames from it that aren’t too bad, for documentation. And they can be improved if necessary. I recently informed our power company via email of a 25kwv box that was knock off its cement perch. I also looked through recent video for a potential rapist who assaulted a female jogger a couple days ago. Its real small and not noticeable. But there are better or cheaper cameras.
If someone needs good 3chip video with good sound in the Gainesville, FL area, contact lancecharles@gmail.com.
14. tdc | May 23rd, 2008 at 10:09 am
“guarantees a new low in quality…”
this “quality” argument is dying a quick death with each passing catastrophe .
click tdc to see what kind of “footage” unskilled hands can shoot in the time it takes “the crew” to get to the parking lot.
15. Anonymous | May 24th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
@tdc #12: Yes, but that would be the government tracking.
(Scully, you can’t fly that thing! Land it now!)
16. tdc | May 24th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
sorry bub, you missed the little joke… it had to do with the fox copter in chicago. there was a lengthy discussion here last week about whether it was a gimmick or not.
personally, i’m hoping livenewscameras has busted into its 4th page of stations… i’m heading over there right now.
thanks for the reminder, #15
17. Anonymous | May 26th, 2008 at 5:35 am
I didn’t miss anything. Helicopter fuel costs a lot of money. ENG trucks carry maybe 4 people and cost much more than a school bus. The biggest thing for some stations is viewer content, whether it’s video of a news story or “weather watchers”. I don’t understand why you are so down on this “assembly line” journalism when it allows the local beat with such efficiency,
Isn’t that what Joe Teevee wants? Mayhem on My Street?
How many ways can you write, “Elvis Is Dead”? This is why we are down to AP and Reuters for most outlets. If you see it in the paper, you see it on Yahoo! So?
The one thing I SHOULD have gotten sooner is this notion…
Why is MICROSOFT expected to buy YAHOO! when Microsoft’s online operations are bleeding worse than Yahoo’s??? How retarded, for lack of any better word, is this when Yahoo! should be buying MSN?
Also, when is Carl Icahn going to a nursing home so all he can mess up is the nurses’ schedules? I am sick of this doddering fool.
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