The author of this piece, David Brewer, is a journalist and media strategy consultant who set up and runs Media Helping Media the site associated with this blog. He delivers media strategy training and consultancy services worldwide. His business details are at Media Ideas International Ltd. He tweets @helpingmedia.
The following piece was produced using Storify.
If you use any of the training material from Media Helping Media on your site, and have the time or inclination, please let us know either by contacting us or adding a comment at the bottom of the piece. It would just be nice to see how far the training modules have spread. Thanks
The author of this piece, David Brewer, is a journalist and media strategy consultant who set up and runs Media Helping Media the site associated with this blog. He delivers media strategy training and consultancy services worldwide. His business details are at Media Ideas International Ltd. He tweets @helpingmedia.
The following training features were written by journalists involved in media training. Please feel free to use and add your comments and suggestions.
Well, not quite. There is a team of fantastic developers in the mix, too. But those at Sourcefabric, who are developing free, open-source journalism tools for media in need, have a solid journalistic pedigree. And that means something.
I have been working in online media since 1997 when I was one of a small team of editors who were asked to build the BBC a news website. BBC News Online was the result.
We had a similar mix back then - 14 years ago; journalists keen to explore this new medium, and wonderful developers who worked with us, shoulder to shoulder, to ensure the tools did the job they were meant to do.
And the job was to get the content to the users in the most effective, efficient and elegant manner.
Since then, I have seen so many content management systems pushed by companies who don’t have a clue about content, the audience and their needs, or journalism.
But with Sourcefabric there is a clear editorial focus – backed up by the fact that 100+ media organisations worldwide now depend on their news production tool, Newscoop.
So it’s been great fun spending three days in Prague with these guys, with their clients, and with some amazing guest speakers at Mediafabric – the new, must-attend, media event on the calendar.
The vision is clear. To create free tools to enable and empower journalists who struggle against the odds to make their voices heard.
The result should be free tools, available to all, to ensure that indigenous journalists can report worldwide on the news that impacts their communities.
Roll on MediaFabric 2012.
The author of this piece, David Brewer, is a journalist and media strategy consultant who set up and runs our main site Media Helping Media. He delivers media strategy training and consultancy services worldwide and his business details are at Media Ideas International Ltd. He tweets @helpingmedia.
Well, they think they are. The title of the blog post caught my eye, “Eleven Tips for Crafting a Pitch That Wows Journalists”.
The image at the top of the piece, which I guess is supposed to be of a journalist - eyes and mouth wide open in amazement (presumably having been wowed by a PR pitch) - is acknowledged at the end of the piece as a stock shot and therefore purely illustrative.
But the article’s ‘background information’ was more telling.
“With deep cutbacks at most media outlets, journalists are being asked to do more with less and to cover multiple beats. The pressure to produce and to meet deadlines can be intense. Journalists are bombarded with pitches every day, all day long. The pitches arrive via phone, fax, email, and even social media sites. Because of the high volume of pitches they receive, journalists cannot consider them all and get their work done, too.”
I notice the last line of that quote separates the task of dealing with PR pitches from the routine work of a journalist.
Will increased pressure on journalists leave them open to PR spin?
A good journalist should be able to spot a good story, a good news release, a well-written but dodgy news release and a straight forward commercial placement.
I was always taught that the real top line in a news release was often hidden in the fourth paragraph or the notes to the editor - the bit after /ENDS. It was rarely the top line in the pitch.
The whole thrust of the PR tip sheet seems to be that journalists are now under such pressure that better packaged PR is now more likely to get an airing.
A sort of strike now because they are vulnerable, desperate and have dumped all their editorial values in order to pump out masses of copy.
Do journalists really file PR emails to read at their leisure?
Tip one of the 11 is to pitch via email because “because a story idea can be more completely developed in a written message and because they can read and reread it at their leisure.”
Really, do journalists file away PR email pitches to read and reread at their leisure?
If they are under the pressure described earlier in the piece, do they have any leisure time?
And, if they do, are they likely to be going through PR pitches on their tablet device in the pub or while out for a meal with friends? I doubt it.
Will adding a news top line ensure PR material get's used?
Tip six is about putting pitches in context. “Your story idea needs to be about more than just your business. For example, tie your pitch to the news of the day, a current trend, a recent report, or an interesting new statistic.”
But we, the journalists, know that trick; we do it all the time, developing stories and finding new lines.
However, we do it to try to explore elements in a story, whereas PR pitches do it to promote elements in a story.
There is a difference, and we are trained to spot that difference. All good journalists will see right through that trick.
Do we fall for the Kinder egg approach?
Tip eight focuses on making it easy for the journalist to follow up the PR pitch.
“As already noted, many journalists are under pressure to turn out stories and meet deadlines. So, including time-saving links in the body of your email may encourage a journalist to pursue your pitch rather than one that did not include links. For example, you could provide a link to your website, a video, a photo, a fact sheet, a whitepaper, a recent study, and so on.”
This is the Kinder egg approach; coat the editorial construction kit in chocolate, wrap it in shiny paper and the journalist will swallow it whole – having first taking the plastic bits out and build and published the toy according to the instructions. No, not realistic.
Do journalists ever see PR executives as pests?
Finally, the ‘Crafting a pitch that wows journalists’ tip sheet warns all PR executives who are trying to catch the attention of journalists not to become pests. I never saw it that way.
When I worked in print and broadcast I had regular dealings with PR professionals. Most were valuable contacts able to link me to sources to ensure that my journalism was complete.
But they usually only had one side of the story - fair enough. They were not paid to present both sides. However, they understood that for every fact shared (or pitched, using the language of the tip sheet), I would then be duty-bound to seek the other side.
Applying impartiality and objectivity to PR pitches
One day I was working on the news desk at BBC Radio Merseyside. A news release arrived about a multimillion pound investment in a telecoms factory in Liverpool. It was to be state-of-the-art development that would make the region a leader in the field. Training would be offered and new jobs created.
The language of the piece was exciting and full of headline-worthy lines.
The piece went on and then, around about the fourth paragraph came the line, “unfortunately, xxx hundred jobs will be shed.”
And, of course, that was a line that had to be explored and which, for a community radio station, became the main focus in the short term.
The PR company knew we would cover that angle and although it was demoted in their order of editoiral priorities, it was still there, not buried, but visible and there to be picked up and developed.
Fair enough. They were doing their job spinning the news in order to benefit their paymasters, but were also including all significant facts so that we had all the information (from their side) that we needed to examine and explore the story fully.
Journalists should be able to see right through spin while, at the same time, maintaining a healthy relationship with PR professionals. It’s all about honesty, transparency and developing trusted contacts.
The author of this piece, David Brewer, is a journalist and media strategy consultant who set up and runs our main site Media Helping Media. He delivers media strategy training and consultancy services worldwide and his business details are at Media Ideas International Ltd. He tweets @helpingmedia.
Wild, wacky and weird ideas needed for the newsroom management system of the future
I am putting together a talk for MediaFabric next week about the future of news production in the light of changing audience behaviour.
Examples would be great, too.
MediaFabric is a get together for all the brains behind Sourcefabric, an open-source, newsroom management project – designed to help support independent media struggling against the odds around the world.
You can add comments here (below), on our LinkedIn group discussion page or on Media Helping Media’s Facebook page.
A dozen journalists, media academics and NGO media professionals have spent the week at the Azerbaijan Media Center (AMC) in Baku learning how to become trainers of trainers.
It's part of a programme, funded by the Council of Europe and the European Commission and implemented by the AMC to build the capacity of local media professionals so that they can, in the future, deliver training locally and regionally.
According to the head of the AMC, Gulnara Akhundova the aim is to gradually move away from inviting international experts to deliver training but rather rely on local Azerbaijani professionals to research, design, deliver and evaluate training appropriate for the region's needs.
Overseas trainers will still deliver training, but in the future they will work with a local co-trainer who will use the information to develop future courses in the region.
A lot is resting on the next four days. The team at the Azerbaijan Media Center (AMC), which has successfully run courses covering all aspects of media production and media management, from print, through broadcast and into digital media, is taking an important new direction.
Instead of continually bringing in Western experts to share skills, the AMC is staging the first of its training of trainers courses, designed to build the capacity of local journalists to research, design and deliver training themselves.
It's a massive break away from the previous model, and is a sign of faith in local media professionals who, it's felt, are at the stage where they can effectively take local and regional training to a new level.
Traditional training will continue to take place, but the emphasis now will be on developing local co-trainers who can not only ensure the maximum benefit from outside interventions, but can also ensure that future training is relevant to the region.
The AMC has posted about the training on its site. The course runs all this week, 4-7 October at the Media Center in Baku.
The course has been designed by David Brewer, a journalist and media strategy consultant who set up and runs Media Helping Media. He delivers media strategy and consultancy services worldwide. His business details are at Media Ideas International Ltd and he tweets @helpingmedia. Brewer is the author of this piece and this blog.
Text of a speech given to the Online Journalism course at Fatima Jinnah Women University in Rawalpindi, Pakistan on Thursday 29 September, 2011. The initiative is a Mishal Pakistan initiative in conjunction with UNESCO. The topic was online journalism and media ethics.
Thanks for inviting me to take part in this course. Puruesh sent me a list of questions and issues to address and I will start with the first. What is a journalist?
A journalist is anyone who informs the public debate by producing objective, impartial, fair and accurate information.
The information they share must be well sourced, attributed and verified, and must reflect a rich diversity of opinion so that no perspective is ignored.
A journalist cannot be an activist. They must not have an agenda. They must not be influenced by the powerful and must be free of all political ties.
Those who submit to political and business pressure will be delivering propaganda or public relations copy - and that is not journalism.
Anyone can be a journalist
And anyone can be a journalist. You do not need to go to university or pass exams. You can take that route, and many great journalists have done so, but it is not the only entry point.
Journalism is a vocation. A journalist does not work shifts. She or he will be thinking about stories every waking hour.
This is why blogging and social networking is ideal for those individuals who have a journalistic calling.
So how do ethics fit into this mix. Well, for those of us who produce journalism, all we do must be based on editorial ethics. Our integrity, as journalists, is defined by the code of ethics we live and work by.
We must be fair – to all, we must be objective – and seek out all relevant opinions, we must be impartial – and not take sides, we must be accurate, we must respect privacy, we must be careful not to offend – not necessarily what people think, but who and what they are.
And we must create our content aware of the taste and decency issues that most concern those who consume our news.
But above all, we must be honest and report the truth without fear or favour, covering issues because they are in the public interest while delivering our journalism with the intention to inform the public debate so that the audience can make educated choices.
Media is changing - for the better
As a journalist I have lived through three distinct models in my career.
First there was the broadcast and publish at model where we, the journalists, knew best.
We would tell the audience what was important in our newspapers and on our radio and TV programmes, and they had no choice in the matter (other than stop buying the paper and stop tuning in).
We set the news agenda. We decided what was important. And we published and broadcast from our perspective.
That broadcast at and publish at model is dead. Rest in peace the broadcast at and publish at model.
Then we moved to the engage with on our terms model.
This is where we offered the audience some token engagement through letters to the editor, radio phone in shows, TV audience discussions, and online forums.
But we still chose the topics that we would invite the audience to discuss, and we only published, or put on air, those who we felt fitted into our editorial agenda – our view of the world.
This model is in its death throes, and that’s not a bad thing.
Now we are in the third phase of media’s development, the participate in model.
This is where the audience - empowered with new technological tools that enable anyone to be a global broadcaster - is choosing what to consume from a global news buffet that includes content from mainstream media, blogs, Facebook pages and a wide array of other alternative social media sources.
And the smart traditional media organisations are not only aware of this but are also enabling it to take place and embracing this changing audience behaviour.
They are letting loose of the audience to hold tight to the audience.
They are ensuring that their content is available to share, comment on, adapt, embed, update and enrich.
And they are not afraid to not only join the global news debate, but to contribute to it, too. And that is important. The contribution needs to be meaningful and add value to the ongoing discussion. Because if it is not, the audience will feel that it is an intrusion and will ignore it. The engagement of mainstream media in the social networking space has to be meaningful and related and add value.
Those mainstream media organisations that do this will win audience trust, will reflect a wider diversity of perspectives in their content, will gain audience numbers, and will offer a more vibrant representation of the issues that most concern the audience they hope to serve.
Journalism's evolution
I was asked how I see online journalism evolve and the future of traditional media?
In many areas traditional media became lazy. Journalists who felt they were the professionals in the information game, that they had the right to pontificate or simply churn out pre prepared political statements, rehashed wires copy and slanted opinions.
And many lost touch with their audiences. They worked office shifts, 9-5. They arrived in the office with no ideas in their heads. They had no clue what issues were keeping their audience awake at night worrying.
They didn’t care. They had a job. They got paid. They were arrogant, complacent, and extremely unwise.
Then technology advanced. The audience became empowered by blogs and social media. Anyone could become a global broadcaster in minutes – and many did.
At first the noise was deafening. There was a cacophony of chatter , and not a lot made sense.
So traditional mainstream media – not everywhere, but in many places, sat back and smiled.
They mocked bloggers. They laughed at those using Twitter and Facebook. And as they did the audience figures for blogs and social media grew. And the audience moved to a different place – the social network space
And in some cases, the circulation for newspapers and the viewing figures for broadcasters fell.
And still, some traditional mainstream media types failed to spot the significance of the changes.
And then something interesting happened.
Some bloggers started to attract loyal audiences, and the material they wrote was shared.
They rose to prominence because they blogged about issues that concerned or interested their audiences.
Many of these informed bloggers wrote with a passion and knowledge absent in many 9-5 traditional, professional journalists.
These bloggers wrote about the economy, the environment, entertainment, politics etc. Many were specialists in a field.
And, thanks to social media sharing, they began to group – to create and informed middle media – they were filling the vacuum created by a lazy, complacent, ineffective and unconnected traditional mainstream media.
The media scene has changed and will never be the same again.
Traditional, mainstream media has been forced to change – and change for the better.
The challenge facing journalists
So, what are the challenges we face? They are simple.
To be true to ourselves and deal fairly and honestly with our audience.
Technology will always be changing. Audience behaviour will change
What doesn’t change is the need for reliable, robust and responsible journalism.
And we need to deliver that in a way that addresses the needs of the audience.
It’s that simple.
What is difficult is doing that well. We need to:
And we need to do that in a fair, accurate, impartial and objective manner – with no fear or favour, no hint of personal gain or desired outcome, and with a methodology that is as transparent as possible and beyond reproach.
Because all we do, as journalists, is uncover facts. Sourced, verified, attributed facts that, had it not been for us, the world would never have know.
And then we deliver those facts in the most effective, efficient and elegant manner while, at the same time encouraging maximum audience engagement and participation.
Social media has done traditional media a huge favour
Social media, blogging and other forms of citizen journalism have done traditional mainstream media a huge favour. They have forced journalists to work harder.
Editors now have to deliver journalism that has a clear differential from their competitors. They have to invest in more high-quality issue-led journalism. They have to stand out from the crowd. They have to be relevant and connect with the audience.
They need their content to be shared – to be virally disseminated to ensure the widest distribution and, once out there, make full use of all the social media tools adopted by their audience to engage that audience in a compelling news experience that is original and addictive.
So we are living through good times.
People are empowered by social media. Lazy journalists have had to sit up, take note and take action. Rehashing the wires won’t do anymore.
Media must move with the times
Mainstream media has to set up converged/integrated newsrooms that operate as content factories.
They must deliver information to whatever device their users turn to in order to access information.
And that information must have real and not token user involvement. There must be social media integration in all elements.
Every fact, every image, every video must be available to be shared by the audience
and embedded in any blog or website to enable maximum participation and dissemination.
That is the only way forward. And while this is going on, mainstream media must do what it does best. Traditional mainstream media has to work harder.
They have to produce journalism that has a differential. The audience will be richer for it. Journalism will be richer for it.
Back to basics
The code of conduct for this content production revolution will continue to evolve. But the basics of journalism excellence will never change. Regardless of how many new tools are developed. Irrespective of the increase in the speed information is gathered and shared. The basics are the same.
Our journalism must be fair, accurate, objective and impartial. It must be in the public interest.
And it must reflect the opinions, concerns and perspectives of the whole audience, regardless of race, religion, position or wealth.
It will be based on tried, tested, and proven facts, that are well sourced, and will cover stories that, had it not been for you the world would never have known.
Note: Text of a speech given to the Online Journalism course at Fatima Jinnah Women University in Rawalpindi, Pakistan on Thursday 29 September, 2011. The initiative is a CIME - Centre for International Media Ethics initiative.
The author of this piece, David Brewer, is a journalist and media strategy consultant who set up and runs our main site Media Helping Media. He delivers media strategy training and consultancy services worldwide and his business details are at Media Ideas International Ltd. He tweets @helpingmedia.
