Published by the New York Press Association on behalf of New York’s Community Newspapers NewsBeat February 2017 NYPA 2017 SPRING CONFERENCE AND TRADE SHOW Friday and Saturday, April 7th & 8th, 2017 Gideon Putnam Resort • Saratoga Springs, NY “Understanding what’s important…” VENUE RE • R G E IN T V A I I R N D I N

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New York Press Association PA 2 NewsBeat February 2017 By MICHELLE REA — Executive Director, NYPA CLIP & SAVE

Mark your calendar NYPA 2017 Spring Conference and Trade Show April 7th and 8th Gideon Putnam Hotel and Conference Center

Register for the conference and reserve your hotel room at www.nynewspapers.com

Register today for NYPA’s fabulous spring Michelle Nicolosi, editor for digital, social, conference and trade show in Saratoga Springs! photo and video at The Oregonian, will lead a Registration fees are as low as $49 per person — session on how to put your readership metrics Thursday, April 6, 2017 a bargain at five times the price! into action with a step-by-step guide to creating NYPA/NYPS Boards of Directors Meetings content that readers want. NYPA Foundation Board of Directors Meeting Sixty-four conference workshops will focus on Gideon Putnam Hotel, Saratoga Springs, NY fostering great news organizations (great Jean Hodges, senior director of content for journalism is at the core of our brand!), driving Gatehouse Media, will show you how to take Friday & Saturday, revenue and growing audience. Industry leaders stock of your resources, shake up your structure, April 7 & 8, 2017 from across the country will lead discussions on and generate more quality content. NYPA Spring Convention and Tradeshow design, graphics, video, photography, advertising, Gideon Putnam Hotel, Saratoga Springs, NY events, social media, cyber security, writing, Stephanie Davis, from Virtual Xperience, reporting, metrics, Freedom of Information Law, will show you how to use virtual reality as a story Friday, June 9, 2017 telling platform. NYPA/NYPS Board of Directors Meetings virtual reality, investigative reporting, enterprise NYC packages, ethics, and family-owned businesses. Will Bancroft, author at Newswhip, will talk about the state of content and social distribution. Here is a sneak-peak at part of the lineup: Cindy Rodriguez, senior journalist-in- NEWSROOM: residence at Emerson College will present two sessions: Protecting yourself against doxxing, IRE (Investigative Reporters and Editors, and social media for newbies. Inc.) will present a day-long program on conducting quick-hit investigations, finding Media consultant Val Hoeppner will lead information (including key government one session on developing a video strategy, and documents) online, examining businesses and a second session on developing a mobile first non-profits and obtaining public records, getting news strategy. Thursday, September 14, 2017 what you need from sources, ethical decision- Jan Shaffer, executive director of the J-lab, NYPA/NYPS Boards of Directors Meetings making, ensuring accuracy, and finding a way to the Institute for Interactive Journalism, will NYPA Foundation Board of Directors Meeting do great enterprise reporting. The Westin Buffalo, Buffalo, NY present, “Networked: Collaborative journalism Terry Parris, ProPublica’s community editor, partnerships to increase impact.” Friday & Saturday, will talk about audience engagement and why Julie Manganis, an award-winning reporter September 15 & 16, 2017 investing in a deep connection with your readers NYPA Fall Conference for The Salem News and North of Boston Media, The Westin Buffalo, Buffalo, NY can pay big dividends. will discuss the ins and outs of covering courts. Jacqui Banaszynski, Knight Chair in editing Tom Gierasimczuk is a journalist and media Friday, November 17, 2017 at the Missouri School of Journalism, will present NYPA/NYPS Board of Directors Meetings leader who develops effective, multi-platform, NYC sessions on interviewing and story discovery. editorially driven marketing strategies that engage audiences, and help turn their brands into engaging, nimble media companies. (Continued on Page 3)

A NEWSLETTER FOR NEW YORK’S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS Published by the New York Press Association 621 Columbia Street Ext., Suite 100, Cohoes, NY 12047 NYPA NewsBeat 518.464.6483 • 518.464.6489 fax • www.nynewspapers.com Executive Editor — Michelle K. Rea Layout & Design — Rich Hotaling February 2017 NewsBeat 3

(Continued from previous page) Penny Riordan, digital guru for Gatehouse FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESSES: workflow, pagination, Adobe Bridge, InDesign, Media, will show you how to integrate Snapchat Illustrator, Photoshop, and publishing trends. and Instagram into your newsroom. David Cadden, professor emeritus of entrepreneurship and strategy at Quinnipiac David Fowler, CEO of Ads Up, will present Jeremy McBain, executive editor of the University, and Patricia Angus of Columbia workshops on creating high impact digital ads News-Review, Petoskey, Michigan, will lead a University’s Family Business Program will lead and powerful print ads. session on the continuing power of community workshops on outside board governance, next newspapers. generation leadership, family dynamics, and Editorial photojournalist David Handschuh extended family communication. has been working his magic behind the lens for Jennifer Fizzi, from Videolicious, will show more than 30 years. Handschuh will lead you how to empower your staff to make great workshops on Photography 101 for reporters videos in seconds. and feature photos that focus on community. ADVERTISING: Charles Apple, deputy design editor at the Tracy Collins, design team leader at Houston Chronicle, will present “Graphics for Shannon Kinney, founder of Dream Local, Gannett’s Phoenix Design Studio, will explain Word People,” “Alternative Story Forms,” and will lead a workshop on using the latest and how digital has changed print design. “Great Visuals on a Shoe String Budget.” greatest social platforms to drive revenue. Adrian Norris, creative director, digital Suzette Standring, syndicated columnist Ryan Dorhn, CEO of Brain Swell Media, media at The Globe and Mail, Toronto, will with Gatehouse Media, will talk about the art will present sessions on digital sales strategies, present a workshop on page design. of column writing. 60 sales tips in 60 minutes, and increasing the total ad buy. In addition, you’ll be inspired by an George Freeman from the Media Law awesome keynote address at lunch Friday, and Resource Center will present a seminar on Kelly Wirges, CEO of Pro Max Training, by the presentation of more than 400 Better Fair Trial/Free Press — and, will Trump will talk about addressing objections, Newspaper Contest awards over the course of change media law? prospecting that pays, developing a high- the weekend. performance sales team, and assessing your Robert Freeman, executive director of the own strengths and weaknesses as a sales leader Enjoy fabulous (and we do mean fabulous) NYS Committee on Open Government, will and coach. food and drink while dancing the night away talk about New York’s Freedom of Information and cavorting with your colleagues in Law, open government issues, and what to do Stacey Sedbrook, vice president for Saratoga’s famous Museum of Dance Friday when public officials improperly close strategy and business development, SalesFuel, evening. government meetings. will present, “A New Way to Prospect, Reinventing the Needs Analysis Through Take time to learn about cutting edge Smart Automation,” and “How to Focus, products and services from more than two Motivate and Retain Your Sales Team.” dozen exhibitors including commercial web PUBLISHERS: printers, app developers, graphics services, Steve Bookbinder, CEO of Digital Media Ondrej Krehel, cybersecurity and digital CRM software, CMS, mailing software, Training, will teach you how to evolve your publishing systems, video platforms and more. forensics, LIFARS, will present, “Your Money media offerings, and he’ll provide an overview or Your Data: The Era of Cyber Extortion.” of the digital media landscape and what’s Last, but not least, take advantage of the Heather Phillips, editorial product director, trending. networking opportunities and all the news projects, the New York Times will present information and experience that your NYNAME will present its innovative colleagues from across the state have to share. a session on product management to manage advertising project of the year. multiple stakeholder needs and ensure the best This year, for the first time, NYPA is possible user experience. Self-described integrity sales specialist partnering with NYNAME and FCPNY to Diane Ciottta will present four successive bring together daily and weekly newspapers, Rebecca Capparelli, executive director of workshops focused on increasing sales, Pennysavers and shoppers. The brain trust promotions at Gatehouse Media will talk about enhancing accountability, and accomplishing will be amazing. increasing revenue, engagement and data with goals. Diane’s motto: “Activity drives artful promotions. Registration materials for the conference productivity, and integrity sells.” and for hotel rooms are available at Mary Walter Brown, publisher, Voice of Digital handyman Russell Viers will www.nynewspapers.com . Don’t delay — San Diego, will lead a session on, “Revenue present two days of his always-entertaining hotel rooms sell out fast. Register today! Diversity — The Importance of Building a Adobe certified training sessions on publishing Pipeline of Consumer Revenue.” 4 NewsBeat February 2017

By KENJEFF DOCTORSONDERMAN Newsonomics: Rebuilding the news media will require doubling-down on its core values PHOTO BY JEREMY BROOKS USED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE. ournalists and publishers need to breathe “Hold the media accountable, and make Increasingly, though, I’ve come to believe that we new life into the social contract with readers: your public officials hear you,” Zahra Billoo, the can’t rebuild local news capacity until we’re more The audience holds the media accountable, executive director of the Bay Area chapter of the clear about our 21st-century values. What might we J the media holds the powerful accountable. Council on American-Islamic Relations told the include in those values? “Alt-what?” I asked the audience of the Washington march Saturday. Expect to hear a lot It may not be bad to start with a few Robert leaders of America’s alternative press, in a talk last more of that sentiment. Within the demand comes Fulghum tips from All I Really Need to Know I Friday, the day of the inauguration and the day both a threat and an opportunity to reclaim a Learned in Kindergarten. They seem oddly modern before an estimated 100,000 people marched paying readership for news that newly matters in and newly recited in this toxic political atmosphere: subscribers’ lives. through downtown Portland, Oregon in Protest. • Share everything. “Alt-what in America’s growing news deserts” was Fundamentally, we’ve arrived — possibly • Play fair. the title of my talk, and it followed up on my most again — at a place where people expect values- • Don’t hit people. recent Nieman Lab Column. In that piece, I asked oriented media. Let’s talk about what that may • Put things back where you found them. who — struggling dailies, emerging public radio mean, and then, more practically, I’d like to offer • Clean up your own mess. initiatives, spirited startups, local TV stations — five ways news media can begin to breathe new • Don’t take things that aren’t yours. might seize the opportunity of the day and ramp life into the notion. • Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody. up the kind of local news coverage that readers “Values” may seem a scary proposition for They seem awfully relevant, don’t you think? might support with subscription or membership. much of the legacy press and the digital startup Could alt-weeklies be part of the solution? press that has followed it. It can conjure up These seem to be human values More than 100 of them still populate the landscape, partisanship or “taking sides,” but it doesn’t and American values, and the press can remind all of from the hometown Portland’s Pulitzer-winning need to. us about them. Maybe a few additional ones can be Willamette Week to Cincinnati’s CityBeat to borrowed from the Boy Scouts: being trustworthy, Take that word: accountable. Journalists loyal, helpful, thrifty, and brave. Vermont’s Seven Days to the L.A. Weekly (itself just have talked about accountability journalism and now put for sale). The alternative press was born practiced it well for decades. But in recent years, Those are just for starters, though. Try the four out of an earlier tumult, in the 1960s and ’70s, and it has sometimes seemed like an add-on — principles of the long-established and once universally I knew it well, having been part of it early in my maybe a foundation will fund it? — rather than accepted Society of Professional Journalists Code of career. Then, it was “alt” as in counter, as in the basic mission of a free press, national and Ethics. counterculture — but that’s a blast from a fast- local, in a free society. That’s how the framers saw disappearing past. Now, these publications almost • Seek truth and report it. it when they gave the press quite a shout-out. • Minimize harm. all build their audiences around things to do, They didn’t do that so that fishmongers, tailors, guides, and calendars; the level of incisive local • Act independently. and alehouse keepers would have a place to • Be accountable and transparent. reporting varies widely. advertise. They did it to keep tabs on power. Further, the word “alt” has taken on the dark Yes, it does seem quite basic to have to list these, As budgets and newsroom workforces but the times apparently demand remedial courses. new reality of “alt-right,” the sanitized neo-Nazi throughout the country have been halved, umbrella for those who decry (“Lügenpresse!”) the Underlying all this, a single word: fairness. Even more stenography — limp, single-source stories — than mere “accuracy,” it’s the word that has driven the press, not build it. And then there’s the la-la land of have become more the rule than the exception. “alternative facts” that Kellyanne Conway unveiled best journalists from tiny towns to major metros. It’s Too few of the remaining local reporters, at the still the best barometer. to Chuck Todd. Throughout the past week, the nation’s 1,370 or so local newspapers — we have pages of America’s news sites have been only four national ones — have both the time and Rather than assert some shaky new world or transformed into what seems an alternative universe local knowledge to hold local and state politicians parse meanings of words most everyone understands itself, as the rat-a-tat-tat of Trump-promised change and business to account. So they largely — with — “fact” and “lie” now among them — the looks like the flipside of the past eight years. very important and award-worthy exceptions — admonition of Washington Post editor Marty Baron, That alt-what dilemma of the weeklies offers don’t do enough of that work. That’s the certainly reaffirmed by others, says it simply: “Just do our job. just a variation on the theme. For them and for a question of capacity, one that I raised last week, Do it as it’s supposed to be done.” America’s news media generally, the question and it’s the gating issue here. Make no mistake, it’s not the adoption of a grows more urgent by the day: Who are you now values-based mission that’s essential. It is acting on and what can you do for would-be paying readers? these values that must now define news media. If February 2017 NewsBeat 5

publishers, editors, and general managers — at Comparisons to press crackdowns from Turkey to — we’ve seen beginning indications of them here and dailies, public radio stations, alternative weeklies, TV Venezuela to Russia, seemingly unimaginable six there — can help readers make sense of the change- outlets and emerging digital startups — assert such months ago, demand reading. in-policy chaos and change-in-law confusion that is values, what work will they point to, each week or What might this new asserted social contract look yet to come. Tame transience by creating permanent each day, that fulfills that promise? Those news like? I hope to be building it throughout the year — searchable records, new variations on the old Times organizations — The New York Times, The and your submissions are highly valued — but let’s Topics pages and their cousins of an earlier generation. Washington Post, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The start with five points of the moment: Show, don’t tell, impact. Atlantic, Mother Jones, The Guardian — that have seen a boom in subscription sales have done just that. Project strength, not weakness. The real-life implications for Americans, given the They’ve done the visible work, and readers have When the bear appears in the wilderness, you spate of policy/law changes, looks like it is going to be responded. don’t curl up in a ball; you make yourself seem as profound. Especially at the local level (where, let’s remember, everyone lives), health care, environmental, This is the outline of the new social contract I large as you can. The press needs to do that. In addition, subscribers are more willing to pay for education, and criminal justice impacts should be urged last week. A contract is, by its nature, quite reportable. This week, via NPR’s All Things transactional. Journalists, and those who pay them, strength — that day-after-day demonstration of news values — than to weak appeals for support. Assert the Considered, I heard the kind of report we need. NPR, must make a new bargain, a new offer to their readers in partnership with Phoenix’s KJZZ and Kaiser Health and communities — and then make good on it. strength of the news product — and how your subscription can make it stronger. News, produced “Arizona Children Could Lose Health I wonder how many of the 3 million or so people Coverage Under Obamacare Repeal.” In less than marching on Saturday — and of all those lighting up Wishful thinking also won’t work. Earlier this four minutes, it made human impacts clear. week, some journalists noted how new White House the lines of Congress this week — subscribe to a Create an Ignorance Index. newspaper. I bet you many of them did once but no spokesman Sean Spicer behaved on Monday as longer do. compared to Saturday, saying the shift might herald We’ve all seen them, those stories — now the long-awaited political pivot. Journalists who make multiplied by the fake-news feeding frenzy — of how They probably didn’t find those papers politically too much of kinder words here and there and don’t many Americans believe “facts” that simply aren’t objectionable, but instead would more likely cite a stay focused on actions will be run over. Wesley true, like “vaccines have been shown to cause autism” worse fault for media: blandness and incompleteness. Morris, The New York Times critic-at-large, or “President Obama was born in Kenya.” How about Readers do expect coverage of the day, and those that deftly dissected a cousin of this wishful thinking publishers — again, nationally and locally — creating don’t provide it don’t deserve reader support. (“Politics’ newest empty gesture, the disavowal”), with polling partners a series of Ignorance Indexes, (Consider, for instance, the 22 percent of U.S. dailies appropriately decrying “political language used in tracking over time how much community/nation that didn’t feel the mass protest of millions deserved such a bloodless, begrudging way that it’s borderline ignorance has increased or decreased? play on their front pages.) dangerous.” We’d hope — one of our fundamental values, This is the new virtuous circle that must be spun, Remedy news overload. right? — that as a learning species and nation, we and quickly: Readers hold news media accountable Even before the raft of Trump initiatives could all agree that facts are important. Does that for covering the news, and news media hold the power sound elitist or partisan, you know, asserting that facts centers of their nation, states, and communities launched this week, the infinity of news has weighed heavily on readers’ minds, with the smartphone an are important? Forget the noise. If factuality is one of accountable for their actions. Spin the wheel faster, those core values, double-down on it. And have some and more money will fall out, paying more and more accomplice. Now that overload can lead to a political overwhelming. fun with it. Maybe show the comparative results of two journalists to do their jobs. Call it a pipe dream if you groups: subscribers and non-subscribers. wish; I call it a necessity. As Callum Borchers outlined in The Washington Identify allies. At this point, it seems clear that without reader Post recently: “The news overload is enough to make revenue, we’re likely to see a robust local press you want to throw your hands up — or, perhaps, use Given the events of the day, would-be allies of the continue to wither away toward extinction. 2017 them to reach for a cold beverage and a remote press are popping out of the woodwork. Meryl Streep’s witnesses a convergence of severe financial pressures control, with which you can escape the transition Golden Globe call-out for the Committee to Protect and intense press demonization, led by the new tornado by tuning in to back-to-back NFL playoff Journalists (now even more necessary, as six president. In a nation in which the press and doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday. This is a journalists have been charged with felonies related to broadcasters represent a thin line between partisan near-perfect situation for Donald Trump.” Inauguration Day violence) boosted CPJ donations 140 propaganda and citizen-readers, the time for action — We know solutions for overtaxed readers, in an times normal. John Oliver’s summer appeal to support new action — is now. age of digital and social news bounty: editing. That’s journalism clearly spurred some rush of subscription why newsletters have proven so valuable as a new sign-ups. Publishers — who must earn support they Press critic Jay Rosen’s brutal realism — receive — must ask who are the social influencers, “Winter is coming: Prospects for the American press news marketing tool. But news companies of all kinds can go farther. How about organizing Trump’s tweets local or national, who will get people to open their under Trump” — seems more prescient each day as wallets, given the new realization that paying for news working journalists are charged with felonies, multiple into tables, searchable by date and topic, with the fact check alongside it, rather than only writing one fact- makes a difference? The sprouts of a real reader federal agencies are gagged, and the “alternative fact” revenue revolution must be nurtured. war with the press looks to be an enduring affair. checked story after another, which for readers tend to disappear into the ether? Various kinds of scorecards 6 NewsBeat February 2017

By PETER W. WAGNER — Founder, The N’West Iowa REVIEW Am I the only one who believes the traditional print version of our community newspaper still provides the best economic future?

don’t understand the logic of moving local news Peter W. Wagner is founder and publisher of the award- coverage from the long-established and highly respected winning N’West Iowa REVIEW. He is a regular presenter I printed newspapers to the internet. Any egomaniac with at State Press Association Conventions and Group a home computer can create a local website or blog. But it Seminars. You may contact him with questions regarding takes a community newspaper — with credible reporters, your newspaper at [email protected] editors and well-deserved reputation — to provide direction or (cell) 712-348-3550. and consensus to the community. “What if almost the entire newspaper industry got it wrong?” asked Jack Shafer recently on Politico.com. Printed papers, he says, have struggled the last two decades to reinvent themselves for the digital age. Few have seen any real revenue and there has been almost zero growth since 2007. Surveys show, he says, that most readers still prefer the print version of their newspaper to the web version. “Maybe newspapers should focus on what they’re good at,” he says, “instead of fighting a digital war they can’t possibly win.” “SEVEN FOR 7” featured seven articles in our OKOBOJI Magazine highlighting seven of the My son, Jeff Wagner, says nobody can save their way into best places, interesting faces, restaurants, boat business success. The industry cutback in newsroom staff, dealers, recreational trails and events around our editorial hole, circulation promotion and community nearby seven-lake Okoboji resort area. involvement has deflated the image and value of newspapers overall. “FULL-TIME PIG FARMER AND PART- TIME PASTOR” shared the journey of a man Some local newspapers attempt to get by printing mostly called to the ministry from his hog lot. Today, news releases that are nothing but self-serving, poorly with much training, he both farms and preaches. written, boring collections of “who cares” facts. Worst, most of those releases also available in every other newspaper in And finally, “TAKING A FLING AT your area. If press releases are used at all they should be MATH” explained how a Sheldon Middle rewritten and expand with fresh information and a local spin. School sixth-grade teacher was using the trebuchet, an ancient weapon of war, to teach I used to think readers wanted their stories math to his students. USA Today style, short and to the point. But while in San Francisco recently I found myself devouring exciting, There are endless worthwhile stories enticing, full-page newsworthy features in The Examiner. breaking around every community every day. The resourceful reporter will discover them But being short or being long does not make story or while at church, listening in on the feature article worthy of printing. Each article needs a conversations at the city council meeting or “hometown” connection. simply by visiting with a local community Here are some recent innovative stories published in my leader. They are the stories readers The N’West Iowa REVIEW: remember. They just require an inquiring mind and an interest in the community. “WHERE’S SUPERMAN SUPPOSED TO CHANGE?” Let’s not write print’s obituary yet. The (See attached illustrations) told our readers that most printed newspaper is going to be around for Northwest Iowa telephone booths have disappeared. You’ll a long time. All it needs is the love and care find them in backyards, basement rec rooms and providing of an enterprising publisher and powerful, character to locally owned businesses. exceptional writing. February 2017 NewsBeat 7

By KEN PAULSON Fight fake news with the real thing: Ken Paulson With retro styling, portable, local, updated news needs no batteries and has no pop-ups! Subscribe Now!

Yes, the best way to combat this spawn of new distinguishing the truth from nonsense? Have America’s technology is with old technology, circa 1690, the schools failed to foster critical thinking? year the first newspaper was published in America. The biggest driver of fake news has been the The most effective weapon against fake news is reluctance of the public to pay for information and the real journalism. The notion of caring professionals subsequent decline of traditional news media. living in your community and writing about your town Faced with declining circulation, newspapers have and government is admittedly very old school, but it priced their content at astonishingly low levels. In recent has served us well for more than three centuries. months, a number of daily newspapers have marked down We’ve had fake news at the checkout counter since their annual digital subscription to $4.99 a year. Yes, you the ‘70s, but there was also the real thing delivered to read that right. For the price of a cup of coffee or a Big Mac, our doorstep each morning. you get 365 days of information about your community, your Perhaps print newspapers will one day neighbors and your government. Unless you don’t care. (Photo: John Moore, Getty Images) disappear, but the touchstones of local journalism And that could be the real problem. The click culture don’t have to. Keeping an eye on local government, has revealed a lot about who we are as a nation and what our ake news is becoming a real problem, according celebrating achievements and telling the stories that priorities are. We’ll spend hundreds of dollars on cable TV to successive presidents of the United States. shape the fabric of a community have never been or $14 on a movie ticket, but we refuse to pay for news and F Barack Obama described it as a threat to democracy, more important. information. In the end, you do get what you pay for. while President Trump decried it as a threat to his For those rolling their eyes because they’re administration. No disrespect to America’s television and radio convinced that the local newspaper is “biased” along stations, but those newspapers and websites drive broadcast So it must be a big deal. Surely this nation’s inventive with the rest of the media, I’d invite you to reconsider. reporting. Facebook posts on current events come from real spirit can give us something to counter “alternative facts” and By and large, local newspapers strive for balance for news sites that need revenue to stay alive. bogus stories to give Americans the accurate information they both ethical and business reasons. With newspapers need. Just consider this potential Kickstarter campaign: Unless we invest in journalism — at the national or struggling economically, they can’t afford to alienate local level, in print or online — fake news is all we’ll have. We’re pleased to offer you the opportunity to invest in the anyone. That’s why many newspapers have Democracy can’t survive on memes alone. Fake News Eradicator, a content delivery system that will keep abandoned endorsements. They can’t take the risk of you informed in a timely and reliable manner, engage and losing a chunk of their readership. There are powerful politicians and their followers who say you can’t believe anything you read in the press. “Trust entertain you and shore up democracy in the process. Among Many factors fuel the proliferation of bogus its features: us,” they say. They want you to believe that America’s news news. In a polarized society, there are certainly organizations are all just like that strident and sensational • The option of digital or retro packaging cynical partisans who manipulate social media to cable channel you hate. • Custom-built for your geographic location without their own ends. But we also can’t let the American people off the hook. They suggest that the nation’s 1,300 daily newspapers, the need for GPS more than 7,500 weekly and alternative papers, 1,700 TV • Fully portable “Fake news thrives because there is a lazy, stations, 14,000 radio stations, thousands of magazines and incurious, self-satisfied public that wants it to thrive; • Built-in fact-checking thousands of online news sites can all be condensed into the because large swaths of that public don’t want news singular “media,” united by a shared political agenda and a • Creates local jobs; the product is manufactured in in any traditional sense, so much as they want disdain for the American people. And that’s the most the USA by your neighbors. vindication of their preconceptions and prejudices,” dangerous fake news of all. • Redesigned daily to meet your changing author and Norman Lear Center fellow Neal Gabler information needs wrote recently. “Above all else, fake news is a lazy person’s news. It provides passive entertainment, Ken Paulson, president of the Newseum Institute’s • Family friendly; absolutely porn-free demanding nothing of us.” First Amendment Center and dean of the College of Media • The retro model is delivered to your doorstep and requires Why are so many Americans unwilling or and Entertainment at Middle Tennessee State University, no batteries. It’s also guaranteed to be virus-free and has unable to recognize partisan fairy tales? Who’s to is a member of USA TODAY’s Board of Contributors. no annoying pop-up ads. blame when millions of Americans seem incapable of — Reprinted from USA Today 8 NewsBeat February 2017

By GRETCHEN A. PECK Today’s advertising sales teams are not taking “no” for an answer hat is it going to take for newspaper “They may say, ‘We don’t do print’ or “I’d say the most common, usually, boil down organizations to retain — if not ‘Print doesn’t work for us anymore,’ or ‘Our to advertisers stating that people aren’t reading the grow — their advertising support, audience doesn’t read print.’ If you look at newspaper like they used to, that we are too Wparticularly in a competitive field objections, percentage wise, I’d say that’s far expensive, or that they may not have the budget with so many others vying for brands’ ad and away the biggest challenge. As soon as available,” she said. spends? What does it take to reignite the you get a foot in the door, you’re branded or Fortunately, Wiita said, the team has been able allure of ad campaigns that creatively build labeled as ‘the newspaper,’” Osterman said. upon the publishers’ platforms — campaigns to dispel those worries. “When we hear, ‘People that leverage the strength of mobile, desktop, His team isn’t in the habit of “pushing” aren’t reading the newspaper like they used to,’ I web and print? advertisers to buy into any program for which think it’s important to address that, yes, our readers they’re not comfortable, but the objection to are now reading our content on a variety of To better prepare for the New Year and print is often overcome by noting its reach and platforms, which is only resulting in a larger the new relationships newspapers will have effectiveness. audience for us and our advertisers.” with advertisers, the industry requires a point of reference about what’s challenging “If we think there’s an opportunity for the When advertisers challenge the publisher on advertising revenues now. E&P asked advertiser to benefit from print, we usually go rates, Wiita and the team are equipped to talk advertising professionals (from ad reps to in with some market research. If there’s an specifically about compelling numbers for cost per senior executives) about the greatest objection to a print campaign, we inform them piece or cost per household, for example. obstacles their ad teams are currently facing, that the audience is actually more than Objections do vary depending on platform, the objections or reasons for reluctance from 130,000 people who read the newspaper every Wiita noted. In the case of print, the reasons are advertisers — across all the products and day — many, every single morning,” often related to audience or cost, though Wiita said publications — and how they’re winning Osterman said. “We may ask if that’s that “objections” may be too strong a word to back the hearts of advertisers and changing surprising or if it’s what they expected to hear. describe these perfectly typical conversations. their minds. “Increasingly, our reps are leading with “With web or mobile buys, we may hear that digital solutions, instead,” he continued. ROI is too difficult to measure, or that the business “We’re rebranding ourselves and showing that Conveying the Power of Print doesn’t have a website or landing page to drive we can help our advertisers with a lot more readers to,” she said. than just print advertising.”

Logan Osterman Lance Lewis According to Logan Osterman, Natalia Wiita advertising director for the Idaho Lance Lewis hears similar statements daily. Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star advertising He’s an advertising sales executive with Statesman in Boise, he and his team are director Natalia Wiita thinks the reluctance accustomed to hearing plenty of objections the Gettysburg Times in Pennsylvania. In his expressed to her ad team probably mimics estimation, the most common concerns from from advertisers, mostly in relation to print what other ad professionals around the advertising. advertisers are: “Newspaper circulation is industry hear as recurring themes. decreasing; it’s not a viable method of reaching the February 2017 NewsBeat 9

PHOTO OF AN OLD DATSUN AD BY JOHN LLOYD USED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE. public. Newspaper advertising is too expensive Finally, to counter the assumption that to you?’ And it is,” he said. “That is an on a per capita basis. Print is not a creative way print is somehow underwhelming as a extra value for the advertiser and insight to convey a message in the digital age.” creative platform, Lewis pointed out, that they would otherwise have to pay a lot of money for.” The good news is that the ad team at the “Creativeness in print can be overcome by paper is well-prepared to acknowledge the utilizing print as a referral method to digital concerns and calm them. advertising, which I have seen to be very successful.” The New Ad Sales Pro In response to the first objection about The conversations that advertising reps readership, Lewis said, “It is true that in metro are having with ad buyers these days are far areas circulation is shrinking; however, we have Using Data and Targeted more sophisticated and consultative in found that in smaller markets that circulation has Marketing nature than they were when print was the remained either level or is actually growing. I Data seems to drive so much of the sole product to sell. The conception and always cite Berkshire Hathaway’s investment in publishing organization today, especially creation of the advertising program is also small market papers to support this.” in the digital space. Today, data can glean far more creative and collaborative than Regarding return on investment, he said, so much more insight for advertisers, before. “Per capita advertising cost depends solely on if which they need to effectively target their “The more information and feedback you are reaching your target audience. If you are ads, even if they don’t yet know it. that we receive from both current attempting to reach millennials in print, your ROI “Readership numbers have gotten less advertisers and those that aren’t doing will be higher than if you are attempting to reach and less important over the years,” business with us, the better,” Wiita said. Boomers.” Osterman said. “It seems that “I’m a big fan of feedback, whether it’s advertisers aren’t quite as positive or negative, as it allows us to adapt interested in them, even when and change to suit the needs of the market. they’re presented with media I would say that most of the feedback we’ve audit information that dispels received as to where clients who aren’t their own notions; so, we’re spending with us are spending their frequently talking more about budgets generally comes down to a lack of digital data than we are about knowledge of the services we can provide. readership or traditional metrics “More often than not, new clients are like that. not familiar with the fact that we are not “A lot of the time, the only a newspaper, but that we offer a full advertiser doesn’t actually suite of digital solutions, produce a wide express that they want data. It’s variety of niche publications, have an more about trying to entice them events department that produces large- to want it,” he added. scale and custom events, and operate an in- house ad agency. There is no better feeling Osterman offered data from than sitting down with a new client and Borrell Associates as an example. walking them through the wide variety of “We might suggest to the ways that we can help them grow.” advertiser, ‘You might not want to At the Idaho Statesman, Osterman’s see the readership figures for the team has adapted to a more consultative paper, but if I can help you approach. understand what other businesses in your category are spending on “We follow a multi-step sales process, various kinds of media, in this which is very much based on doing market, would that be interesting research and essentially interviewing the

(Continued on following page) 10 NewsBeat February 2017

(Continued from previous page) Today’s advertising sales teams are not taking “no” for an answer client. Then, we offer solutions that fit, “The winning scenario is we build on the Beyond evangelizing the value of the which is opposed to the ‘old way’ of selling character that we’ve already established and news organization, sales teams need to be audience and pushing product,” he said. prove that we’re a digital force,” Osterman prepared to come to the table with real said. “In some cases, they may be turning to a To be effective, the salesperson must be solutions based on the expressed needs of the digital advertising alternative that’s merely advertiser. But the work doesn’t stop there. rebranded, too—from ad sales to media using an off-the-shelf technology for something consultant. The new role of ad reps includes Then, they must be able to prove ad as important as search engine optimization. effectiveness, and do that with every single having conversations about where reluctant Meanwhile, we have a fully staffed team of advertisers and their marketing agents are program, with every single digital or print extremely talented marketing professionals at display and insert advertiser. investing their ad spends, and why they are their disposal. They may not know we have perceived as a better buy. that expertise.” And about the “character” part of the trust equation that Osterman suggested? Osterman said, “We try to crack open Wiita said at the Lincoln Journal Star, that conversation about why they’re they’re accustomed to hearing that ad budgets Lewis concurred and pointed out that spending elsewhere, especially in the digital have been sliced, leaving less of the pie to character, integrity and a record of getting the space. Is it that the others are actually doing portion out. stories right have a tremendous impact on a better job than our digital team can do, or value proposition messaging. “When I discuss is just because the site is new and has a “The budget objection is obviously a very newspapers as a viable and reliable source of trendy look? We find that there are a ton of common objection in sales, and while in some news, I point to issues such as the Dan Rather fly-by-night operations that we can far out- cases it may be valid, most of the time, if a story regarding former President Bush’s perform when it comes to creating multi- consultant gets this objection, they haven’t service in the Air National Guard, the recent faceted digital campaigns. sold the agency or the advertiser on the value election and how it totally caught the of the program,” she said. “We do a lot of broadcast media off guard, and now this ‘fake Plus, in the end, those publications are training and role playing with our staff on not the newspaper. news’ on the web regarding a Hillary Clinton getting the value proposition right.” sex ring in D.C. The print media is still, in my Osterman cited a favorite quotation by humble opinion, the only truly investigative businessman and author Stephen M.R. news source available.” Covey, who said, “Trust is equal parts Prove Your Worth character and competence.” “I do think that advertisers believe in our Certainly one of the greatest challenges value proposition,” Wiita said. “However, it’s “A lot of times, businesses don’t trust that advertising sales teams have faced in important that we continue telling our story as us to handle their digital (messaging). In recent years is reinforcing the advertising an industry. While our industry is changing, their eyes, we may not be ‘competent,’ value proposition of the news organization. it’s not a bad thing. People read our content though we have the character,” he When asked if advertisers generally still now more than ever, and our audiences are explained. “They know us. They know who understand and buy into that value larger than ever before…I think it’s important we are, so we have the character, but we proposition, Osterman said definitively, “No.” that we acknowledge that change is good and haven’t done enough work to show them that “I think newspapers, in general, are that all industries have been forced to adapt to we’re competent in the digital space and behind the times of self-promotion, especially a digital world.” that we’ve trained up as well.” compared to broadcast and radio,” he said. The implication is that, while That needs to change, and he suggested that newspapers are known to have digital educating advertisers—and the public—about Gretchen A. Peck is an independent journalist who what the newspaper does for its readers and has reported on publishing and printing for more than complements now — the web, web mobile two decades. She has contributed to Editor and and mobile apps — they’re not perceived as advertisers must start at the highest levels of Publisher since 2010 and can be reached at being leaders or particularly innovative for the organization, at the publisher level and [email protected] those efforts, at least not yet. certainly among marketing teams. February 2017 NewsBeat 11

By JACK SHAFER Print Still Refuses to Surrender The readers have spoken: You can pry their newspapers from their cold, dead hands.

rint is the past and online is the Like Chyi, Thurman thinks newspapers need to Thurman’s findings help reframe the rise future, as all can attest. But a new rethink resources they’ve allocated to online of online and the decline of print as a debate study by Neil Thurman indicates editions. He believes his research should raise between the number of “readers” and the P that print isn’t quite prepared to questions about the wisdom of the online actual time spent reading. The reach vs. time surrender to online. According to expansion of U.K. newspapers to nondomestic spent debate, says Thurman, “matters in an Thurman’s research, a whopping 88.5 markets: Both the Guardian and the Mail have era of multi-platform media brands and percent of the total time U.K. readers taken their product to the United States and consumption when reaching someone online devote to 11 national newspaper brands — elsewhere. The Guardian, which has invested often means a fleeting engagement against the Guardian, Telegraph, Times, Mail, Mirror, deeply in its online editions, reported declines deeper encounter permitted by print.” When it et al. — is spent on the print edition. Only last summer in its digital revenues. In the fall, comes to newspaper news, the print product is 7.49 percent of reader time goes to mobile it announced that it would cut 30 percent of its walloping the online version in terms of reader and a mere 4 percent to PCs. U.S. staff. engagement. Guardian readers spend 43 minutes a The study butters the toasty feelings for Everybody accepts that newspapers have day on the print version and only 0.68 print that I expressed last year. As convenient been bleeding circulation for the past decade, minutes on the online version. Readers as a smartphone may be when you want to but the continued devotion of the readers to of The Mail spend 39 minutes on print sneak a nibble of news or gather a few sports print even though they charge high prices versus 2 minutes to the online edition. And scores and the weather report on the fly, for a compared to free or at least cheap websites so on down the list. “U.K. national genuine reading experience, nothing yet beats remains an under-told story. Writes Thurman, newspaper brands engage each of their ink on paper. It’s telling that Thurman found “[T]he metric of time spent reveals an online visitors for an average of less than smartphones outperforming PCs for reader inconvenient truth about newspapers’ online 30 seconds a day, but their print readers for time, indicating perhaps that if people are experiment.” Given all the developer money an average of 40 minutes,” Thurman writes. going to sit and read they’d rather do it on spent on developing news for smartphone users, it’s a bit of a shock to discover how little Are the Brits just slow readers? Nope, something other than a monitor. time that large audience invests in the format. says Thurman, who drew on a year’s worth If readers find newspapers so absorbing, of data: “Time spent reading print why do media types burn endless talk on the Online still outperforms newsprint in newspapers doesn’t vary much country-to- tens of millions who visit their online sites? many vital areas. It’s superb at breaking news country, and neither do online dwell “Our website has 15 million uniques a month!” and boutique news, and it remains the times.” they say. “Oh, yeah? Our website draws 22 cheapest and easiest way to publish. But Thurman’s paper, along with Chyi’s findings, Thurman’s work follows the research of million!” What they’re thrilled about is provides fresh ammo to the debate about University of Texas scholar H. Iris Chyi, “reach,” which Thurman defines as a “measure print’s future that’s been raging since 1993, who criticized the newspaper industry for of whether someone has been exposed to a when novelist Michael Crichton famously splurging on online editions when real media brand but [that] tells us nothing about predicted in Wired that not only newspapers profits remain in the fading print product. how much attention they paid to the content.” but mass media would be dead in 10 years. In correspondence, Thurman points to a Yes, gillions of unique browsers make touch- Newspapers, it seems, are always dying. But Deloitte study that found that 88 percent of and-go landings and on lots of websites, but thanks to their loyal readers, who hold them the newspaper industry’s revenues comes most of them move on before absorbing any of tight and long, they refuse to die. from print, making time spent reading and the content or partaking of the advertising money collected a near percentage match. messages. — Reprinted from Politico 12 NewsBeat February 2017

By STEVE DEMPSEY Steve Dempsey: Good news for publishers as research finds time not up for print their golden goose. They are starting to understand that there is not a bright digital dawn just over the horizon, and that it might be time to reinvent in print.” Similarly, Thurman feels digital products can learn a lot from ink on paper. “I do think that online newspapers should try to emulate some of the characteristics that make print so engaging,” he says. “Its design, the sense of completion it gives, the focus it inspires. We’re starting to see this now in the best mobile apps and e-paper editions.” But is this really possible? There is a vast difference between news as a printed product and news on a screen. Print is tangible and readers who buy a paper are making a commitment to spend time with it. This is nothing like the habits of a drive-by digital reader. It’s also worth bearing in mind that digital readers face a lot more competition for their attention. They are, after all, consuming news on something that can butt in with emails, social messages, not to mention the odd phone call. Computers, tablets and phones offer a host of distractions. Newspapers never start While print news needs to be celebrated for what it is, so too digital news ringing in your hand. products need to be seen for what they are It’s also worth remembering that there are more than According to research released this week, print readers pore over the just legacy publishers sharing information on the internet. news in detail while news is no more than a dalliance for digital readers. Thurman’s research only relates to data from 11 national The snappily-titled ‘Newspaper consumption in the mobile age: re- newspaper brands in the UK. There are no digital pure- assessing multi-platform performance and market share using “time- plays factored in. There’s no accounting for broadcasters’ spent”‘ found that 89pc of the time audiences spend consuming news online activities. And there’s no mention of the elephants in was in print, and 11pc was online. the online room - the Googles, Amazons, Facebooks and Apples. “If you’re a content company and you’re not What does that equate to in terms of minutes Thurman’s research relates only to UK newspaper Facebook, Google or Snapchat, you’re in the niche ads and seconds? Print newspapers are read for an brands, and is based on data from the UK National business,” quipped Meredith Kopit Levien, Chief Revenue average of 40 minutes per day. And online Readership Survey, the Audit Bureau of Circulations Officer of the New York Times at a recent AdExchanger S visitors spend an average of just 30 seconds a and Comscore. Interestingly, there seems to be a close event. day on the websites and apps of the same newspapers. correlation between audience attention and revenue. While print news needs to be celebrated for what it is, The News Media Association recently found that UK “Time-spent data has been collected by many so too digital news products need to be seen for what they newspaper publishers made 88pc of their ad revenue are. Thurman notes that online editions have doubled or print readership surveys for some time as well as for from print and 12pc from online. That’s surprisingly internet users, but it hasn’t become a standard metric tripled the number of readers that UK news brands now close to Thurman’s 89:11 split for time spent reach. And It’s this reach and always-on availability that for newspapers for a couple of reasons,” said Neil consuming news. Thurman, a Professor at Ludwig-Maximilians news publishers need to harness online, while increasing University in Munich, and the author of the research. Thurman believes many legacy publishers have the attention gobbling potential of print. “Firstly, because of a natural tendency to stick with the forgotten their core product in favor of a shiny new If time on site as a measurement provides us with status quo - publishers and advertisers are used to digital bauble. “Legacy publishers understand the anything it’s the understanding that news as a product is circulation, page impressions and so on. Secondly, value of their print products very well,” he says. “They different depending on how its users access and consume it. because time spent reveals an inconvenient truth are still responsible for a large majority of their The same articles that newspaper brands create need to be about online audiences: they spent far less time advertising revenue. However, while chasing their commercialized, distributed and measured differently on with newspapers’ online editions than with their digital dreams they have, perhaps, neglected print - each channel. print versions.” — Reprinted from The Independent February 2017 NewsBeat 13

Newspapers deliver across the ages

ver hear the phrase “print is dead”? older than non-newspaper readers. As affluent audience. Readers, whether print Well if you check with almost 170 digital media have gained in prominence, or digital, are still more likely to be college million Americans, they’d tell you newspapers have attracted younger readers. graduates and have annual household Ethat nothing could be farther from Newspaper readers are still educated and incomes over $100,000 than non-readers. the truth. In fact, a recent Nielsen affluent, but their ages are more reflective And by broadening their distribution to Scarborough study found that more than of the general population than they have digital channels, many newspapers have 169 million adults in the U.S. read a been in the past. For example, 13% of the attracted digital readers, who represent an newspaper in a month — whether it be in U.S. population is 70 or older, and this age even more affluent and educated segment print, on a website or via mobile app. In group now accounts for 15% of the total of readers. In fact, digital newspaper paper total, newspapers reach 69% of the U.S. monthly newspaper audience. readers are 49% more likely than the population in a given month.Newspapers general adult population to be a college remain largely a print medium, but the Compared to previous decades, graduate and 43% more likely to have dramatic growth in digital media in recent younger readers now account for a greater household incomes over $100,000. years has compelled newspaper publishers percentage of newspaper readers. Notably, to re-think their distribution models and Millennials 21-34 make up 25% of the There’s no doubt that the newspaper become multi-platform content providers. U.S. population and now represent 24% of industry has seen its fair share of change According to the recent study, 81% of the total monthly newspaper readership. and evolution over the past decade or so, monthly newspaper readers engage with Based on the shift in age of the newspaper some of which has resulted in a loss of the print product, with 51% reading print reader, it’s clear that the newspaper confidence from agencies, marketers and exclusively. The remaining 49% reads a industry’s adoption of digital distribution even researchers. But based on the recent newspaper on at least one digital platform, has allowed it to reach adults of all ages. Nielsen Scarborough survey, it’s clear that with 30% reading both digital and print. newspapers remain a thriving and viable Despite their growing appeal among medium, and they continue to engage a Traditionally, newspaper audiences younger readers through digital channels, larger portion of younger, affluent readers. have been more educated, affluent and newspapers still maintain an educated and 14 NewsBeat February 2017

By STEVE GRAY How resource-strapped newsrooms still produce high-quality journalism t’s an article of faith in the local media It’s getting worse staffs can take on. This comes from my days as business: High-quality content is our trump But the amount of in-depth reporting is editor at my family’s newspaper in Monroe, card in the high-stakes business of attracting shrinking still further as our revenues — Michigan. And it goes way back, before the I and monetizing digital audiences. and, therefore, our staffs — shrink. Internet, social media, and e-mail. That doesn’t matter. This idea is as good now as it was then. I hit on the idea one day as I was thinking about our local judges. As in most communities, once judges got elected in Monroe, they would be re-elected over and over again for as long as they chose to run. I asked myself why. Well, because each judge’s daily work was mostly invisible to voters. We did routine court coverage and covered major trials, but none of this revealed much about the quality of the judges’ work. They reigned supreme in their individual courtrooms, where few voters ever went. But how much of that high-quality content Investigative reporting takes time. do we really produce? And how much of it really There was no mechanism of accountability. has the huge audience pulling-power we need? And when we do take the time to do investigative reporting, we need to choose our I wondered what we could do about that. If It’s the same answer for both questions: not subjects carefully. We need topics that touch only we could watch them work, day in and day nearly enough. or interest broad swathes of the population, out, we could inform voters on how they did their Every small newspaper can find a story or our investments of time may not pay off in jobs. But that was flat-out impossible with our inside the local courtroom. big audiences. little staff of five reporters. Day in and day out, little “Big-J” journalism What do I mean by Big-J journalism? is created in most newsrooms. The large majority I mean the kind of reporting that smokes Getting the job done of what we like to call “quality content” tends to out wrongdoing; holds people accountable; breaks open misfeasance; malfeasance, and But then it occurred to me be fairly routine coverage of fairly routine there were people who were in those courtrooms community events, government meetings, non-feasance in government; reveals patterns of abuse; and so on. every day, and whose training in law made them and crime. qualified observers: the local lawyers. This is nothing new. Newsrooms have A project for every community They handled cases every day, and they always tended to focus on the standard fare of knew the judges’ strengths and weaknesses from community life as the most dependable means However, my purpose here isn’t to go personal observation and experience. How could of generating enough content for a day’s banging on about the need for this stuff. we tap into their knowledge? news budget. Rather, it’s to share a “you-can-do-it” example of Big-J journalism even very small I huddled with our excellent county government reporter, Charlie Slat, and we came February 2017 NewsBeat 15

up with the idea of drafting a questionnaire In my cover letter, I asked attorneys to Immediate results we would send to the members of our local answer honestly and candidly. I asked them to Another judge was repeatedly criticized for bar association. recuse themselves from completing the survey working only a precise 10-to-3 schedule every if they did not frequently handle cases in court. As I remember, we had about 10 judges day, regardless of the backlog of cases. at the time, and the bar association had about And I asked attorneys to refrain from rating After the survey went out and the legal 90 members. We looked up the bar’s any judges in whose courtrooms they did not community started talking about it, that judge membership list and went to work to develop have direct experience. called our publisher. He asked if the publisher a questionnaire. I also pledged the newspaper would not would agree to delete him from the results if he reveal the survey respondents’ identities to the I wish I still had the original questionnaire resigned before the stories were printed. and could provide it here. And I wish I could public or judges. The publisher said no. The judge resigned lay my hands on the stories we produced. anyway. But this was in the days before digital archives, High participation so I can’t. Several judges got uniformly high ratings, As I recall, at least 70 bar association several got middling ratings, and a few got members returned the survey, completed either plenty of criticism. What are the parameters? in full or for one or more of the judges. Only We published the results with responses two provided their names — a mark of singular As I remember, Charlie and I came up and comments from the judges. A couple of courage and honesty, in my opinion. with five or six main parameters of judicial them complained — mostly not for publication performance that seemed most important. As the results poured in, we read them — that it wasn’t fair to ask lawyers to rate them As I recall, these were the main ones: with amazement. anonymously. • Impartiality, including gender, race, age, One felony-court judge was revealed in In my opinion, that was the only way to do ethnicity, and defense versus repeated comments to be extremely tough on the survey. Given the tremendous power judges prosecution. defendants. Several attorneys labeled him “the hold over attorneys in the courtroom, requiring • Punctuality, efficiency, and orderly hanging judge,” and one called him “an identification would have silenced most of the oversight of the courtroom. avenging angel for his conservative Catholic truth that needed to come out. morality.” • Fairness and balance in sentencing, Even before we published the results, the determining bond, and settling Another was revealed in multiple legal and governmental community was buzzing, procedural disputes. comments as uniformly lenient, and a sucker and the lazy judge quit. Then our stories for sob stories and psychologist witnesses for reverberated across the community, triggering • Courteous and professional treatment of the defense. His sentences were said to be discussion everywhere and more than a little plaintiffs, defendants, attorneys, juries, often too soft for the crimes committed. indignation. and people in the courtroom. And several respondents reported a A few years later, after I had left the • Knowledge and appropriate application dubious gambit used by some defendants to community, the newspaper repeated the survey of the law. avoid the “hanging judge.” They would hire an process and again published the results. It Each performance parameter was briefly attorney who rented office space in a building appeared the original project had left a lasting described in a sentence or two, and participants owned by that judge, and the judge would mark; the results showed a generally higher were asked to rate the judges on a scale of one disqualify himself on their cases because of his level of performance among the judges. business connection with the attorney. Then to five, from very poor to excellent. We also Who holds the judges in your community the case would often go to the lenient judge. provided space for written comments on each accountable? You can — and it doesn’t take a parameter. Another judge was criticized large staff or months of work to do it. The survey included a ratings sheet for as indecisive and unsure of Steve Gray is vice president of strategy and innovation each of the 10 judges. At the end of the survey, the law. And, some said, at Morris Communications, based in Augusta, we provided space — labeled optional and drunk on the bench. Georgia, USA. He previously led the American Press confidential — for the survey participant to Institute (API) Newspaper Next program. provide his or her name. — Reprinted from INMA 16 NewsBeat February 2017

By KEN DOCTOR Newsonomics: Trump may be the news industry’s greatest opportunity to build a sustainable model eaders have finally understood that their Post newsroom. Those dailies approached the election emaciated, payments for the news will actually make a their weakness exacerbated by 10 years of difference in what they and their community Readers opened their wallets more widely, R as The Atlantic, ProPublica, The Guardian, disinvestment. Make no mistake: Most of the U.S. daily know. That model needs to be extended down to states press still returns profits. They just don’t return as and cities. NPR, The New Yorker, Mother Jones, Vanity Fair, and the Los Angeles Times have all much news, or reporting, or knowledge, as they used to. One of the most challenging periods in American reported increased public support. Further, it’s in that local press that Americans long press history began at noon Eastern, Friday, What’s the lesson here? got their basic news, the basic facts that informed their January20th. The cries of “Lügenpresse” (defended by voting habits. We can draw a straight line between the the outlet until recently run by new chief strategist to the Beyond “support,” readers clearly recognize decline of the American local press and a populace president) echo almost as much as the stiff-arm salutes value. They reward reporting, factual reporting, whose ignorance has been further distorted by the in the nation’s capital in late October. The Russian secure in the knowledge that certain news polarization of democratic discourse. We may struggle propaganda service Russia Today (now nicely rebranded brands are more immune from the fakeries, to point out a few direct illustrations of that straight as RT America) somehow taking over the airwaves of C- forgeries, and foolishness than others. They see line, but the impact — civic and electoral — is only SPAN for 10 minutes is just icing on the cake. Who their own questions being answered with dutiful logical. We can’t cut the number of journalists in the knows what language cable news’ crawls will be in soon? reporting and thoughtful analysis. The Times, in American daily workforce in half — replacing the most As we feel the ever-louder banging on the doors of a its 2020 report, long in the works, renewed the locally knowledgeable with less experienced, lower- free press, we should also hear, weirdly, another new social contract, as it designated $5 million paid recruits — and expect no loss. knocking. That’s the knocking of opportunity. for deeper and wider national government coverage, given the Trump ascendance. Looking forward, though, it’s that local press that It’s not just the “journalistic spring” that Jack we must look to cover the day-by-day repercussions of Shafer predicts as the conflicts and controversies of the Readers see courage and they support it. health, environmental, education, and racial justice Trump administration prove fertile ground for The Times and the Post led courageously in policies and laws turned upside down. We’ll see mad investigation. It’s the opportunity to rewrite the tattered 2016, even as the din of press attacks got louder. spin coming out of Washington, and the national media social contract between journalists and readers, a chance (And, here, let us recognize the uneven but will cover that. That national media, stretched as thin to rebuild a relationship that’s been weakening by the growing courage of CNN, its reporters and its as it is, has little prayer to cover what seems likely to year for a decade now. hosts, for more insistently piercing the bellows of happen in the 50 states to the formerly insured, the nonsense they encounter. At the same, time, let’s women facing clinic closures, the aggrieved looking to That’s not just some wishful sentiment expressed in recognize the potential of CNN-taming implicit federal legal insistence on fairness and justice, and the the face of the reality of Trump. We’ve seen it proven out in Trump’s meeting last week with AT&T chief families seeking clean drinking water. Those are stories over the past several months, and we must grasp this Randall Stephenson, the would-be buyer of CNN that must be unearthed, and told, across the country. chance to reset an American press that has been through the acquisition of its corporate parent, withering away. Time Warner.) It’s a question that comes down to a single word: capacity. In both the immediate run-up to the election, and And, yet, all of that outpouring of post- more so in its dramatic aftermath, we’ve witnessed one election support still amounts to a meager down Long-time media watcher Merrill Brown pointed greatly ironic unintended benefit of Trumpism. More payment on what the American press needs. The recently to the drained ability of American news than 200,000 new subscribers signed up for New York national news media lives on the thread of profit. companies to adequately report on the administration Times subscriptions, many of them not even directly It is not “failing,” as in the Trumpian taunt, but that takes power today. solicited — they just figured out it was the right thing to it’s just hanging on, having absorbed financial “There are not enough institutions in the do. The Washington Post saw its own double-digit blow after blow of digital disruption. At the local American journalism community that are healthy percentage increase in new subscriptions, and Jeff Bezos level — where all but four of the nation’s 1,375 enough to deal with what the Trump administration is — sensing opportunity — has just taken the dramatic or so dailies operate — the unraveling is far likely to do in its early years,” he said on Brian Stelter’s step adding more than five dozen journalists to the worse. Reliable Sources on CNN a week ago. Speaking of both national and regional insufficiency, “We need more February 2017 NewsBeat 17

ProPublicas. We need more Jeff Bezos’s. indispensable to the democracy. That number now (health), The Marshall Project (criminal justice), and Philanthropists and investors need to be focused on appears in reach, as we assess the progress noted in Chalkbeat (education) play? Can any of the most how important media is, right now, during a dramatic Monday’s New York Times 2020 report. ambitious of LION’s 110 local member news sites change in government. We need more people to step It is in local markets that the reader revenue step up their coverage to benefit significantly from up to the changes in journalism.” lesson is going largely untested. Yes, most dailies the new reader/journalist virtuous circle? Is it a news emergency? We can make a good case have put up paywalls, but only a relative handful — In business — and news is a business — for that, but even if we want to classify it merely as a mostly outside the major chains — have funded still- consumers expect the improved product to be offered deepening crisis, let’s remember the advice of Rahm robust, if diminished, newsrooms. The common first, and then to be asked to pay (or pay more) for it. Emanuel as Barack Obama took over a country on the arithmetic I’ve described: Halve the product, double That’s why we need to see the kind of investment — edge of depression in 2009. “You never let a serious the price. Rather than invest in that reader/journalist from investors to philanthropists, as Merrill Brown crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that is it’s relationship, too many companies simply milk the life suggests. an opportunity to do things you think you could not of the disappearing print paper. It’s been astounding to me that so few people of do before.” My simple proposition: More Americans will pay wealth have come forward to rebuild the American I’ve had many conversations with those in and more for a growing, smarter, and in-touch local news press in digital form. Why will an Elon Musk, an around the industry since the election, and there’s source if they are presented with one. As the local early investor in newspaper entertainment product clearly a greater realization of this existential moment newspaper industry has shriveled, most readers have Zip2, pour hundreds of millions into space, cars, and in American journalistic life, yet no singular sense never been presented with that choice. Rather they’ve batteries, but nothing into his local Silicon Valley of what to do. had to witness smaller and smaller papers, and then news sources? For the most part, even the most less and lower-quality digital news offerings. sympathetic haven’t seen a sustainable model that Let me suggest we act on what we’ve learned. It’s not simply an “It’s the content, stupid” they thought worthy of their time and money. First, that means recognizing the new power of moment. Too many news publishers have failed to Now, though, that model cries out before us: the reader/journalist relationship, one underutilized create products, especially smartphone ones, that Majority reader revenue, built on a nationally proven by-product of the digital age. Though the national/ display well even what these local companies today next-generation content-and-product strategy. That’s global newspaper-based media (The New York Times, produce. That, though, is a topic for another day.) the carrot. The big stick: Unless a new model is the Financial Times, The Washington Post, and The worked out soon, know-nothingism will find fewer Wall Street Journal, which is finally finding its feet, Out of the welter of possibility in 2017, we need to see multiple tests of ramping up local quality, challenges across the expanse of America’s new bringing its business acumen to tougher Trump deserts. conflict of interest reporting) still struggle with the volume, and product. We need new scale brought digital transition, they’ve each crossed over. More back to local news reporting, which can now exploit Majority-reader-revenue models won’t work than 50 percent of their revenue comes directly from the wonders of multimedia presentation, and do it far overnight, and, there, the bridging aid of a small fleet readers; that’s up from the industry average of 20 to 25 more cheaply than print could ever offer. of foundations that have so far failed to fund a new percent just a decade ago. Will any of the local chain owners invest in a sustainability will be key. I believe they will renew Bezosian long-term strategy? Already, I’ve heard their own spirits — if and when they see building That not only provides them a more stable source success. of ongoing revenue, as digital ad markets prove discussion at the high levels of a couple of chains increasingly troublesome — it also makes the point of about the new public expectation of “watchdog Finally, let’s consider the intangible of civic journalists’ work crystal-clear. Journalists report and journalism” and how to meet it — and benefit from it. pride in this strangest of political times. John Oliver write to satisfy readers. Will the trying-to-be-feisty independents — made subscribing to the Times and Post and supporting ProPublica hip. Clearly, he tapped an Finally, in the recent cases of Times and Post perhaps led by The Boston Globe with its own small bump to 70,000 paying digital subscribers and a open reservoir of goodwill. As high hundreds of subscription spurts, paying readers have finally thousands of people take to the streets this weekend, understood that deeper connection: My payment for broad reinvention plan taking shape — see Times- or Post-like rewards for their efforts? Will any of the apprehensive of the future, and looking for the news will actually make a difference in what I accountability, the appetite for aggressive news know and what my community and country know. larger public radio stations tie growing news capabilities to a kind of “news membership,” moving media — national and local — may never have been So, on a national level, that message needs to be to fill the vacuum of news in their cities? How many as high. reinforced at every opportunity, just as John Oliver local TV stations will test out the idea of becoming Who will step forward and rise to the occasion? and Meryl Streep, among others, have begun to do. broader TV/digital news providers, and doing enough Another half million to a million digital subscriptions to get reader payment? What kind of stronger, could well certify the successful digital transformation regional roles might the likes of Kaiser Health News of national news outlets proving themselves 18 NewsBeat February 2017

By MAX WILLENS How publishers squeeze new traffic out of their old content

couple years ago, publishers decided they and small have embraced a wide array of tactics to get of a new site section. Over the summer, the grey lady had to start wringing more money out of their more value out of their stories: republishing the same launched a column called Smarter Living, with raw old content. Today, some of them are stories with different headlines; targeting likely material coming mostly from archived posts that were practically selling the photos that hang on subscribers with promoted posts on Facebook; years old. In mid-December, Smarter Living was given a their office walls, but the fruits of these labors syndicating old content with advertisers hungry for standalone editor, and it now sources original material Aare sprouting: The Atlantic, which uses archival high-quality stories; and many more. from numerous desks across the Times. Plans for a material on both the print and digital sides of its newsletter, events and original multimedia content are in Focusing heavily on updating older content has the pipes as well. business, now generates more than a quarter of its driven big gains. “If we have a list of the Best Burgers traffic every month from older content. At in San Francisco, for instance, if we’re not updating “When we started, it was almost exclusively publications like Business Insider, the figure is even that at least yearly and probably more often, we’re archives,” said Smarter Living editor Tim Herrera. “The higher, and for lifestyle-focused publications like doing a terrible job,” said Ben Robinson, Thrillist’s balance between archival and news has shifted a bit to the Refinery29 it’s higher still: 35 percent, and growing, chief creative director. “It’s an area we’ve attacked point where now desks are pitching us.” the company said. really aggressively.” Figuring out what to focus on isn’t hard. Herrera’s “We’re not looking to build our business on That aggressiveness has paid off. Two years ago, able to draw on everything from internal site searches to single pieces of celebrity news,” said Neha Gandhi, Thrillist got just 10 percent of its traffic from search. reader emails to past content performance. Where Refinery29’s svp of content strategy and innovation. By the end of 2016, that number was closer to 40 necessary, stories are retagged, and in some cases updated “Betting exclusively on the news cycle is far too percent. with the help of the reporter. volatile a game to play, if you’re looking to drive sustained growth and loyalty.” But updating content isn’t the only move That same intel will be used to create more resource- publishers are making. The New York Times, for intensive content, like video and live chats, a strategy not Older, evergreen content has always been a example, which started thinking about archives in dissimilar from the one BuzzFeed used to adapt successful source of traffic for publishers; for some, it’s core to earnest after its much-discussed 2014 Innovation content from one medium to another. “It just seems like their business models. But recently, publishers big Report, used archival material to test out the viability such an obvious thing to do.”

Public notice ads available from News Media Alliance Public notice ads from News Media Alliance, formerly NNA, are now available for use by newspapers — members and non-members. These ads, which highlight the importance of keeping public notices in newspapers, can be customized so that a newspaper can add its own logo. Any newspaper can access the ads by putting in an e-mail address that would recognize the newspaper’s URL. https://www.newsmediaalliance.org/email-gate/?submit=/research_tools/public-notice-ad/?gatval hroughout our nation’s history, notices, enabling the government to be fully of a government agency’s action; reaching citizens government agencies have been transparent and accountable to citizen that are passive information seekers that would not required to alert citizens of certain taxpayers. be aware of the fact that notices impacting the government activities that may impact In recent years, state legislatures — most community are on a government agency’s website. Ta local community, providing citizens with an recently in New Jersey — have proposed to Publishing public notices through the local opportunity to stay informed and take action move public notices out of printed newspapers newspaper also serves an important audit role as when necessary. and onto government-run websites. the newspaper acts as an independent third party Newspapers have long partnered with Publishing public notices in newspapers able to legally verify that the government agency government agencies by publishing public informs a wide audience in a local community has given the public notice. February 2017 NewsBeat 19

By BENJAMIN MULLIN Reader support is more important than ever; Here are 22 ways to connect with your community

ne of the most promising From NewsU: Lessons from Letters (real and electronic): moneymaking frontiers seems to be 10 years in audience Reporters and editors gathered around my reader-supported journalism. desk excitedly during my internship at The engagement Sacramento Bee when I got my first letter O The New York Times, with its from Folsom State Prison. It was apparently massive global reach, is betting big on something of a newsroom tradition — having subscribers; Dean Baquet, the Times’ Social media: Judicious use of social media applications Facebook, Twitter, a prison 30 minutes away meant that we often editor, recently said a10 million got mail from convicts who insisted they were subscriber goal was in the realm of Instagram and Snapchat can keep your news organization in conversation with the wrongly convicted and wanted us to look into possibility. The Washington Post, which is their case. on a quest to convert drive-by traffic into people who follow it. Reader-supported paid subscribers, is now a profitable organizations — any organization, really This letter was mildly upsetting, but I enterprise. Other subscriber-driven — can’t afford to neglect social media. still read it back-to-front — as did several outlets — The Information and Telephone: When I call local other people in the newsroom. The lesson? Timmerman Report, for example — have newsrooms, there’s an actual person at the Snail mail takes up physical space in our found success by putting readers at the other end of the phone who tries to answer lives and is harder to ignore. When a reader center of their businesses. my questions. The importance of a real takes the time to write something longhand human connection can’t be overstated in and put a stamp on it, it’s probably This focus on audiences raises an worthwhile to give it a hard look. That important question: How should news the age of digital and automated communication.” certainly paid off for The New York Times organizations that aim to make most of when Donald Trump’s tax returns showed up their money from readers, viewers and Voicemail: My college-town in the mailroom one day. listeners behave? newspaper once had an answering And don’t forget to set up electronic I put the question on social media machine feature that the editor compared to a train wreck: upsetting but impossible mailboxes, too. SecureDrop is a great way to and asked the Twitterverse for receive anonymous tips from readers. suggestions. Here’s what they came up to look away from. Readers would call in with. (If you know some I’m forgetting, and leave a message; their (often tasteless) Membership: If readers love your brand, please feel free to leave them in the remarks would be transcribed and printed or individual personalities in your newsroom, comments below!) on the second page of newspaper. membership can be a great way to bring your Although the feature was eventually killed audience closer to the newsroom. Live chats, Newsletters: One of the most (too few contributors; too much whining) Slack channels and gifts are all excellent valuable pieces of real estate in our daily there’s a lesson in its popularity: The ways to bring people into your orbit. lives is the email inbox. News power of a confessional is extremely organizations have adopted daily briefings popular, and anonymity leads to honesty, Crowdsourcing: Here’s how the typical en masse as they seek to build a direct for good or ill. story is written. A reporter has an idea about connection to their readers that isn’t what deserves attention. Then, they call the mediated by social media. Other news organizations, usual suspects — city officials and local including BuzzFeed, WNYC and CNN citizens with a public profile. Then, the news iPhone/Android applications: If have allused voicemail to help their and quotes go into a story that few people will getting into your reader’s inbox is good, audience open up about sensitive read and even fewer will care about. having a designated spot on their iPhone subjects. screen is better. The best applications are habit-forming and keep your most loyal (Continued on next page) readers coming back on a regular basis. 20 NewsBeat February 2017

(Continued from previous page) Reader support is more important than ever…

One solution: Use social media (or Internships: Honolulu Civil Sell (or give away) your data: tools like Hearken) to determine what Beat used its internship program tobring ProPublica has launched a data store that people in your community care about. a community member into the newsroom has pulled in more than $200,000 to date. Then focus your efforts on those people to learn more about the business and Many news organizations collect and their questions. craft of journalism. What’s a better way government data as a matter of course, so to build the public’s trust in journalism why not follow the ProPublica model and Direct public offering: Want to than having them produce it for you? sell it (or offer it to the public for free). give your audience a piece of the action? Ask them to invest — literally. At Partner with the community: Notifications, notifications, least one news organization, the Bay The community internship program is notifications: Mobile alerts, email Area’s Berkeleyside, has asked its similar to an approach undertaken by alerts and web alerts are all fodder for readers to buy chunks of the company to City Bureau, a Chicago-based nonprofit instant engagement. Get users to opt-into keep it afloat. This model was pioneered that connects professional journalists alerts on Chrome, mobile apps and by the Green Bay Packers — one of the with community members to tell their newsletters so you’re directly in front of most successful NFL franchises, and stories. More facetime with the public them when big news breaks. gives readers a financial stake in the means more news literacy and, perhaps, news organization’s success. additional support. Comments: Many news organizations have gotten rid them, but online comments Subscription: Kind of like a direct Events: Events are a great still have major champions in the news public offering, without the equity. moneymaking idea for a few reasons. industry. Comment advocates contend that Subscribers may feel more invested in They elevate your outlet’s profile in the the spaces below (or alongside) stories are your journalism — and more likely to community. They give your audience a crucial spaces for reader engagement. share it — if they’re helping pay for it. chance to see and interact with your journalists. And they make the process Slack channels: The Washington Chatbots: Don’t have time to have a of journalism more transparent — people Post, Gimlet Media, Poynter and Nieman back-and-forth with every reader? You can see how conduct interviews, for Lab have all established Slack channels to don’t have to! The rise of artificial example, and they can observe reporter- instant message with die-hard fans. intelligence and machine learning is source relationships firsthand. Although it’s tough to build vibrant empowering news organizations around communities on Slack, chat rooms enable the world to create chatbots that can Give away your journalism: instant feedback and lively exchanges. dialog with readers and help them find Many nonprofit news organizations, the news they want. The record for these including ProPublica, The Marshall Live video: You can’t get facetime with bots has been spotty thus far, but expect Project and the Center for Public everyone, so Facebook Live will have to do. this tool to improve with time. Integrity, spend months tackling Apps like Periscope, Facebook Live and investigations in the public interest and Meerkat (remember that?) allow you to Tours: No matter how convincing give them away to partner organizations. broadcast the inner workings of your virtual reality gets, there’s no substitute Should public-spirited for-profit news newsroom without devoting time to things for seeing a place with your own eyes and organizations do the same? In recent like editing and post-production effects. meeting people firsthand. Newsroom months, news organizations in San tours can deepen your connection with Talk to them: There’s no technological Francisco and Philadephia have teamed tool or marketing scheme that can take the the community and foster spontaneous up to examineissues such as ways for the public to engage. place of a face-to-face conversation. If you homelessness and prisoner re-entry. really want to know what people in the community think about your newsroom, knock on some doors, shake some hands and find out for yourself. February 2017 NewsBeat 21 “Why can’t we all just get along?” might not be the best way to encourage innovation and growth

First, discuss the different roles in the team and A third approach to normalizing and encouraging highlight what each role brings to the conversation. productive conflict is to set ground rules around dissension. Highlight how the roles are there to drive different Ask your team to define the behaviors that contribute to agendas. As an example, if you are in a cross-functional productive conflict (i.e., conflict that improves decision meeting with sales and production, the production person making while contributing to increased trust) and those that might be advocating for more standardization, control, and detract from it. Cover as much territory as possible to give efficiency. The sales person advocates for the exact people a clear picture of what is, and is not, acceptable opposite: more flexibility, customization, and agility. When behavior on your team. they are doing their jobs well, the sales and production In addition to clarifying appropriate conflict behaviors, leads should conflict with one another on the path to an you might want to define processes or roles that will help you optimized solution. One is fighting to be as responsive as to have more-frequent or more-effective conflict. Some teams ollaboration is crumpling under the weight of our possible to unique customer needs; the other fights for the have success with DeBono’s Six Thinking Hats, which has expectations. What should be a messy back-and-forth consistency that breeds quality control and cost team members use a specified perspective (e.g., white hat is C process far too often falls victim to our desire to keep effectiveness. logical and fact-based; black hat is cautious and conservative; things harmonious and efficient. Collaboration’s promise of greater As you work through each role in the team and their green hat is creative and provocative) to shed new light on the innovation and better risk mitigation can go unfulfilled because of different motives, you’ll see the light bulbs going on as issue at hand. Others assign the responsibility for eliciting cultural norms that say everyone should be in agreement, be people realize, “You mean I’m supposed to fight with that diverging views to a rotating chairperson or the owner of the supportive, and smile all the time. The common version of person!” Yes! “And when he’s disagreeing with me, it’s not agenda item. The key is to clearly define the process you’re collaboration is desperately in need of a little more conflict. because he’s a jerk or trying to annoy me?” Right! If the using and the associated expectations. You’ve probably been taught to see collaboration and conflict team has the right composition, each member will be One case that would benefit from clearer expectations is as opposites. In some cultures the language and imagery of fighting for something unique. They are doing their jobs the use of the devil’s advocate role, which few use correctly. teamwork is ridiculously idyllic: rowers in perfect sync, or planes (and being good team players) by advocating in different Most people invoke the term only to say something unpopular flying in tight formation. As a team, you’re “all in the same boat.” directions, not by acquiescing. By taking the time to or distasteful. The true role of the devil’s advocate (originally, To be a good team player, you must “row in the same direction.” normalize the tensions that collaborators already feel, you the person appointed by the Pope to counter evidence of These idealized versions of teamwork and collaboration are making liberate them to disagree, push, pull, and fight hard for the sainthood in the Roman Catholic beatification process) is to many teams impotent. best answer. question the veracity of evidence and to propose alternate There’s no point in collaboration without tension, Second, use a personality or style assessment tool to explanations for what has happened. By defining a clear disagreement, or conflict. What we need is collaboration where highlight differences in what people are paying attention to. devil’s advocate role, you legitimize challenges to the quality tension, disagreement, and conflict improve the value of the ideas, In addition to differences stemming from their roles, team and relevance of the evidence you’re using to make a decision. expose the risks inherent in the plan, and lead to enhanced trust members will have different perspectives on an issue based A true devil’s advocate does a great service. among the participants. on their personalities. As you explore the findings for your Even after using these three techniques to change team, look for any tensions that might stem from people’s mindset about conflict, you have to go further. Giving It’s time to change your mind set about conflict. Let go of the personality-based diversity. Pay particular attention if you idea that all conflict is destructive, and embrace the idea that people permission to challenge, disagree, and argue isn’t have one or two styles that are in the minority on your enough. After all, giving someone permission to do something productive conflict creates value. If you think beyond the trite team. Team members with minority perspectives should be clichés, it’s obvious: Collaborating is unnecessary if you agree on they don’t want to do is no guarantee that they’ll do it. If you given the responsibility to speak up if the team’s thinking want to create productive conflict on your team and use it to everything. Building on one another’s ideas only gets you becomes lopsided. incremental thinking. If you avoid disagreeing, you leave faulty generate better ideas, you need to move beyond permission to assumptions unexposed. As Walter Lippmann said, “Where all For example, in my work with dozens of executive making productive conflict an obligation. Using these three think alike, no one thinks very much.” To maximize the benefit of teams, I’ve found a dearth of executives who fully techniques will be a good start. collaborating, you need to diverge before you converge. appreciate the process-related issues involved in strategy and execution. I call out those who have this lens and set Unfortunately, our distaste for conflict is so entrenched that the expectation that they are going to challenge the team Liane Davey is the cofounder of 3COze Inc. She is the encouraging even modest disagreement takes significant effort. I when big ideas are insufficiently thought out or when author of You First: Inspire Your Team to Grow Up, Get find that three specific techniques help people embrace productive alignment is only superficial. By describing the unique Along, and Get Stuff Done and a coauthor of Leadership conflict. Carve out some team development time to do these value of different perspectives, you encourage those in the Solutions: The Pathway to Bridge the Leadership Gap. exercises before your next contentious discussion. minority to raise their voices. Follow her on Twitter at @LianeDavey. 22 NewsBeat February 2017 February 2017 NewsBeat 23

By PAUL ADAMS — Medium To perform at your best, focus on Goals not Tasks

am a big believer in setting goals. Throughout sets weekly goals. A common mistake we all make progress oriented. It doesn’t push everyone involved to my career I’ve learned that when I set myself is that we slip into writing tasks instead of goals. focus on progress. A much better version would be goals and stick to them, my performance really This is bad. something like: ‘Next steps for new onboarding design I improves. I’ve also seen this in others that I’ve So what’s the difference? For me, there is one main approved by both Design and PM Directors’. The worked with, time after time. I think there are two thing: Goals are strategic and aspirational, whereas approval is aspirational. It’s going to require focus to main reasons: tasks are tactical and will likely happen make that happen. 1. Goals force me to focus. Modern life is full of anyway. Goals are progress oriented, not event Goal: Interview Paul for the open PM distractions, which kill productivity and oriented. Because of this, goals tend to have much position. Running an interview is a task. It’s in your impact, and goals are my way of avoiding higher impact over time for people. I have more tasks calendar. Someone is showing up. It’s going to happen. distraction. When I inevitably get dragged into than I know what to do with, but addressing all these A better goal might be ‘Fill the PM position by end of email or Slack, or start working on things tasks would simply result in me being very busy, but the week or have a concrete plan for how we’ll source reactively as they come up, having my goals in having very low impact. more leads’. Now we’re aspirational. We’re more long front of me brings me back to a place of focus term. We’ll need to get creative to come up with ways and ruthless priority. It empowers me to say no to hit the goal. to the many random things that come up. This Here are three examples of bad weekly goals, and alternatives: Obsess about understanding the distinction hugely increases my impact because it means between goals and tasks. Once you do, the critical I’m working on the most important things. Goal: Present the new approval process at the thing to know is that goals won’t get hit unless you set 2. It forces competition — me against myself. I’m All Hands.The All Hands is happening, and aside dedicated, focused time to work on them. a very competitive person, and without presenting at it might lead to little value to attendees. Without dedicated time, you’ll fill your day doing task someone to compete against within my own This is a task. A good goal gets at the longer term after task. You won’t make fast progress. You simply job, and when my version of winning is played benefit of presenting. A better version might be: won’t be a high impact individual at your company. ‘Ensure everyone in the team understands the new out over months and years, goals over a shorter This is why, despite having a large team to manage timeframe allow me to compete against myself. approval process by the end of the week’. This is aspirational and extends beyond the task of and more meeting requests than you can imagine, I The level of impact you can have with hitting presenting at the all hands. block out every morning of every day — almost half your goals is obviously dependent on setting good my available time — to work on my goals. I win — goals. I have a process with my Directors where we Goal: Work with Julie on next steps for new and Intercom wins — if I set goals not tasks, and hit each set weekly goals, and we also have a process onboarding design.What does it look like to hit this them week after week after week. goal? Have a meeting, goal hit. This goal isn’t across all my org where each individual contributor MARK YOUR CALENDARS We are in need of more editorial cartoonists! NYPA Fall Publishers’ NYPA facilitates an editorial cartoon exchange for NYPA member newspapers. and Editors’ Conference If you’re an editorial cartoonist interested September 15th and 16th at in having your artwork published in newspapers, please e-mail [email protected]. The Westin Buffalo Cartoonists will be paid $5 every time a cartoon is published, paid once a month.

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