The future of Journalism

Some research we were doing at Meld (www.meldonline.org) back in 2007 with senior staff from national and local traditional media companies lead to the development of a new model reflecting the changing relationship between journalism and its audience.

In short the model was based on the premise that all traditional media outputs will downsize and will shortly employ less than a third of their existing workforce in editorial roles. This wasn’t just a hypothetical academic debate – it was a notion shared by industry professionals involved in the project at the time and it has, regrettably, gained credence as media organisations slowly come to terms with the structural changes impacting their business models.

But it wasn’t all ‘doom and gloom’. The group believed there’d continue to be strong representation of mainstream media brands  (referred to in the model as the ‘Mainframe’) which commission content from journalists in the freelance sector and absorb User Generated Content from audiences supplying them with material directly.

OK, so the process of commissioning content from journalists needs work. Whilst UK companies like Channel 4 TV have a commissioning process in place, most major players don’t, though they’d argue they’ve been commissioning freelances for ever. This is true, except these freelances have been largely commissioned to produce mono media work. Pressures on business models and changing audience expectations render this type of commissioning process irrelevant going forward. Whilst this is a major change issue for all media companies I’m particularly interested in its impact on those doing the daily job of journalism.

As new commissioning models emerge and content is commissioned for multi-platform dissemination individual journalists role will extend to include commissioning agency specialists to supply a range of ‘value added’ services e.g.

interactive programming

additional graphics

photography

video

Their relationship with the audience will also change as they network within communities, employ ‘crowd sourcing’ story techniques and create and cultivate virtual communities to source stories or conduct investigations. (see Amanda Michel’s work at ProPublica)

Networked journalists will deliver niche audiences to the mainframe. All Journalists will need a series of entrepreneurial skills to manage themselves and the new relationships they will encounter.

Once a project is commissioned journalists will be responsible for its delivery. Projects must be delivered on time and within budget. As ‘mainframe’ companies move towards commissioning multi-platform versions of a story, the journalist will commission and co-ordinate all the elements of the story understanding the different lead times required by third party agency specialists for the various technical and creative elements. And they must do this without the management structures and support (or hindrances) of a mainframe organisation.

Changing working practices demand not only new skillsets but also a different mindset. Journalists formerly working in a structured newsroom environment with access to a range of resources and support mechanisms will need to adjust to working alone. Journalists will need to know how to draw on a range of new and existing support mechanisms as they adapt to an increasingly self reliant working culture.

Modern journalists will need to operate on a number of levels interacting with their contributors and key story contacts, the ‘Mainframe’ organisations commissioning the work and the agency specialists they need in order to deliver the project. At each stage the journalist will require highly attuned interpersonal skills. When supplying multiplatform content they must develop their ability to identify and encourage interviewees to give recorded interviews. Interview techniques will need to adjust accordingly. Equally important is developing interpersonal skills that equip journalists with the ability to quickly identify, brief and commission credible service providers (photographers, graphic design agencies, ICT specialists etc) to ensure they build a trusted supply chain. And they must cultivate relationships with the ‘mainframe’ to secure future work.