Toluu

The Journalism Iconoclast

The blog of online journalist and Web developer Patrick Thornton. This blog seeks to combine journalism and Web development to forge a new frontier.

My candid thoughts on journalismNovember 24

Journalism is at the beginning of a tectonic shift and massive upheaval, and yet, I consider this to be an incredibly exciting time to be in journalism.

We stand on the doorstep of history. We’re watching the reinvention of a critical industry. This is not an evolution — we are a part of a revolution.

And that’s why I’m afraid. I know that journalism will be stronger than ever in 20 years, but what will tomorrow hold? The journey through revolution will claim many careers.

Will my friends have a job? Will I have a job? Will I recognize the new journalism industry that emerges?

On one hand it’s exciting to be a part of something bigger than all of us, and yet, I wonder if I’ll be able to pay my bills. No job lasts forever. 

I mean no hyperbole when I call 2009 the year of the newspaper massacre. 2008’s losses will seem quaint by midway through next year. Everything we’ve ever known about newspapers will begin to fade.

If newspapers hope to survive these lean times, they must shed all remaining luddites and curmudgeons. Every employee will have to be a technologist. Newspapers can no longer afford to employ people who stand in the way of the future — in the way of progress.

If newspapers are to survive, their future will be radically different. That’s going to require radically different staffing. It’s going to require radically different thinking.

It’s a terribly depressing time to seek 

I’m not a charity case. Are you?November 22

There is a new Facebook group called, “Don’t let newspapers die.”

It encourages journalists to try to get people to buy a newspaper again. Not by producing a better or a more relevant product mind you, but by badgering people to buy a product that they no longer find valuable.

The official logo for this group is a drawing of an old-time newspaper boy with the slogan, “Save a journalist buy a newspaper.” Listen, plenty of journalists don’t work for newspapers, and most people want their journalism in another format than a newspaper. 

Newspapers aren’t charities. In fact, many newspapers companies enjoyed gigantic profits for years. Instead of reinvesting those profits in R&D and focusing on the future, newspaper companies squandered it all. Most newspapers operated as monopolies for years.

Are the people joining this group on Facebook (which is officially listed as “cause” that people can donate money to), also going to donate money to Microsoft one day if it falters and looks like it is falling under? After all, it was a one-time monopoly with astronomical profits. 

The last reason this group is ridiculous (and shows that many journalists don’t get even understand the business they are in) is that most newspapers lose money on each newspaper sol

So, you have a blog. Now what? Vol. 1November 19

This is the start of a new series on the JI where I discuss tips on how to blog. These will usually be short, down-and-dirty tips. 

If you’ve just started a blog, you’re probably wondering, “how do I get people to read my blog?”

Sure, you can tell your friends and colleagues about it. You can e-mail prominent bloggers and ask them to mention your new blog or to add you to their blogroll. You can post about your new blog on Twitter and Facebook.

All fine, but if you really want your blog to get noticed (especially if it’s an independent blog), you need to join the community. If you’re blogging about journalism, start mixing it up on other journalism blogs. 

When I first started blogging, I went out and found the top journalism bloggers, read their blogs and started interacting with them. Every time I left a comment, I made sure to leave my real name and my blog address. Most blog commenting systems ask for a user to leave their name, e-mail address and URL, if applicable. 

So, when I leave a comment on Mindy McAdam’s fabulous Teaching Online Journalism blog my name shows up and my name is a link back to my blog. People who find my comments thoughtful or who want to learn more about me will click on my name. This started sending my blog traffic and still does.

This also started getting my name and my blog’s name out there. How are people supposed to find my blog otherw

Today’s Thought: Complacency is not an optionNovember 18

Complacency is a bridge to nowhere.

I cannot tell you or your news organization exactly what to do. There is no magic bullet that will save floundering news organizations. But I can tell you that the status quo will end in failure.

Innovation is ultimately what will save journalism. Innovation requires experimentation. Experimentation requires a willingness to fail.

But unlike the failure that the status quo will bring on, experimentation is a momentary feat of failure. It’s losing a battle, not the war.  Doing nothing will cause us to lose the war.

Rather, each time we experiment and we fail, we must pick ourselves back up and try again. We must learn. And we must never gave up.

The path to salvation is littered with many pit falls. It’s a hard, winding road that will only reward the most dogged of journalists and innovators. But it is our only choice.

So, I ask you, what are you doing to innovate? How will you navigate that path to salvation?

Podcast: David Cohn discusses Spot.Us and community fundingNovember 17

David Cohn launched his new community-funded journalism project, Spot.Us, last week to much fan fare.

I don’t know whether or not it can save journalism or if it will fail. My guess is on somewhere in the middle. It will probably be a viable way to fund certain kinds of journalism in certain communities.

In many ways I find the future of journalism to be similar to the future of energy security in the U.S. There isn’t a magic energy bullet for the U.S. Instead, it will be a combination of new energy technologies to wean the U.S. off of foreign energy and hydrocarbons.

Funding journalism will be the same way. We’ll need a variety of ways to fund journalism moving forward. The monopolies of newspapers are done.

I applaud Cohn for tackling the real issue facing journalism — how to fund it. Cohn’s business model might not be the sexiest. No, he won’t become rich by doing non-profit work that is predicated on the altruism of individuals.

But I think it can work. NPR and PBS both rely on people’s contributions. But perhaps the most logical comparison is Kiva.org. Cohn has learned a lot of lessons from that successful micro-lending site.

Cohn and I talk about how he can harness some of the concepts of Kiva to keep his startup running for years to come.

Cohn and I discuss several topics:

• Why Spot.Us? W