It was about this time last year that I had just begun settling in to life in the US. We Fellows had been in our newsrooms for a month and a half and were preparing to go for our mid-term seminar in Florida.
We were all relatively comfortable in our new environments, some more than others. We had all begun getting ideas and thoughts about things we could change in our newsrooms back home. These ideas would germinate and congeal as the months wore on. Some of the more gung-ho ones - meaning, Rodrigo and me - even went to the extent of interviewing the top editors in several leading publications in the country to pick their brain and find out what they were doing to survive in the brave new world of New Media.
A lot of our musings and ideas were put down in paper as the Fellowship drew to a close in Septembar. I recently revisited the AFPF website and read the reflections of the 2009 Fellows. Some thoughts were instructive, some were poignant and some were indicative of how similar the issues facing journalism are, despite the vast distances that separate us.
Most were, unsurprisingly, focussed on the need for better and wider multimedia coverage. Ethical issues like the importance of quotes also featured prominently. Another popular topic was the need for more communication and interaction between editors, reporters, photographers, multimedia folk, graphic designers, copy-editors, etc.
Looking back at our reports, at our hopes and our expectations, I wonder how many of us actually managed to put what we learned to any use at all. I know for a fact that I hit a big and painful brick wall when I tried to pitch my many ideas to my former newspaper.
I also know that four out of the nine of us left the companies we worked for in a matter of months after returning. Sherine, from Egypt, went to Reuters almost immediately after returning. Rodney, from Uganda, applied for, and received, a scholarship to study in the United States. Huyen applied to further her studies in broadcast journalism. I, having become jaded and bitter at how things had gone downhill for me at NST since I returned, left to join a TV station.
But at that point, not many of us knew what the future had in store for us. All we had were our hopes, our dreams and our expectations of what we were going to do when we returned.
Here are some excerpts from the Reflections of the Class of 2009.
Shahzada Irfan Ahmed
The News International
Lahore, Pakistan
Hosted by The Houston Chronicle
I was never over-ambitious and knew from the very beginning that it’s hard to fully replicate the working models of U.S. newsrooms in Pakistan. Because our newspapers are not that resourceful, and even if they are, the will to spend on the development of human resources and the improvement of the working environment is almost extinct.
It is not an exaggeration if I say the facilities available to a fresh reporter in the U.S. are still a distant dream for a typical Pakistani editor, nearing his or her retirement. Here I mean the facilities required for the performance of one’s professional duties and not one’s personal belongings.
I would quote just one example to explain how pathetic the situation in some cases is. A journalist from a national Urdu daily told me how his editor had rejected his application for the approval of his mobile phone allowance. He was asked to make friends with some officers in the civil secretariat and use their phones to stay connected to the office.
This poor guy can receive a missed call on his mobile from his office anytime, forcing him to abandon whatever he is doing, and run around to find a free calling facility. This way the editor and the reporter are both saving the organization some precious pennies.
The situation is not as bad everywhere, but there is no question that one can suggest to the bosses to share their funds with staffers to pay for their travel with dignitaries, lunches and dinners with their sources, and the purchase of reference books or research material.
I remember going to meet a city council member with a
Houston Chronicle reporter for lunch. The venue was a popular restaurant known for its “mouth-watering” and “finger-lickin’-good” South Asian food. We had not even properly rested ourselves in our seats, or exchanged any niceties, when this reporter announced that he would foot the bill. The council member was adamant that he would pay for the food, but the reporter refused the offer and, politely, threatened to leave the place if he was not allowed to do that. Later, he told me that the newspaper pays all the work-related costs incurred by staffers for food, air-travel, lodging etc.
If I ask my bosses to adopt this practice, I am sure I’ll right away be referred to a psychiatrist for a mental checkup.
Therefore, I will focus on those values and traits of American journalism that can be adopted in my organization, without much dependence on the finance department.
To start with, I would like to see my reporters and editors get rid of their obsession with the worn-out and decayed inverted pyramid style of news writing.
The newspaper content, however dull it was, would sell when there was no Internet or independent private TV channels. Now, the only way the print edition can survive is through innovation in reporting as well by writing style and value-addition to the content.
Today, news is no secret, and many times the readers have heard it before it reaches a reporter. If the print journalists simply provide the transcript of what TV channels are saying, no one would be interested in it. I have learnt in my host newsroom that the content should be catchy enough to attract readers and to get them hooked.
Another thing that I have learnt in my newsroom is that journalists must write primarily for their readers. I am not stating the obvious; my point is that many journalists write about big names only. They have no place for the ordinary people, to whom the readers relate more easily.
Journalism is rightly called “the first rough draft of history.” If journalists behave like court historians and only record the boastful accounts of rulers and the influential elite, the history written tomorrow will be devoid of its beauty. There would be no mention of the masses, their culture and lifestyle, real-life stories of sacrifice, resilience and righteousness, and other narratives that describe a society.
The problem with many Pakistani journalists is they think they can become big overnight, by rubbing shoulders with those in power. There are very few who focus their lens on the have-nots. I would convince my bosses to spare more space for stories about people and shrink the expansive political coverage.
Sherine El Madany
The Daily News Egypt
Cairo, Egypt
Hosted by the Los Angeles Times
In today’s digital age, the Internet has taken charge, and it is not enough for a print journalist to only use the notebook. Today’s print journalist needs to support text stories with audio, video and other graphic materials.
At both the Poynter Institute and the LA Times, I have learned that multimedia tools complement the text version of the story rather than a stand alone version. The key question is to decide which medium makes the text story better. Is it audio, video, sound bytes, informational graphs or a mix of these? If the medium does not make the text version better, then don’t use it.
Jaideep Hardikar
The Daily News and Analysis
Nagpur, India
Hosted by the Sun-Sentinel
Writing with one’s readers in mind.
Time and again, copy editors wrote back to me asking to clarify and simplify sentences. Old hawks in senior positions act as filters – they help you re-write stories; simplify complex sentences and re-check facts. What do you mean by this? Do we need to say this? Are you sure? -- Common questions at work. Quotes and attributions are sacrosanct. You can’t mess around with those. This is basic, but we most often overlook this. It’ll be my regular practice henceforth, something that I’ll strive for and advocate in my own journalistic circle. It has to become a habit.
Frank discussions.
I loved the practice of open ‘budget’ discussions at
The Missourian, the campus newspaper of the J-School at Columbia. The
Sun-Sentinel and other newspapers in the U.S. do not follow this practice, but they have their own ways to engage in frank discussions about a story. They follow a more formal way. Sometimes reporters meet with their editors or colleagues over lunch or coffee to discuss stories and find out ways to refine their ideas. The
Sun-Sentinel also has a writers’ group.
Reporters and editors meet twice a month in a conference hall, eat good food and discuss old stories. The convener sends stories to be discussed with a note: good lead, strong endings or powerful narratives. Many other newspapers in the U.S. have similar internal groups. I am recommending one for DNA. As soon as I return, I will also be forming one in my home town inviting journalist friends from different newspapers for brainstorming sessions. It is a break from the routine and an opportunity to do something creative.
Effective story-telling with multi-media.
The
Sun-Sentinel is leading an experiment of an integrated newsroom – print, online and television. While the print remains its main product, the newsroom now has a strong online content and a morning television show. Programs like sound-slides enhance the online story telling abilities. It’s a new skill that I learned hands-on working alongside a photojournalist at the
Sun-Sentinel. It’s an effective tool that my home newspaper could think of adopting for its online edition.
Rodney Muhumuza
Daily Monitor
Kampala, Uganda
Hosted by The Kansas City Star
The Monitor has to start valuing feedback in ways it has never done before. I wrote on my blog, madeinuganda.blogspot.com, that it was wrong for a newspaper that’s not even 20 years old to be aloof to feedback. “In Uganda, where state tyranny over the media is sometimes taken for granted, reporters know they are doing a good job when the state comes down hard on them,” I wrote. “It has become one crucial, if painful, way of measuring influence, yet one that ultimately shows a blithe disregard for what the ordinary Ugandan thinks. If we are as good as we think we are, our journalism should not merely aspire to draw the wrath of angry dictators. Above all, it should get the local people, the silent ones, talking.”
Rodrigo Muzell
Zero Hora
Porto Alegre, Brazil
Hosted by The Philadelphia Inquirer
The major learning was how to plan a story. Being a foreigner led me to develop a better way to do this. Let me give you an example from my first story. My mentor gave me a tip about a big line of people near a subway station where free food was distributed every Tuesday. He gave me a handout with the name of the group that distributes the food. In the past I would just call the guys and go there. But since I didn’t know anything about the city, I had to research the group to see if there were previous stories about them. I talked to the poverty reporter here and got some background about food stamps and food banks. Then I had to research the food banks and to learn what they exactly do and how they are organized. I did all of it before going to the streets to interview people.
Just to have a clue about any issue demanded a lot of research, and I figured that this effort resulted in more contextualized stories. Instead of a telling only about the group that distributes the food and people who receive it, the story explains what’s happening with the food banks that use groups like that to help people.
In May, I attended the Investigative Reporting and Editors Conference in Baltimore. There, I talked to seasoned reporters about their techniques, got other tips at the panels and slowly figured out my own way to organize a story idea. Planning it from the beginning allowed me to work on a bigger story later on about recycling. I talked to over 15 sources, and here’s the method I’m using now. I am using the recycling story as an example.
1) Research the clips: The general idea was to see what’s being done in recycling here. I looked at
Inquirer stories about it since 2005. In the last published story, it was reported the city had set up a recycling goal for 2009.
2) Researching the internet. At city’s website, I learned that Philadelphia had achieved the goal, and that
The Inquirer hadn’t reported it.
3) Finding a focus. I decided to explain what this goal means to the city. I defined two major lines of research: the economy of recycling (it saves taxpayers money) and the importance of it for the environment. I knew I would have to find citizens to tell me their doubts about it and how important the matter is to them.
4) Talking to the editor. After all that work, I pitched the story to the editors. I had the increased rate to tell them, which was enough to justify the story, and I told them what I wanted to do. The editor had some doubts about the subject, so we discussed what sources I should use and questions I should answer for the reader.
5) Get to the sources. From there, it is a regular reporter’s work.
This is an example of how the planning can be effective for a writer. But it is also extremely important to get things done in the newsroom. Since you will more and more to depend on a lot of your colleagues to make your stories better online, you need to have a well-shaped idea to begin with. You have to approach the graphic designer, or the photo editor, or the multimedia desk with something clear in your mind. They rely on you to tell them how the story is going to be written.
Huyen Vu
The Guide
Hanoi, Vietnam
Hosted by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
For me democracy was right there, in the newsroom, where editors were not some supernatural power who were entitled to make a mess of my stories and get away with it. It happened more than once when my editors edited me and got me wrong. But there they were, all ears to my complaints and explanations. The result was that together we made more accurate, more readable stories. From my editors I had learned to keep my stories coherent, to try to make every detail relevant, to get every word to mean something. More often than not, the stories were kicked between my editors many times before they finally made it into the paper.
An interesting thing I discovered there was the editors are able to apologize if they make a mistake. And I had learned that almost any problem can be resolved by talking about it. I’ve gotten to really believe in the power of explanation and discussion.
Myoung Hoon Suh
Money Today
Seoul, South Korea
Hosted by the Los Angeles Business Journal
Multimedia
What I cherish most and would like to share first and foremost with my colleagues is my experience with multimedia. In Korea, IT has developed to a stage where free DMB technology is enjoyed by the majority through their mobile phones. Ages before Facebook made its debut, Koreans were already uploading photos on their own CyWorld homepages. (This may be the reason Koreans call Facebook America's version of CyWorld.)
America's use of multimedia by a print media company lags far behind Korea's. For the most part, there's only an accompanying photo or a video link to an article. But in a word, what I saw of multimedia use at American print media companies while I was at the Poynter Institute was, shocking. It was not only a matter of 'copying and pasting' a photo or a graphic, but a whole host of multimedia platforms in use, including photo slides, interactive graphics, just to name a couple. I would like to let my colleagues know the enormous benefits that can be realized when the use of multimedia is employed well with an article.
At The Missourian What was most interesting at
The Missourian was learning about 'Citizen Journalism'. It was new and refreshing to see coverage of next door neighbors and ordinary people gracing the front pages of the paper. Most of the people who I have interviewed in my career are very successful and recognized both far and wide. The centerpiece of the articles focused on their successes and what tests and hardships were overcome to reach these successes.
But the stories in
The Missourian were about people one would easily meet on the street. It was a way of getting to know what was occupying their minds right here, right now. But it turned out that what was on their minds was usually not only about them and them alone. Everything they had to say was relevant to others in one way or another, and the reporters at
The Missourian sought questions to produce quotes with the widest possible relevance. I was ultimately reading articles that addressed ideas and opinions held by many.
All reporters constantly concern themselves with relevance and the value of information when writing articles. But cases abound where the blanks are sought to be filled only after setting an article's angle and parameters. At least that is how it seemed to me. That may be because I learned that it was only then that a more detailed article could be written.
Zhiming “Diego” Xin
China Daily
Beijing, China
Hosted by the Saint Paul Pioneer Press
If there’s any skill I’ve learned, I would say I had some practice doing business stories and making them more like features. In the limited number of stories I’ve done for my host newspaper, the most impressive thing for me is my relentless effort to make my story different from news releases.
The most challenging of it is to produce an enticing lead. I have not done that successfully (I’ve usually spent most of the time figuring out a good lead; it’s much easier to complete the other parts), but I’ve read numerous of my colleague’s headlines, such as in the September 17th
St. Paul Pioneer Press, in which Richard Chin used the lead: “The Constitution is never far from Chuck Samuelson’s heart.” He used a pun to indicate the fact that many people not only keep a small book of Constitution in their breast pocket, but also keep the ideals of Constitution in their heart.
Using a pun requires much linguistic skill and wit, something not all writers could accomplish. But there are other easier ways to make our stories more readable, such as starting them by relating someone’s personal story. As always, it’s easy to find and memorize tips on how to write business stories as features, but it’s hard to carry them out in real writing practice. It takes time, energy and persistence to improve in that direction.
Another thing I’ve learned from my host newspaper is the combined use of multimedia and print and the cooperation between the print and the online sections to cater to the readership. For example, when something significant cropped up, the writers would first write a short piece for the website before digging deeper to write a story for the print edition. While my host newspaper doesn’t make many multimedia videos, sometimes it put Youtube clips on their website, such as the one on a September 14 emergency landing of a German plane with landing gear problems. Of course, the editors must be very careful to abide by the intellectual property rights and rules and make sure not to pick up the wrong video.
Reporters and editors do make mistakes, however which I learned during my fellowship in the US. On July 5, China’s Xinjiang saw a brutal mass killing tragedy, in which more than 100 ordinary Han people were killed by a local minority group. The US newspapers reacted enthusiastically and promptly to cover the event. Their reporters interviewed extensively the local minority group, related in detail how they were treated “unfairly” in the past, and how “peaceful” they were this time, without mentioning the fact that they brutally killed more than 100 people in their “peaceful demonstrations”! They did mention the number of deaths, but in a way as if those dead were all from the minority group crushed by the Chinese government.
Those newspapers also quoted the Chinese government, but it seems they did it simply to have it refuted later by giving more voices to that minority group. They went so far that in a picture shot by Reuters, in which the Reuters caption was “People who were injured during riots …”, a major US newspaper simply changed it to “Uighurs injured at a hospital …”, while the face of the man and his name card on the wall clearly indicate he is a Han Chinese, not a Uighur. The editor could explain it away by saying he/she can’t tell Han Chinese from Uighur Chinese. Then since he/she can’t tell them from each other, why did he/she make the change? I don’t know why the editor of that internationally renowned newspaper made the mistake, but it’s thought-provoking. What they did reminded me of last year’s incident in Tibet in which some western newspapers simply used fake pictures or changed pictures to show the “brutality” of Chinese troops.
I’m very upset, since they are newspapers from which I’m supposed to learn how to do good journalism -- fair, balanced and accurate. Apart from feeling upset, I should learn some lessons from them, too.
1. Never take something for granted. For a long time, thanks to ideological differences, the Chinese government has always been described as “communist” (every English speaker knows what “communism” means). So I guess many journalists simply take it for granted that whatever the Chinese government does, it’s wrong. It’s an easy way of doing journalism, but is it a good way?
2. Try to be balanced, fair and accurate, no matter how different a journalist’s opinion is from the party he/she is going to cover. It takes a lot of time, energy and effort to achieve this. It’s no simple task.
Marc Lourdes
New Straits Times
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Hosted by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Though blogging has a tremendous following in Malaysia nobody has quite figured out how to make it pay just yet. I may just have an idea to change that.
Malaysia is a small country if compared to the United States. We've only got a population of 27 million people. Our land mass is roughly equal to that of New Mexico. With such a small and dense population, it's inevitable that our newspapers focus mainly on national issues. We do have certain sections devoted to high-density urban areas, but due to a lack of space, large swathes of the land lack close coverage, unlike America, where regional and local papers service even the smallest of communities.
But we do have bureaus scattered throughout the country. What if these bureau reporters were to each set up local blogs and put up reports there? The big stories that have national impact would of course go into the newspaper. But the smaller pieces, the pieces of local interest, but not national, could be blogged about.
What's the big deal about that? After all, aren't there many citizen bloggers out there? And more importantly, how would one make money from this idea? Well, let me answer these questions one-by-one.
1) The main difference between citizen bloggers and journalist bloggers is the ethical and professional gulf between them. Think about it. The reason why bloggers exist is because they address a need. A need that newspapers and journalists haven't addressed. So, why not start addressing the need? I'm convinced that if we can give the people blog content, along with the citizen participation a blog allows, coupled with high journalistic standards and ethics, the readership will follow. Secondly, journalists enjoy something most citizen bloggers don't. They can do this full-time, with the machinery of a big company supporting them. If journalists can't win with the aid of a stacked deck like this, then they really have no business being in the business.
2) So, how does one make money from this? Advertising, of course. How many small businesses out there can afford the high cost of advertising in a newspaper? How many want to advertise on a national platform when all they want is to get their message to the people in their area? With small, concentrated, highly localized blogs, this under-served community can be tapped into and hopefully become a revenue source.
Granted, the money made from each individual blog advertiser would be a mere pittance compared to the huge sums paid for full-page newspaper ads. Still, if things go right, there will be tremendous volume, which will more than compensate for it.
So, that's it. That's my great idea. For it to work though, there needs to be a concentrated effort from all those in the newsroom. We cannot afford to wait for people to catch on to it. There needs to be an advertising blitz to inform local readers about it. I'm thinking flyers tucked into copies of each paper at bureau level, informing readers about the blogs. Add to that a daily page in the newspaper dedicated to promoting the highlights of our web-only content, including the Best of the Blogs. We need to get hits, and we need to shamelessly promote ourselves to do so.
A potential pitfall is the willingness of journalists to actually take on the extra work and responsibility this will entail. I admit that this element baffles me a little. How do you motivate reporters? Through the threat of job losses? Through dangling carrots like individualized performance-related bonuses? Through creating lucrative monthly awards for best bureaus, bureau reporters and bureau blog posts? The methods are many, and I think what it calls for is a combination of all these elements. Straight talk. Tell them what awaits them if they don't change and promise to reward the ones that do. That's what would work for me.
The entire collection of Reflections essays can be accessed
here.
