Tag Archives: Media

Doc Searls on staking out beachheads for TV

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Doc Searls makes several great observations about where television’s going, especially in light of Al Jazeera’s online streaming (free of goofy cable restrictions) and complete ownership of news coming out of the Middle East for the past month and more.

Most compelling are his reference to Terry Heaton’s beachheads, each of which set a goal for capturing an aspect of online viewership without necessarily obsessing over “where the money is.” Heaton likens it to Wayne Gretsky’s “skating to where the puck is going to be”:

This strategy is to get us ahead of that and let the revenue grow into it. None of these will break the bank, and they’ll position us to move quickly regardless of which direction things move or how fast.

We all know how well the strategy worked for Gretzky.

Taking journalism lessons from revolutionaries

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I just finished watching a fantastic video, produced for the 2009 Craft Brewers Conference.

Take a minute and check it out:

I Am A Craft Brewer on Vimeo.

For the record, I live in Oregon (Beervana) and I love craft beer.

But I’m also a journalism fanatic and I just couldn’t help but think about my own professional values every time these folks were talking about their own work.

This weekend, many of the best and most heretical minds in the field will be meeting at BarCamp News-Innovation Philadelphia to hammer out some new ideas and models for remaking the news industry. I couldn’t make it to Philly, but I’ll be there in spirit and following along from afar.

And so, to journalists who feel abused and stranded by the industry that controls the work we love, let’s borrow the creed of passionate brewers to wrest control of our craft and duty and move boldly into the new century:

We must illuminate our strengths, keep true to our standards, educate those who seek to understand what we’ve created. We must draw hard lines, we must expose those who would seek to capitalize on what we have created. We must not chase after those who do not understand what we’ve created or care about what we do. We believe in quality, bold character, fun, responsibility, and we believe in pushing the boundaries.

Do good work in Philly. And every day forward.

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Excuses, excuses

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Aaron Swartz piles on the praise for a This American Life show focused on the U.S. housing market meltdown. Swartz starts off by drawing lessons to fix the news: declining circulation, talk show shouters, aging readers.

Here are three points he suggests we can learn from the episode:

  1. It believed in the intelligence of its audience.
  2. It didn’t assume you already knew the subject.
  3. It was done in an entertaining and conversational tone.

Not groundbreaking, but good points. After a quick look at his blog, I see a non-journalist (at least a non-journalism-focused blogger) starting to understand the problem.

It’s the comments that get to me. Here’s a guy who’s wrangling with a fundamental question of our industry and this is how people respond:

  • The decline in sales is probably indicative of some other wider (societal) issue.
  • I don’t think there is enough time in the day to allow one hour programmes examining each and every pressing issue arising in the world.
  • I enjoy TAL too … but more relevantly, you might note they eke out a living on the fringes of the media world, competing with rant-radio and pop-music. Quality is a hard sell in terms of profitability.
  • 1) this is not a model that can be replicated enmass. 2) this is not the reason why newspaper/print media companies are performing poorly.

Excuses. Whining. Plain and simple. And for someone who’s just starting to understand how fundamentally our industry must change, it’s discouraging.

So Aaron, if you can read this, keep up the good thinking. You’re right, and your three points illustrate good journalism, whether done today or 30 years ago.

No excuses.

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