Kevin Wilcox is a freelance writer and editorial consultant in State College, Pa. Reach him at kevinwx@comcast.net.

FOR THE NEWSPAPER INDUSTRY, “INNOVATION” isn't just a buzzword anymore; it's a lifeline. Not only do newspapers need to invent a bold new place for news in a fast-paced, mobile world, they also have to reinvent their own culture to embrace, rather than be wary, of change.

To help editors lead change, ASNE President Charlotte Hall formed an Innovation Committee this year and appointed co-chairs Jennifer Carroll, vice president of digital content at Gannett, and Milton Coleman, deputy managing editor at The Washington Post.

The main focus of the Innovation Committee in 2008-09 is a series of webinars. ASNE's webinars are a combination of conference calls and online training sessions. Participants log in to a common Web site where everyone sees the same presentation. Discussion is live through phone lines.

“Many people got into this business because they're passionate about it,” Carroll said. “We need to capture all that passion and interest at this time, with the economic uncertainty in the industry, to stay as nimble as possible and think about what we do. The webinar is a way to get people in the industry to share those stories.”

The first webinar focused on motivating and leading innovation in the newsroom. Nancy Andrews, managing editor for digital media for the Detroit Free Press, coordinated the session.

“We looked at how you take an organization that has been doing things well and ask them to do other things, too,” Andrews said. “How do you create an environment where innovation can thrive?

“We focused on two situations. In the first, an idea comes from corporate. How do you motivate the staff in that situation? How do you get them to give the idea a fair hearing and look at different things than they're used to doing, but that might be part of a larger picture?”

In the second scenario, how does an editor deal with innovation that happens spontaneously within the staff?

“People on the staff aren't decision makers, but they've developed something new. That can be scary for managers,” Andrews said.

Metromix

For the innovative idea from corporate headquarters, the webinar looked at Metromix.com, an entertainment and nightlife Web site. Metromix was launched by the Chicago Tribune in 1997 and was greatly expanded in the past year as a joint venture between the Tribune Co. and Gannett.

Go to Metromix.com, click on Detroit, and you'll find reviews of local hip-hop groups, restaurant reviews and slide shows of grinning folks in rubber masks, bunny ears and dog collars at area parties. This is not your dad's news source, and when Metromix rolled out at the Detroit Free Press, it was a challenge to get some of the staff to jump on board.

“People have an idea of what kind of content they have been producing. Now, because of competition, because of innovation, we have to redefine how our audience wants information and how we respond as a news organization,” Andrews said.

Metromix covers the same ground as a typical entertainment section of a newspaper, but with a different focus. The intended audience is 21-34, tech savvy, and has disposable income — exactly the audience newspapers are having trouble reaching. The sites are heavy with slide shows and photos, which lead to higher page view numbers. Restaurant and movie reviews are brief and photo-driven and focus on usable data.

“It is important to note that Metromix was a corporate initiative,” said B.J. Hammerstein, editor of Metromix in Detroit. “At a time when newsrooms are dramatically changing and traditional roles are being blurred, it has indeed been challenging to get everyone to buy into the product fully. However, by sharing our best practices, our unique marketing and editorial opportunities, we've been able to reshape the face of this newsroom and earn our place as a legitimate partner with the Detroit Free Press.”

One of the ways to get staff excited about a new approach to covering nightlife is to appeal to journalistic values.

“When you look back to the core, we see ourselves as storytellers of Detroit,” Andrews said. “And nightlife and clubs are a story that we haven't historically told well.”

Hammerstein agreed. He said that the common perceptions of Detroit as a run-down, dangerous city often obscure the tales of hidden treasures, talented artists and inspiration around many corners. “Together, we look, of course, to cover the news, the facts when they are indeed shocking or devastating, but getting people to buy into Metromix Detroit became much easier once we started to showcase one of our most common themes — a different, unique picture of Detroit.”

mercurynewsphoto.com

Mercurynewsphoto.com was the example of innovation driven by staff. Photographers at the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News learned HTML and Flash with online training programs and built a Web site to feature the photography department's work.

At first, the site featured self-narrated slide shows and eye-catching screen savers, which became very popular from their mention on social networking sites. From there, the staff quickly added video to their repertoire. Staff-produced video is now packaged with news stories on the mercurynews.com, which leads to even more page views.

“We believe video and multimedia are key to the future of newspapers,” said Geri Migielicz, director of photography. “The landscape is changing rapidly, so we have to be creative, fluid and highly adaptable.”

After the staff became comfortable with video, they began to build click-through galleries. When a wildfire ripped through the mountains outside of town, these click-through galleries added more than 1.5 million page views. The news site fed viewers to the photography site and vice versa.

“My advice is to be flexible and open to trying new things — a lot of new things — as the audience shifts constantly and new tools and new ways of delivering information emerge every day,” Migielicz said. “You can be in a position to take advantage of your organization's strengths if you create a climate that encourages innovation and experimentation.”

Carroll said that editors shouldn't feel threatened when the staffers come to them with innovative ideas, but rather should encourage the kind of innovation that mercurynewsphoto.com represents. “We have never been in a period where we need innovation more. They may not all be the breakthrough ideas. But one good idea can lead to another.”

To encourage this, Carroll said that many editors are meeting one-on-one with everyone on the staff to see what they're interested in. Ask people to look at new technology and see how it can be used to deliver news and information. Don't look at a project as a failure if it doesn't turn out well. Learn from it and move on.

“If you really want to reach a 25- to 30-year-old, whose primary medium is a mobile phone, you need to think of how you get into the mobile phone,” Carroll said. “Real time traffic. Links to more articles. Think about ways we can be more relevant.”

More to come

ASNE's second webinar focused on the relationship between journalism organizations and a new generation of users who are no longer content to sit passively to the end of a monologue. Anthony Moor, deputy managing editor for interactive at The Dallas Morning News, looked at how the Web has evolved from static sites designed for readers to highly personalized, automated social networks.

Moor said that membership in social network sites has doubled in the past three years, and the vast majority of those members report the site is very important to them. This has implications for journalists because more and more members of social network sites use them to pass along news and refer other members to news items.

The presentation included some startling statistics and insights. The evolved Web audience expects important news to find them, not the other way around. In a 2006 survey Moor displayed, 56 percent of respondents said they chose their news source because it was the “easiest way to get news.” Only 19 percent chose a source because it is the most accurate.

Moor identified four trends in journalism:

• News is shifting from being a product — the Web site — to becoming an always-on service to help the audience get something done.
• News Web sites are no longer final destinations.
• The prospects for user-generated content appear more limited than initially thought.
• Media companies are broadening the definition of journalism to help users navigate through content from other sites.

Not too late

The Innovation Committee plans several more webinars in the months leading up to ASNE's annual convention and hopes to have a robust presence there as well. Also, each webinar is recorded and available to ASNE members by logging onto www.asne.org/members.

“I would hope this will go forward for ASNE,” Carroll said of the webinars. “They are one more option to reach a wide variety of people and create an ongoing discussion about innovation. Because you can go back and listen to them on your own time, we hope this builds the drumbeat for innovation.” *