Comments on: What are you trying that’s new?

By: Mindy

Mindy — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:20:54 +0000

@Dave: I agree, assessment measures are really important. If only the newsroom would talk about what they hope to achieve with a strategy — e.g., online video — and how to measure that, and when, then they would be able to look at their progress in six months, say, and decide whether to continue, adjust, or quit doing it.

When people do not bother to set up a method to assess results, they end up throwing spaghetti at the wall forever. Not very practical, from a business standpoint.

By: Bryan Murley

Bryan Murley — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:29:32 +0000

Len Witt at Kennesaw has an experiment starting this year called Representative Journalism. See more here.

Probably won’t replace major dailies, but might provide another avenue for good reporting.

By: Dave Stanton

Dave Stanton — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:20:40 +0000

I agree wholeheartedly in experimenting with reporting and storyforms. However, I think we need to emphasize planning and evaluation just as much as creativity. If we are going to sort out all of this reporting/structure/delivery mess, we need to develop criteria for assessing success/failure. And these criteria need to be established before gathering content.

Journalism isn’t like manufacturing clotheshangers, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use metrics to be more efficient and practical. Convincing the bean counters to allocate funds for in-depth reporting and new gear is much easier when you have a rational argument to justifying expenses.