Survival may depend on experimentation

This was one of the main messages from Vivian Schiller, Editor-in- Chief and head of North America for Weber Shandwick’s Mediaco practice, during her presentation on “The Rise of Digital Media and its Impact on Mainstream Journalism” at a media workshop hosted by the Unit Trust Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (UTC) at its Independence Square, Port-of-Spain head office this past Tuesday (November 8).

“The best thing that any manager could do, while you can’t necessarily give your newsroom everything that they want, is to allow room for experimentation where you can, even while we’re meeting deadlines. You can’t just turn your business model topsy-turvy but allow space for experimentation and celebrate those that are willing to take risks and give them that safe space to do that.”

“Beyond that, it’s tough for me to say because resources are limited. That’s why I suggest, if you’re going to cut (staff), the (way) to cut is not a little bit, a little bit and certainly don’t cut from innovation. Pick an entire area to stop doing and re-invest in other areas. The worst thing you could do is just sort of ‘nickel and dime’ your entire news organisation,” Schiller advised.

Media owners and managers the world over are struggling to answer the question, “How do you pay for good journalism?”

Noting that “good journalism costs money,” Schiller didn’t mince words as she told local media practitioners that “there is no one singular answer.”

She did however say that “the savviest thing you could do with your news organisation is to experiment with different forms of revenue.”

Encouraging the audience to “try different things”, Schiller said a lot of organisations are experimenting with community events that someone pays for or that “a sponsor wants to participate in - it doesn’t control the content but can participate in terms of the branding of (event).”

Others are experimenting with creating branding content newsroom. Schiller explained that this involves the establishment of an organisation, separate from the journalism newsroom, that creates “very compelling” content for brands.

“Who better than a news organisation at telling stories? You can tell stories with careful labelling to make sure that people don’t confuse what you’ve done for an advertiser with your proper journalism.”

Schiller also said donations or pledges, while not necessarily a big revenue source, can “add up to some money. So, diversifying your revenue stream is very, very important.”

Prior to joining Mediaco, Schiller was Global Chair of News at Twitter. In this role, she led the company’s strategy for news and partnership with journalism organisations and the news publishing ecosystem. Before that, she served as Senior VP and Chief Digital Officer for NBC News where she had strategic and operational oversight of the networks’ presence on the web, mobile devices and social media. Schiller also previously served as President and CEO of National Public Radio (NPR) in the USA, leading all of its worldwide media operations.

Drawing upon her past work experience, Schiller has come up with an eight-point “To Do” list entitled, “Waking Up to Digital Reality”:

1) Live where your audience lives;

2) Integrate your newsroom;

3) Put audience engagement at the centre;

4) Think about your brand experience off platform;

5) Experiment with different kinds of storytelling;

6) Diversify revenue streams;

7) “Do what you do best and link to the rest”; and

8) Always stay true to your mission.

Regarding point seven, Schiller said this is actually a quote from media commentator, Jeff Jarvis and that her interpretation of it is, “Don’t try to be all things to all people.”

“As budgets shrink, as you worry about resources, the idea is, ‘What can you cover? What can your news organisations cover uniquely, that you can ‘own’, that you’ll become famous for? That people will come to you and seek you out because they know you cover this better than anybody else?’ In terms of all the other news, link to, God forbid, your competitor, link to another news organisation or don’t include it at all.”

Point eight, ‘Always stay true to your mission’, speaks to the core role of journalists/traditional media - informing the public about events so that people can “make important decisions about their lives...based on facts” while listening to what your audience/the public has to say.

Schiller also advised media houses to brand themselves, since data shows more and more people get their news from social media, so that consumers know to turn to X newspaper/TV/radio station for coverage of a particular issue, community et cetera.

“There’s not a lot of data on news institutions here in TT, so it’s really hard for me to say, because an impression based on consuming your media for a short period of time is probably not very useful. I will say that I think there’s an advantage here in that it’s a small handful of news organisations and the country is small enough that it’s almost, in many ways, like a major city in the United States.”

Schiller added that “in some ways, local news organisations in the US have the advantage because people really want to understand and feel connected to their community as opposed to (say) the NY Times. (So) keep pressing the local...become indispensable to your community. Become indispensable. All paths lead from there.”

Another of the questions posed to the Editor-in-Chief and head of North America for Weber Shandwick’s Mediaco, concerned the importance of mobile web versus an application (app).

“The conventional wisdom is, mobile web is good for reach while mobile app is good for engagement - meaning, if you want to bring in new audiences, it’s important that your website is optimised for mobile, really effective, readable but if you want to bring people deep into your site and you want to engender loyalty, you need to have an app.”

Schiller disagrees with this, pointing out that much of this is based on data that shows how much time people spend on their phones on apps when in reality, “the apps that they’re spending a lot of the time on...are not news apps.”

“It’s Facebook, Twitter, What’s App and (this) is skewing the data to make it look like apps are a good idea. The fact is, people download lots and lots of apps but the ones they actually use, you can usually count on one hand. So I am a believer that unless you have lots and lots of money that you don’t know what to do with, that you don’t need an app. You need a really, really well-optimised website.”

Schiller noted that having a well-optimised mobile web experience is not just about responsive design. While “that’s absolutely critical”, she said media houses must also look very carefully at the data.

“Thinking about size, thinking about testing how people go from one story to another, making sure that you’re constantly making your app navigation as effective as possible.”

Earlier in the proceedings, UTC’s Executive Director, Ian Chinapoo, explained why the company thought it important to sponsor such a workshop.

“The rise of digital media has quickly emerged as the primary communication medium and this dramatic shift has transformed how media houses operate. What it means is that people now have a choice: ‘Do I continue to access traditional media or just go fully digital?’ Most surveys will show what the Millennials (the generation born between 1982 and 2004) want, and they are strident in how they want it delivered and packaged. It’s a whole new world out there. Breaking news and information are now just a click away and this trend has enabled our society to become involved and active in discussions. Digital media in an instant encourages comments, fuels debate and provokes opinions and dialogue, both healthy and unhealthy.”

Chinapoo asked what this means for mainstream journalists, before going on to provide an answer.

“Your key role as media remains to deliver accurate and unbiased news, to ferret out information, to probe, to investigate, to create and shape public opinion while strengthening of society. All this while maintaining your credibility. Media is a vital part of our democracy and acts as watchdog to protect the public interest. However, the challenges you face in strategising for the rise of digital media means you have to adapt. We are all part of this new digital phenomena and we all have to adapt or our very survival will be at stake.”

“The media is a vital and influential aspect of this digital age and must evolve to remain relevant. We are past the point of no return,” Chinapoo declared.