The missing parts of daily journalism
Matt Thompson writes an excellent blog post explaining the 3 key parts of news stories you usually don’t get. I encourage you to read the whole thing. (thanks to @jayrosen_nyu for the heads up)
He breaks it down into these categories:
- The longstanding facts
- How journalists know what they know
- The things we don’t know
This is an excellent insight, and one that could be solved with a little bit of technology and some savvy journalistic forethought.
One solution is what I’ll call the “bookmarking” model, put into practice well by Publish2, in which a journalist shares links related to a story they’re working on. As a journalist gathers information for a story, they add links to the list, giving readers a chance to see what other information is available.
Another solution is the “wiki” model, which goes back to wikipedia. I don’t know that this has been practiced as much in mainstream reporting, but in essence, a reporter could provide explanatory copy that could then be used to provide the “longstanding facts.”
A third solution is the “blogging” model. This could be used for a reporter to explain “how journalists know what they know.” Not every story benefits from the “process” reporting that Thompson cites in this New Yorker piece on health care reform. And there’s a question as to whether most readers would want to hear all about the process. But adding such content to a blog that can then be linked to the original author would be beneficial.
Finally, there’s the “notes” model. Recently, I installed a WordPress plugin on this site called Sliding Notes. This plugin allows me to insert notations into a blog post – think of them as in-text footnotes. An example»
As a reporter goes about gathering information for a story, she should be thinking about all of these means of adding context, especially on complex stories that will require lengthy coverage (like the health care reform debate).
The main problem, as I see it, is that each of these solutions exists within an entirely different technological sphere. What I wouldn’t give to have a content management system that would allow me to face one browser screen in which I could type a story, add “wiki” material, blog material, publish2 links and parenthetical notes, instead of having to switch from platform to platform.
Then there’s the mindset/time question. Adding all this context that can be carried over from story to story takes time, and it takes a concerted effort to break into the reporting process and put all these notes into the system. Especially with the technological problem I mentioned above.
Anyway, it’s a good conversation to be having, and one that can help journalism in the future.
Your thoughts?
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