robinjp / Robin J Phillips

Interesting, but somewhat shocking, piece on how the New York Times' editors pick the 60-plus stories that make up the links on the Home page.

Here's the shocking part. Both the A1 editor and Home Page editor talk about how the newspaper and newspaper stories drive their decisions more than the readers.

"You know, I would say if I had more time I would probably try to investigate more in what our readers are doing," Jim Roberts said. "I guess I would rather know some broad trends, than some specific minute to minute thing," like whether readers are more interested in science news or fashion reports.

That's not the print Page One editor.  That is the Home Page editor who says he doesn't have time to check out the Web analytics.

As the Observer piece says, Jim Roberts, The Times’ associate managing editor and NYTimes.com’s digital news editor, is the man making most of those Home Page judgments, along with his team of editors and a home-page producer.

Surely, one of them is checking to see what the reader actually wants to read.

Day 5 of my Final Week at work.
What a glorious 'It's a Wonderful Life' sort of day I have had.

Leaving the newsroom on my own terms: Wonderful. Leaving with doors open and the possibility of collaborating in the future: Priceless.

At newspapers, when someone leaves they send a parting note to the whole newsroom. It's just tradition. Some are poetic, some funny, some are bitter, some stained with tears.

I wrote mine this afternoon. I am leaving the newsroom for a job in journalism education. Before I pick up the new gig, as a Web managing editor at the Reynolds Center based at ASU, I am taking a week off, a week with no bosses. A week in which I hope to have many Perfect Moments.

Before I head off for that break, let me share my final thoughts in the newsroom and my parting message to those I leave behind:

Wow. I thought this note would be easier to write.
After 4½ years, 5 jobs, 6 bosses, 7 desks, countless colleagues and friends, I am warmed by how big and strong my Arizona Republic/azcentral family has become.

I thank each of you for the part you played in my time here. We have done some great work. We have worked long hours. We have kept each other buoyed during tough times and have enjoyed the fun and creative times together.

As I cleaned out my desk, I enjoyed these artifacts:

- the ever-popular ‘Newsroom Reorganization 2005’
- a well-thumbed 2007 Information Center job ‘catalogue’
- the short-lived best seller, Monday Concept Survey Oct. 2006
- a prescient July 24, 2005, business section with a CP headline “Bubble trouble?”
- a Ward Bushee (former editor) fold-up paper doll .. downloadable
- copies of the bane of my existence for several months … Pump Watch & its sexy cousin Energy Watch
- and several souvenir copies of December 2006’s “Whatever Happened to… “ year-end feature.

All of these items are on auction and the proceeds will be shared among this year’s Pulliams (super special interns).

As I said to many of you around cake a few minutes ago, this has not been an easy decision to leave, but I am drawn to an opportunity that is very exciting. I have enjoyed my time here and am grateful for all the opportunities that came my way and those that I went out and grabbed.

I urge everyone here to speak up, share ideas, stick your neck out and make your time here an adventure. Last night someone asked me what skills they would need to work online. No. 1 is the skill to speak up and let those desires be known. And beyond that, you’re a journalist. You’ve already got all the skills necessary. The tools, you can learn.

Now personally, I am thrilled that I am able to make this move to a new and exciting venture without leaving town. As Jill Cassidy says (and I keep quoting), Starbucks is right in the middle between 200 E Van Buren and the Cronkite Building. Let’s have coffee.

And, I want you to promise that I’ll never be the subject of a “Whatever Happened to…?” feature. You’ll know where I am.

Here's an interesting idea.
Monetize the audience, not the content. 

At first I thought that meant ask wealthy people to pay more..  yeah, right.  But no, it's more the corner drug dealer model.  (No offense to anyone. Drug dealer or newspaper publisher.)  Instead of making users pay up front for content, give them a taste of your news, let them read several stories and then, when they come back for more, ask for cash.

That keeps your content in the searchable world. 
It keeps you from turning off the unique visitors, which are really the only way to grow these days.

But there is one problem.

This puts those age-old demands back on an ever-shrinking newsroom.
Editors and reporters: You have to tell good stories and preferably ones that people can't really get anywhere else. Go local. Go smart. Make readers want to come back.

Late-add:  The New York Times describes online membership plans.

I wish I was heading to Chicago this week for BlogHer '09.

Tina Brown, longtime magazine editor, was interviewed by the Chicago Tribune in anticipation of her speaking at BlogHer '09 this week.  Her thoughts rang true to me.

"People who decide, 'I'm going to wait around until [media are] fully transitioned and hope I don't get laid off,' " do so at their own peril, Brown said. "Obviously everyone has their responsibilities and has to make their own decisions. But as night follows day, things are really tipping, and it's better to have that training early rather than late."

I resigned last week.  Gave a 2-week notice and will be leaving big media at the end of the month.

I am going to a job as Web Managing Editor at the Reynolds Center (goal: make business journalism in the U.S. better) which is based at Arizona State University.

Still working on what it means to leave the 10th largest newspaper in the country and join a small band of people to work on professional development in newsrooms around the world.

I think my move looks something like this:  journalism => business => Web => teaching => telling better stories => making the world better.

Brown, founder and editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast, will take part in "Traditional Media Chops Meet a New Media Calling," a keynote panel at BlogHer '09, the fifth annual blogging conference. I won't be there. Couldn't get Old Media support to be there.

I'm definitely not waiting around. Definitely not hoping to not get laid off.  But just as important as reevaluating the business model of the news business, we need to reevaluate the definition of journalist.

Are bloggers journalists?  I wish I was at BlogHer this week to talk about that.

The Washington Post says reduced Web traffic was a reason for columnist Dan Froomkin's dismissal.  That is a big, scary deal for journalists.

The paper's ombudsman and editorial page editor both said traffic had gone way down for Froomkin's political columns.  And NYT's Brian Stelter reported that executives told Froomkin that they were reviewing all contracts for Web writers.

Editors and newsroom managers used to count bylines and would judge the success of individual reporters and columnists by a perception of popularity. 

The lesson in all this may be for journalists to keep a closer eye on their Web traffic. And be very nice to the Home Page and other online editors to get traffic driven to their work.

This is an interesting piece from The Washington Post ombudsman on the "salon" scandal.

Ombudsman Andrew Alexander spells out the conflicts inherent in offering lobbyists and association executives off-the-record access to "those powerful few" including reporters and editors for a fee, as much as $25,000. Alexander concludes that the "episode has left a scar that will be visible for years, and it has badly shaken the newsroom."

Still shocking to me is that no on spoke up as the events were being planned.

Neither Publisher Katharine Weymouth nor Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli can recall anyone raising concerns, although both say they wish someone had. Several lower down in the newsroom say they didn't speak up because "they assumed top managers would eventually ensure that traditional ethics boundaries would not be breached."

Plans went ahead until a lobbyist handed a leaflet for the event to (non-Post) reporters. And on June 2, Politico.com reported on the salons.

Somewhat arrogantly, Alexander explains to the reader that "Historically at quality newspapers such as The Post, a firewall exists between the business and news departments to ensure editorial integrity and independence."

Well, those firewalls exist at far less grand newspapers than the post. What is still shocking to me is that no one from the newsroom questioned the idea of the salons during the weeks they were being organized.

But the good news is that The Post does have an ombudsman who gave us an insiders' look at the scandal.  Andrew Alexander is just one in a long line of  veteran journalists hired from outside The Post to keep an eye on how the paper is doing and respond to disgruntled readers. 

He began his job in February. I'm sure he got more than he bargained for.

Mashable's Stan Shroeder asks Should a Social Media Editor Use Social Media.  I've been wondering the same thing. 

When The New York Times reassaigned one of its editors, Jennifer Preston, to be its in-house expert on Twitter and Facebook, that was big news, a first in the nation. The move made it acceptable for all other newspapers to assign a full or part-time social media expert.

A leaked internal memo said "we ought to learn how to reach those people effectively and serve them well."

Jennifer is our first social media editor. What’s that? It’s someone who concentrates full-time on expanding the use of social media networks and publishing platforms to improve New York Times journalism and deliver it to readers.

I was thrilled.  I have helped guide my news organization into Social Media in part because I love it. I thought that I'd be able to learn more by following the work of someone given the resources of the NYTimes and a full-time position to think big thoughts about how news organizations can best use social media tools.

At the time, I did a quick online search to see what Jennifer Preston's Social Media footprint was like.  I found very little. But she had a strong first 10 days.

@NYT_JenPreston's  first tweet was May 26.   She began by asking others how NYT's should use Twitter.  Like any newbie, she stumbled with @replies and other Twitter protocol.  In response to a sort of #followfriday note I sent her full of Twitter users from azcentral/The Arizona Republic that she might follow, she struggled with how to @reply to me, Robin.

But then on June 9, silence.

I think Shroeder has a good point when he says: "Twitter has been at the very core of various social media-related movements and occurences, and a social media editor for a large media publication, with over 9000 Twitter followers, is expected to actually use the social media tools at her disposal."

But the nytpicker, a web site that devotes itself to the goings on inside the NYTimes, sums it best. Being a Social Media Editor isn't just a job, it's a way of life.

So, @NYT_JenPreston.  I thought I'd learn from you, but perhaps you should follow me.

Katharine Weymouth's letter to her readers on Sunday did little to clarify why she planned to host sponsored salons in her home. 
See NYTimes' David Carr's piece this weekend on the publisher's public stumble.

It's easy to understand how this happened.  Ms. Weymouth is Katharine Graham's granddaughter. Born on 3rd base,  she really should have taken a run through the newsroom at some time.

During most of the 90s, I worked for Mac Borg whose family owns The Record, aka The Bergen Record and The Record of Hackensack A couple of Mac Borg's kids ended up in executive positions at the paper.  All of his kids held internships .. or longer stints.. in the newsroom. 

Of course, their last names meant they were treated very kindly as newsroom subordinates.  But because they reported, edited, sat in news meetings and became colleagues with journalists, they have a greater understanding of journalistic ethics and conventions than your average newspaper executive. 

Nice work, Mac.

I'll take a quad shot please.

First #JournoCafe chat is July 8, 8p-11p eastern. #JournoCafe looking for topics for Wednesday. Vote at its UserVoice page.

Don't forget #journchat on Twitter on Mondays.  Not sure if it is alive and well.  Sometimes it's a little overly PR-heavy for my taste, but worth looking in on Mondays from 7p-10p central.

mediabistro. journocafe.  what's next?  WashPost salon?  oh. no.no.no.