Impact journalism

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If you think young people don’t read the papers, think again. If you think what they read in the papers doesn’t matter to them, think again.

UNC point guard Kendall Marshall had the best game of his college career against N.C. State last night. Yesterday morning, the News & Observer published a player-by-player matchup of the two basketball teams. What the N&O said about Marshall vs. State’s Lorenzo Brown:

“Depends on which version of Lorenzo Brown shows up. If it’s the passive one from the first meeting in Chapel Hill, then it’s Marshall all day, every day. If it’s the Brown who had 19 points, six rebounds and five assists at Duke, and was aggressive with the ball, then it’s the multi-faceted Brown over the one-dimensional Marshall. Edge: Brown.”

From TarHeelBlue: “Marshall read it once. Then read it again. ‘The multi-faceted Brown over the one-dimensional Marshall,’ it said. He raised his eyebrows and harrumphed. All he said was, ‘Who wrote that?’ Then he was off to class.”

And several hours later, he scored 22 points, had 13 assists and zero turnovers.

OK, maybe he read the N&O because it was put before his face, but still, I’m counting it. Of course, State fans who read the N&O may storm the place.

 

North Carolina journalists do well in the APSE contest

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Congratulations to the newspapers across the state that won Associated Press Sports Editors recognition. It’s the nation’s most prestigious sportswriting contest.

Margaret Banks, Gerald Witt and Jason Wolf of the News & Record. (Wolf also had an individual mention in this category.) – Breaking news

Jason Wolf and Jeff Mills of the News & Record — Beat reporting

Gerald Witt of the News & Record — Investigative

The News & Observer, honorable mention – Sunday section

The Charlotte Observer — Daily section

Tommy Tomlinson of the Charlotte Observer — Features

Despite what many people think, most papers I’m familiar with don’t do journalism to win awards. They are much more focused on doing good journalism for their readers. Congratulations to Charlotte, Raleigh and Greensboro for doing just that.

The media are liberal. Big deal.

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OK, brace yourself. The media have a left-leaning bias. The most liberal of all?

They find some interesting answers: most of the media does have a liberal bias (throwing out the editorial page, the Wall Street Journal is the most liberal of all, even beating the New York Times!). Fox News is one of the few outlets that is right of center.

But that study was done before Murdoch bought the paper. So, a later study, done in 2010, came to a more pointed conclusion:

The most important factor driving the slant of a given newspaper is the political leaning of the people who buy it. In other words, newspapers are giving the people the news that they want.

My experience at the News & Record suggests to me that this conclusion is inherently true. One indicator is how often winning political candidates also won the News & Record’s endorsement.

I know the argument about media bias will never end. Confirmation bias will continue. As Danny Kahneman said, “We think other people are biased. We don’t feel that we’re biased.”

Listening to the customers rather than the past

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When I wrote this, I didn’t know that John Paton was saying this:

In 2012, in the US, it is expected there will be more advertising on the web than in newspapers and by most estimates more Americans now access their news via the web than print.

The customers have spoken.

But are we listening?

And this:

If you want investors to take a long-term view on our industry or our companies then you better give them a long-term plan that works. Give them a plan they will back.

And I would add it should be a plan built on the editorial floor where the core of our business lies.

He gave a speech last week to the Canadian Journalism Foundation about the challenges and solutions facing newspapers. He spoke directly and bluntly — and truthfully, I think — to his peers in the business — publishers, owners, news execs.

Read the whole thing.

Guy Munger, RIP

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Guy Munger was my friend. Even though we hadn’t spoken in 25 years, I’m sure he considered me his friend, too. That’s the kind of guy he was. He died on Valentine’s Day, and his funeral was today in Raleigh.

We worked together at the News & Observer. I was a reporter; he was the book editor and, I think, the Commentary section editor. He was one of the first people I met there and certainly among the nicest. (He also worked as a reporter for the Greensboro Daily News in the 50′s, well before I landed at the News & Record.) I wrote several Tar Heels of the Week for Guy. He was a precise, careful, loving editor. His assignments to me were inspired, and he nurtured my progress every step of the way. Truth be told, that wasn’t that common in those days.

He was a good man in a tough business.

Has your newspaper improved in the past 10 years?

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The question from one of Andy Bechtel‘s students in his Advanced Editing class at UNC stopped me.

“Are there any newspapers that have improved in the past 10 years?”

It’s a question that should be posed to newspaper managers across the country. I doubt many would honestly answer that their newspaper is better today than in 2002 or even 2007. Years of layoffs and page reduction have taken such a toll that only a few papers might venture to say they have improved.

It would take some courage — and I believe newspaper managers have courage — to ask their readers the same question. Yet, some newspapers don’t tell their readers of layoffs. Many that do are accompanied by a statement such as this one: ”We will maintain and over time enhance the quality of our newspaper.”

Well. OK.

On Planet Earth, the fact is that newspapers aren’t better. Their websites may be. Their newsrooms are certainly more focused on delivering the news that readers want. But with reduced staff and less space, they simply can’t provide the news coverage, the delivery range or the customer service they used to.

So, now what?

First, when you’re in a hole, stop digging. Forget about 10 years ago. Determine the new normal. Decide what size staff you’re going to have and stick with it for longer than the next quarterly report. The readers you have now have stayed with you through the hard times. They aren’t going to leave you. Move forward from now. If you stop changing it and cutting it, readers will get used to it and appreciate it for what it is.

Second, make the smart play — invest in digital. That’s where the people are. If you want them to see you, you have to be where they are. Then you have to have content that they want to see. Every local audience is different so you’ll have to figure that out, but I don’t think they want to see the content that is in the morning paper. They want new stuff created for them…and the web or their phone. You have to be smart, web-centric, quick-moving and open to change. You need a voice. And you need a good CMS.

Third, don’t “fix it,” slap your hands together and think, “well, that’s done.” This is your future. The UNC student’s question should haunt you. Ask yourself and your fellow newsroom managers this: ”What have we done to improve our digital report in the last 10 days?”

The Dow Jones is near 13,000. Take some of those profits and funnel them into the digital operation. You won’t regret it.

The language of a newsroom

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A male reporter writes on his Facebook page: Me to a (female) editor on being sick during the opening of political filing and the hearings on redistricting, which I’ve been following up to this week’s climax: “I feel like I’ve been taking this girl out on a bunch of dates and now someone else is going to bed with her.”  

He immediately apologized for his comment, knowing it was inappropriate in a workplace.

I said, “This is how newsrooms talk. It’s OK.”

I was quickly slapped down by a mutual friend. Sorry, John Robinson, but this might have been okay in the past. It’s not anymore, even in a newsroom, where salty speech is the norm. Joe knows it, and that’s one reason why he feels lousy.

What followed was a rollicking conversation about the appropriateness or not of that kind of comment.

Newsrooms, which used to be filled mostly with white men, were known for off-color language, sexist jokes, cigarette burn holes on desks and chairs, more profanity than you might hear in jail, occasional fistfights and frequent attacks on chairs, desks and trash cans. That typewriter with the sticking keys? Back in the day, it might find itself tossed out of a second-floor window.

Now smoking is banned, the floors are carpeted, there are as many women as men, and everyone has to go through training to understand the laws involving harassment. I once had to cruise the newsroom and take down photos that staff members posted in their cubicles that might be considered inappropriate or contributing to a hostile environment. (I briefly removed a pinup photo of a male actor with his shirt off from one female reporter’s wall. The language that resulted may have contributed to a hostile workplace.)

I don’t miss those days, but I do think newsrooms are different sorts of places. Journalists are irreverent and don’t stand on convention. Editors demand that they speak truth to power and that they don’t back down when put off. So, how can we expect them to be PC in a newsroom?

I know this makes me sound like one of those nutcases that blames everything bad in society today on the PC culture. Nope, not me. I’m glad that people can’t smoke in the newsroom. I support the limitation of dropping F-bombs. Newsrooms and news coverage has been vastly improved by the gender and racial diversification of the staff. Lowering the sexual tension and chauvistic temperature is a must.

But sometimes people who make their living with colorful, descriptive words can’t help themselves. And the image the reporter evoked fits exactly what happened. Sorta.

For the record, the female editor the reporter addressed? Here’s what she said: Your comment didn’t even break into the Top 100 Inappropriate Things (You) Said To An Editor list. And yes, we have a list. For the record, I thought it was funny.

Update: Michael Triplett at NLGJA responds. I agree with everything he says.

Romenesko also asked people about how the newsroom has changed. Some responses on Facebook.

Cyndy Drue, Grammy winner!

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Congratulations to my cool cousin Cyndy Drue for her part in winning a Grammy for Best Children’s Album. She and several other artists are featured on “All About Bullies…Big and Small.” Her spoken word poem is “Rolling With It.”

Here is video of the announcement. Cyndy is in the turquoise gown. (The video clears up at the 13-second mark.)

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Twitter in the news

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Mathew Ingram tweeted what I’ve thought about a lot of news stories on television: it’s amazing how much TV coverage of Whitney Houston’s death consists of some news anchor just reading tweets on the air.

I’m a proponent of big media’s efforts to interact with people watching and reading their news reports. Anything that can make us listen to people, talk with them and learn from them is sorely needed. That said, as a viewer of a lot of television news, I haven’t ever seen a viewer’s response that resonated or added to my understanding of an event, including Houston’s.

Local and national television news shows use Twitter and Facebook posts on the air to, to, to, well, I don’t know what they do it for. Most of the time, the people tweeting aren’t identified by real name or location. My favorites are the controversial topics that have  multiple “sides.” The announcers make sure that all sides are represented from the Facebook and Twitter commenters.

I understand the desire to involve people in newscasts. Newspapers let readers have 200+ words to write their reflections on any manner of civic issues and the papers publish them as letters to the editor.

News programs insert the Twitter and Facebook reactions in their newscasts. Shouldn’t the inclusion of such stuff add to the story in some way? It is possible to write a penetrating thought in 140 characters. Perhaps television stations have put them on the air. I just haven’t seen any.

Sunday sampler

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Should have included the other front pages on the previous post at Whitney Houston. The point is that I like to be surprised and delighted with the content on my Sunday front page. Tell me something I don’t know. There are several good ones this morning:

From the Wilmington Star News: A nice little story about the N.C. State Ports Authority Board of Directors dining at Fleming’s in Charlotte — $1,900. (The cost to the Ports Authority was only $1,500 because the $400 worth of alcohol was covered by the attendees. I’m sure there were designated drivers.)

From the Charlotte Observer: When a political party holds its national convention in your city, things don’t go quite as planned. The Observer takes a look at what has happened in other convention cities in the past and gauges how safe Charlotte will be.

From the News & Record: Two stories, actually. One about the number of state legislators with licenses to carry concealed weapons. It surprised me to think that state legislators fear for their lives more than you and me, but they are many many times more likely to have guns on their person than you and me. The second is a package on the same-sex marriage ban amendment coming up. Revealing and I hope everyone who votes reads it.

From the News & Observer: I don’t drive on I-95 in North Carolina much but making it a toll road interests me. The N&O describes the whys behind it and the hows in collecting money from users.