Gingras

Creating the
Future of News
Questions to Consider
Richard Gingras
gingras@google.com
April 20, 2012

Disruption in Media
Not the first. Not the last.

Disruption in Media
  Shi$s
in
distribu-on
shape

the
business
model

  The
40
“golden”
years
of

newspaper
proﬁtability
was

triggered
by
an
earlier
media

disrup;on:
television.

  Open
distribu;on
of
the

Internet
eradicated
print

distribu;on
leverage

1949 1959
Newspapers
TV

Brand & Scope
Defining products
in a marketplace of niches

Brand
&
Scope

  Content
economy
is
less
about

demographics;
more
about
context

and
relevance

  Disaggregated,
open,
and
ﬁlled
with

niche
players

  Cross-‐subsidiza;on
was
important
for

newspapers.
Now
it’s
more
diﬃcult

  Consider
the
cost/revenue
economics

at
the
segment
level

Brand
&
Scope

In
a
marketplace
rich
with

niche
players,
does
an
all-‐
things-‐to-‐all-‐people
“portal”

product
make
sense?
Might
it

beSer
be
thought
of
as
a

stable
of
focused
brands?

Q:

Audience Flows
& Site Design
Optimizing for multiple
entry points

Audience Flows & Site Design
Story Page
75%
Home Page
25%

Audience
Flows
&
Site
Design

How
do
changes
in
audience

ﬂows
impact
site
design,
or

indeed
trigger
the
rethinking

the
very
deﬁni;on
of
a

website?

Q:

Content
Architecture
Capacity is unlimited.
Creating content is expensive.
Use it all.

Content
Architecture

  Not
about
edi;ons.
Not
about
ephemeral

streams
of
ar;cles

  It
can
be
a
real-‐;me,
living
resource

  The
story
page
is
the
most
valuable
real
estate!

Ephemeral anthrax attack article Persistent anthrax attack resource

Content
Architecture

Should
we
not
explore
and

adopt
new
approaches
that

maintain
the
full
expression

of
a
reporter’s
eﬀorts
in
one

place
behind
a
persistent

URL?

Q:

Style & Form
“Every new medium begins
as a container for the old”

  The
right
form
for
the
right

medium
–
long,
short,
other

  The
evolu;on
of
the
social

network
post

  Eﬀec;ve
user
of
embedded
links

and
footnotes

  Properly
tuning
for
search

  Leveraging
rich
media
when
it

makes
sense

Style
and
Form

In
a
culture
of
bullet
points,

updates,
and
posts,
are
there

approaches
to
conveying
in-‐
depth
journalism
that
move

beyond
the
current

templates?

Q:

Computational
Journalism
Big data. Smart data.
Knowledge.

  Computer
programming
to
mul;ply
the

value
of
a
reporter’s
eﬀorts

  Inves;ga;ve

reports
wriSen

with
Fusion
tables

and
query
strings

  A
logical
part
of

the
resource
mix

Computa;onal
Journalism

Can
computa;onal
journalism

be
used
not
only
to
help
with

stories
but
eventually
become

persistent,
automated

inves;ga;ve
reports?

Q:

Reporter’s Tools
Getting the most out of a most
precious asset

Reporter’s
Tools

Since
the
medium
can

accommodate
the
full

expression
of
a
reporter’s

work,
is
there
not
huge
value

in
developing
tools
to

op;mize
a
reporter’s
eﬀorts?

Q:
2.0

Organizational
Roles
The right approach for the right
medium at the right time

Organiza;onal
Roles
&
Workflow
  The
role
of
a
reporter
when

tools,
;ming
and
procedures

are
different

  The
role
of
an
editor
in
an

edi;on-‐less
environment
with

mul;ple
forums
to
engage

  The
use
of
different
resources

from
computa;onal

journalists
to
the
trusted

crowd

Organiza;onal
Roles
&
Workflow

Given
current
and
future

advances
in
how
news
is

gathered,
organized
and

presented,
does
that
not

require
a
complete
“digital

first”
rethinking
of
editorial

roles
and
workflow?

.
.
.

Q:

Organiza;onal
Roles
&
Workﬂow

.
.
.

Are
there
new
approaches

that
let
news
organiza;ons

leverage
the
assistance
of
the

trusted
crowd?
.
.
.

Q:

Organiza;onal
Roles
&
Workﬂow

.
.
.

Might
we
beneﬁt
from

systems
that
allow
small
news

orgs
to
collaborate
and
work

together?

Q:

Culture of Innovation
It is not a luxury.
It can’t be intermittent.1
It must be part of an
organization’s DNA.2
1. Cycle of change is too rapid
2. No, it’s not a Chief Innovation Officer!

Culture
of
Innova;on

How
do
we
staﬀ
news

organiza;ons
with
the
right

resources
and
the
right

mindset
to
imbue
constant

innova;on
into
the
culture’s

DNA
and
into
the
role
of
every

par;cipant?

Q:

A Different World
Quality journalism is more
important than ever

A
Diﬀerent
World

  The
Internet
can
oﬀer
support
any

opinion,
belief,
or
fear
and
give
it

greater
volume

  We
can
no
longer
say,
“trust
us

because
you
should
trust
us.”

  We
need
new
methods,
new
forms,

new
tools

A
Diﬀerent
World

Can
journalism’s
future
be

stronger
and
beSer
than
its

past?

Doesn’t
it
have
to
be?
Isn’t

that
why
we
are
here?

Q:

Gingras

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