Newspapers have long kept tabs on the changing world–but have themselves been slow to modernize. To  flourish these days,
when anyone with a computer can be a publisher,  news organizations must develop a “culture of innovation. ”

So said Richard Gingras, the head of News Products at Google,  on May 11, 2012 in a talk at Harvard’s Nieman Foundation.

Gingras, a founder of Salon.com and long-term media technologist , said “I push people to rethink every aspect of what they’re doing”–including their mission, ethical guidelines, how they interact with their audiences, transparency regarding sources,  and even whether reporters divulge their personal political positions. In light of today’s powerful new technologies and human interactions,  “innovation  must be part of an organization’s DNA,”  at the core of newspapers’ culture, and  incorporated into “the role of every member of the team.”

Gingras pointed out that this by no means the first “disruption” time for the media.  With the advent of television,  for example, newspaper advertising declined and in some cities, the number of newspapers went from five to one or two.   This was not great for the newspapers that went out of business and  led to monopolitistic control by the  survivors. But it also led to    “40  golden years of profitability” for those survivors.

Today, the Internet has “disaggregated” the advertising economy., he said.  No longer do consumers look to their local newspapers for car ads, for example: rather, they search the Internet for information and deals.  “In the past, you could have an ad in the New York Times for Tiffany’s near an article on starvation in Darfur… or articles for garden centers in  the Lifestyles section,” Gingras said.   But on the Internet, such “vertical models” for advertising  are not effective.  ” Might news organizations’ Web sites do better as “a stable of focused brands with independent business models?” he asked.

Gingras also suggested that news organizations:

• Optimize news Web sites for multiple entry points,  because individual story pages are, today, more valuable than first or home pages. These individual pages should be updated so that urls remain constant–thus optimizing search engine results.

• Include more “computational journalism”–in which reporters post interactive information tables that would allow readers to answer their own, individualized questions.  For example, in a story on the state of education, provide tables showing student progress in school districts across the city–so that parents could assess statistics on their own children’s schools

•  Leverage the assistance of  “the trusted crowd”  (interact with readers and keep them involved)

•  Make reporters responsible for updating their own stories–with “constant” urls  to encourage multiple visits to their pages

Gingras also said that  in a culture of bulletpoints, updates and posts,  there  is low return on investment for long articles–and advised keeping articles  under 500 words.

So  I’ll quit here–at 494.

A video of the complete talk  is posted at: http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/newsitem.aspx?id=100198

–Anita M. Harris

Anita Harris, a former national journalist and Nieman Fellow,  is president of the Harris Communications Group, a marketing and communications firm located in Cambridge, MA.

It’s not that often that a nationally-known journalists public admit to suffering from  post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but last week at Harvard’s Nieman Foundation, Today Show Co-Anchor Ann Curry  did exactly that.

In delivering the Joe Alex Morris Jr. Memorial Lecture on foreign report,  Curry described both the importance and trauma of foreign reporting–saying that while she and her crew sometimes wonder if  their coverage of wars and international disasters make a difference, she believes that by calling attention to wrongdoing and suffering,  journalists do help make the world  more empathic place.

In the lecture, Curry, who has made 72 reporting trips to 48 countries since 2000,  told an audience of journalists that that  any correspondent covering such areas who says s/he  doesn’t have PTSD} ” is either lying or doesn’t realize it.”   For journalists, the disorder is often first evidenced “when you don’t care,” any more.  Signs  and symptoms include emotional rigidness, avoidance, and an uncharacteristic lack of empathy, Curry said.

Curry and her team members “talk things out” when they’re experiencing  those signs and some undergo counseling, she said.   As a foreign reporter, “You need to be an emotional athlete to deal with trauma, with emotions…to see past the differences in languages, to look at people as if they’re your own mother, brother, sister, your own child. When you don’t do that, you’re not effective as a reporter, you appear elitistist…It’s  crucial that you care, that you try to understand the experience and point of view of the people you are writing about, she said.  ” Because if you don’t care, your viewers won’t care, either.

“When my team gathers, we often ask ourselves, why are we doing  this,” Curry said.  ”They can’t pay you enough to take the physical and emotional risk this requires.”  Not only are crews frequently threatened with violence, but “you’re leaving your family; there’s the maddening reality that it’s a battle [with news organization]  to get there. But there’s the sense of mission, the hope that some good will come of what you do. It’s an act of faith in the future.”

Curry said that she has a mission “to report on stories no one cares about”  sand asked, “If more reporters had paid attention to what the Nazis were doing in 1941, would so many people have died?”

In answer to a question posed for former Nieman Curator Robert Giles, Curry  said that in the current economic downturn, the US audience is less interested in foreign coverage than it had previously been–and that with cutbacks in news organizations, it’s more difficult now to convince news directors to send teams abroad.  Where once NBC had crews on the ground in many places,  she said, “now we travel  abroad from here.” But despite the difficulties, she will continue to cover difficult stories–in part because, if she and others don’t, aid organizations will not receive funding donations from the American public.

Curry brought tears to my eyes when she described  a 16-year-old Congolese girl who saw her parents killed, was chained to a tree,  raped, and when she couldn’t walk, was left for dead. Men from her village carried  her to a hospital. She was pregnant, and the baby died.   Two years later, in  2008,  when Curry interviewed her in an operating room and touched her hand; the young girl said she didn’t want revenge. “Instead she said ‘All I want is to rise out of this bed and thank the people who saved me and cared for me. I want to praise God, and I want to feel a mother’s love again.’

“Now, the cause of women in the Congo has been taken up by people in the US; there are  4K races to protect people from the violence,” Curry said. “As a reporter, you want to feel that some good has become of what you’ve done.”

But, she pointed out, wars and violence do not end.

In another village, in the Sudan, Curry said, men strafed a village, then lit arrows on fire and shot them at thatched roofs. When people ran out of their burning homes, the men shot at them,  shouting epithets.  Curry said she interviewed one woman– a mother– and her children. “She was just one of tens of thousands…

“After five trips to Sudan, ” she added, “I do sometimes wonder whether any of this works makes that much difference to people back on the ground. Sudan is the new Darfur, she said. People are living and dying in displaced person’s camps…”

Rather than become discouraged, Curry said,  ”We need to step back and look at the value of reporting with a wide view, through the scope of human history.  And you can’t help but realize that human empathy is growing.

“Where once, rape was a fact of war,  rape is now an international war crime.  The idea that it is wrong is wildfire. Information, truth,  lit this match, igniting wildfires across the world.

“I have no doubt that we’re evolving into a world of greater empathy.  If you can work through the PTSD, if you can raise your sword and report these stories,  you allow truth between nations and I encourage you to lift your sword.”

After the talk, the ever-versatile and inspiring Curry, who had donated her $1000 honorarium to Doctors Without Borders in Somalia, left –wearing the highest pair of heels I’ve ever seen–for a flight to Indianapolis, to cover the Superbowl.

Anita M. Harris

Anita Harris, a former national journalist, is president of the Harris Communications Group, a strategic communications firm in Cambridge, MA. \

The Morris Lecture honors Los Angeles Times foreign correspondent Joe Alex Morris, Jr., who covered the Middle East for 25 years before he was killed during the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Two years later his family, friends and colleagues founded the annual lecture by an American foreign correspondent or commentator.

Last Friday, I had the privilege of attending a retirement party for Bob Giles, curator of the Nieman Foundation at Harvard for 11 years. A good time was had by all–except for Dorothy Parvner of the class of 2009–who was unable to attend because she’s  being held against her  will somewhere in Iran. The Boston Globe reports that the 39-year-old Al Jazeera reporter, who traveled to Syria two weeks ago to cover prodemocracy protests, was detained there, then deported to Iran and has not been heard from since.

Today, Bob sent the following request; I’m happy to oblige:

Dorothy Parvaz Dear Members of the Nieman Community, I’m writing once again to ask your assistance in publicizing the plight of Dorothy Parvaz, our Nieman colleague from the class of 2009. As mentioned in earlier messages, Dorothy was detained at the Damascus airport on April 29 while on assignment for Al Jazeera, and then deported to Iran on May 1. The Iranian government has not acknowledged that she is in the country. As part of the global efforts now underway to win her freedom, I request that if you can, you publish an article about Dorothy or mention her on air; post this photo of her on your websites and Facebook pages; and reach out to other journalists and ask that they do the same. Many believe that keeping her story in the news will keep Dorothy safe and put pressure on Iran to release her. The Nieman Foundation and many of our fellows are appealing for Dorothy’s release, sharing information and seeking diplomatic access to Iranian officials who might know about her detention or who can intercede on her behalf. A related story that appeared in The Boston Globe may be of interest: “Colleagues recall missing journalist as relentless on job” Thank you for your continued support, Bob Giles Curator

Report on the Nieman Foundation’s 70th Anniversary Convocation,  held

November 7-, 2008, in Cambridge, MA

In early November, I attended the Nieman Foundation’s 70th anniversary Convocation, which was  entitled “True Grit, Advancing Journalism’s Covenant in the 21^st Century”. The morning program, moderated by former Nieman Curator Bill Kovach, featured  talks by former Nieman Fellows on “Preserving Nieman Values Through the Years.”

The afternoon program included a keynote by  Len Downie, former executive editor of  The Washington Post,  who spoke on “The Moral and Ethical Obligations of Journalism in a Digital World,” and a panel entitled “Voices from the New World of Journalism”, which was moderated by Geneva Overholser, NF ’86, director of the School of Journalism at USC’s Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California.

The evening program included a talk by Ellen Fitzpatrick, professor of American Intellectual and Political History at the Univrsity of New Hampshire, and a panel discussion on Press and Politics in the New Administration, moderated by Tom Ashbrook, Host of NPR/s On Point.

Here’s the url to a microsite where more information and videos are posted, followed by  my 2 cents worth on the event (well, maybe more, but given the state of journalism, these days, I’ll take what I can get).

Convocation Microsite:

http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/Microsites/70thAnniversaryConvocationWeekend/Home.aspx

Video URLS:
Len Downie: http://www.niemanlab.org/2008/11/len-downie-online-standards-should-match-print-standards/

Charlie Sennott: http://www.niemanlab.org/2008/12/charlie-sennott-on-the-state-of-international-repr\orting/

Michael Skoler: http://www.niemanlab.org/2008/12/michael-skoler-on-newsroom-culture/

My 2 cents
The overall meeting was both a discussion and demonstration of the state of journalism–much of it focused on traditional versus new media standards and practices, and the problem of finances.

The most dramatic moments came during an afternoon panel when Josh Benton,  Director of the Nieman Journalism Lab, told the crowd that newspapers aren’t doing enough to empower their readers and that “You have to love your readers.”  Someone from the audience responded,  “But they say such mean things to us!”  Then, a Washington Post  reporter stood up. She seemed near tears when she said, “I already work 12 hours a day. Now I have to do blogs, spend hours answering emails, learn to use a video camera. Then the ombudsman is mad because I haven’t given the readers what they want for the next day’s newspaper.”

Other highlights included:

• An exchange at a Friday evening cocktail party between Margot Adler and Len Downie, who had recently stepped down as executive editor of the Washington Post and voted for the first time ever in the 2008 presidential election. As editor, Downie had declined to vote for fear of biasing–or appearing to bias–the Post’s coverage.  Margot held that everyone is biased in one way or another and that being aware of your biases makes you bend over backward to be fair.  (Having seen too much of Lou Dobbs on CNN, recently, I’m not sure that Margot’s theory applies across the board).
  
• Downie’s Saturday afternoon keynote, in which he described the current state of journalism as a “Darwinian struggle” that some news organizations will not survive. He was sanguine about the future of online journalism–if someone can figure out a way to pay for it. He suggested that nonprofit philanthropy might play an increased role….although that could lead to coverage of certain causes and fields, at the expense of others.  He recommended instituting a blogger’s code of ethics to help promote high-level journalistic standards—and, that, at the very least, bloggers  identify themselves.

• Former Boston Globe reporter Charlie Sennott’s description of the new  “Globalpost.com– an online Web site with content provided by freelancers living all over the world who will receive regular stipends and shares in the company. The site, which he founded with New England Cable News Network founder Phil Balboni,  was expected to launch in early 2009.
  
  
• The chagrin expressed by Nieman Reports editor Melissa Ludke  regarding sites sponsored by news organizations that take no responsibility for the content. As editor, she seemed mystified at being challenged by a journalist-turned-blogger who pulled his story rather than accept her edits—then wrote about the experience on his blog, where he referred to establishment journalists as “thumbsuckers”.  (I thought that was funny but I’m not sure that she did).

Clearly, journalism is undergoing a seismic shift. As Ellen Goodman put it “The only thing that hasn’t changed is the time it takes to really understand an issue.”

At the meeting, I was saddened by the dissension and disillusion of journalists caught in what Margot called  “a dying industry.” But I also felt slightly elated. Having started my journalistic career by founding an alternative newspaper because establishment media wouldn’t hire many women and  didn’t give voice to racial minorities or the poor, I’m excited by the increasing democratization of the marketplace of ideas.

True, I am concerned about the lack of standards on the Web and don’t put much stock in the so-called “wisdom of crowds.”  But business, government, the arts, the sciences and the public need reliable information on which to base decisions. I predict a consolidation–in which national multimedia news organizations will each amass many local outlets—as do the TV networks today—funded by local advertisers or consumers’ online purchases of goods and services unrelated (I hope!)  to the editorial content at hand.