The current topic at the Carnival of Journalism is:
What are small, incremental steps one can make to fuel change in their media organization?
(Yes, we’d all like to swing in our newsroom, lay some boot heels on chests, hoist the black flag and change everything by the end of business on Monday — but the reality is, that ain’t happening unless you have a couple buckets of cash to buy a paper of your choice and a rusty saber.) So what are some realistic, real-world examples of free (or cheap) ways you can help fuel change at your newsroom.
Spend 15 minutes with the links on this page. You’ll get at least one idea you can use today.
And if I can talk my way into this party, here are some additional ideas I’d throw on the table:
- Get to know local bloggers. Email them. Introduce yourself. Grab a coffee with. Link to them. You’ll find they have a good pulse on the community. It may be a different pulse than yours, but that’s a good thing. Be generous with your links to them, and you may find your organization with deeper tiest to the community.
- Get in front of community groups. You and your reporters should be hanging with the Rotarians and the Community Organizers if you want to make a stronger connection with your local market. They’re just as plugged-in as the bloggers, but may not be blathering on about it on their blog. This is also a great jumping-off point for efforts to create a more-focused Citizen Journalism effort. What if you gave a Flip Mino (customized with your logo and message) to a neighborhood organization or school in exchange for a promise of weekly upates?
- Encourage corrections. At the end of your postings/articles, ask a question: Did we get it right? Include a link to a form to add corrections, clarifications, and suggestions for further reporting. Great ideas and deeper connections follow.
- Encourage your reporters to think like curators. I’ve beat this particular drum previously, so I’ll keep it short here. But you’ve got a roomful of subject-matter experts; having them just report is wasting more than half their brains.
- Link. If you don’t link, you’re a dead-end.