This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/apr/03/dnainfo-com-local-story-big-implications
The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Previous version
1
Next version
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| DNAinfo.com: a local story with big implications | DNAinfo.com: a local story with big implications |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| Can quality local journalism be saved? Is there is a business model that allows reporters to create original content from neighborhoods and still make money? | Can quality local journalism be saved? Is there is a business model that allows reporters to create original content from neighborhoods and still make money? |
| The questions torture traditional media owners, but there are some encouraging signs. And strangely, part of the solution is found going backwards rather than forwards. | The questions torture traditional media owners, but there are some encouraging signs. And strangely, part of the solution is found going backwards rather than forwards. |
| 1973. Six young reporters, eager to make a mark in the media world, are given a hometown geographical beat and told to cultivate every and any contact – elected officials, clergy, police, business leaders – who could provide a story. The marching orders were given to the young staff, myself included, at a now-defunct weekly newspaper in the West Midlands of the UK. | 1973. Six young reporters, eager to make a mark in the media world, are given a hometown geographical beat and told to cultivate every and any contact – elected officials, clergy, police, business leaders – who could provide a story. The marching orders were given to the young staff, myself included, at a now-defunct weekly newspaper in the West Midlands of the UK. |
| They are an eerie echo of the marching orders being given to a new generation of reporters working for a successful and increasingly influential New York local news web site, DNAinfo.com. In two-and-a-half years, DNAinfo.com – don't ask, but it stands for Digital News And information – is redefining local news coverage in the city. | |
| Shortly, it will take its curiously compelling mix of exclusives, hard news and quirky stories from Manhattan into all five New York boroughs. Could this be the lean business model that preserves local journalism? It's too early to tell, but it may be working. | Shortly, it will take its curiously compelling mix of exclusives, hard news and quirky stories from Manhattan into all five New York boroughs. Could this be the lean business model that preserves local journalism? It's too early to tell, but it may be working. |
| DNAinfo.com isn't defined by traditional norms of upmarket or down-market, tabloid or broadsheet – definitions increasingly hard to justify, anyway. It breaks stories of multimillion-dollar call girl rings, reveals behind-the-scenes turmoil at one of the city's most iconic churches and finds a goat that dines in a pizza parlor! | DNAinfo.com isn't defined by traditional norms of upmarket or down-market, tabloid or broadsheet – definitions increasingly hard to justify, anyway. It breaks stories of multimillion-dollar call girl rings, reveals behind-the-scenes turmoil at one of the city's most iconic churches and finds a goat that dines in a pizza parlor! |
| A local TV news anchor is at the center of a discredited rape allegation and DNAinfo.com breaks two or three key developments. It publishes a seven-minute video of a blazing house in northern Manhattan captured by a member of the public, and finds a redundant city banker breeding fish for restaurants in a barrel in his backyard. Hyper-interesting meets hyper-local! | A local TV news anchor is at the center of a discredited rape allegation and DNAinfo.com breaks two or three key developments. It publishes a seven-minute video of a blazing house in northern Manhattan captured by a member of the public, and finds a redundant city banker breeding fish for restaurants in a barrel in his backyard. Hyper-interesting meets hyper-local! |
| While DNAinfo.com was always guilty secret for New York assignment editors to help flesh out a morning news agenda, in the last few months it has grown up, becoming a real player in its own right. Its credibility now sees local media, the New York Times included, paying attention and giving credit for exclusives emanating from DNAinfo.com's open plan offices on 7th Avenue and 53rd Street. | While DNAinfo.com was always guilty secret for New York assignment editors to help flesh out a morning news agenda, in the last few months it has grown up, becoming a real player in its own right. Its credibility now sees local media, the New York Times included, paying attention and giving credit for exclusives emanating from DNAinfo.com's open plan offices on 7th Avenue and 53rd Street. |
| At a time when the mainstream media is struggling to redefine its role, DNAinfo.com has created an inspirational model for quality local news coverage. As most media companies shrink, DNAinfo.com is hiring and expanding, employing 18 reporters for its 30-strong New York staff and recruiting for Chicago. It takes the time to train its staff, pays them competitively and, perhaps most importantly, let's them set its news agenda. | At a time when the mainstream media is struggling to redefine its role, DNAinfo.com has created an inspirational model for quality local news coverage. As most media companies shrink, DNAinfo.com is hiring and expanding, employing 18 reporters for its 30-strong New York staff and recruiting for Chicago. It takes the time to train its staff, pays them competitively and, perhaps most importantly, let's them set its news agenda. |
| What makes DNAinfo.com interesting is that its success in the digital world is based heavily on the principles of journalism that have been subsumed by budget cuts or overwhelmed by "newsroom integration" management-speak at many legacy media companies. DNAinfo.com didn't throw out the traditional business model – it simply adapted it to modern needs. | What makes DNAinfo.com interesting is that its success in the digital world is based heavily on the principles of journalism that have been subsumed by budget cuts or overwhelmed by "newsroom integration" management-speak at many legacy media companies. DNAinfo.com didn't throw out the traditional business model – it simply adapted it to modern needs. |
| Its philosophy is earning street cred by putting feet on the street; block-by-block, neighborhood-by-neighborhood, letting its reporters find the stories that are the site's DNA. It has taken traditional journalism and used new technology to create a viable business model. The brainchild of billionaire financial entrepreneur Joe Ricketts (his fortune came from selling online trading operation Ameritrade), the venture is run by a hard-charging Australian journalist, Leela De Kretser. She agrees that DNAinfo.com's success is based on a return to the fundamentals: | Its philosophy is earning street cred by putting feet on the street; block-by-block, neighborhood-by-neighborhood, letting its reporters find the stories that are the site's DNA. It has taken traditional journalism and used new technology to create a viable business model. The brainchild of billionaire financial entrepreneur Joe Ricketts (his fortune came from selling online trading operation Ameritrade), the venture is run by a hard-charging Australian journalist, Leela De Kretser. She agrees that DNAinfo.com's success is based on a return to the fundamentals: |
| "Our approach is old-school. Go to every local community board meeting, police precinct meeting, public school meeting, local business event and look for interesting stories – stories that matter, stories that people care about." | "Our approach is old-school. Go to every local community board meeting, police precinct meeting, public school meeting, local business event and look for interesting stories – stories that matter, stories that people care about." |
| The staff brings together experienced journalists, graduates, local TV and community newspaper journalists, and the pick of local bloggers. It is lean in everything but journalistic principles: a team of seven editors work on the stories submitted by the reporters. | The staff brings together experienced journalists, graduates, local TV and community newspaper journalists, and the pick of local bloggers. It is lean in everything but journalistic principles: a team of seven editors work on the stories submitted by the reporters. |
| "Self-publishing is a bad idea," says De Kretser. "Everything is checked and edited twice before publication." | "Self-publishing is a bad idea," says De Kretser. "Everything is checked and edited twice before publication." |
| While there are stories that have to be covered – courts, City Hall, police headquarters – DNAinfo.com has differentiated itself in the neighborhoods. It divides Manhattan into 10 areas and a reporter is responsible for each beat, just as in 1973. De Kretser says journalists are attracted by the chance to work with new technology and in social media, but their priority is working their neighborhoods. Communities pretty much abandoned by traditional media – Inwood and Washington Heights in the north of Manhattan, for example – have become fertile hunting grounds for DNAinfo.com stories. As editorial director and publisher, De Kretser is also responsible for the sales operation, where the same ethic applies. New York's local transit authority is a recent large advertiser. | While there are stories that have to be covered – courts, City Hall, police headquarters – DNAinfo.com has differentiated itself in the neighborhoods. It divides Manhattan into 10 areas and a reporter is responsible for each beat, just as in 1973. De Kretser says journalists are attracted by the chance to work with new technology and in social media, but their priority is working their neighborhoods. Communities pretty much abandoned by traditional media – Inwood and Washington Heights in the north of Manhattan, for example – have become fertile hunting grounds for DNAinfo.com stories. As editorial director and publisher, De Kretser is also responsible for the sales operation, where the same ethic applies. New York's local transit authority is a recent large advertiser. |
| "Our sales force is on the streets everyday, talking to small business owners. And our success in attracting them is bringing us bigger clients." | "Our sales force is on the streets everyday, talking to small business owners. And our success in attracting them is bringing us bigger clients." |
| Compared to many sites, the DNAinfo.com audience is small – 1.5m unique visitors a month – but it is loyal and influential. De Kretser sees her mission as building a qualitative, rather than quantitive, audience; the business is meeting its targets, she says: | Compared to many sites, the DNAinfo.com audience is small – 1.5m unique visitors a month – but it is loyal and influential. De Kretser sees her mission as building a qualitative, rather than quantitive, audience; the business is meeting its targets, she says: |
| "With a loyal local audience and a loyal local advertising base, you have a business." | "With a loyal local audience and a loyal local advertising base, you have a business." |
| For that to work, you have to have quality content – content that can only be generated by being on the streets of the neighborhoods. Everything old is new again. | For that to work, you have to have quality content – content that can only be generated by being on the streets of the neighborhoods. Everything old is new again. |
| • Full disclosure: my company StreetSmartVideo.com has provided some video to DNAInfo.com | • Full disclosure: my company StreetSmartVideo.com has provided some video to DNAInfo.com |
Previous version
1
Next version