Copy editors take on Web duties: Lessons from Day 1

The Daily Nebraskan has joined countless papers around the country and integrated its Web and copy editing duties. Tonight was the debut of our new copyflow, and while we hit a couple bumps, it’s been relatively easy.

In keeping with my desire for more collaboration among student news outlets, I figured I’d give you the lowdown on what’s changed and the few tidbits of wisdom I’ve picked up on so far.

A comparison

Then: A Web department staffer would copy and paste all the stories from InCopy to into our CMS each night. It was pure shovelware: No outbound links, no related stories listed at the end of the story, no Web-first mindset.

Now: Copy editors who edit the stories also upload them to the Web, allowing us to make time for adding hyperlinks and related story boxes. Plus, stories get posted hours earlier than before.

My two cents

Make a step-by-step guide complete with screen caps

The more detailed, the better. If you’ve worked in WordPress or another CMS before, learning a new system can be easy-peasy. But I’m guessing this will be a first for more than a few of your staff members, so make things as painless as possible.

If you’re working in College Publisher 5 (like us), you realize the system has plenty of tabs and buttons. It’s usually easier to show rather than just describe them.

I’ll admit, It’s not exactly fun to put a detailed guide together, but multiple staff members have told me they like to have ours on hand as a reference. One who’d never worked on our site even used it as his only guide to upload a story while I was in class and no one else was around to help him. The copy editors who I’ve trained keep it in front of them as they upload stories, too, so it looks like it’s getting used.

Be flexible – and let others know what’s going on

I made a flub by not letting all the other section heads know that the copy desk would be taking on a few more duties tonight. A seemingly impatient editor can really frazzle a copy editor’s nerves, so ask your section heads to be understanding as your desk gets the hang of things.

Getting people to show up can be half the battle

Scheduling a training session with 10 people is never easy, and I had a less than 50 percent attendance rate at our first one. However, I did a second session later that day, meaning I only have a few editors left to meet with. Plan in advance and advertise the mandatory meeting like crazy.

Stress that this will be a resume-building experience

That’s no lie, either. A recent post by Mindy McAdams (@macloo)and a year-old classic post by Greg Linch (@greglinch) both highlight the need for journalists to have a diverse skillset. And if you’ve worked in one CMS, it’s much easier to learn another. If it’s between you and another internship applicant, you never know when your Web skills might just give you the edge. That rationale can be a good morale-booster if your staff feels a little hesitant or overwhelmed.

Nothing will ever go off without a hitch – and that’s A-OK

When you alter your newsroom’s copy flow, try to avoid any foreseeable problems, but realize some will pop up nevertheless. Each night will be a learning process, so relax and enjoy the adventure.

An unexpected perk

You might get better headlines out of the switcharoo

I’ve struggled to help copy editors see how Web headlines differ from print headlines. It seemed my handouts and e-mails weren’t doing the trick. So I was pleasantly surprised that the headlines on the site tonight were much more in line with what Web headlines should be. And I didn’t do any in-depth training on it, either.

I did give them a short list of pointers:

1. Be specific and use keywords.
2. Kill the cute stuff. (Search engines don’t grasp puns, plays on words, etc.)
3. Be clear and concise.

But I’ve given this same advice before and haven’t seen nearly as same results. My working theory is that copy editors take more ownership of their Web headlines when they’re the ones putting them on the stories. Whatever the reason, I’m psyched to see more SEO-friendly Web headlines on DailyNebraskan.com.

(P.S. Thanks to Lauren Rabaino (@laurenmichell) and CICM (@CICM) for their suggestions on Web-headline handouts. I ended up borrowing these bits from Journerdism’s slideshow.)

So how about you? Do you have any tips from when your news organization consolidated editing duties? Did I fail to answer a question you had about our new workflow? Comment away!

Clueless about multimedia? Today's the day that ends

Feel like you don’t know enough about online journalism? Worried about getting an internship this summer?

Don’t just sit on your hands and fret. Start doing something about it!

First thing to do: Take five minutes and read these two blog posts.

Advice for journalism students now

If you asked editors and publishers today to offer advice to journalism students, what would they say?

In response to a survey preceding a journalism job fair, 86 newspaper editors and publishers from Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio said these are the skills students need to put themselves in the strongest position to land an entry-level job in the newspaper industry today. ….

Number 1 on that list: Diverse skills. This includes multimedia storytelling (audio and video) and Web-first reporting.

This only confirms everything I’ve seen at internships and professional conferences. For many jobs, multimedia is a requirement. For others, it can be the make-or-break factor that gets you hired over someone else.

Reporter’s guide to multimedia proficiency (part 1)s

As promised in my last blog post, I’m going to offer some guidance for journalists who are ready to learn how to transform themselves into multimedia journalists. I think there will be 15 parts, of which this is the first. …

If you are a journalist (or journalism student) who feels like you need to catch up and upgrade your skills, I suggest that you do more than simply read these posts. Put the advice into use immediately — the same day, if possible. Don’t wait! (You’ve waited long enough already.)

000000;">If you think of yourself as a journalist at a print product that just happens to have a Web site, the 5 minutes you spend reading these posts could be the most important of your day.

000000;">If you feel like you don’t even know where to start, keep reading Mindy’s blog. This series sounds truly promising.

So, want to add a few more RSS feeds to your Google Reader? Paul Bradshaw over at the Online Journalism Blog posted a list a while back of 10 top journalism bloggers in America. They’re all well worth your time.

Sports-related inbound links bring rush of readers

Photo by beatboxbadhabit

Are you marketing your newspaper’s sports content to the people and Web sites that can bring in a rush of readers?

If not, you should be.

Today, our most-read story of the day got almost 10x the number of page hits that our top story of the day usually gets. The reason?

A reporter who owned his beat and was persistent in getting the story first … and then he sent a link to Huskerpedia.

The clearinghouse for Huskers news is a popular stop for football fans, and it drives a massive amount of traffic to the pages it links to.

Also, Max Olson, the reporter, kept at it all day and sent another two updates along as soon as he got more interviews done.

A round of applause to Max for his perseverance in getting the story.

Today’s takeaways:

• Get your reporters and editors to post links to their stories on message boards, social media, etc. A success story like this is a good motivator for everyone to keep that habit up, too.
• Nothing can replace the hard work that goes into getting the story. Max has been keeping tabs on a slew of recruits for a while. And though the Journal Star had a blog post up early this morning, Max beat them to the punch of getting a more detailed story up.
• Writing your story is not enough any more. You should be creating the traffic channels to get readers to your content, too.

Max did it again. This time, the recruit is a player from right here in Lincoln who happens to be the son of a former Husker safety. Pageviews are soaring once again after he sent the link to Huskerpedia.

It’s not a fluke. With diligent reporting and one little link, writers can make have a huge impact.

Web-first mentality: Minor victory No. 1

The Daily Nebraskan is far from being totally Web-first … but we’re working on it.

Tonight, a hazardous material crew and other emergency responders were called to a residence hall at UNL, and one floor’s residents were evacuated while 11 other floors were put on lockdown.

Our newsroom’s traditional story flow would have sent this story to the Web at least five hours after the 911 call was made.

We got it up within the hour and posted at least three more updates throughout the night. We got video of the police press conference and photos from the scene.

It’s not flawless, and updates could have been posted more often, but I’m happy with the progress we made tonight.

We had breaking news, and we covered it like it deserved.

The takeaways from tonight:

• Communicate, communicate, communicate. When you have two reporters, one photographer and another videographer all out on the same story, everyone needs to be kept in the loop.
• The AP can be really slow sometimes.
• Breaking news on a Sunday can easily shoot up to the most-read story of the day within the span of a couple hours.
• A police scanner in the Web room would be a fabulous asset. The GChat message from a friend certainly got the job done, but it’d be nice to hear the news ASAP from the police.

[ Photo by Hilary Stohs-Krause, Daily Nebraskan ]

Student journalists, online isn't an option. It's a requirement.

Baffling as it may be, many student journalists don’t have a Web-first mindset. They think of themselves working solely for a print product and think the time for learning new skills is tomorrow, not today.

How do we help them see the light?

Show ‘em the facts.

Looking for a to-the-point, persuasive blog post to help you in your endeavor? Mindy McAdams just posted it.

In response to a survey preceding a journalism job fair, 86 newspaper editors and publishers from Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio said these are the skills students need to put themselves in the strongest position to land an entry-level job in the newspaper industry today:

Diverse skills: multimedia storytelling, including audio and video; Web-first reporting; report/write for both printed publication and online (45 out of 86)

Writing skills: writing on deadline; writing brief and fast, including for Web site; attention to grammar, spelling, clarity, organization (40 out of 86)

Curiosity and enthusiasm (16 out of 86)

MORE THAN HALF (!!!) want reporters to have a diverse skillset, and my guess is the other half sure wouldn’t mind it if you had one, either.

The rest of the post is just as fact-filled and interesting, including a bit about why you should freelance while still in college.

I’m not trying to pontificate from on high here. I know I have plenty of skills left to learn and a dwindling number of days before graduation. Believe me, those two facts are the source of most of my stress.

The point is that at least I’m aware of my shortcomings.

If we don’t have the right state of mind, we don’t stand a chance at changing how we report the news.

Rob Curley’s two-year-old post still holds true: “Skillset is important. But mindset is most important.”

Mindy just gave us all a tool to use to kick people in gear and get our news organizations innovating again.

[ Photo by minxlabs ]

A few shoutouts to keep spirits high

This week has been more than a bit of an emotional roller-coaster. I’m sure any Web staff member at a college or professional newspaper has more than a few tales about the frustration that comes with their job.

I sought suggestions via Twitter the other day for how to motivate print-centric staff members to think multimedia. I didn’t get too many responses, sadly. Ryan Sholin (@ryansholin) helped spread the word, and Aaron Jacklin (@aaronjacklin) suggested having staffers read Journalism 2.0, which he said helped him see the light.

I’m still working on motivating the bulk of my staff, but I’ve been absolutely elated with the progress made by some very dedicated co-workers.

And I think they deserve a little recognition, even if it’s just a blog post:

Casey Welsch (@caseywelsch) has produced video after video and coped with Final Cut-induced headaches. Watch his latest edition of the DN Film Forum on “Revolutionary Road” here.

Last week, Adam Templeton (@adamt) took control of a flat-screen TV that the Daily Nebraskan has in our student union and was charged with the task of getting it to display a variety of multimedia content. (It hadn’t been used in a couple months.) As of last night, it was nearly ready to go back up.

I also have a sports section filled with superstars, including a host of writers who blog each week:

• Kris Knowlton and Luke Nichols on the men’s basketball blog
• Nick Filipowski on the women’s basketball blog
• Max Olson on the track and field blog
• Mike Schaefer on the wrestling blog

Filipowski and sports writer Spencer Schubert also shot and edited a post-game press conference video after NU’s loss to the Kansas Jayhawks last night.

Last but not least, Scott Nelson and Anthony Troester run their Techspeak blog and podcast.

No effort will ever come out perfectly, and we haven’t yet begun to reach our full potential, but I am so lucky to have these people on board.

So, feel free to check out the fruits of their labor:

• Film Forum video
• Techspeak podcast
• Men’s basketball live game blog

Why daily AP briefs confuse readers and how to solve the problem

Simon Dumenco at Advertising Age, you took the words right out of my mouth.

Actually, you explained something I struggle to articulate on my own: that sometimes media outlets focus so much on the latest updates and the day’s events that they miss the bigger picture that readers don’t yet grasp.

His post, How the Big Gulp Approach to News Makes Readers Scram, includes this particularly concise, yet powerful paragraph:

The Trib move just underscores what newspaper executives still don’t get: They’re in the business of producing a product that makes millions of consumers feel bad about themselves. The brutal reality here is really about content, not form. As much as newspapers think they’ve evolved over the years — adding colorful infographics and flufftastic lifestyle coverage — the problem is that they still produce information in a way that makes people feel unhappy. I’m not talking about ain’t-the-news-depressing unhappy. I’m talking unhappy as in readers thinking, basically, I just can’t handle that much information; I’m already overwhelmed! I don’t have time for this in my life! I can’t keep up!

He has a point.

For instance, I know plenty of friends who read each day’s updates about Israel’s recent offensive in Gaza, but they still didn’t “get it.” They didn’t understand the players, their history and their motivations.

We can publish all the death tolls we want, but if our readers don’t know why those people are fighting in the first place, we aren’t doing our jobs.

That’s because, in my view, our job isn’t just to publish the news. It’s to make sure our readers understand it.

I think it’s a myth that my generation doesn’t care about what’s going on around the world. I do think, however, that they are tuning out from news sources that emphasize troop movements and casualty counts when they don’t understand the context for those details.

Not that those details aren’t important, ’cause they most certainly are.

But I think that more often, we need to take a step back from grabbing the latest AP story, chopping it off after 10 inches (and thereby lopping off the background information), and thinking that today’s updates are what is most important.

Remember, our generation didn’t live through the history that is so important for understanding many of the world’s conflicts today and our high school (and often college) educations probably didn’t stress those events enough, either.

That’s where good, explanatory journalism needs to step in.

Who’s doing it now?

BBC’s Special Reports, especially their Q&A articles, are one great example. So is NPR’s Giant Poole of Money, which explained the financial crisis better than any other print, audio or video piece I’ve seen yet.

The New York Times has its Times Topics pages, like this one on Gaza, but personally, I don’t find it to be as engaging as the others.

Why?

Well, I think understanding these big, complex stories is intimidating enough. My guess is that readers are turned off when they see paragraph after dense paragraph of dense historical facts, and are more likely to think “I’m never going to be able to understand this.”

I did, however, love seeing that information, complete with photos and links to stories, in the Times’ interactive timeline about the issue.

So what’s my point?

Details and news of the day absolutely are important. We are journalists and it’s our job to document what’s happening around the world.

But … unless our audience understands what those latest updates mean in the grand scheme of things, we’re not doing our jobs.

What do you think?

• What are some other examples you found of pieces that made you finally grasp something that had been in the news for a while but still managed to befuddle you?
• Am I wrong entirely?
• Is there still time to do time-intensive explanatory journalism like the NPR piece with the industry struggling as it is?

[Photo by Álvaro Herraiz]

Tampa lays out its reorganized newroom

I’ve been on a kick with reading newsroom reorganization strategies lately, and Media General’s Tampa news outlets join my list of those who aren’t afraid to shake things up.

Read the full post here.

I am encouraged to see a focus on local news and the inclusion of watchdog and data teams.

The post poses the question that comes along with any talk of restructuring a newsroom, and I think gets to the heart of a problem faced by newsrooms across the country:

The obvious question that springs to mind is: is this new system going to work? Can a newsroom compensate for staff cuts and diminishing resources by reorganising?

The post gives plenty of details about the reasoning behind the new structure. Check it out.

Rethinking newsroom information flows

Paul Bradshaw over at Online Journalism Blog has written a great proposal of what a newsroom of the future – or better yet today – could look like.

This “information flow,” as he calls it, might not work for every newsroom. Heck, it may not work for most, but he takes a fresh look at how we can re-allocate journalists’ time and energy.

Here is how Paul sums up the typical approach to changes in newsroom structure::

The strategy of many news organisations so far has been to simply require existing journalists and editors to do more – to make videos and podcasts, take photos and write blogs; to scour social networks and forums and video sites; to encourage user generated content and audience participation.

He sees things differently:

In this part I want to look at personnel – and how we might move from a generic, hierarchy of ‘reporters’, ’subs’ and ‘editors’ to a more horizontal structure of roles based on information types. … I’ve identified 6 journalist roles based on 3 core types of information that I see journalists dealing with in a networked environment.

Why I like his proposal

He includes jack-of-all-trade reporters as well as specialists in his proposal.

As a student, I often get seemingly conflicting advice: “Specialize, specialize, specialize” or “Do it all: audio, video, print, databases, Flash.” For most journalists, achieving both just isn’t possible. Paul incorporates the jack-of-all-trades types in his MoJo and Multimedia Producer roles, as well as data-miner specialists.

(For related thoughts on the specialist vs. do-it-all approaches, see Will Sullivan’s post on “fuck you” “peace out” skills.)

He incorporates databases, which newspapers can more easily pull off than individual bloggers.

This is where journalists have a comparative advantage, in my opinion. I am certain some individual bloggers could incorporate databases of information. However, I would venture to guess they make up a small percentage of the blogging community. I think a larger percentage of news outlets could – or should – be able to take a large amount of information, such as public records, and make it searchable online.

He embraces social media and collaboration as an essential part of reporting the news.

Journalists are no longer just talking at the audience, but talking with them.

It might not be the cure-all, but …

… an restructuring how you report and deliver news can allow journalists to focus their energy on what they really need to be producing. His proposal doesn’t advocate just tossing new duties into a system that was formed with a print product in mind. It suggests a way to re-allocate resources in a more efficient, multimedia newsroom.

Instapaper: iPhone application is a lifesaver

Let me introduce you to my favorite application I’ve installed on my iPod Touch: Instapaper. I often find myself stumbling upon interesting – but lengthy – blog posts or New York Times articles right before a class is about to start.

I can simply click “Read Later,” and the application saves the plain text version of the page, which can be read offline, and also links directly to the original page if you want to see the multimedia elements, too.

The standard version of Instapaper is free, and the premium version costs $9.99, though I manage just fine without the extra bells and whistles.