Advice from a young online journalist
In the midst of layoffs and announcements of newsroom downsizing, I continue to receive good reports from former students who are working in online journalism. They’re not always doing the work they could be doing (and should be encouraged to produce), but they’re not scared of losing their job tomorrow, either.
This one comes from a young man working for the Web site of a major-market TV news operation:
The job is going pretty well and all. But something that blows my mind about TV Web sites (at least the ones I’ve worked on), and something you could maybe mention to some of your students, is that you come out of school with all of this fresh knowledge about how to do online media. You really think you know your stuff and expect to be able to get a job doing it.
In reality, many of the people sitting in the big chairs don’t understand. They really don’t get it, and they don’t know what you mean when you talk about the importance of online media tools like Flash, Soundslides, etc.
So if I could give a bit of advice to people looking into online media jobs, it’s to ask really A LOT of questions about how their day-to-day processes go [in the newsroom]. Ask if you will get to do projects and use the tools you know how to use. Look at the Web site very closely and see how important the interactivity is on the site. And if you don’t like it, don’t take the job; wait for the next one if possible.
It’s a tough uphill battle trying to change people’s minds — especially when you are new.
But one thing is for sure, if you’re going to get hired right now at a good place, online is the way to go. A lot of places seem to be missing really good online journalists.
Like a number of former students, this one mentioned that it’s difficult to help the newsroom see (and understand) the new ways of presenting journalistic work.
The interesting thing that I’ve found also is that even if you have people who don’t understand, if you are persistent and you know what you are talking about, then you can find ways to break through to them.
It takes tons of patience and time. Like at my job, I’ve talked with my department head before about doing in-depth projects with the Web team and our news broadcast reporters. She liked the idea but basically left me to do it all. So finally in our weekly meeting when our supervisor was looking for feedback and asking if we’d like to enterprise some online exclusive stories, I was like, well, that’s all great, but how about … and I [pitched] the idea again.
Everyone liked the idea, but still the super was like, well, you know we can do these things if you all REALLY want to, it can happen. So persistence is a big factor too.
(Quoted from private e-mail, with the permission of the author. I withheld his name so his bosses won’t get upset with him.)
Categories: teaching
Being on the younger end of the newsroom spectrum and a heavy experimenter (when it comes to journalism anyway), here’s some of my best advice:
DON’T ASK FOR PERMISSION. (Unless it costs a lot of money or could seriously damage the brand.)
Painful experience talking here: If you ask for “permission,” then often you have to get other managers involved. And then a committee forms. And then the idea gets changed and kicked around. Then someone decides they should call the company attorney. Then the bean counters chime in. And so it goes til you’re engrossed in a pit of despair…
Just do it. Use good judgment and execute quickly without eating up too many resources. You’re taking a risk, but more often than not, the pointy-headed bosses can’t say no to unquestionable awesomeness that’s already done. And once you pull off some good ones, you’ll earn trust and more slack.
If your idea is risky or uses large amounts of resources, that’s when you’ve got to manage up and find someone to champion you and the idea.
Thank, Danny. That’s a very helpful bit of advice!
This post perfectly describes what I’m going through. I, too, work online at a mid-market television station, and it’s difficult getting people to wrap their minds around a lot of these concepts.
It was a huge culture shock for me to leave an evolving newsroom in college and move into one where breaking a story online is delayed until it’s aired on television. The “people sitting in the big chairs” here still think of the site as a baby TV channel, which is why you’ll see our anchors proudly displayed atop every Web page.
The advice mentioned above is great. It’s tough getting picky when the economy is sticky, but aspiring journalists should thoroughly investigate a station’s (or paper’s) commitment to its online operation. They should also know it goes deeper than the news department. One should question management’s commitment as well, because in the end it’s a business, and a lot of those guys pull the strings.