Events | The Digital Futurist

E-Learning Rocks, NewsU Launch Movie

J. Paige West, an interactive learning producer at Poynter NewsU, came up with a great idea to help folks understand what we were creating. In the early 2000s, e-learning was still an unknown concept for training and she thought it would be fun to create a video along the lines of the animated musical educational short films that aired on “School House Rocks.”

She did a great job with both the animation and the script. The video was built in Flash, the hot interactivity tool in 2004. I did my “voice over” and Paige played the journalist looking for training.

“E-Learning Rocks” debuted at NewsU’s launch party at the American Society of News Editors on April 11, 2005. We also put a copy on the CD-ROM that was part of our “launch box.” More on that in another post.

History of Newspaper Design and Year 2000 Visions

As part of the 1989 Associated Press Managing Editors convention Des Moines, I developed a script for a slideshow about the history of newspaper design and the vision developed from the American Press Institute’s seminar on the future of newspaper design. That seminar, “Newspaper Design 2000 and Beyond,” was help in 1988.

The goal of the APME slide show was “look back so that we might look forward.” [The slide show was videotaped.] Douglas Ramsey, who was a vice president at the Foundation for American Communications, did the narration. The AP put the show together. Nancy Tobin, who was at The Asbury Park Press, helped with the creation of the show.

I found a VCR tape of the show, which is visually terrible. However, I’ve posted it. One of my goals is to take the narration, which was quite nice, and recreate the show in digital format. Stay tuned. [Update in 2021: Still the plan. Life happens.]

Year 2000 Viewed by 1988 Committee

Robert [Bob] Cochnar, whom I worked with at the San Francisco Chronicle, invited me to join his Associated Press Managing Editors committee about the future of newspapers. Called the Year 2000 Committee, one of the goals of the group was to create a report for the 1989 APME convention in Des Moines. Here’s some of what Bob wrote in a note to committee members:

To borrow an idea from Phil Meyer, who pioneered the notion that research could also be a reporter’s and editor’s tool, I’d like to divide our work into several broad segments.

I.    Things We Know For Sure About Newspapers in the Year 2000 and Beyond.
II.   Things We Think We Know About Newspapers in the Year 2000 and Beyond.
III. Things We Need to Know About Newspapers in the Year 2000 and Beyond.
IV.   A Summing Up: What We’ve Got to Do.

Somewhere, in some file is the report. Meanwhile, in this PDF, is some of the correspondence from committee members.

[Bob didn't put a date on his letter, so I'm guessing it was in fall of 1988.]

Brainstorming an Electronic Future for Newspapers, 1989

In late 1988, Jerry Ceppos, managing editor of the San Jose Mercury News, invited a number of folks to help design an ‘electronic’ newspaper designed to serve readers with “increasing access to computers and other modern technology.” I was especially pleased by the invite, as I had abruptly departed the paper in 1985 after working there for only six months as graphics editor. [Ceppos was the managing editor.] The agenda and other material can be found here.

Here’s what Ceppos wrote about the gathering:

The only requirement is that our ideas be adaptable for newspapers today. Other than that, there is no limit to the ideas we can come up with; they can involve personal computers, videotex, fax, print, other technology, or a combination. And the content of the products is as important as the technology.

We met at the Mercury News for a day and brainstormed ideas about the future of news and newspapers. It was an interesting mix of newspaper folks, academics and technology folks:

SEMINAR PARTICIPANTS
Dr. Yale Braunstein, professor, University of California at Berkeley
Jennie Buckner, Managing Editor-PM, San Jose Mercury News
Karen Ceppos, professor, San Jose State University
Jerry Ceppos, managing editor, San Jose Mercury News
Robert J. Cochnar, vice president and editor, Anderson (S.C.) Independent-Mail
Sue Cook, president, Palo Alto Consulting Centers, The Tom Peters Group
Jerry Dianond, general partner, EG&G Venture Managenent
Joe Donth, president, Startext, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Roger Fidler, director/PressLink and newsroon technology, Knight-Ridder Inc.
Dr. Virginia Fielder, vice president/news & circulation research, Knight-Ridder Inc.
Howard I. Finberg, assistant managing editor, Phoenix Newspapers, Inc.
Ray Gniewek, managing editor/page one, USA Today
David Halvorsen, editor and vice president, Alameda Newspapers
Frank N. Hawkins Jr., vice president/corporate relations and planning, Knight-Ridder Inc.
James Houck, managing editor, Baltimore Sun
Bob Hucker, computer systems editor, San Jose l’v\ercury News
Ann Hurst, assistant managing editor/features, San Jose Nlercury News
Robert D. Ingle, senior v.p. and executive editor, San Jose Mercury News
Steve Landers, consultant
W. Terry Maguire, senior vice president, American Newspaper Publishers Assn.
Ron Martin, executive editor, USA Today
Scott McGehee, general manager, Lexington Herald-Leader
Kris McGrath, president, rvt:R.I Research
John McManus, professor, Santa Clara University
George Owen, marketing services director, San Jose Mercury News
Bob Ryan, assistant managing editor, San Jose Mercury News
Geoff Sharp, director/business information, Dialog Information Services
Dr. Roger Summit, president & CEO, Dialog Information Services
Mark Wigginton, assistant managing editor/graphics, San Jose Mercury News
Kathy Yates, senior vice president and general manager, San Jose Mercury News
David Yarnold, AM executive news editor, San Jose Mercury News

My notes from the meeting quoted Ron Martin asking the question “how do we stay alive?” Ceppos talked about “time poverty” and falling readership. Even before the 1990s, we knew the industry needed to change.

Poynter’s E-Learning Future. The First Memo

You have to start someplace when you are looking a big project.

I had joined The Poynter Institute in 2002 as its “Presidential Scholar.” One of my tasks was to explore e-learning and how the Institute might use that method of teaching. I wrote a memo (of course) with a number of areas that should be explored and a desire to make sure everyone saw the scope of such a project and shared some of the same language:

The biggest challenge to exploring any topic is for the stakeholders to develop a common understanding of the scope of a project. Some of Poynter’s faculty and staff might envision e-l,earning as an opportunity to accomplish Poynter’s mission with remote teaching. For others, distance learning could provide a chance to extend the Poynter’s experience beyond the confines of on-site seminars. Still others might see such a program as an opportunity to use collaborative or groupware tools to increase the effectiveness of discussion leaders and other off-site faculty. Each vision is important and each could overlap with the others.

The reference to “the Poynter experience” would echo throughout my time at the Institute. More on that later.

Covering the Big Story: Pope Visits Phoenix

On September 14, 1987, as a part of his whirlwind tour of the United States, Pope John Paul II visited Phoenix. It was one of the biggest news events that The Arizona Republic and its sister newspaper, The Phoenix Gazette, would cover during my career at the newspaper. In Tempe, he held Mass for 75,000 at Sun Devil Stadium. As a way of celebrating successful coverage the papers jointly produced a special section about how they covered the event. From the opening story:

The Pope is coming to Phoenix. Those six words, spoken more than a year ago, launched a herculean effort by the state’s two largest newspapers, The Arizona Republic and The Phoenix Gazette, to cover Pope John Paul II’s visit on Sept. 14, 1987. The goal was to capture the essence of the man and his effect on the city and those who saw him.

The task enveloped not only the Republic and Gazette newsrooms and such support services as the Library, Photo Lab and Promotion Department, but also Production, Circulation and Security.

What I like most about this special section was seeing all of the faces from the Republic newsroom and reading this list of managers at both newspapers.

Phoenix Newspapers Inc. publishes Arizona’s largest newspapers, The Arizona Republic and The Phoenix Gazette. Pat Murphy is publisher of both papers. The newsrooms are competitive. The Republic is a morning newspaper with a daily circulation of 343, 723 and a Sunday circulation of 539,323.

Alan Moyer is managing editor: Coordinating the papal coverage were Assistant Managing Editors Howard Armstrong, Howard I. Finberg and Robert Franken. Tom Bauer served as special sections editor. The Gazette, an afternoon newspaper, has a daily circulation of 111,253. Lynne Holt is managing editor. Coordinating papal coverage were Assistant Managing Editor / News Administration Mickey Hirten, City Editor Mike McGrevey and Photo Editor Mary Ann Nock. Nock also was special sections editor.

Techno-Evangelism: Thoughts for Newsroom Leaders

Dealing with technology at The Arizona Republic, especially the introduction of new computer systems, led to a number of presentations about what I called “techno-evangelism.” I wanted newspaper managers to pay more attention to technology and its impact upon their staff members and workflow.

Some of my key ideas, from a talk given at the Society of Newspaper Design’s 1993 convention in Dallas, were these five points:

1. Technology is an ecological issue. By itself, technology adds nothing. Its introduction changes everything.

2. A newsroom learns by example. If a newsroom manager isn’t willing to invest time or energy in understanding technology, don’t expect the staff to care.

3. The key issue about technology isn’t hardware or even software. It’s workflow. Understand the how work moves (or how you want it to move) through the newspaper and you’ll understand what technological solutions you’ll need.

4. Techno-evangelism means finding a leader who will take risks, become a teacher, shoulder responsibilities and be willing to go wandering in the “desert.”

5. Looking at history can help prepare you for the future. Understanding when there is a “paradigm” shift is important; knowing when there isn’t is even more important. Going from hot type to cold type is evolutionary; going digital is revolutionary.

I also handed out a technology adoption quiz. Taking the quiz would identify whether you are a techno-phobe, a techno-boomer, a techno-to-go or a techno-wizard.

The slides from the presentation are here.

Training that Changes Your Life: API Seminar

In early 1991 John Oppedahl, The Arizona Republic’s managing editor, nominated me to attend the American Press Institute seminar for Managing Editors [newspapers over 77,000 circulation] in Reston, VA. That seminar did two things: 1. Strengthened some of my leadership skills and confidence and 2. Created some life-long friends.

Like most API [and Poynter] seminars there was lots of “homework” and instructions ranging from accommodations to laundry. From the acceptance letter:

So your nominee may arrive thoroughly prepared, and for your newspaper to derive maximum benefit for the outlay of training dollars, may I respectfully suggest a day be set aside from regular duties so homework assignments can be completed.

Before members return home, I urge them to sift through the many materials collected while at Reston, with a view to conducting a mini-seminar for fellow staffers so the entire department many benefit from their API experience. I hope you’ll consider giving the process a try, assuming you don’t already have it in place.

Of course, I don’t remember getting too much time off from regular duties but it didn’t really matter. It was fun and always best to be prepared.

Mr. Media Interviews Mr. NewsU

Bob Andelman, also known as Mr. Media, does lots of interviews — celebrities from film, TV, books, music, and more. I was one of those “more” interviews. He did a podcast interview as Poynter News University was starting to gain traction. It didn’t hurt that Bob and I knew each other via a connection with Bill Mitchell, who was Poynter Online editor.

Full disclosure: I hired Bob to write two whitepapers about Poynter’s e-learning work. However, he thought what Poynter was doing with NewsU was interesting enough to do the podcast interview. One of my favorite things about Bob’s work was the Dr. Seuss-inspired rhyme, which I recorded for NewsU. [Sadly, I’m not sure I know where that resides]. Here’s the text:

You can do it wearing a hat.
You can do it with your cat.
You can do it at night,
And you can do it when you look a fright.
You can do it when things are slow,
Or when you can’t get the creative juices to flow.
You can do it when mother’s not there,
And you can do it in your underwear.

You can read the full interview on Bob’s Mr. Media site and there’s even an audio of interview.

Sad postscript: Bob died in early 2020. He is missed. A great deal.

Journalism Should Give Voice to the Voiceless

As part of the development of The Poynter Institute’s international strategy, I traveled to Istanbul with colleague and friend Vicki Krueger. We launched Poynter NewsU Turkiye at a news conference. At that event was our partner, the Media Association, and the US Consulate in Istanbul. The Consulate is the funder for the project. After the news conference I was interviewed by the local English-language newspaper, Sunday’s Zaman. Here’s part of what they wrote:

According to Finberg, journalism means “providing voice to the voiceless” and is a way of helping people understand what is going on around them. “Journalists are responsible for protecting the interest of the audience, citizens,” Finberg said when asked whether the journalists have a duty to protect state interests.

Journalists in Turkey have a difficult time, as the country is undergoing political stress and strain that often pits one media organization against another.

The full interview is on the newspaper’s Website , or at least it was. Better to access it as a PDF.

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