NAA Community

Keep in touch with NAA mediaXchange year round.

Kevin McCourt — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:54:00 GMT

NAA mediaXchange: Stay connected year round.
The mediaXchange hub at www.naa.org/mediaXchange has conference presentations**, video and session coverage, mediaXchange exhibitors and sponsors can be found online at The eXchange .

Updated May 4, 2012

Save the date for NAA mediaXchange 2013, April 14 at the Hilton Bonnet Creek, Orlando FL

Kevin McCourt — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:51:00 GMT

Mark Your Calendar!

NAA mediaXchange 2013 will kick off on Sunday, April 14, 2013, at the Hilton Bonnet Creek , Orlando.

Updated April 10, 2012

Full Conference Coverage Online

Kevin McCourt — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:48:00 GMT

Review, share, connect

If you were a part of NAA mediaXchange 2012 last week in Washington DC, we hope you went home with good ideas, new connections and contacts with the exhibitors and sponsors who support the event. Presentations, including video archives of the general sessions, are now posted at www.naa.org/mediaXchange .

Updated April 10, 2012

Engaging customers with new products and experiences

Amanda Knowles — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 19:50:00 GMT

By Varun Saxena

The audience learned Thursday that hackathons are not about hacking.

They are a method of "creating an environment where, in a compressed set of time, people can rapidly innovate without the day-to-day constraints," said Vijay Ravindran, chief digital officer of The Washington Post.

They are also responsible for many of the top innovations at ESPN and The Post, including the NBA Trade Machine and @MentionMachine.

"How we build is equally if not more important" than what is built, Ravindran said.

Another point of emphasis was the importance of continuously monitoring and updating the new products.

David Perpich, vice president of product management at The New York Times, said it's important to learn from previous experiences and make sure the engineering staff doesn't immediately move to new a project when the previous one is completed.

Rob King, senior vice president for ESPN, said the app business is dominated by a few hits. Of more than 30 apps developed by ESPN, three are responsible for 92 percent of the usage.

King said "failing fast" is important so the company doesn't sink too much money into unsuccessful products.

He stressed the importance of functionality and simplicity, saying apps should be designed for features pulled from shrinking newspapers. "I'd create the ultimate obituaries app," he said.

Another important tool is use of metrics, King said.

For example, he learned that 62 percent of mobile usage of espn.com and its apps occurs at home. This surprising insight made him think about the "second screen experience," or viewing two screens simultaneously.

Monetizing the new products is another issue.

ESPN uses the "freemium" model. Initial usage is free, but customers must pay for additional content, such as news available on ESPN Insider.

The New York Times charges for electronic content, regardless of how it is accessed. To charge only for content from certain devices "would defeat the model," Perpich said.

Varun Saxena is a student at the University of Maryland. He is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from NAA mediaXchange 2012 in Washington, D.C.

Video: The sequel

Amanda Knowles — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 19:15:00 GMT

By Varun Saxena

Video is a space worth watching, panelists agreed at this session Thursday.

The Wall Street Journal does 4-1/2 to five hours of live video a day, said Alan Murray, deputy managing editor and executive editor, online.

The iPhone has made video stories easier to produce and less labor intensive, he said.

Murray said it also uncovers top talent, such as reporter Jeremy Page, who produced a live broadcast about the death of North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il.

"They [the audience] get it that this a real reporter on site doing real reporting, and they're getting in on it," Murray said.

The Journal receives 12 million monthly video views, half of which views come from offsite partners such as YouTube, for which it provides premium content.

Best of all, Murray said, ad sales are backlogged.

Jim Bernard, senior vice president for digital at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, said his paper has experienced a strong upsurge in video views and revenue due to a recent strategy revamp that included spending more money on a high-quality online player.

Ads known as prerolls, which appear before the video, are the main method of monetizing video, and metrics show that half of all viewers click away before the ad ends.

Panelists debated the optimal length. Bernard said he favors 30-second prerolls because metrics show that the retention rate is similar for 15-second prerolls.

Autoplay is another lightning rod, but the speakers agreed that allowing videos to play automatically increases viewership, and they are employing the tactic at their papers.

"Video is about singles, not home runs," Bernard said, because 3 percent of videos generate 82 percent of all views.

Popular topics include sports and the weather, he said. But, Murray noted, "you don't always know what ones are going to be the hits."

One of the top videos on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch site was about a two-legged dog, Assistant Managing Editor Bob Rose said.

Placing videos within the context of a print story increases viewership, he said.

The optimal length of an online video is "totally in flux," Murray said. Three minutes used to be considered long, but that's changing, he said, as he held up his iPad. Metrics show that people watch longer video on iPads.

The editors agreed that the trend is toward less editorial control of video due to live streams and the proliferation of outside content.

"We're already in the self-publishing world," Murray said. The Journal is considering launching a blog onto which reporters can post video directly, he said.

"The mere act of publishing makes it viewable," he said. With the advent of Internet-enabled liquid crystal displays, he said, expect the trend to accelerate.

Varun Saxena is a student at the University of Maryland. He is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from NAA mediaXchange 2012 in Washington, D.C.

Digital Shopping: New products to reach shoppers

Amanda Knowles — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 18:22:00 GMT

By Drew Grossman

Mighty Amazon.com may reach a national audience, but speakers at Thursday's conference promoted applications for reaching local shoppers.

Representatives from Find n Save, iCircular and DealChicken shared experiences and best strategy for reaching a local digital audience.

It is critical to partner with a strong brand, said Chris Tippie, acting CEO of Find n Save because strong brand partnership results in instant traffic from online search engines. This is essential for a company like Find n Save, which receives about one-third of its traffic from search engines.

Once users are on your site, Tippie said, you need lots of content, meaning lots of deals. Content must be local, fresh and unique.

Christian A. Hendricks, vice president of interactive media for The McClatchy Co., an affiliate of Find n Save, promotes the digital shopping service across McClatchy newspapers, the most aggressive of which is The Sacramento Bee.

According to Hendricks, the Bee's classifieds section has been converted to the Find n Save service. The newspaper has converted all of its classifieds ads onto its local Find n Save website.

Paul Farrell, vice president of sales & marketing for Lee Enterprises, spoke about The Associated Press' iCircular local shopping application, which includes weekly deals, search tools, shopping lists, maps and hooks to social media. But Farrell said the most important thing is to "promote, promote, promote."

Farrell noted that in digital shopping, mobile has tremendous potential. "You learn so much in this day in age by learning by doing," he said.

DealChicken, Gannett Co.'s digital shopper, is taking a slightly different approach to local shopping.

DealChicken is more about discovering local experiences and less about finding money-saving deals, said Rajan Mohan, Gannett's vice president and general manager of social commerce.

Mojan said it is important to offer unique and relevant deals to consumers and to advertise using successful past deals. DealChicken uses testimonials to advertise its shopping application.

Drew Grossman is a student at the University of Maryland. He is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from NAA mediaXchange 2012 in Washington, D.C.

Rothenberg: "If we build it, they will come"

Amanda Knowles — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 16:17:00 GMT

By Madeline Marshall

Publishers have incredible opportunities for creative and interactive advertising online to help their customers' brands, Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, said in his keynote speech Thursday.

Building the brand makes publishers valuable, he said, and can't be built just through display advertising like banner ads.

Consumers spend most of their time with television media, and Internet media is a close second. Yet money spent on Internet advertising is one-third that being spent on television.

Online advertising remains focused on banners and ads similar to direct mailings or "junk mail" that consumers just "see" but do not really "view," like television ads, he said.

"If we build it, they will come," Rothenberg said. Online advertising has a tremendous opportunity to engage with consumers and become valuable.

"Use the full palette of the medium to engage the hearts and minds of consumers," he said. "Interactive advertising needs a creative revolution."

Rothenberg stressed that no one decreed that ads must be just still banners and that they can utilize video, engagement, social media and real-time updates in the same space.

Users spend twice as much time on interactive ads like IAB's Rising Star units, which use interactive formats. Using that model, the price of ads could increase when they leave the overinflated banner ad medium.

Madeline Marshall is a student at the University of Maryland. She is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from NAA mediaXchange 2012 in Washington, D.C.

Romney addresses NAA/ASNE luncheon

Amanda Knowles — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:47:00 GMT

By Sarah Hogue

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, speaking in the same room a day after President Barack Obama, criticized Obama and his remarks, and emphasized what he would bring to the Oval Office.

After winning primaries in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Wisconsin on Tuesday, Romney celebrated the victories and responded to Obama's Tuesday address at The Associated Press Luncheon.

>> Watch archived video of Gov. Romney's speech

Romney charged that Obama doesn't say what he means and that all candidates must be candid and honest.

"What the public doesn't know won't hurt him," said Romney, referring to his perception of Obama's campaign strategy of hiding his actual views from voters.

Romney criticized Obama's views on Medicare, his economic stimulus package, the size of the national debt and the president's support of now bankrupt "green" companies such as Solyndra. Romney said the debt under Obama is almost equivalent to that accrued by all presidents before him combined.

Romney discussed his business successes and talked about his home life, assuring the audience that these make him a viable candidate for the presidency.

In the question-and-answer period after the address, which was moderated by outgoing ASNE President Ken Paulson, Romney was asked whether he would support a bill proposed by Sen. John McCain, D-Ariz., when McCain was a presidential candidate. The measure would have allowed journalists to maintain confidentiality of their sources. Romney said he had never heard of the bill and would not respond until he heard pros and cons from both sides.

About 725 people attended the luncheon set for 1,100. Each ticket purchased for the two conferences, which have run concurrently in presidential election years, included tickets to both luncheons.

>> RELATED CONTENT: Obama addresses Associated Press Annual Luncheon

Sarah Hogue is a student at the University of Maryland. She is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from ASNE 2012 in Washington, D.C.

Romney addresses NAA/ASNE luncheon

Amanda Knowles — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:43:00 GMT

By Sarah Hogue

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, speaking in the same room a day after President Barack Obama, criticized Obama and his remarks, and emphasized what he would bring to the Oval Office.

After winning primaries in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Wisconsin on Tuesday, Romney celebrated the victories and responded to Obama's Tuesday address at The Associated Press Luncheon.

>> Watch archived video of Gov. Romney's speech

Romney charged that Obama doesn't say what he means and that all candidates must be candid and honest.

"What the public doesn't know won't hurt him," said Romney, referring to his perception of Obama's campaign strategy of hiding his actual views from voters.

Romney discussed his business successes and talked about his home life, assuring the audience that these make him a viable candidate for the presidency.

About 725 people attended the luncheon set for 1,100. Each ticket purchased for the two conferences, which have run concurrently in presidential election years, included tickets to both luncheons.

Sarah Hogue is a student at the University of Maryland. She is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from NAA mediaXchange 2012 in Washington, D.C.

Advertiser Panel: Perspectives from customers

Amanda Knowles — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 13:50:00 GMT

By Tom McParland

Four advertisers urged newspapers to market more creatively and transition into charging for online content as the audience for news continues to change.

Panelists at this session Wednesday said newspapers should be more open to moving toward a paid content system, a heavily debate approach that would charge users a fee before accessing content online.

"I have not understood why the industry continues to give away its biggest commodity for free," said Chris Sutton, media director of hhgregg.

As newspaper circulation declines, news organizations and advertisers have struggled to find an effective way of reaching an increasingly fragmented audience. Advertisers, panelists said, are moving away from digital strategies that have proven to be financially shaky.

"I need to be shown it's going to generate dollars out of the cash register, not just views and click-throughs," Sutton said.

"Be creative and then come to us as ad and say we have this unique idea," he said.

Advertising dollars, previously reserved for print audiences, are being shifted to various areas, requiring a broader perspective of advertising, panelists said.

"Don't just look at print," said Stephanie Stanton, vice president of media operations at Vertis Communications. "Look at it more collectively."

But with no clear economic model in sight, panelists pushed for stronger collaboration in news producer-advertiser partnerships.

"It's about a willingness to listen," said Richard Branch, director of media at The Sports Authority.

"A partnership is about both sides winning," he said.

But, noting that many consumers are willing to pay online, panelists said perhaps the best immediate solution is charging online users to view content.

"You will have more users coming to your site who want information for a reason," Sutton said to a round of applause.

Tom McParland is a student at the University of Maryland. He is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from NAA mediaXchange 2012 in Washington, D.C.

Social media to grow audience

Amanda Knowles — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 13:15:00 GMT

By Kara Rose

In a world where Twitter and other social media dominate how consumers get their headlines, news organizations are scrambling to harness those tools as ways to drive traffic to their websites.

Brandon Thomas, director of product management for The Washington Post, discussed the Post's success with the Facebook social reader in terms of material and advertising. While it is a Facebook application, Thomas says his team, "with very few limitations," controls the majority of the content.

"Anything you can do on your website, we can do in this space," Thomas said, adding that 76 percent of the reader's users are under age 35. While the audience was heavily male when it first went on the market in September, "the audience continues to change and evolve," as more than 21 million users have opted in.

Though it is a new space for his team and users, Thomas said he has learned how to move quickly and prepare for success.

"[There are] people dedicated to this project all of the time just to maintain it and keep up with it," Thomas said. "We can't think about features that take three months to build . . . we have to be doing things in day-long, quick spurts."

Silas Lyons, editor and vice president of new media content for Records Searchlight in Redding, Calif., spoke about game dynamics on newspaper.com - which he called "gamification" - that includes recognition, reward and social interaction for users.

This, he said, is achieved through statuses, levels, badges and challenges to engage users. Through the model's implementation, redding.com saw a comment volume increase of 25 percent almost immediately.

"It gives the user some tangible thing they have achieved," Lyons said, adding, "it's good for that advertisers, good for the users, good for their friends and good for us."

Also on the panel was Lila King, participation director for CNN, who spoke about CNN's iReport, which was created in 2006 and has just passed 1 million members. It has created a forum for the collaboration of community journalism with CNN reporting.

King said iReport comprises 10 people at CNN headquarters in Atlanta who help aggregate what material to keep. She said there is now a stronger "desire and willingness to participate . . .than there ever have been before."

"We live in this world where nothing that is worth remembering goes undocumented," King said, adding it is not that "we couldn't" report without the audience, it's that "we shouldn't."

Kara Rose is a student at the University of Maryland. She is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from NAA mediaXchange 2012 in Washington, D.C.

Digital First: What it really means

Amanda Knowles — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 12:22:00 GMT

By Kara Rose

It is no surprise that news content is becoming more digitalized each day, and media outlets are finding new ways to stack digital dimes.

Adam Burnham, senior vice president for local digital sales of Digital First Media, said the first step is to "be prepared for the realities we face."

Burnham said Digital First is a "local company with a national scale," with more than 10,000 employees, a sales force of more than 1,000, 1.3 million followers on Twitter and more than 600,000 Facebook fans as of January.

This, he said, was achieved through finding social media platforms that invigorate the sales force and drive results because his company follows an audience-based selling principle.

"You should sell things that advertisers want," Burnham said. "They might not like what they're buying, but . . . if there is an audience, the advertisers will buy it."

"We don't talk brands, we talk audience," he added later.

Each panelist said news organizations must start putting "digital first" to survive in the climate of today's journalism.

Derek May, executive vice president newspapers for Morris Communications, said this concept has been a driving force for his company's sales model.

"[It's been a] battle cry for us in the last year as we tried to turn our company around," he said. "If you have a growing audience, you have more to sell. If your audience is shrinking, you're in trouble."

Similarly, M. Scott Havens, vice president for digital strategy & operations of Atlantic Media Group, said 30 percent of traffic he sees is through social platforms.

"For us, a differentiator - and one of the successful things we've done - is clamped down on costs, be more efficient, ask people to do more, force them to take on more responsibilities and . . . refuse to accept the status quo," Havens said.

The biggest roadblocks he has, though, are individuals resistant to change.

"We will continue to shed them if they can't make the leap," Havens said. "If they can't keep moving forward, they probably won't be around too long."

Kara Rose is a student at the University of Maryland. She is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from NAA mediaXchange 2012 in Washington, D.C.

Partnering with journalism schools

Amanda Knowles — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 22:03:00 GMT

By Varun Saxena

Communication and clarity of mission are the keys to a successful partnership, according to leaders of journalism schools and newspapers who spoke in a panel discussion Wednesday.

Northwestern University's students in the Medill News Service Washington program pitch a story to a media partner that falls within a prespecified beat, said Ellen Shearer, its director and bureau chief.

Beats have included national security and immigration. Partners range from McClatchy Newspapers to MarketWatch.

"Both sides need to understand each other's goals," Shearer said. "If you go in with different outcomes in mind, it can get tricky."

Martin Kaiser, editor and senior vice president of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, agreed, saying, "You just cannot emphasize enough how you need to overcommunicate."

Students at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication help the paper cover the Milwaukee Brewers during spring training by writing a blog called Peanuts and Cracker Jack.

It "gets kinds of things that we just wouldn't get otherwise from our own staff," Kaiser said.

The features include what players do while on the bus or their most embarrassing baseball moments, Kaiser said.

The students cover things that the regular fulltime staff doesn't have time to cover.

The students' youth is another advantage because it enables them to connect with players they cover, Kaiser said.

Sometimes they scoop the professionals.

They were the first to get the reaction of the girlfriend of left fielder Ryan Braun after his recent suspension for steroid use was dropped, Kaiser said.

Moderator Christopher Callahan, dean of the Cronkite school, said it is important that the partnerships be led by a faculty member who feels responsible for the quality of the content produced.

"Journalism schools do more than news," Shearer said.

Arizona State and Northwestern run experimental media laboratories that create apps and news products, some of which have been commercialized, providing another avenue for partnership with journalism schools.

Varun Saxena is a student at the University of Maryland. He is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from ASNE 2012 in Washington, D.C.

Mobile product development

Amanda Knowles — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 22:02:00 GMT

By Varun Saxena

From video games to medical exams, newspapers are experimenting in areas loosely related to their traditional function due to the advent of mobile technology.

The Oklahoman in Oklahoma City created Pancake Frenzy, a downloadable video game for smart phones, as part of a marketing campaign for De Wafelbakkers, a food manufacturer.

The newspaper's profit margin on the product was 50 percent to 60 percent, said Chief Information Officer Dan Barth.

The technology also benefits readers.

QR codes are displayed on The Oklahoman's print edition. When scanned, related multimedia content is displayed on a reader's mobile device.

The Dallas Morning News' most successful app is SportsDayHS, a smart phone app that displays high school sports standings and real-time updates of high school football games.

Originally, the app was designed to provide locations of the area's high schools, but further researcher determined that real-time updates were in demand.

"It's an evolving process," said Amin Pirani, the paper's digital project manager.

DMNmedia, the affiliated company, launched My Mobile CE, an app that helps health care practitioners participate in hospitals' continuing education programs.

Once the test is passed over a smart phone, tablet, the Internet or a combination of all three for those who can't take the entire test at one time, the results can be shared with others over social networking sites, said General Manager Michael Mayer.

The Boston Globe has launched a variety of mobile apps, including Boston Deals and Best of the New to keep customers informed of best prices and latest business openings, said Domenic Vecchiarelli, senior product manager of boston.com, the Globe's website.

The Morning News and The Globe work on apps with third-party developers, while The Oklahoman has one developer. DMNmedia has a goal of developing 100 apps annually.

All three companies reported that their mobile initiatives are paying off. For example, boston.com, has recorded almost 25 million total views, with the vast majority after 2009.

Varun Saxena is a student at the University of Maryland. He is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from NAA mediaXchange 2012 in Washington, D.C.

Small newsrooms, big journalism

Amanda Knowles — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 21:35:00 GMT

By Kara Rose

As the size of newsrooms dwindles, many news organizations have struggled to carry out their duties with meager staffs and limited resources.

Four top editors who have successfully used their smaller newsrooms to full potential addressed discussed how to do world-class reporting despite disadvantages in a 24-hour news cycle.

David Newhouse, editor of The Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa., said he looks at his newsroom as "a big dog in a small dog's body." The Patriot-News covers five counties, the state capital and Penn State University with only 19 full-fledged reporters and broke the news about the sexual assault case against former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky.

The key, Newhouse says, was enterprise journalism.

"We live, we think, we talk - literally, we breathe - enterprise every day," Newhouse said. Developing enterprise stories and finding original sources, he said, "makes best use of the staff cuts we are all facing."

Also on the panel were A.M. Sheehan, editor of the weekly Advertiser Democrat in Norway, Maine, and Mike Connelly, executive editor of the Herald-Tribune in Sarasota, Fla., who said his success started with building a "climate" in the newsroom, beginning with a "no distractions policy."

Connelly and Newhouse said being a "cheerleader" is one of the most important ways to set the proper newsroom climate. Another, Connelly said, is challenging your team, rewarding its victories and developing successors.

"You have to believe in your newsroom," Connelly said, adding that delegating downward inspires potential successors by "building their confidence and giving them room to grow."

Sheehan, who has a staff of two full-time reporters, said that although her readership is interested in "yesterday's news," her publication was still able to uncover a low-income housing scandal.

She stressed the importance of always knowing why her organization is reporting on a story in the first place, noting that time management, efficient writing and community cooperation made that possible.

The relationship fortified between the community and the publication is something Sheehan and other panelists found vital to their survival.

Manny Garcia, executive editor and general manager of El Nuevo Herald in Miami said going into the community builds readership and tips off reporters about underreported topics there.

He compared his newsroom model to that of a Ferrari - "a hot car built from the ground up." He said he seeks help from his staff to improve the publication's brand.

The panelists each ultimately emphasized high-impact journalism for their respective communities. These stories, Newhouse said, inspire enacted change.

"When you made an impact," he said, "... it has a ripple effect in the community."

Kara Rose is a student at the University of Maryland. She is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from ASNE 2012 in Washington, D.C.

What should your newsroom be doing right now?

Amanda Knowles — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 19:19:00 GMT

By Tom McParland

A panel of news editors and researchers discussed new strategies Wednesday for adapting to a future of constant innovation, including partnering with students and better utilizing emerging platforms and video.

In ASNE's "What Should Your Newsroom Be Doing Now?" session, panelists described how they "experiment openly" with new media, which can often cause problems for journalists and editors.

"Every single generation has grown up with a new form of media," said moderator Eric Newton of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. "There aren't unequivocal answers, and nothing is absolutely right."

Video has become a useful tool for news outlets, which have been successful in providing live election video feeds and featuring in-depth "explainer videos" on complicated issues such as fracking and redistricting.

"These are things that, if done well, will be of value for a long time," said Joshua Benton, director of the Nieman Journalism Lab.

But, while video is in high demand among advertisers, news organizations still face revenue problems as they experiment with different uses.

"Video scares me," said John Geddes, managing editor for operations at The New York Times. "It's also an opportunity to lose a lot of money."

New platforms, such as tablets, allow journalists to push boundaries and reach broader audiences, panelists said.

"Tablets are a great opportunity to stop thinking about newspapers as one omnibus product," Benton said.

But the tablet still has some growing up to do before reaching its full potential, said Nancy Barnes, editor of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis.

"We are still trying to figure out how to make the tablet a transformative platform because it's not right now," she said, adding that a solution may come in adapting the burgeoning platform to niche markets.

In an effort to expand their influence, many outlets are rethinking strategies on the social media sites Facebook and Twitter to direct traffic to back to their own Web pages.

"We want the best engagement to take place at our site," Geddes said.

But with social media still in its infancy, news editors and executives are still struggling to profit.

"We don't know enough yet,'" Geddes said. "We don't know what we want to do, and we don't know how to monetize it."

As the media tries to expand its reach and adapt to the future, it could find an ally in students, a group with which Karen Peterson, editor of The News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash., has partnered to augment election year coverage.

Students, she said, allow organizations to expand coverage and to better tap into concerns of young people.

"In some ways, it comes down to treating these students somewhere between citizen journalists and a few steps down from professional journalists," Benton said.

Despite challenges posed by ever-changing technology in the industry, panelists agreed that he opportunity is worth seizing.

"Every year's going to be challenging, and it should be," Geddes said. "We could curse the times we are in, or we can revel in it."

Tom McParland is a student at the University of Maryland. He is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from ASNE 2012 in Washington, D.C.

2012 U.S. Olympians and Coaches: On winning!

Amanda Knowles — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:41:00 GMT

By Sarah Hogue

Being an Olympic Games athlete involves concentration, support from family and friends and a hunger for success, two Olympics athletes and one of their coaches told the Wednesday opening session at the ASNE conference.

Dominique Dawes, a gymnastics gold medalist in the 1996 Games, and Alex Meyer, who is to compete in open-water swimming at the London Olympics this summer, joined Tim Murphy, the Meyer's coach in a panel discussion.

Meyer and Murphy discussed the dangers and difficulties of open-water swimming, especially since it debuted only four years ago in Beijing. Meyer said that every time he gets in the water, he must adapt to differing course layouts, water conditions and swimmers around him.

Unforeseeable conditions, such as the death of teammate Fran Crippen during a competition in United Arab Emirates in 2010, also produce stress during the training of Olympians. A panel investigating the death criticized safety standards at that race.

"The last thing I wanted to do was get in a pool," Meyer said in reaction to the death of his friend.

Dawes said exercise and fitness are a catharsis in times of stress and encouraged others to "press start on a treadmill" rather than "popping a pill" when they feel depressed.

Murphy, the head coach of Harvard University's men's swimming and diving program, said he had to balance his encouragement of Meyer at Harvard. He said he had to push Meyer physically while making sure to support his efforts in the classroom.

Meyer said he finds training to be easier after graduation but thinks that he has less motivation when he doesn't have a full schedule of practice and schoolwork.

Dawes and Meyer agreed that a hunger for winning kept them eager to practice and compete, and gave them an advantage in their events.

Sarah Hogue is a student at the University of Maryland. She is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from ASNE 2012 in Washington, D.C.

Obama addresses Associated Press Annual Luncheon

Amanda Knowles — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 11:18:00 GMT

By Robert Baird

When Barack Obama first addressed the annual Associated Press Luncheon in 2004, he had described himself as a "skinny kid with a funny name" and was an Illinois state senator.

Eight years later, with a much larger security detail, the 44th president spoke at the luncheon for the third time, using the platform to savage the Republican budget plan presented by Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.).

In a campaign-style address, Obama told an audience of more than 1,000, "This congressional Republican budget . . . is a Trojan horse. Disguised as deficit reduction plans, it is really an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country."

"It is thinly veiled social Darwinism. . . . a prescription for decline." 

>> Watch archived video of President Obama's speech

Outgoing AP Chairman William Dean Singleton gave Obama a warm introduction, praising him for pushing through the recovery of the auto industry and the "most comprehensive health care legislation in history." And Obama hammered home a health care message.

"Working families who are scraping by will have to do more because the richest Americans are doing less," he said. ". . . That is not class warfare, that is not class envy, that is math."

In a lighter moment, Obama drew hearty applause when he mocked Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney, who has said he would introduce a similar version of the Ryan budget if elected.

"He even called it ‘marvelous,' which is a word you don't often hear when it comes to describing a budget. It's a word you don't often hear generally," he said to laughter.

The President may not have the last laugh, though. Romney is scheduled to speak Wednesday at the convention.

Robert Baird is a student at the University of Maryland. He is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from NAA mediaXchange 2012 in Washington, D.C.

Innovative newsroom leadership

Amanda Knowles — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 23:54:00 GMT

By Robert Baird

Leaders of some of America's oldest and newest publications discussed the future on Tuesday.

The all-female panel moderated by "Washington Week" and "PBS NewsHour" anchor Gwen Ifill talked about digital content and challenges and opportunities of new media.

Arianna Huffington, founder and president of the seven-year-old Huffington Post website, said the media need to produce "more autopsies and less biopsies" of the stories of our time, such as the buildup to the war in Iraq and the economic recession.

"If mainstream media were ADD, the best journalism on the web is OCD," she said, because they "obsess" over stories.

 Jill Abramson, appointed in November as the first female executive editor of The New York Times, defended the paper, which has undergone recent staff reductions.

Abramson said that the passion for journalism hasn't changed but that "all the news that's fit to print" doesn't just mean with paper and ink.

"Five years ago, we were husbanding really great stories for the front page, [but] we hardly ever do that now. . . we publish them when they are ready," she said.

With the discussion firmly focused on new technology, the audience gasped and even laughed when Kathleen Carroll, executive editor of The Associated Press, admitted that she does not use Twitter.

Discussing tech-savvy journalists and journalism-savvy tech experts, Carroll noted that many in the industry had been surprised that it took so long for talent to develop with strengths in both areas. She said that everybody had journalists who had developed tech skills and technical folks who had developed journalism skills, but most had expected students or young people with equal strengths to emerge at least a decade ago -- and that has been slower than expected.

According to its website, the 166-year-old news service has more than 3,700 people in more than 300 locations worldwide. Despite the challenges, AP is changing the way it presents news from text-only to a dynamic multiplatform media outlet.

"For us, the presumption that [every story] is a print or a text story" is gone, Carroll said.

The discussion was cordial, yet the competition among their publications for talent is fierce. Chrystia Freeland, editor of Thomson Reuters Digital, said the battle is on among news outlets for talented writers, digital producers and online technical specialists.

Which is why Abramson said she is "rapacious about stealing" that talent, trying to lure it with a reinvented Times website and apps that are "the envy of the profession."

Robert Baird is a student at the University of Maryland. He is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from ASNE 2012 in Washington, D.C.

Watergate 4.0

Amanda Knowles — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 23:52:00 GMT

By Brooke Auxier and Dave Nyczepir

Watergate was a defining moment in American history and produced a fundamental piece of reporting regarded highly in the journalism industry.

June 17 will mark the 40th anniversary of the break-in and burglary at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington.

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, young Washington Post Metro reporters, were able to link knowledge of the incident and a subsequent coverup to the White House and President Richard M. Nixon, largely using anonymous sources.

Their discoveries led to congressional hearings and ultimately Nixon's resignation in August 1974, making him the only U.S. president to do so.

"This was an assault on democracy by the president of the United States," Bernstein told panelists at the "Watergate 4.0: How Would the Story Unfold in the Digital Age?" session Tuesday afternoon. The group agreed that Watergate changed the journalism and newspaper industry.

"Watergate was like the big bang. It changed everything," said Jeff Leen, the Post's assistant managing editor of the investigative unit.

Leen, who came to the Post in 1997, said Watergate established a culture of investigative journalism that involves following money trails, obtaining paper records and connecting with human sources.

Woodward simply recalled it as "in-depth, persistent reporting."

"Find something to follow," he said. "Find something that will give you a hook for the story."

The reporters said they were able to unearth the story because they felt encouraged and supported in their pursuit.

"We were fortunate and lucky enough to work for a newspaper where the bottom line was the truth," Bernstein said.

Woodward and Bernstein operated in an era without the Internet, computers or cable television. But in today's digital era of tweeting and blogging, investigative journalism and news in general take a different shape.

"Operating on the Web frees you," said Josh Marshall, publisher of Talking Points Memo. "Today you can take one fact and, as long as you know it's accurate, you can go right to press with that. We are not bound to that cycle."

Marshall was 3 years old at the time of the Watergate break-in.

"My generation of reporters, you can call us the sons and daughters of Watergate," he said.

Brooke Auxier and Dave Nyczepir are students at the University of Maryland. They are among several local university journalism students reporting live from ASNE 2012 in Washington, D.C.

Stepping Up: Skills editors need today

Amanda Knowles — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 22:32:00 GMT

By Varun Saxena

Social media and interpersonal skills, and business savvy are critical, speakers said at this discussion Tuesday morning.

"Being on social media is now a bigger part of my job," said Aminda "Mindy" Marques Gonzalez, executive editor of The Miami Herald. She said she regularly uses a TweetDeck to monitor readers' reactions on social media.

Mi-Ai Parrish, publisher of The Kansas City Star, said she successfully launched a new product recently from the ground up in six weeks. She stressed the need to innovate quickly and take an experimental approach that includes accepting failure.

Parrish's approach is in contrast to the old tendency of news organization to "ready, aim, aim, aim, aim and never fire," said Michael Smith, executive director of Northwestern University's Media Management Center.

"Having business literacy is really important to editors, whereas it wasn't a couple of years ago," Parish said, because the old business model has "collapsed beneath our feet."

The change has led to budget cuts and fear among newspaper employees, which makes strong interpersonal skills even more important.

Smith expressed concern that editors are so busy "they don't have the time to model the behavior that they want others to follow."

Gonzalez and Parrish said they like to give their employees small rewards for a job well done in order to boost moral. Examples include free massages and Popsicles on a hot day.

In the digital age, editors are asked to do a greater variety of tasks and must understand various aspects of the newspaper business. Smith listed six competencies of the modern editor - platform strategizing, marketing, community building, data mining, storytelling and entrepreneurship.

The most important message of the panel discussion was to embrace change.

"In some ways, it's the best thing that ever happened to us," Gonzalez said, referring to digital action with leaders.

Varun Saxena is a student at the University of Maryland. He is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from ASNE 2012 in Washington, D.C.

Paid Content Strategies: Are they working?

Amanda Knowles — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 22:26:00 GMT

By Varun Saxena

Paid content strategies are "sure as hell better," Chris Peck, editor of the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, told the audience at this session Tuesday afternoon.

Before moving toward paid Internet content, revenue at the paper had fallen by 50 percent, and the website received "a lot of eyeballs but not enough revenue," he said.

Now, the paper charges $9.99 a month for smartphone and tablet computer apps, and content has contributed $400,000 in new revenue in its first four months.

Tasaka Digital consultant Guy Tasaka helped to design the Commercial Appeal's strategy. He said it was focused on retaining paid print subscribers by bundling digital content with the print subscription.

Tasaka and Peck said they expect the trend toward more paid electronic content to continue. Peck cited a study which found that 26 percent of American households have a tablet.

"The budget isn't the enemy. Time is," Tasaka said.

Robert Gursha, vice president of marketing for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, also reported that charging for digital content is a winning strategy.

The keys are to have a strong brand name, relevant and differentiated content, and a sound pricing strategy, he said.

The Star Tribune uses a "step up" price strategy, meaning the cost of digital content rises after the trial period, he said.

The newspaper has increased the price of home delivery by 10 percent and included access to electronic content. Sunday-only print subscribers pay extra for digital content.

The Star Tribune has 132,000 digital accounts and has experienced 24 consecutive months of circulation growth, Gursha said.

In the past advertising, accounted for 75 percent of Star Tribune revenues, with subscriptions accounting for the remainder, but Gursha said subscriptions will contribute half of future revenue.

The Boston Globe started charging for content in September 2011 and owns boston.com. This approach allows the company to reach casual readers and charge serious ones, said Peter Doucette, the newspaper's director of circulation, sales and marketing.

Lisa DeSisto, Boston.com's chief advertising officer, said it's a challenge to promote the Globe's content on the site without undermining its fee-for-service model.

Varun Saxena is a student at the University of Maryland. He is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from NAA mediaXchange 2012 in Washington, D.C.

iPads, tablets, bundled subscriptions

Amanda Knowles — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 21:56:00 GMT

By Dave Nyczepir

A panel of publishers shared their digital subscription plan success stories at this session Tuesday afternoon.

Moderator Rem Rieder, editor of American Journalism Review, noted the dynamic shift in publications charging for access in recent years.

"For many years, if you were charging for content on the Internet, it was probably in the pornography business," he said.

James M. Moroney III, publisher and CEO of The Dallas Morning News, contended that smaller publications like his have a differentiated and relevant product to sell - local news and information.

But the decrease in print revenue jeopardizes the size of newsrooms, which is critical to in-depth local reporting and warrants the switch to a paid model, he said.

"I hope that some of you will take this to heart," Moroney said. "I think that if we lose the scale of our newsrooms, not only is our democracy going to be in peril, but I also believe that it's the quickest way you're going to lose your profitability and your business."

The New York Times toyed with the idea of digital subscriptions for a while but ramped up its research into the area when the recession hit, said Paul Smurl, vice president for paid products at NYTimes.com.

"We kept getting this fairly consistent percentage of readers who said they were willing to pay something, and it surprised us," he said. "But that gave us the courage to go forward and say, 'You know, we've got an asset here.' "

The Times employed a metered approach, requiring serious readers to purchase a digital subscription after 10 monthly page views.

Walter E. Hussman Jr., CEO of WEHCO Media Inc., and publisher of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, explained how his paper pioneered digital subscriptions in 2001 and found price elasticity as the cost increased.

Such increases could one day enable the Gazette to fund investigative reporting, he said.

The panel predicted that tablets would be a game-changer, with Smurl saying one-in-five people would own a tablet this year.

The three dismissed the notion that most readers would object to pay walls as undemocratic, saying that the sentiment was generational and that older readers are accustomed to paying for content.

"In 1980, no one could read The Dallas Morning News unless they bought it or they had someone give them their copy," Moroney said. "So what's undemocratic about what we're doing today?"

Dave Nyczepir is a student at the University of Maryland. She is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from NAA mediaXchange 2012.