ABCtech #108 11Feb18 Communications – How journalism has changed

ABCtech #108 11Feb18 Communications – How journalism has changed

By Sharon MacLean

The ground continues to rock journalism. Still, I’m excited about what’s happening in Europe.

We’ve all heard how magazines and community newspapers started shutting down in 2010…that an estimated 271,800 jobs in journalism were lost in the US between 1990 and 2016, as reported by the US Labor Department. These draconian numbers are familiar by comparison to the 12,000 journalist and media workers still left working in Canada today.

Broadcasters have not escaped the disruption. Well, unless you’re the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation sustained by government. Don’t get me wrong: I’m a fan of CBC radio; it’s awesome. No, it’s the impact on media giants like Shaw Cable which recently delivered pink slips to over 6,500 employees so they can restructure.

What about ad blocking in 2018? New platforms are being released all the time, so you needn’t see those pesky promotions that repeatedly appear because you once searched for a smartphone.

I got lucky. My own monthly hybrid of a magazine/newspaper found a buyer in 2010 but it shut down five years later.

Apparently, the commotion with journalism has happened before says award-winning journalist Madeline Drohan. First, in the 1800s, when new technology opened the printing press – once the preserve of the wealthy – to an “explosion of new voices”. (Read social media over a century later, anyone?) A second disruption followed in the 1890s when publishers figured out how to corner department store revenue. Advertising has bankrolled space to deliver the news ever since.

So, enough tears. Let’s get on with it.

The Minister of Canadian Heritage Mélanie Joly apparently wants to start fixing journalism media at the local level and through the CBC. She’s focused on creative industry storytelling that can appeal to global markets.

Yawn.

Edward Greenspon of Canada’s Public Policy Forum added that business models have not emerged to “enable existing news organizations and, notably, digital start-ups, to produce sufficient revenue to finance journalism.”

Last year, the Forum released the report titled The Shattered Mirror. Commissioned by Heritage Canada, the report describes how we need to make “educated decisions about our governments and to keep the powerful accountable.” Traditionally, we’ve counted on trained investigative journalists to stay on task of monitoring those tempted by the absolute corruption of power. Today, we’re also dealing with fake news.

The minister’s background documents also talk about changing eligibility criteria for the Canada Periodical Fund of $75.5 million. The Fund considers original editorial content expenses, including print and digital content. The Shattered Mirror – which recommended the same – brought together 30 publishers in June to discuss the Fund and proposed renaming it to the Canadian Journalism Fund.         

Whatever they call it, let’s leave behind hackneyed thinking. Take that annual $75.5 million and shut down approaches to dated methods of publishing. Today.

Get Creative with the Annual Canada Periodical Fund

Look to Europe and see how Google has been investing in new ideas for digital journalism. Google’s been supporting the development of new business models overseas since 2015; over $165C million of $261C million already pledged and showing results.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t love Google. There’s much to be excited about the Digital News Initiative. Granted, Google used the Fund to grease the squeaky European wheel – yet, what’s happening is useful to publishers everywhere. There’s been 94 projects awarded this year of 450 since they started from which to learn about new ways to prosperity.

Take the Canada Periodical Fund of $75.5 million and shut down approaches to dated methods of publishing. Today.

In their medium and large categories, Google asked applicants to focus on monetization. They saw projects on how machine learning can improve content delivery and transform more readers into subscribers.

European publishers, by the way, are not the only visionaries talking about machine learning and artificial intelligence. JT Ipolitto cautions those who want to outperform the competition: “Now may be the time to investigate how AI capabilities can deliver advantages to your organization. Progressive marketing leaders are taking a crawl, walk, run approach.”

In Canada, the Alberta Council of Technologies established its priorities on Artificial Intelligence for clean technology, agriculture, health, and the future of work. We also recently heard from DeepMind on the topic of machine learning for marketing at the Data Management and Intelligence Conference.

Having said all the above, we need to give a shout out to the New York Times where advances have been consistently forward thinking for a couple years now.

For example, as BuzzSumo reports, the iconic newspaper combines a “journalistic approach and high reputation and authority with a particular tribe” to achieve their “sweet spot” that can be adopted by many content publishers, not just overt news sites.

Taking a stand still is integral for news organizations. Those media outlets that are willing to speak truth to power rather than cave to advertisers’ demands could buck the trend that’s showing up in 2018 around the decline of shares.

AI for Journalism Media

Designed to foster collaboration between publishers and Google, the DNI has three main areas of focus: product development, research, and training. More than 200 news publishers have joined, and Google says more than 1000 newsrooms across Europe expressed interest in their program.

In their most recent round, Google saw AI, bots, and machine learning trend in the intelligence category. Think how chatbots and new tools can help readers and publishers debunk online misinformation and propaganda.

Here’s only nine ideas from the 94 projects awarded in round 4. Of course, not all these projects or products will succeed. Yet, their collective movement is charging forward to lift the entire news industry.

Local News Engine (LNE) – United Kingdom. Open-sourced code on GitHub reveals how algorithms gather public data to help journalists uncover stories more efficiently. LNE scans public information published to help journalists search for companies, newsworthy people, and hot button keywords to discover leads to chase.

Børsen – Denmark. This one might outrage traditional journalists: a robot to quickly write accurate business news stories with a human touch. The bots get smarter with every article with input from reporters and editors. They also embrace predictive analytics to help human reporters produce better stories.

The Bureau Local – Great Britain. A network of 450 (so far) key local journalists – from traditional media outlets to bloggers – provide vital data sets, stats, and graphic designers to tell investigative stories that might also resonate nationally.

It’s journalistic collaboration over competition supported by technology. The Bureau Local is driven to “hold power to account at a local level”.

Their profile reveals how thousands of vulnerable women across the country were being turned away from domestic violence refuges due to funding cuts. The findings prompted Members of Parliament to call for a change in the law.

Factmata – United Kingdom Machine intelligence to provide a solution to the spread of inaccurate information in online news articles. A tool is being released for free in beta to consumers.

Fact checking is the backbone of reporting and journalism says Factmata. Fake News makes this harder. They want to address the reduction of online misinformation and the automation of the fact-checking process.

Videosign Cefriel – Italy. Video is all the rage in 2018, but often the origin is unknown. This project uses blockchain architecture to ensure publishers can validate their video content.

Timestamps and authorship allows producers to sign the content to enable publishers to validate their videos

P24 podcast strategy by Publico – Portugal. Readers at the gym, out driving or grocery shopping stay tuned to an audio catch-up on stories of interest. Público can also post important news of the day, curated by an editor.

GEDI Gruppo Editoriale S.p.A. – Italy. Publishers need to convert audiences who enjoy free content into loyal subscribers. How do they deliver a call-to-action (CTA) to the right group, at the right moment, in the right context? Many don’t know how to create a good CTA. Or understand how to exploit any data collected. GEDI’s project is researching how to do this.

Groupe Les Echos – France. The overhaul will address paywall strategies and subscription offers by means of personalisation and upgrading.

They aim to increase new subscribers by 66%, decrease churn rate by 10 points and double digital-only subscriber revenue – all by 2020. Personalised paywalls, machine learning in the conversion process, and an enhanced user experience for subscribers involved. Stay tuned.

Trint – United Kingdom. Transcription sucks. Any journalist who’s spent hours listening to an audio or video interview for purposes of transcription will appreciate this new product. News organisations have invested heavily in video content, but the “ability to optimise those clips for search engines has so far remained elusive.”

Vice, ESPN, and other large news organisations are using the app to give life to vast amounts of content that would have gone unconsumed.

Back in the U.S.A., the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism asked this question as part of a recent research project: How can small-market newspapers (circulation below 50,000) best prepare for the future?

Answer No. 5: “… increase the cost of print subscriptions, the creation of spin-off media service companies, sponsored content, membership programs, and live events.”

C’mon. We did those things 20 years ago with my small-market magazine.

The Institute for Non-profit News also helped to explain how Facebook’s news feed recently changed to focus on what friends and family share. They suggested that news managers take advantage of Facebook advertising in the way that corporate marketers have been using the service for years. They also recommended building communities on Facebook; playing with platforms to see which ones respond better; embracing email newsletters. It’s catch up time for news media.

This changing of the guard has been painful. It’s a new world. Let’s get on with it.