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Becoming unbound
Kim Pearson
Publisher
"I do not weep at the state of the world. I am too busy sharpening my oyster-knife."
Zora Neale Hurston
If Hunter Thompson, the 1960s-era "gonzo" journalist were to write another of his "Fear and Loathing" books, the modern news business could easily be his subject. It's easy for any industry insider or observer to be pessimistic as graying newspaper staffs struggle to hold on to declining readerships, newsmagazines such as George and Emerge go under, and television news becomes increasingly tabloid and trivial. Factor in the ongoing mega-merger fever, the dot-com nosedive, and the failure to meet long-established newsroom diversity goals, and it's easy to see why many newspeople are more focused on resumes than rewrites these days.
The online journalism bust is particularly distressing to many media professionals, who hoped that commercial online news operations would bring back readers, advertisers and audiences. Michael Wolff, New York magazine's media columnist, is among the experts declaring that particular dream dead. "The internet as media has failed," Wolfe recently told iwantmedia.com. "....[T]here was no way to generate money out of content. It didn't work for advertisers, and it's not going to work." Wolff predicts that the Internet will become like the telephone -- a useful way to share information, but not a journalistic vehicle.
But the picture isn't all bleak for journalists. There are some valuable lessons -- and opportunities in the current confusion.
The Internet can be more than an online public library, shopping mall or billboard. We can use the 'net to accomplish some of the internal industry goals that have eluded us. I believe online journalism, in particular, can be a powerful tool for strengthening and diversifying the ranks of journalists.
I offer the unbound experience as evidence.
We started modestly, as a project for magazine writing and graphic design students, and in some respects, we're still small potatoes. We were Mickey-Rooney/Judy-Garland-"Let's make an online magazine!"-naive. Of the 30 or so people involved in unbound at the outset, maybe six of us knew what <html> meant. I wasn't one of them -- I didn't know slashdot from shinola.
It is a completely organic enterprise. Under faculty direction, students conduct market research, wrote proposals, create and revamp organizational structures and processes. The staff has wrote an operations manual, technical manual and style guide, and developed and implemented marketing and promotion plans. I provide information on the typical structure and management, coach editors and writers, scramble for start-up resources, critique, edit and dream with them. To help us grow, I've cajoled professional designers and editors into donating advice, guidance, and elbow grease.
But after five years of continuous publication, we think we've created a model journalism operation that serves both as a training vehicle for understanding how new technology changes the human dynamics of the newsroom. Here are some tentative observations:
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Online newsrooms are organizationally flatter and more fluid than traditional print newsrooms. Reporting, editing and production are more continuous and less discrete.
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Online newsrooms are best run by participatory, not authoritarian managers. That's a stark contrast to the culture of the traditional newspaper.
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Storytelling is still central, but it takes time and experimentation to learn how to make the best use of the medium. This has been true of every technological advance in journalism, so it's no surprise that we're still learning.
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People skills are as important as technology skills -- sometimes moreso.
The exciting part of this is that the people who seem to flourish in this kind of cooperative, learning-organization environment are people with non-traditional learning styles and strong affective leadership abilities. Educational research suggests that women and minority journalists, in particular, should flourish in such settings. Anecdotal evidence suggests that's exactly what's happening.
For example, I remember Mairin, who served us in a variety of roles, from production assistant to editor-in-chief. In the beginning, she was prone to regular rants about how she hated interviewing strangers, using computers, writing on deadline, you name it. But she kept coming back, issue after issue. Eventually, she even became news editor of our school paper, The Signal, and she's now a statehouse reporter for Gannett.
And then there's Charlene, our indispensable current editor-in-chief. Charlene is neither a college student, nor a trained journalist. She's a web designer and technical writer who has overcome poverty, rape, disability and who has successfully raised two sons.
Enough Charlenes and Mairins have passed through our organization to convince me that we've got something worth building upon. Thus, the unbound Institute has been formed with three programmatic thrusts:
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continuing to refine expand unbound with content that is fresh, intriguing, and engaging
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launching a pre-college program. This spring, we began a pilot project with teachers and community groups in Trenton, New Jersey to create unboundII. We are also raising funds for an ambitious residential summer program that will prepare high school students for careers in business, technology and computer-assisted reporting.
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conducting ethnographic and social psychology research that will help newsroom managers and journalism educators understand how to really foster diversity in their ranks.
Over time, I'll be using this space to report on our progress, and to share what we're learning. I'll also be talking about some other organizations and people who are doing interesting things in this area. I look forward to learning from you as well -- your advice, experiences and questions challenge us and help us grow.
So get a little crazy. Dream with us. Become unbound.
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