16 Sep 2008
by Stephin Working on the Newsroom Tags: newsroom progress
I needed a laugh. So I gave this post a silly title. I had the Big Meeting with the newsroom (read: 3 out of 8 reporters counting the sports guys who didn’t show, the city editor, the managing editor and one photog who couldn’t stay for the whole meeting.)
I wrote down two words about halfway through the meeting: “Totally discouraged.”
I’ve had a little time to think, and maybe it’s not all doom and gloom. But here’s a rundown of how it went:
First twenty minutes spent complaining about not enough space in print for stories but how we would be shortchanging readers who don’t have computers yet pay for a subscription, if we offer up “more to the story” online which is free. Also spent this time complaining about not having enough time to tweet or get a story up online while trying to call contacts and get info for story that will be in print. Basically the meeting devolved into the usual discussion of how everyone’s too busy. I did not grow a pair and mention my ‘Time to lean, time to clean’ adage because I felt that going into attack mode would not be helpful.
On commenting: one reporter said they were wary of leaving comments for fear of appearing biased on a story – even if they’re simply posting factual corrections. Tried to reiterate that posting factual information that either corrects someone or that didn’t make it into the story (for space issues, perhaps) is not being biased. Tried to reinforce the idea that one does not have to engage in verbal battles or get suckered by troll bait. Just the presence of a reporter’s comment shows our readers we’re paying attention to them. Hopefully it got through. This reporter showed she was reading comments at least by mentioning one she saw in a story yesterday, and after the meeting, she posted her first. So a reluctant baby step there.
On Twitter: “I don’t get it.” one of them says. “Do we get reimbursed for text messages we send?” … I discovered one reporter doesn’t even have a cell phone. Oh dear.
What I took from this meeting: some of them are willing to try this stuff but feel they have no time for it. Some of them feel something like Twitter isn’t suitable for their beat. On posting their stories to the web themselves, they *really* don’t want to be able to do that without an editorial proofread, which means longer waits for stories to go online and doesn’t help us get to our goal of posting stories online when a reporter comes back to the office. One solution was to use peer editing. Anyone handy can give a second read to a story before it’s posted. I’ll take that for now because it’s another baby step.
So baby steps happened. Maybe the meeting wasn’t as discouraging as I originally thought it was as I sat there. Half-way through, I wanted to leave because I felt like what I wanted to talk about with them was just going to fall on deaf ears. There is still a stigma about the web. And they’re not buying into the informality of posting to the web and how making mistakes there is okay because they can be corrected right away. I can sort of see their point on this because it goes to our credibility and reputation.
Same goes for commenting. Previously, anyone could comment and it was a virtual free-for-all and all of the trolls came out of the woodwork. We implemented registration and comments dropped bigtime. But the tone, when we do get comments, is much better. I prefer tone over quantity. We need to uphold our standards on the web that we do for print as much as we can.
We just have to find a balance. There has to be a way I can show them that you can tweet from a city council meeting even if you’re trying to get quotes and interview people. That even if you’re the reporter covering our whole region and you think nobody will care about reading a twitter update from BF, Nebraska’s village council meeting, it’s still worth it to show our region and our community that we are working to deliver your news to you in as many ways possible.
I’m just not feeling very good about the meeting. I would have liked a better turnout. I just sort of felt under attack throughout the whole thing which put me on the defensive, and made it hard for me to focus on things I wanted them to know. Being on the spot like that is not for me 
It’s why I sit behind a computer all day But maybe, just maybe, the baby steps will continue.
15 Sep 2008
by Stephin Working on the Newsroom Tags: newsroom progress
I love my newsroom. The people who work for my newspaper are quality, experienced journalists who know their shiznit when it comes to their beats. I thought I should just get that out there before I talk about this meeting we’re having tomorrow regarding getting them to do more web stuff. I respect these people and admire their ability to get out there in our community and be people-persons. As a very shy person myself, I envy that quality.
I think that’s why I worry so much about how much I feel like I’m nagging these guys about stuff like twitter and commenting. I have to find a balance between nagging and keeping their respect. There’s no magic way to go about this though, because all newsrooms are different. And, I’m finding out my newsroom is vastly different to most others. With the recent OWH purchase, and even with the GateHouse purchase of my paper, I discovered that my newsroom has it easy when it comes to the web.
They’ve grown used to the Online department just “doing it for them” (like getting on to make a correction to a story, or doing all of our video.) Until GateHouse came along, reporters and editors had nothing at all to do with posting stories. It was either the copy desk each night, or myself during the day taking care of posting to the web. I know, right? I actually blame our old 64-step clunky system we used to post stories for that though, not the newsroom. But because the system sucked so much, the newsroom got used to not having to do it.
But now that they are posting updates now and then (still not at the frequency we would like), the more I talk about things like checking comments, posting comments, using twitter, the more they look at it as “more work.”
So last week, I had the commenting discussion (reporters should be watching comments, and participating when they can) with someone and I got the “Well they don’t have much time…” This caused the eyebrow to go up because I’ve been waiting to hear that excuse from the newsroom. Not to be a snarky wench, but it’s hard to swallow that when I see a reporter or two wandering around and chatting with others about non-work stuff for 30 minutes or more. So I brought this up to my lovely friend and coworker and it made him stop and think about that. He then agreed.
And as if to illustrate my very point, later that day a reporter wandered over and chatted with this fellow and another reporter for close to 45 minutes about football etc.
Now – don’t mistake me (because I know this may someday be read by the aforementioned reporters) – I have no problems at all with the chatting. It doesn’t bother me, and I enjoy the opportunities to get to know my coworkers better. I think in a wacky environment like a newsroom, it helps to have a strong relationship with your coworkers, both on a personal and professional level. I know that the work does get done, and I know there are days when everyone really is uber-busy. But the thing that I can’t find it in my heart to believe is that if you do have time to chitchat, you cannot then come back to me with “I’m far too busy to do this Twitter thing or read online comments.” Harsh, but true. It’s the old retail adage, “If you’ve got time to lean, you’ve got time to clean.” Works in this case too.
So this meeting was called, by someone who is not me, shortly after I pointed out to my friend and coworker that that reporter made my chitchat point for me. This gives me much hope that we’re on the verge of a change. That a crack has appeared in the wall between Online and my newsroom. I’m hopeful, nervous, and hoping the meeting doesn’t turn into anything that would patch up that crack and strengthen the wall. I want the wall to come tumbling down. I want them to “get it.” I want to listen to their ideas and use them. I want it to be circular. It shouldn’t just be me and my department dictating what they need to be doing. It should be both departments collaborating on ideas to make the web AND print stronger.
So I’m going in with a sunny smile and as much enthusiasm as I can muster. I will not be antagonistic or let my occasional frustration show. I will not be snarky, condescending or patronizing (which is an ocassional problem for me when I talk to people who don’t/refuse to “get it.” Need to watch it.) I will be open to anything they have to say and do my best to find ways to refute their arguments without pissing them off.
I may need to bring the stress ball with me.
03 Sep 2008
by Stephin Tools of the trade Tags: forums, Tools of the trade
I would say yes, forums are still important even now when anyone can blog, anyone can leave a comment after a story, anyone can tweet about an event.
Forums are a bit of a different animal. I was pondering on this the other day when I realized that, other than watching posts via my rss feed, I hadn’t actually visited my paper’s forums in quite some time. I began to wonder if they were still such a vital component of community involvement. I used to tout our forums to anyone and everyone – heck I’ve been a proponent of them since before I started working at the paper. And the one thing that always bothered me about them was that it’s like pulling teeth to get people to join and use a new forum. I could never understand that. What could be better than being able to browse to a topic that interested me – or start my own – post my thoughts or ask a question, and be able to come back at my leisure and read the replies.
But for some reason, this concept was difficult for people to grasp. But I’m a forumer from way back, and when I came to the paper, I was excited about being given the responsibility of maintaining/moderating ours. Boy was that a shock. I’d had previous experience as an admin on a rather big music forum, as well as a number of my own forums, and I’d dealt with my fair share of trolls and whiny people. I thought I could handle anything. Until I met the merry band of bullies who dominated the Independent forums when I took over.
I think my mistake with those guys was remaining a participant as well as an Admin. I went from a regular poster to the head honcho and I probably took some pleasure in finally being able to deal with the bullies. I felt they were the obstacle in getting our forums to grow. They would attack and snipe at new users until they went away and considered the paper’s forums as their own personal playground. Putting a stop to that was a long arduous process involving quite a few banninations, and a need to grow a thick skin fast.
I’ve been attacked verbally, threatened, and one banned forum poster came down to the paper and started to get, uhhh, grabby. He had to be physically ejected form the building and I had to take a couple of hours to calm my nerves and speak to the police. I’ve had my car egged at the height of summer when the yolk etc. had time to bake right into my paintjob, which is now ruined, and my car looks pretty ghetto. I’ve had to move and have my number unlisted.
Here’s a sampling of some of the stuff we forum admin get to deal with (and I’m sure most print editors dealing with Letters etc. get similar stuff – but Internet people seem to be braver):
Here is the ‘Well, I’m such a nice guy I stopped my friends from flaming your forums’ approach: “Just so you know…I mentioned to several people I know from other message boards how I felt you were picking on me. They, being computer gurus and technical wizards, readily offered to barrage the Independent forums with pornography, trolling, and profanity. As well as posts aimed at making your job miserable as a moderator. Out of respect for my hometown board and to the regular posters on there…I asked them not to. I didn’t feel like you had done anything that warranted that type of disruption.”
Then there’s the always classy rant: Have I told you lately that your a F*CKING C*NT. P.S. I see you still allow _________ to be a bias little dictator, so that makes you even more of a F*CKING C*NT.” and “and “Since I can no longer defend myself on the board, if I read another word about me from your faggot mod., I will be coming to visit you. You got that c*nt.”
So the lesson I learned was that the best way to moderate a rambunctious, flamey forum was to remain an anonymous mod. Don’t participate (or if you really must, do it under another name and don’t associate yourself with the administrator account.)
Funnily enough, once the trolls were finally all gone (after numerous second chances after promises of good behaviour), an odd thing happened. Users started to not be afraid to come and post. We began getting an influx of new users posting on more topics, participating in more threads in a civilized, adult manner and badaboom badabing, I could step back from it and not play Nazi so much.
So even through I went through a sort of mini-hell as the forum admin, it was worth it to be able to offer a place where people in the community can come to discuss latest stories, talk about local government, participate with other sports fans talking about the latest Big Game and just interact.
So I think they’re still valuable as a tool. Yes you can comment on stories now. But those stories drop off the main page after a day or two and get buried. Threads don’t carry on. Discussion is only immediate rather than long-term. Yes you can start a blog of your own to talk about stories in the Indy, but driving traffic to it is an arduous process. I think a community needs a central location online to gather and talk about the everyday stuff that affects them, whether it’s something we put into print or not. I can think of no other business in town who’s better suited to provide that location than the local newspaper, and no better tool than your basic forum.
So while I was thinking about all of this, and wondering if it’s still worth it, even after all the crap I dealt with – after all the crap forum mods everywhere put up with – and I decided that yes, they are still worth it. I’m not exactly sure what the future holds for our long-running forums now that we have new bosses with new policies etc. and the rumours are already running rampant on our forums claiming the OWH will shut ours down etc (though I’ve heard nothing about it myself.) I doubt they will close us down, but if it comes up, I’ll fight for them.
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