The Internet Isn’t Killing Journalism; Overpaid Journalists Are

Shocked? So am I.

But that’s the view taken by Michael Hickens of the Faster Times, who says that when he was editor of Ziff Davis Enterprise, he made $90,000—and had reporters who made more than that.

My experience—and the experience of several colleagues I polled—has been nothing like that. We toil for salaries less than half of that figure.

So, are overpaid journalists killing newspapers? I’d much rather say it’s the Internet.

Coming Out From Behind the Byline: One Journalist's Take on New Media

What does it mean for a journalist to come out from behind the byline? I've been asked this more than once. The next question, inevitably, is "Why would I want to do that?"

Well, my dear colleague, let's start with why. Step with me into the info-bahn. It's a cluttered place, with pages and pages of information on just about everything. Want to know about obscure patents for things like inside-out style garments and canine testicular implants? There's a site for that. What about how to trap a muskrat? You'll find that too. How about the true tales from Albuquerque? (It's a fun-sounding place, what can I say?) Here's one and here and here.

So, how are you going to stand out? Why should Ms. Susie Q. Internet Searcher come to your site? Well, that's where it gets a little tough: come out from behind your byline. You have to talk to her. It's simple but scary. 

In every J-school classroom, in every newsroom, and in every community, journalists have been told to stay objective. The school board member who just purchased a trumbone company which then got the school's contract to supply the new music department wants a fair shake. Have you been asking neutral questions? You might have a nose for the news, but make sure it's connected to objective eyes. That lesson has sunk in.

But now, with journalism in crisis (Yes, it's a tired cliche. I know) we're being asked to do something new. Engage the audience. Tell them what you really think. That trumbone guy? He might not have known that his shiny new trumbone company would be competing for the school's music program contract, but it is certainly suspiscious. Can you talk about it?

FUN FACT: The German name for this instrument is "Sackbut", which actually means "pull" and "push."

Can you tell readers about other schools that have been fleeced by trumbone-toting school board members? Can you tell them about the nationwide rise in trumbone sales despite cuts in school music programs? Can you talk about your own experience learning to play the trumbone? Can you tell them something, anything at all about trumbones?

That's part of what the new journalism is. Or, at least, that's the part I've learned about so far. So, for now, that's what coming out from behind the byline means to me.

Of course, when I learn more, I'll let you know.

Just look for me, lightly pushing aside my byline to come out and chat for awhile.

Finding The Media For Your Message

Even those new to journalism quickly learn that you can’t bring print material directly to the web. Nearly everyone can spot when you regurgitate print material in a blog, webcast, video, or slideshow.

It’s up to the saavy web journalist to repurpose, recreate, or simply start from scratch when creating for the web. So how do you choose a media for your message? Consider the strength of each medium.

Blogs are undeniably popular. Just about every journalist making the leap to the web begins by writing blogs. They’re not articles and they’re not op-ed pieces, but on many news sites, they’re a comfortable mix of conversational speech and news reporting.

Webcasts invites the audience to join you in listening in on a special interview or explore some minute portion of a larger topic. They’re kind of like the sidebar for the web. On an interview webcast, the subject often does most of the talking. For other podcasts, reporters talk about things they didn’t mention in their stories or even the background to their stories. One of my favorites is the How Stuff Works “Stuff You Should Know” webcast.

Slideshows are basic. Get the pictures, craft the cutlines, and post. Audio slideshows take this simple form to a whole new level. How? By combining all the power of pictures with a simple interview-style explanation, it reaches beyond the short two to three sentence explanations offered by the traditional slideshows. For example, you could interview a sculptor about a statue he is carving and combine it with pictures showing his weeks of progress. Suddenly, this familiar form seems more interesting.

Videos give you the opportunity to connect with your audience as a person. Consider this example:



Would you feel the same about the subject if he you could only hear his musical rendition of his cover letter in a webcast?

After one week, this video received close to 8,000 views on Youtube.com and its creator, Alec Biedrzycki, has been interviewed by CNN. Maybe this want-to-be marketer would consider a career as a web journalist?

Be Your Own Editor

When I wrote for a daily newspaper, I remember calling my editor from meetings—school board meetings, sewer planning meetings, mobile home association meetings, you name it—to tell him a synopsis of the entire lengthy ordeal.

“Well, that’s interesting,” he’d say. “Tell you what: write something up about that, say, 6 inches.”

It always amazed me how he’d sort out the day’s garbage from its gold so quickly. How’d he do it? Instinct? Experience?

When writing for the web, you have to call upon that je ne sais quoi with every post. You have to be your own editor.

Since I’m in no way an expert (see last post), I combed through the best resources I could find for advice on how to be your own editor.

Get to the point.
The first thing an editor looks for in a manuscript is its purpose, says Writersworld.com. Hook your reader with a catchy intro and then land them with a solid lede. Tell your reader why they should keep reading and then keep them reading with relevant material.

Ask “What kind of reading will my target audience be doing?”
The Society of Technical Communication (pdf) urges editors to consider the function of the communication—is it meant to inform, educate, entertain, or persuade—and the reading strategies used to complete this function. If your reader wants to quickly learn something, an article or blog post with an overview, lists, and summary could help.

Think in Subheads
An editor once told me that subheads enable a reader to put an article down and come back to it a week later without feeling lost. The concept is a bit different on the Internet. Here, subheads enable the writer to organize thoughts in a cohesive manner and let the reader skim the article and read the sections they’re looking for quickly. Be careful, though, to follow the next bit of advice.

Get Rid of Clutter
Sometimes all your notes organize into three neat and tidy categories. Sometimes they don’t. Then you have three choices: scrap the material, post it elsewhere, or shove your notes under the rug and hope no one notices the ever-growing bulge. (OK, I made that last one up.) Seriously though, if it feels like you’re stretching when you’re writing, etc. then it will feel stretched to your readers.

Keep it Tight
You thought you were done once you cleaned up all that clutter, huh? Nope. Not even close. Embrace your inner copy editor here. Editors look out for redundant quotes, phrases, and words. Lately, they’ve been rallying against “ATM machines” and “future plans.” Eliminate those phrases! My favorite English professor told me not to be afraid to “Kill your babies.” Brutal, I know. Practical. Yes. Don’t fall in love with your copy. It can only end in paper-cuts.

Make heads and links clear.
How’d you get here? If you’re lucky, you followed a link about being your own editor. If you’re not, someone has created a new nasty form of rickrolling for journalists.

Think the same way for your readers. You want them to find information they want to find. Maybe they’ll hang around for awhile then, leave some comments if you’re lucky.

Ensure that its “All for One and One for All.”
Here’s the one that stumps even experienced editors. On the web, not everyone will stick around for the whole party. Make every page count toward the whole, but make sure each page can stand on its own.

More On Mr. Cronkite: Learning From The Way He Was

If I were writing for print, my editor would have handed that last post back to me.

By making my headline, “Remembering Walter Cronkite,” I made a contract with you, the reader, to talk about my memories of Mr. Cronkite.

I should have told you that as an avid news watcher who was born in the mid-80s, I never saw Mr. Cronkite report that JFK was assassinated. I never saw how his exhaustive research into astronomy colored his broadcasts on the space program, or what he saw as his great disappointment: being at a loss for words when the first man landed on the moon.

For me, Mr. Cronkite was the epitome of journalistic standards. He’s the man we’re all compared with and the man we all revere. What struck me is not all the broadcasts he made throughout his life, but the effect he had on journalism after he “retired.”

"He used his halo to
bash his former employers
over the head."

-Paul Taylor

Whether it was strengthening the journalism program at Arizona State University or pressuring television to improve its coverage of politics, Mr. Cronkite made a difference.

Mr. Cronkite "was quite willing to use the moral authority he had gained as a broadcaster," said Paul Taylor, a former politics reporter at The Inquirer and the Washington Post. "He used his halo to bash his former employers over the head."

Though we may fall short of Mr. Cronkite’s high standards, as journalists, the least we can do to honor him is to try.

Next post, I’ll talk about how to be your own editor. I know its sometimes I still am trying to learn.

As Mr. Cronkite famously said, “And That’s The Way It Is”

Remembering "Mr. Cronkite"

When I sat down to write today, I had an entirely different topic in mind but the news waits for no woman so there’s something far more important for today.

After more than six decades as a journalist, Walter Cronkite died at the age of 92. Famously dubbed “the most trusted man in America,” he brought America the news of John F. Kennedy’s death, the first spacewalk, and the deaths of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy. He is said to have helped broker the invitation that led to a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt and to have turned the U.S. opinion on the Vietnam War.

Legendary CBS newsman Walter Cronkite speaks at a ceremony at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington celebrating the 35th anniversary of Apollo 11 in 2004. Photo | NASA/Bill Ingalls

The tribute in the Philadelphia Inquirer brought me to tears. Along with describing all of his varied accomplishments, the writers referred to him as “Mr. Cronkite” throughout. For me this was the utmost mark of respect—breaking with AP Style and expending an extra four characters each reference to refer to him as Mr. Cronkite.

But my discussions of this article, of his presence in American journalism—and international journalism, in fact—and of the respect given to him by other journalists led me down a different road than I expected. More times than not, I heard about how journalists no longer live up to the high standards set by journalists like Mr. Cronkite.

For one, journalists no longer talk to people with respect, I heard. “When was the last time journalists referred to anyone as ‘Mr. So-and-so?” queried my father. And the president doesn’t count, he says. “He’s the president of this country. He deserves to be called ‘President Obama,’ not ‘Mr. Obama.’”

In another conversation since the death of Mr. Cronkite, I heard how journalists today just don’t care about the people behind the stories.

A high school football player had been pulled from the quarterback position had on his high school’s varsity team. He wasn’t playing well enough. A journalist published the coach’s less-than-stellar comments along with her own analysis of the quarterback’s weaknesses. The young man was crushed. When the journalist arrived at the next game, the coach headed for her like a bull for a red cape. She just didn’t care about the young man whom she so ruthlessly covered.

What’s changed in journalism? With the explosion of bloggers, the introduction of online editions, digital media and new social media like Twitter and Facebook, and the constant newsroom layoffs, the news force—the number of journalists left—is shrinking. We all have had to take on new roles to keep the presses running. But in our rush to conquer this new online world, have we lost what makes us journalists?

I joined the profession to tell true stories, to explore the truth behind political hype and to learn about the community’s thoughts and values. I bet a lot of other journalists came onboard for the same reasons.

For my part, I’ll admit it: I’m guilty. As a journalist, I like to use people’s first names. Maybe I feel like it breeds familiarity. Maybe it’s because I’m horrible with names and it’s easier to remember one than two. Maybe it’s generational. Maybe it’s laziness. To tell you the truth, I just don’t know. But if it matters that much, I’ll refer to everyone as “Mr.” or “Mrs.” And I’ll try to remember just how much people care.

World Wide What?

For journalists, the world wide web is a scary place. Scarier than the monster under the bed when they were little. Scarier than that slasher movie they saw when they were 13. So scary, in fact, that there’s countless reasons why, like:

1. Fear of wide-open spaces – What do I do with no picas or inch count?
2. Circular logic: My blog topic should appeal to my audience. Who’s my audience? Depends on the blog topic.
3. Procrastination as long as the possibilities are wide.
4. Writer’s block, oh, I mean massive writer’s block.
5. Oh, the possibilities: Grocery list or Capote’s “In Cold Blood”
6. Plenty of brainstormed ideas...maybe it should be a book instead. With a nice solid ending, say 300 pages?
7. Commenters. Isn’t that what the editorial page is for?
8. No editors? Breakdance or Breakdown?
9. Wait, I need to come up with a headline? This is bad. I hate my headline.

For journalists, fear of the internet is the fear of the unknown. Limitless possibilities mean limitless responsibility.