E-Media Tidbits

YouTube.com YouTube: A crucial part of any modern journalist's toolkit? Yes, says Howard Owens.

A $100 Amazon gift certificate may not sound like much of a reward -- but how about ensuring that you'll be able to keep doing journalism that matters beyond the next few years? Even if mainstream news organizations as we have come to know them start collapsing en masse? Yeah, I'd say that matters a lot.

That's why this challenge that Howard Owens posted yesterday is worth a serious look -- not just by individual Luddite journos, but by journalism educators and news organizations. Maybe Owens can only afford a $100 gift certificate in exchange for getting journalists to learn the skills and mindset they'll really need to save their careers and the practice of journalism, but those larger organizations can and should offer much more.

Here's why: Mainstream news orgs and mainstream journalists are losing their traditional audiences to generational shift. Look at the statistics for how upcoming generations (read: markets) are using media -- especially their strong preference for ongoing interactive conversations and updates rather than hierarchical, packaged-story-focused publications. Stop assuming that their media and news tastes will resemble yours "once they grow up."

Look also at the abysmal job most news orgs are doing at adapting their business models and staffs to get ahead of the next wave of media. Look at the last few decades of media consolidation, and the concurrent explosion of the Internet and mobile media. Check out census data for shifting demographics in your region.

Then do the math, and start looking at the really big long-term picture -- which isn't very far in the future. Personally, I doubt that more than a handful of mainstream news outlets will survive beyond a skeletal presence 7-10 years hence.

So where, and how, will journalists work? By "going native" -- digital native. That's what the skills outlined in Owens' challenge are intended to foster: evolution of mindset, cultural fluency, credibility and relevance on current terms, and re-envisioning what quality news and journalism can look like and what it should do. And, of course, figuring out what kind of communities and business models can support quality journalism in whatever forms it may take in the not-so-distant future.

Take a minute to read over Owens' challenge. In a nutshell, he's asking "non-wired" journalists ("you only use the Internet for e-mail and a little web surfing, but not much else") to prove their non-wired status, complete 11 tasks he outlines to build new skills and update their understanding of how media works, and to be transparent about the process.

My only quibble is that Owens' offer is open only to journalists employed by news organizations. Personally, I don't see the point of that, since so many of us are independent -- and more will become independent (by choice or not) as the traditional news business continues to erode. We may end up working alone, or in co-ops, or for whatever replaces Google, who knows? I think an important part of this process is envisioning the role of journalism and journalists not only separately from news organizations but in developing a contingency plan for continuing journalism in an increasingly likely future where news orgs have largely ceased to exist.

Owens concludes his challenge by encouraging newsroom supervisors to "use this post to fashion an in-house MBO program." Let's take that further. Let's use this to revise high school and j-school curricula, continuing education, and the efforts of journalism organizations such as SPJ. Let's start being more open to learning new lessons from new players.

It's our future, and it's looming faster than most of us probably want to think. The sooner we start evolving (rather than mainly learning to use new tools like digital cameras to basically do the same kind of job for the same kind of company) the better journalism's chances of survival.

(Thanks to Mindy McAdams for the tip about Owens' challenge, which I found via Paul Bradshaw's online journalism aggregator Twitter feed.)