What now?
As we think about community much of this blog is focused on Hartsville, SC. Today the focus is newspapers and their demise, which is being accelerated by business decisions that just don't make sense to this newspaper consumer.
Marsha Mercer's last column for Media General is at the bottom of the editorial page of the MORNING NEWS of Florence, SC, this morning. "Media General deacided a few weeks ago to close the Washington bureau March 27, joing the other media corporations that have taken that difficult step because of the sharp decline in advertising revenues." What are they thinking? What is THE STATE newspaper in Columbia, SC, and their parent McClatchy thinking when they lay off journalists -- the lifeblood of their product?
Media companies all over this country are laying off (firing) employees and particularly journalists to save costs because their ad revenues are down. Many of these media companies are also putting many of their reporters -- print, online and television -- on unpaid furloughs. What does all this mean? Well, the product that news organizations offer consumers is news. The product that news organizations offer advertisers is readership/viewership. When you take away the news that is unique to your medium you take away any reason -- at all -- for readers (consumers) to buy your product. And, generally, most of these companies are not only downsizing their news product they are raising the cost of the product. In my marketing communication classes we quickly cover the traditional 4-Ps of marketing -- Product/Price/Place/Promotion. Is there no one in the business offices of these major media conglomerates (usually the vanguard of marketing) left who remembers the basics?
But, for those of us on the outside this accelerating demise of the news and local news media is even more disturbing. Generally, you would be able to study strong communities and find strong newspapers at their core. What happens to the communities when the newspapers disappear? we know in the small city of Hartsville, SC, that when the news hole is compressed there is a lot less common knowledge of what is happening in the community. We had a recent example of that when the editor of the THE MESSENGER provided the community with a pretty comprehensive article about the serious problem of dilapidated housing that is plaguing the city, especially our South Hartsville area. The editor's article shows the power of the press in highlighting important issues. But, we don't get nearly as much of that any longer in Hartsville, in Columbia, in Charlotte and the list goes on.
My communication career started when I was 12 years old and I entered the communication distribution business in one of the greatest hands-on business training programs available -- the local paper route. So, there is no question that I am a big nostalgic about the way the newspaper companies are accelerating the death of this medium. At the same time, the concern comes in that currently there is nothing taking the place of newspapers in the communication leadership of our communities. That is distressing for the short run. For the longer term I am optimistic that we are going to see some caring, intelligent media mavens who find a way to craft community communication solutions using the multi-platform media that is quickly being perfected. (Think of blogs for example -- we have the ability right in this space to provide words, to provide video pictures and sound, to provide audio files when just voice will work and a wide variety of photos and graphics.) Doug Fisher with grants from the J-Lab at the University of Maryland and some funds from the previous Messenger owners developed Hartville's HARTSVILLE TODAY citizen journalism web platform. As it continues to develop, it might be one of the bridges to the new media.
But in the interim, what are the media companies thinking?
Showing posts with label Doug Fisher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Doug Fisher. Show all posts
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Friday, October 31, 2008
Community Journalism Site three years old
www.hartsvilletoday.com
Doug Fisher had an idea a few years ago that the concept of "citizen journalism" was going to be a more important journalistic movement than most in the news industry were ever going to guess. He is now a professor in the University of South Carolina School of Journalism, Mass Communication and Information Science, and he wanted to put his thoughts to the test. You can read more about how he did it in his papers on this subject, but he and Graham Osteen, at the time the publisher and editor of THE HARTSVILLE MESSENGER decided to put this 'laboratory' in Hartsville. This week, I think on October 30th, the hartsvilletoday citizen journalism web site celebrated its third birthday.
Once and awhile I get the opportunity to talk about some of the unique aspects of Hartsville that make this a special little city in which to be living. Very near the top of the list is this citizen journalism web site. While it may be taking a little longer to catch on as THE place to go for news about Hartsville, it is a crucial place to go for the flavor of Hartsville -- news, views, opinions, art, humor, insight and awareness. The Hartsville community has significantly benefited from the site being part of our media mix.
A couple of years ago a version of the World Cafe method of getting community input was held in Hartsville over about 13 months. The site proved a fantastic tool for providing the after-talk observations shared by those who took part in the meetings. The site allowed a transparency for a public get-together not often available. The comments section ensured that the person providing the recap could be checked by those in attendance.
The Selling Hartsville initiative moved ahead, in part, because of the ability to share information, ideas, involvement-pleas directly with the community on a very timely basis.
Those were a couple of key aspects but this site has provided so much more. We have a view of the community directly from citizen-eye view. There are people sharing photographs of life in this community that provide perspectives many have never even considered. There are people providing commentary on life in the town that demonstrates why complacency is never a good idea. The HVTD contributing community is self selected and is becoming a voice for sectors that don't always make the mainstream news.
As we move into the fourth year of this site there is a strong hope that those who still think they don't have a voice begin to see how they sound as contributors on the hvtd site. What is an example? Suppose you have a neighborhood association and you have begun an active campaign of clean up or neighborhood watch or neighbor helping neighbor. This site is a perfect place for those small-city heroic stories to be told. How do you tell them? All anyone would have to do is read over some of the posts and you will quickly see there is no need to uncover the mystery of the inverted pyramid. All you have to do is start writing your story and it won't be long before you have a sort of conversation going. There are lots more examples of stories to be told and pictures to be shown but blogs are not supposed to be too long.
The hartsvilletoday web site is a major new-media communication vehicle for the Hartsville community but its value and richness depends totally on those who are willing to be the community story tellers. Thanks Doug for making a difference in Hartsville.
Doug Fisher had an idea a few years ago that the concept of "citizen journalism" was going to be a more important journalistic movement than most in the news industry were ever going to guess. He is now a professor in the University of South Carolina School of Journalism, Mass Communication and Information Science, and he wanted to put his thoughts to the test. You can read more about how he did it in his papers on this subject, but he and Graham Osteen, at the time the publisher and editor of THE HARTSVILLE MESSENGER decided to put this 'laboratory' in Hartsville. This week, I think on October 30th, the hartsvilletoday citizen journalism web site celebrated its third birthday.
Once and awhile I get the opportunity to talk about some of the unique aspects of Hartsville that make this a special little city in which to be living. Very near the top of the list is this citizen journalism web site. While it may be taking a little longer to catch on as THE place to go for news about Hartsville, it is a crucial place to go for the flavor of Hartsville -- news, views, opinions, art, humor, insight and awareness. The Hartsville community has significantly benefited from the site being part of our media mix.
A couple of years ago a version of the World Cafe method of getting community input was held in Hartsville over about 13 months. The site proved a fantastic tool for providing the after-talk observations shared by those who took part in the meetings. The site allowed a transparency for a public get-together not often available. The comments section ensured that the person providing the recap could be checked by those in attendance.
The Selling Hartsville initiative moved ahead, in part, because of the ability to share information, ideas, involvement-pleas directly with the community on a very timely basis.
Those were a couple of key aspects but this site has provided so much more. We have a view of the community directly from citizen-eye view. There are people sharing photographs of life in this community that provide perspectives many have never even considered. There are people providing commentary on life in the town that demonstrates why complacency is never a good idea. The HVTD contributing community is self selected and is becoming a voice for sectors that don't always make the mainstream news.
As we move into the fourth year of this site there is a strong hope that those who still think they don't have a voice begin to see how they sound as contributors on the hvtd site. What is an example? Suppose you have a neighborhood association and you have begun an active campaign of clean up or neighborhood watch or neighbor helping neighbor. This site is a perfect place for those small-city heroic stories to be told. How do you tell them? All anyone would have to do is read over some of the posts and you will quickly see there is no need to uncover the mystery of the inverted pyramid. All you have to do is start writing your story and it won't be long before you have a sort of conversation going. There are lots more examples of stories to be told and pictures to be shown but blogs are not supposed to be too long.
The hartsvilletoday web site is a major new-media communication vehicle for the Hartsville community but its value and richness depends totally on those who are willing to be the community story tellers. Thanks Doug for making a difference in Hartsville.
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