Entrepreneurship in Media

I'll put in a shameless plug here for my alma mater - the University of Iowa School of Journalism. http://www.uiowa.edu/jmc/  Like every other journalism school in the country, it is trying to figure out what it should be doing to educate future journalists.  Some have written that classic J-school education is pretty much dead.  I don't buy it.  But you do have to be relevant.  Courses on how to create a printed newspaper don't have a great future. What parent is going to pay tuition to teach their kid the skills of headline writing? 

At a recent meeting at Iowa we discussed a word that hasn't always come up in journalism circles: entrepreneurship.  Journalists are going to have to get better at it if they want to create their own future and work in the profession.  Local television stations need to take the hint, too.  Our world is often hesitant or even resistant to nurturing "start ups."  After all, doesn't it detract from the mothership - the local station's newscasts?  More and more, I see entrepreneurial efforts starting to grow.  Fisher Broadcasting's localization of news on the web is interesting. http://www.komonews.com/communities   Meredith is experimenting with online obituaries. http://www.obitmichigan.com/   Local journalism is finding a new home in online efforts like MinnPost, Chi Town News, and Baristanet.com.  The journalism dean at CUNY's grad school has a great piece about where his graduates are finding work:  http://www.journalism.cuny.edu/2009/12/16/deans-corner/
All these experiments start out as a big idea.  And like most ideas that grow, having solid market research information can speed growth and prevent mis-steps.  Trial and error can be reduced, and profits can come quicker if you understand the market.  We think CJ&N can play a big role in local news becoming more entrepreneurial. 

One item I heard at Iowa gives me a lot of hope for the future.  A group of students is writing an iPhone App for the ABC News investigative unit as a class project.  (Brian Ross is also an Iowa alum.)  No more green eye-shades in this crowd - just the bluish glow of a screen. 

John Altenbern

Morning TV Weather Coverage

As I glance out my window at a foot of snow dropping a flake at a time,  I'm watching two local TV stations' morning newscasts describe the disruptive event.

These stations have very different styles. Station #1, the long-time market leader, is content to be very traditional, with two anchors and a weathercaster in the studio, and a reporter out live doing a few scattered head-and-shoulder live shots.

Station #2, an up-and-comer, is trying new things. One anchor and two weathercasters in the studio. Another weathercaster roaming the rural highways with a web video connection. A co-anchor bundled up in the snow outside the studio. Another reporter out live showing that indeed it is snowing in every part of the city. All armed with rulers and yardsticks to prove there's a lot of snow out there.  They're making an effort to have a conversation with the viewer, not read or recite or preach.

Flipping back and forth between the two stations, it reminds me of a frisky young puppy annoying the heck out of a grumpy old dog, prancing around in circles, barking up a storm (if you'll pardon the expression).

Station #1 has fine coverage. It built its reputation on going all-out on weather coverage, and is feeding us plenty of information about closed schools and businesses.  It has a credible forecast, and video of trouble spots.

But station #2 is putting on a good show. The typical cynical newspaper critic - and perhaps news managers at Station #1 - would point and laugh at Station #2.  What fools!  Do they really think they have to be out in the cold and the snow to prove that it's cold and snowing?  Don't they know enough to come in from the cold!?

Of course they don't.  Or maybe they're aware that sometimes there's more to this game than logic. This is television.  Pictures rule. Station 2 is trying to shake the market up. It's trying to build a brand to contrast it from the dominant stations.

Whether your station is covering a blizzard (or your climactic equivalent) that shuts down the city, or a more routine story that has caught the attention of other stations, your viewers need to see something different. Something unusual. Something they know they wouldn't see across the street.

Local TV news research shows "sameness" is a common reason why stations lose their loyal audiences. They don't even have to compare news products - if they simply THINK what you do is ordinary, then you are indeed ordinary. And ordinary doesn't build viewer loyalty.

Mike Anderson

Local Television and the Wright Brothers

I admit I'm a sucker for historic video.  There's something about watching events on old film or video that is fascinating.  When Wired magazine released undiscovered footage of the Wright brothers flying one of their "new" planes in France (circa 1909) I was mesmerized.

Could anyone imagine the impact aviation would have in just100 years?  It also made me think about what communications is doing right now that is just as revolutionary.  A lot of fits and starts, just like those hand-turned propellers.  And just like the Wright brother's plane, an infant internet wobbles up to change the world.  Still, we need to keep in mind what aviation did to other forms of transportation.  Railroads were changed forever - but they still exist all over the world as an efficient means of hauling freight.  (Newspapers come to mind.)  Ships still ply the oceans.  Automobiles are everywhere.  You can leave tonight from many major American cities and be in Paris tomorrow morning, which even the Wright brothers would find incredible.  Just like I find it amazing that you are able now to shoot live streaming video on the iPhone and have it seen anywhere in the world, instantaneously. 
The other day I heard someone say that newspapers would indeed die, and our very democracy was threatened. It struck me as something the "Flat Earth Society" would be saying.  Of course the communications business is going to change, and sometimes not for the better if you've enjoyed a stable business.  (I bet the Pullman Company felt the same way.)  But the creative destruction of old habits will be replaced by new opportunities and outlets for information.  There is real opportunity ahead for those of us with strong roots in the television business.  Just like the Wright brothers, we can only imagine the flight that's about to take off. 

John Altenbern