Media Archives | John Tedesco https://johntedesco.net/blog/tag/media/ Investigative Journalist in Houston, Texas Thu, 26 Dec 2024 19:36:55 +0000 en-US hourly 1 26139830 Live-blogging the IRE 2012 Conference in Boston: Resources that will help you be a better investigative journalist https://johntedesco.net/blog/2012/06/14/live-blogging-the-ire-2012-conference-in-boston-resources-that-will-help-you-be-a-better-investigative-journalist/ https://johntedesco.net/blog/2012/06/14/live-blogging-the-ire-2012-conference-in-boston-resources-that-will-help-you-be-a-better-investigative-journalist/#comments Thu, 14 Jun 2012 14:47:11 +0000 https://www.johntedesco.net/blog/?p=9360 The classic stereotype about journalists is that we’re all backstabbing vultures who would sell our mothers for a good story. Nothing could be further from the truth. First of all, we only sell our mothers for really, really good stories. But more importantly, we’re actually an amazingly friendly, collaborative bunch. I’m in Boston where more ...

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]]> IRE 2012 Conference in BostonThe classic stereotype about journalists is that we’re all backstabbing vultures who would sell our mothers for a good story.

Nothing could be further from the truth. First of all, we only sell our mothers for really, really good stories. But more importantly, we’re actually an amazingly friendly, collaborative bunch.

I’m in Boston where more than 1,000 people are trading tips, offering advice and learning from the best journalists around at this year’s Investigative Reporters and Editors conference.

This is the place to be if you’ve ever wondered, say, how Washington Post reporters figured out the complexities of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. You get to listen to the actual reporters who worked on the story. They’re essentially saying, “Here’s how we did it, and here are some tips we learned to help you work on the same kind of story.” It’s a goldmine for anyone who cares about journalism and wants to do it better.

These conferences generate a treasure trove of tipsheets that help journalists investigate just about any topic. I’ll be updating this post over the next few days with some of the more interesting links and resources I come across at the conference. Feel free to chat me up or contact me if there’s something you want to include.

Jul 1, 2013: 8:32 am

Daniel Russell, research master at Google
Daniel Russell, research master at Google

More awesome search tips from Google expert Daniel Russell, with real-world examples.

Jun 24, 2013: 12:07 pm

Creative ways to find sources:

Jun 24, 2013: 10:27 am

How to find America’s worst charities: Excellent tips by Kendall Taggart at the Center for Investigative Reporting.

Jun 24, 2013: 7:40 am

Tips and tweets:

Jun 23, 2013: 1:22 pm

Investigative journalist Bill Dedman speaking at a panel about investigating the wealthy
Pulitzer-Prize winner Bill Dedman, speaking at a panel about investigating the wealthy

Investigating the wealthy sounds like a daunting task, but there’s actually a vast amount of historical resources available to the reporter who wants to try.

Investigative reporter Lise Olsen of the Houston Chronicle once visited a probate court clerk’s office to check out a tip that lawyers were making themselves rich at the expense of the estate of a wealthy but incapacited man. The clerk asked how many boxes she wanted to get in the case — there were 30.

In other words, probate courts are a gold mine. Olsen suggested looking at fee schedules and reports filed by court-appointed guardians.

It helps that wealthy Texans are chatty and often more approachable than their East and West-coast counterparts, said Mimi Swartz, an executive editor at Texas Monthly. In many cases, the only people who crave more attention than rich Texans are their lawyers. You can learn a lot about how the real world works by simply listening to their stories.

“One way to pay kickbacks to judges is to play poker and lose,” Swartz said.

Ancestry.com can help you find genealogical records. For a modest fee, you can find an actual picture of the ship that ferried specific European immigrants across the Atlantic.

A curious mind can always lead you to a good story. Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Bill Dedman stumbled across the unusual case of reclusive heiress Huguette Clark while he was house hunting and checked the most expensive mansions that were for sale. It launched him on a story that started out as a feature about Clark, whose father was a wealthy copper-mine baron and disgraced lawmaker. But the story morphed into an investigation of Clark’s current whereabouts — she hadn’t lived in any of her mansions for years, and Dedman’s reporting raised questions about the people overseeing her vast fortune.

The bizarre tale struck a chord with readers. It went viral and Dedman ended up writing a book about it called “Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune.”

Dedman relied on cemetery records, depositions in court cases and old newspaper clippings. He obtained pictures of Clark’s estates and the artwork she painted. He wanted to do a good job describing them, so he talked to experts.

Botanical consultants told him precisely what kind of unique plants were on the estate grounds.

A professor of fashion history described the kind of apparel Clark wore as a young woman.

An art expert told Dedman that in the old days, women usually painted with pastels. Oil painting was considered a manly art form. Yet Clark chose to be an oil painter. It showed an intriguing snippet of her character — which Dedman would not have discovered if he hadn’t gone to the trouble of talking to a knowledgeable expert.

Jun 22, 2013: 7:57 pm

Tips on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/sgoldstein/status/348548832109416448

Jun 21, 2013: 4:35 pm

Tips on Twitter:

Jun 21, 2013: 4:11 pm

Check out interesting panels you missed at the IRE conference by reading the IRE Conference blog and Gannett’s IRE 2013 tumblr. Armies of reporters and journalism students are posting good stuff, including:

  • Delving into crime data and finding flaws
  • Transparency: Getting past “No”
  • Tips for environmental investigations

    • Jun 21, 2013: 11:40 am

    Tips on Twitter about investigating charities:

    https://twitter.com/melcrowe/status/348116910254198785

    Jun 21, 2013: 11:23 am

    Wall Street Journal Reporter Rob Barry, speaking at the 2013 IRE conference
    Wall Street Journal Reporter Rob Barry, speaking at the 2013 IRE conference

    So much information at IRE conferences is about how and where to find documents and information. It’s always interesting to hear what you should do after you amass that giant mountain of data and documents.

    During yesterday’s Business Investigations panel, Reporter David Heath of the Center for Public Integrity talked about “the magic of simply sorting by date” when you take all your documents from a variety of sources and plug the information into a spreadsheet to make a timeline.

    “It’s a very simple process,” Heath said. “It sounds too basic to talk about.” Heath includes everything he finds in the timeline early on in the reporting process because at first you don’t know what’s important. As the chronology grows, patterns, connections and narratives begin to emerge.

    While investigating a shady company, Heath found a corporate filing signed by a man who claimed to lead the firm. But during that same time period, the same person also signed a different document in which he claimed to have nothing to do with the company. Heath later learned one of the government disclosures had been forged.

    “Timelines are essential,” Heath said.

    Other interesting tidbits at the panel:

  • Not many people know about LinkedIn’s advanced search page, which can help you find current and former employees of companies.
  • Journalists can get LinkedIn premium accounts for free, which allows you to email people on LinkedIn without being in their network. Very handy for finding sources.
  • Annual reports filed by companies with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission can be daunting. But be sure to check out sections titled “risk factors” and “legal proceedings.” These are where companies are usually at their most honest. They lay out things that could go wrong and major litigation. For companies that are very skilled at polishing their image, these sections help you find “chinks in their armor,” Heath said.

    • Jun 20, 2013: 3:31 pm

    Best #IRE13 tweets so far:

    Jun 20, 2013: 2:55 pm

    Even before the 2013 IRE Conference officially started, the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism hosted a free seminar Wednesday about finding interesting news stories in seemingly dry economic data.

    One cool thing about this panel was how they showcased actual news stories, then worked backwards and revealed how the kernel of the story idea was found in the data.

    For this article about the Eagle Ford Shale boom that ran in the San Antonio Express-News, the reporters did the following:

    • Visited the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis website;
    • Clicked on the “interactive” tab;
    • Sifted through a series of menus that took them down to the county level;
    • Checked how much per-capita personal income had increased in the Eagle Ford Shale counties. Once you get the data you can look at it in a variety of formats, such as tables or charts:
    Growth of personal income in Karnes County in the Eagle Ford Shale
    Growth of personal income in Karnes County in the Eagle Ford Shale

    This story and other articles used as examples all relied on economic data — but the stories were also filled with the voices of real people to bring those numbers to life.

    All the resources and presentations discussed in the seminar are available here.

    Jun 20, 2013: 2:50 pm

    Naturally, the 2013 IRE Conference is on Guidebook. You can check the conference schedule on your phone, save the events you want to attend and get reminders. I also like how you can view a map of the hotel, read about the speakers and check the #IRE13 feeds on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

    Yet another cool resource I learned from IRE.

    Jun 29, 2012: 2:13 pm

    Missed a panel at the IRE 2012 Conference in Boston? Tipsheets for members are available at IRE’s website. Yet another reason to join IRE.

    Next year’s conference is in San Antonio, and we’re already talking about upcoming panels, speakers and events. Contact me if you have any ideas.

    Thanks for a great time in Boston and hope to see you next year.

    Jun 22, 2012: 10:39 am

    Jun 21, 2012: 7:53 am

    Dan Russell, Google
    Dan Russell, Google

    How to solve impossible problems: Daniel Russell’s awesome Google search techniques.

    Jun 17, 2012: 9:09 pm

    Tips on Twitter (via Katie Foody’s awesome Storify collection of tips from the IRE conference):

    Jun 17, 2012: 5:08 am

    Jun 16, 2012: 9:25 pm

    https://twitter.com/willhuntsberry/status/214163754848485376/

    Jun 16, 2012: 4:23 pm

    TipsheetsOne “downside” about IRE conferences is you wind up amassing more great ideas and tipsheets than you know what to do with. How do you keep track of everything, and not forget an insight that might be useful months from now?

    You might want to create your own tip sheet, or handbook, that you can use throughout your journalism career.

  • Use Google Docs, Word, a spreadsheet, or whatever format that’s easiest for you.
  • Organize it by topic, such as “People Finders” or “Campaign Finance.”
  • Under each topic, link to useful websites, and plug in your notes of the insights you learned at the conference.

    • My handbook is old and needs to be pruned. But you can see how it works. If I want to do a thorough job backgrounding someone, I go to the “Backgrounding” section of my handbook and start going down the list of things to check — licensing files, marriage licenses, etc.

    Any time you come across a resource you think might come in handy, add it to your handbook. You might need it tomorrow — or a year from now.

    Jun 16, 2012: 3:38 pm

    Jun 16, 2012: 1:28 pm

    Panel videos: IRE is posting videos of some panels at its latakoo page. Panels include tips for investigating businesses and a conversation about the state of the media after the News Corp. phone hacking scandal.

    Jun 16, 2012: 9:16 am

    Alison Young, USA Today, and James Neff, Seattle Times
    Alison Young, USA Today, and James Neff, Seattle Times

    Archives and historical documents can be powerful tools for journalists, even on deadline.

    “It’s been my secret weapon,” said James Neff, investigations editor at the Seattle Times.

    Some cool resources:

  • Sanborn fire insurance maps: These old maps offer rich historical details about buildings and neighborhoods. “They were like Google Streetview back in the day,” said Alison Young of USA Today, who relied on the maps for her project, “Ghost Factories.”

    Regional collections of the maps are often available at local libraries, historical societies and universities.

  • Online Public Archives: A sweeping search of presidential archives and other holdings of the U.S. National Archives. “This is what I would consider one of the top tools,” Neff said.
  • Finding guides: Used to find pertinent material, finding guides are sometimes posted online, or archives will send them to you. Check out WorldCat, a library catalogue that includes 50,000 finding guides. “It’s the largest online library catalogue in the world,” Neff said.

    • Jun 16, 2012: 7:20 am

    Check out the story behind the story of Craig Harris’ investigation of Arizona pension funds. Great stuff.

    Jun 15, 2012: 4:46 pm

    Duff Wilson, Reuters
    Duff Wilson, Reuters

    Resources used by Duff Wilson of Reuters for his investigation of the food industry and its lobbying against stricter health standards for children.

  • Influence Explorer: An overview of campaign finance, lobbying, earmark, contractor misconduct and federal spending data.
  • Open Secrets: Campaign-finance data broken down by industry.
  • National Institute on Money in State Politics.
  • Federal Election Commission: For contributions at the federal level.
  • Secretary of the Senate: For lobbying reports.

    • Jun 15, 2012: 11:44 am

    Tips from Sara Ganim, reporter for the Patriot-News, who broke the Jerry Sandusky scandal:

  • When looking for a job ask: “What kind of journalists are you going to be working for?” Is this a newsroom that will allow you to spend a lot of time on investigative stories? When the Patriot-News hired her, Ganim’s bosses recognized they had a big story on their hands, cut her loose from her beat duties, and encouraged her to do what she had to do.
    “You wouldn’t find that in every newsroom,” Ganim said.
  • Social media was NO help at first for the Sandusky story. Ganim had to rely on the old-school methods of knocking on doors. But when Sandusky was arrested, the newspaper “did a 180” and started using Twitter all the time.

    “Twitter is a really great way to stay in touch with your readers,” Ganim said. At Joe Paterno’s public memorial service, people on Twitter were asking her questions, guiding her to things to look for. “I found it incredibly helpful,” she said. “It’s a good gauge of what your readers want to know.”

  • Try to give readers what no one else is giving them. When the news about the sexual assault charges broke, “AP was kicking our butt. They were getting all this great information, what Penn State was doing. My boss was freaking out.”

    Ganim didn’t want to rehash what the Associated Press was reporting — she argued with her boss that they needed to go back to their sources, the parents of the victims, to get their reaction. No one else could do that.

    “That’s really how we were able to stay ahead,” Ganim said.

    • Jun 15, 2012: 11:09 am

    Investigating Power: A vast video archive of interviews with investigative journalists — several of whom are speaking right now at the IRE Conference.

    Jun 15, 2012: 10:18 am

    Tips on Twitter:

    Jun 15, 2012: 8:33 am

    Greg LeRoy, Good Jobs First
    Greg LeRoy, Good Jobs First

    Local communities are spending billions of dollars in tax subsidies to lure companies in the hope of getting more jobs and economic development. But the subsidies are often based on dubious claims and consultants’ studies that reporters should be checking.

    The irony is that corporate subsidies erode the tax base for public schools — one of the things that actually does bolster economic development.

    A few tips offered by panelists Daniel Connolly, Jim Heaney, Greg LeRoy and David Cay Johnston:

  • Don’t rely solely on claims made by the company, the government agency, or their economic studies, which are often paid for by the people who want the subsidy. Figure out the true cost of the subsidy.

    “Develop data,” said Heaney. “This is absolutely essential. You’ve got to go to the agency and ferret out all the costs. And most projects get multiple subsidies.”

  • Subsidy Tracker: Search a database of companies that receive government subsidies.
  • Is the subsidy for a retail store? It’s probably not necessary. The jobs are usually low-paying; there’s a glut of retail space in the United States; and these companies are often simply moving from on location to another in the same region.
  • Read the enabling legislation and the fine print. Connolly found a one-sided deal in which the government agency agreed not to enforce a clawback provision to get the subsidy back if the company failed to provide all the promised jobs.
  • Delve into the job numbers. Are these full-time or part-time jobs? Low-income jobs?
  • Figure out the benchmarks. What is the cost of the subsidy per job? Some deals, such as a data center for Verizon, came out to a couple million dollars per job. People relate to that kind of comparison.

    • Jun 15, 2012: 6:31 am

    Keli Rabon, KMGH-Denver
    Keli Rabon, KMGH-Denver

    Data on deadline: Keli Rabon and Stephen Brock put together this list of handy databases you can use for breaking-news stories. “Be ready before breaking news hits,” Brock said at the panel “CAR under pressure.” “Practice the data.”

    interesting websites from the presentation:

  • Geofeedia: Type in a location and get pictures and social media posts from people in that area. Great for breaking news.
  • Open Status Search: Search public Facebook updates without logging into Facebook.
  • Safer Products: Search consumer complaints and government recalls regarding thousands of consumer products on this website published by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

    • Jun 14, 2012: 4:07 pm

    Demystifying Web scraping: Ted Han and Sean Sposito’s Google Docs presentation. Nifty.

    Jun 14, 2012: 3:47 pm

    Tips on Twitter:

    Jun 14, 2012: 3:15 pm

    Anthony DeBarros, USA Today
    Anthony DeBarros, USA Today

    Google Doc presentation of free computer-assisted reporting tools: Download a list of free resources discussed by Anthony DeBarros of USA Today and Matt Stiles of NPR.

    Jun 14, 2012: 3:04 pm

    Gannett Tumblr: Gannett journalists are covering the conference at “Gannett @ IRE. Great posts, pictures and videos.

    Jun 14, 2012: 2:56 pm

    Interactive wind map: Amazing map of wind patterns in the United States. “We hadn’t visualized wind before and hadn’t realized its power,” said Google’s Martin Wattenberg, who helped create the map by marshaling government data.

    Jun 14, 2012: 12:38 pm

    Panel tip: Get the records retention schedule.

    From the Department of Things Reporters Should Really Be Doing A Whole Lot More Often, this tip comes from Ellen Gabler.

    “I love teaching people about asking for data,” said Gabler this morning at “The ask: Requesting and negotiating for data.” To know what to ask for, you have to know what exists.

    “Ask agencies for their records retention schedule,” Gabler said. This gives you a complete list of every type of document kept by the agency, which can point you to interesting records and databases.

    Jun 14, 2012: 12:13 pm

    Panel Tip: Create a data log.

    Steve Doig and Elizabeth Lucas offered this gem at the “Taming monstrous datasets” panel.

    When you analyze data, the queries can get really complicated. You might be doing some queries, crunch some numbers, and move on to the next part of the story. Then, weeks or months later when it’s time to publish and you’re bulletproofing those figures, an editor is going to ask how you came up with them. “You need to be able to answer that,” Doig said.

    The solution is keeping a log of your work. It’s tedious, Lucas said, but it’s worth the trouble. When you turn in numbers for a story, attach a log documenting your process.

    “An audit trail is absolutely essential,” Doig said.

    Jun 14, 2012: 11:59 am

  • Muckety: Maps relationships between powerful people and organizations.
  • Muse: Useful tool for analyzing email archives.
  • 30 free tools for data visualizations and analysis: Handy, sortable chart of free tools.

    • Jun 14, 2012: 10:37 am

  • Aviation Wildlife Strikes Database: Federal Aviation Administration data that tracks incidents involving birds and even deer that are struck by aircraft.
  • NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System: Tracks reports of safety concerns raised anonymously by pilots.

    • Jun 14, 2012: 10:00 am

  • Scout from the Sunlight Foundation: Get alerts emailed to you whenever Congress or state lawmakers discuss an issue you care about. It’s like Google alerts based on official government records. Free.
  • Follow the Money: Free workshop from the Reynolds Center about tracking companies’ influence on politics.

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    ]]>     https://johntedesco.net/blog/2012/06/14/live-blogging-the-ire-2012-conference-in-boston-resources-that-will-help-you-be-a-better-investigative-journalist/feed/ 9 9360     Print ain’t dead: How an itty bitty news brief sparked dozens of phone calls from readers https://johntedesco.net/blog/2012/05/28/print-aint-dead-how-an-itty-bitty-news-brief-sparked-dozens-of-phone-calls-from-readers/ Mon, 28 May 2012 18:59:35 +0000 https://www.johntedesco.net/blog/?p=9240 With all the talk about print being dead, you’d think no one actually picks up newspapers anymore to read the archaic things. Tell that to Elaine Austin Palmer. Palmer curates the Wesley Peacock House, a historic home built in 1890 near Woodlawn Lake that served as the headquarters of a military academy. Related: Yard sale ...

    Read more

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    ]]>     With all the talk about print being dead, you’d think no one actually picks up newspapers anymore to read the archaic things.

    Tell that to Elaine Austin Palmer.

    Palmer curates the Wesley Peacock House, a historic home built in 1890 near Woodlawn Lake that served as the headquarters of a military academy.

    Related: Yard sale report: Print ain’t dead

    I wrote a brief about the house for the Express-News’ weekly Cityscapes feature. It ran with a photo of the house on the bottom corner of page 2B of the Metro Section — about as hard to find as you can get.

    Yet after the little feature was published, the calls started pouring in at the Peacock House.

    Palmer emailed me a few days ago and wrote:

    For our corner of the paper in the Metro Section, the Peacock House has received over 50 calls, and some still coming in — with the comments ‘How nice to know it’s still in use, I attended the academy, or I remember coming to the House way back when for a tea, etc.!

    It’s good to remember the decline of print is primarily an advertising problem, not a readership problem. People still read the newspaper — even itty bitty news briefs.

    The post Print ain’t dead: How an itty bitty news brief sparked dozens of phone calls from readers appeared first on John Tedesco.

    ]]>     9240     A sliver of hope for the New Orleans Times-Picayune? Only if spin is true https://johntedesco.net/blog/2012/05/24/times-picayune-downsizing/ Thu, 24 May 2012 18:15:46 +0000 https://www.johntedesco.net/blog/?p=9225 As corporate honchos try to paint a rosy picture about the New Orleans Times-Picayune downsizing and no longer publishing a daily print edition, I hope this nugget from the newspaper’s editor, Jim Amoss, is more than corporate spin: Plans call for the Wednesday, Friday and Sunday editions of The Times-Picayune to be in many ways ...

    Read more

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    ]]>     As corporate honchos try to paint a rosy picture about the New Orleans Times-Picayune downsizing and no longer publishing a daily print edition, I hope this nugget from the newspaper’s editor, Jim Amoss, is more than corporate spin:

    Plans call for the Wednesday, Friday and Sunday editions of The Times-Picayune to be in many ways more robust than each of the daily newspapers is currently. They will contain a richer and deeper news, sports and entertainment report, as well as a full week’s worth of features such as society coverage, puzzles and comics.

    Times-Picayune Newspaper, photo by CanadaGood on FlickrOne of the problems facing newspapers is that publishing every day is a blessing and a curse. If it’s a slow news day, you still have to go to press. The result: Some days, newspapers really shine. Other days, not so much. Readers have to decide whether that kind of inconsistency is worth the trouble — and money.

    So in an ideal world, shedding the demands of the daily news beast could result in print editions that consistently offer substance and depth, while the website would handle breaking news, blogging and everything else a newspaper should be doing online.

    Related: Express-News reader sees the future of news?

    I hope that happens. Talented journalists work at the Times-Picayune — it won a Pulitzer Prize for its important coverage of Hurricane Katrina. But the odds don’t look good.

    Micheline Maynard looked at what happened to the Ann Arbor, Mich paper that tried the same thing as the Times-Picayune and wasn’t impressed. John McQuaid examined the Times-Picayune’s suddenly very crucial website and found it wanting.

    I hope the corporate spin coming out of New Orleans becomes a reality. That city deserve no less.

    (Photo credit: CanadaGood on Flickr)

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    ]]>     9225     Long-form journalism project asks for money, raises $100,000 on Kickstarter https://johntedesco.net/blog/2012/03/04/long-form-journalism-project-asks-for-money-raises-100000-on-kickstarter/ https://johntedesco.net/blog/2012/03/04/long-form-journalism-project-asks-for-money-raises-100000-on-kickstarter/#comments Sun, 04 Mar 2012 13:28:27 +0000 https://www.johntedesco.net/blog/?p=9132 This is pretty great. First, a new, in-depth journalism project called Matter set a fundraising goal of $50,000 on Kickstarter. They reached it in 38 hours. They set a new goal of $75,000. They reached it in four days. Related: What’s Evernote for? How about making a vast, searchable archive of all your files They ...

    Read more

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    ]]>

    This is pretty great.

    First, a new, in-depth journalism project called Matter set a fundraising goal of $50,000 on Kickstarter.

    They reached it in 38 hours.

    They set a new goal of $75,000.

    They reached it in four days.

    Related: What’s Evernote for? How about making a vast, searchable archive of all your files

    Long form journalism project asks for money raises 100 000 on Kickstarter John TedescoThey kept going. This time, the goal was $100,000.

    It took them nine days.

    Can we stop talking about how people don’t want long stories online? Some people obviously do.

    Let’s start talking about the best way to give them those stories.

    The post Long-form journalism project asks for money, raises $100,000 on Kickstarter appeared first on John Tedesco.

    ]]>     https://johntedesco.net/blog/2012/03/04/long-form-journalism-project-asks-for-money-raises-100000-on-kickstarter/feed/ 1 9132     Hearst execs meet with Express-News staff, discuss future of news biz https://johntedesco.net/blog/2010/12/15/hearst-execs-meet-with-express-news-staff-discuss-future-of-news-biz/ Wed, 15 Dec 2010 18:10:35 +0000 http://johntedesco.net/blog/2010/12/15/ Executives from Hearst Corp., which owns the San Antonio Express-News, met with staff and answered questions about the future of the paper.

    The post Hearst execs meet with Express-News staff, discuss future of news biz appeared first on John Tedesco.

    ]]>     Hearst meeting in San Antonio

    I had the day off today, but with all the tweets coming out of an Express-News staff meeting this morning, it almost felt like I was there.

    Executives from Hearst Corp., which owns the San Antonio Express-News, met with staff and answered questions about the future of the paper. Here’s an outline of what was said, courtesy of Storify:

    Storify by
    John Tedesco
    7 years ago

    Hearst execs visit the San Antonio Express-News, discuss future of journalism

    Interesting questions and answers today at an Express-News staff meeting with our corporate overlords from Hearst , Frank Bennack and Steve Swartz.

    Several journalists tweeted the conversation. Among the highlights: Express-News readers with a 7-day subscription will get free access to an iPad app., and the Express-News could consolidate copy desks with the Houston Chronicle.

    1. EvaRuth@EvaRuth
      Nice to see everyone in there Sunday best. At town hall w/ Hearst Execs…you can hear a pin drop…

      7 years ago

    2. @EvaRuth Pre-pin drop, at Express-News town hall mtg. http://twitpic.com/3g6ey8

      @EvaRuth Pre-pin drop, at Express-News town hall mtg. twitpic.com/3g6ey8

      ViannaDavila@ViannaDavila
      ·

      7 years ago

      ReplyRetweetFavorite

    3. roybragg@roybragg
      at the Hearst meeting: No icebergs in sight

      7 years ago

      ReplyRetweetFavorite

    4. roybragg@roybragg
      @richardcoliver is already snoring. you can hear it all over the room. props to the bldg for great acoustics

      7 years ago

    5. vxflores@vxflores
      Hearst CEO Frank Bennack in San Antonio today: 2009 difficult for newspapers but prompted changes in business model.

      7 years ago

    6. vxflores@vxflores
      Bennack: The role newspapers play in society and commerce is an indispensable role.

      7 years ago

    7. EvaRuth@EvaRuth
      Hearst Execs say we have a chance in 2011 to grow profits once again. #optimistic

      7 years ago

    8. EvaRuth@EvaRuth
      This qtr, Netflix delivered more content via web than anything else. “we’re reaching a tipping pt” to deliver products digitally, Swartz sez

      7 years ago

    9. ViannaDavila@ViannaDavila
      Steve Swartz: Two versions of Express-News on future IPad app: classic & premium versions.

      7 years ago

    10. EvaRuth@EvaRuth
      “we remain, as ever, fully committed to print” and giving readers digital choice too. Swartz talking a lot abt cross marketing (bundles)

      7 years ago

    11. ViannaDavila@ViannaDavila
      Hey 7-day print EN subscribers, you’ll automatically get premium iPad version of paper. -Steve Swartz, Hearst newspapers prez

      7 years ago

      ReplyRetweetFavorite

    12. ViannaDavila@ViannaDavila
      EN Reporter Colin McDonald asks how will the way journalists work/longform journalism be affected by iPad/digital focus #GoodQuestion

      7 years ago

      ReplyRetweetFavorite

    13. reneguz@reneguz
      The bigger the screen, the bigger the attention span. Hearst’s Steve Swartz says tablet favors long-form & investigative journalism.

      7 years ago

    14. ViannaDavila@ViannaDavila
      Steve Swartz, Hearst newspaper prez, says people don’t go to website for long journalism. They go for quick hits.

      7 years ago

      ReplyRetweetFavorite

    15. EvaRuth@EvaRuth
      Sooo…are we gonna get raises again? E-N pub says not yet. “we don’t want to act on suspected growth” but the future is bright.

      7 years ago

    16. ViannaDavila@ViannaDavila
      EN reporter J.MacCormack asks about our 2-year wage freeze. Publisher says he can’t promise change in 2011; we’ve had less cuts than others

      7 years ago

    17. EvaRuth@EvaRuth
      Swartz: “there’s gonna be more innovation” but still cover breaking news, investigative stories, etc. Content remains mostly local decision

      7 years ago

      ReplyRetweetFavorite

    18. ViannaDavila@ViannaDavila
      Hearst newspaper prez Swartz: Express News & Houston Chron are nowhere near as profitable as they once were; SF Chron is “not profitable”

      7 years ago

    19. ViannaDavila@ViannaDavila
      @SAEN_Photo asks important question about why put all this focus on iPad/visual mediums, but yet not put as much focus on photos/multimedia

      7 years ago

    20. jeorgez@jeorgez
      It’s still looming RT @EvaRuth: Hou/SA copy desk consolidation won’t happen at least until 2012 because of capital, Hearst execs say.

      7 years ago

    21. jeorgez@jeorgez
      Sums the meeting up RT @etij: Hearst execs: The worst seems to be over and we’re hoping for growth in 2011. No layoffs, but no raises, yet

      7 years ago

    22. EvaRuth@EvaRuth
      Hearst mtg over. Execs have to go to community lunch. Great questions #optimistic

      7 years ago

    The post Hearst execs meet with Express-News staff, discuss future of news biz appeared first on John Tedesco.

    ]]>     7322     Buy an online subscription, avoid being plagued by online ads https://johntedesco.net/blog/2010/09/13/buy-an-online-subscription-avoid-being-plagued-by-online-ads/ Tue, 14 Sep 2010 01:15:23 +0000 http://johntedesco.net/blog/2010/09/13/ Little Green Footballs is making an interesting offer to its online community: Pay $10 a month as a subscriber, and you’ll get to visit a cleaner, faster, ad-free version of the blog: This isn’t just a cosmetic improvement; to display those ads from Google Adsense and Amazon, we have to make several calls to external ...

    Read more

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    ]]>     Little Green Footballs is making an interesting offer to its online community: Pay $10 a month as a subscriber, and you’ll get to visit a cleaner, faster, ad-free version of the blog:

    This isn’t just a cosmetic improvement; to display those ads from Google Adsense and Amazon, we have to make several calls to external web servers, which take quite a bit of time. And if those servers are slow or offline, it can cause the entire LGF page to load more slowly or even time out on rare occasions.

    When you view our site with advertisements turned off, every page loads more quickly; it’s a very noticeable speed boost. (And as the designer of this mess, I have to say it looks a lot nicer too without the visual clutter.)

    So, for the very low price of about 33 cents a day (less than the cheapest cup of Starbucks coffee), you can read LGF without the ads, at super-charged speed.

    Maybe newspaper websites, which are often bogged down with ads, could benefit from this kind of revenue model. If outright paywalls don’t work, give loyal readers a chance to pay for a premium service. Would you pay good money for the luxury of an ad-free newspaper website?

    Related: How to research a property’s history using Bexar County’s free records search

    I think I just might.

    (Photo credit: Pink Ponk)

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    ]]>     6609     The declining state of investigative journalism https://johntedesco.net/blog/2010/09/07/the-declining-state-of-investigative-journalism/ Tue, 07 Sep 2010 13:11:22 +0000 http://johntedesco.net/blog/2010/09/05/ American Journalism Review delved into the declining state of investigative journalism with compelling articles and videos that quantified what’s been lost — and what might be gained:

    The post The declining state of investigative journalism appeared first on John Tedesco.

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    American Journalism Review delved into the declining state of investigative journalism last week with articles and videos that quantified what’s been lost — and what might be gained:

    Related: How to send a news tip to an investigative reporter

    Typewriter

  • Investigative shortfall: “Kicked out, bought out or barely hanging on, investigative reporters are a vanishing species in the forests of dead tree media and missing in action on Action News. I-Teams are shrinking or, more often, disappearing altogether.”
  • The nonprofit explosion: Investigative nonprofit news organizations are sprouting up across the country. But there are pitfalls: “Whether carried out by a CEO or a development pro, fundraising is a consuming and never-ending quest at journalism nonprofits, as much a part of their business as advertising sales are to a publisher in the traditional media world. With the task come issues that are foreign to newsgatherers. Precisely what money to take under what conditions requires often thorny ethical decisions. Just because money comes from civic-minded foundations or deep-pocketed do-gooders does not mean it is free of strings or baggage.”
  • Living the Dream: A profile of the nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism: “These are not suits who ran newsrooms. Most of these people starting these are rank-and-file reporters. It’s like reporters and editors taking over the profession.”

    • The post The declining state of investigative journalism appeared first on John Tedesco.

    ]]>     6552     Could a blog win a Pulitzer prize? https://johntedesco.net/blog/2010/04/15/could-a-blog-win-a-pulitzer/ Thu, 15 Apr 2010 18:06:31 +0000 http://johntedesco.net/blog/?p=5328 After online publications won Pulitzer Prizes this year, Dennis Yang at Techdirt asks if a blog could ever win: Nothing about a physical newspaper inherently makes it better suited for doing great reporting. Print and online are just mediums, and as consumption patterns shift towards online, we should see more of this in the future. ...

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    After online publications won Pulitzer Prizes this year, Dennis Yang at Techdirt asks if a blog could ever win:

    Nothing about a physical newspaper inherently makes it better suited for doing great reporting. Print and online are just mediums, and as consumption patterns shift towards online, we should see more of this in the future.

    As Yang notes, it’s unclear whether blogs that aren’t affiliated with a newspaper would be eligible to win the prize under the current Pulitzer rules. But putting that issue aside, Yang is right — there’s nothing stopping a blog from producing top-notch journalism. All it has to do is generate enough money to produce top-notch journalism. And there’s the rub.

    Related: Sign up for blog updates from John Tedesco

    It cost at least $100,000 for Sheri Fink’s prize-winning story about the life-and-death decisions at an isolated hospital in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Zachary M. Seward at Nieman Journalism Lab got the cost breakdown:

    Fink was paid $33,000 plus $10,000 in expenses for her Kaiser fellowship, according to Steve Engelberg, her editor at ProPublica, where she’s been for 14 months. Engelberg, who was kind enough to go through these figures with me, said, “Fourteen months of salary plus benefits for us easily gets you north of 100 plus, 100, 150 or something.” He threw in another $20,000 to $30,000 for travel expenses, in addition to three months of editing and lawyering at ProPublica and the Times, which also spent $25,000 to $30,000 on photographs, he said.

    Clay Shirky on Internet Issues Facing Newspapers YouTubeThose sky-high expenses are simply out of reach for the majority of bloggers who care passionately about their niche, but who blog on a part-time basis, and often for little or no money. That doesn’t mean they can’t produce an interesting, valuable blog. But it does make it exceedingly difficult to devote the time and effort it takes to interview sources, unearth hard-to-find records, overcome legal hurdles, and tell compelling stories. That takes time — and money.

    Let’s say you care about local politics and you blog about your local city council. If you’re like most people, you’re blogging as a hobby and you have a full-time job. Right out of the gate, you’re at a disadvantage because you don’t have the luxury of attending the weekly city council meetings that usually last all day. Not to mention the countless subcommittees that meet every week. And you can’t capitalize on all the time spent hanging out at City Hall, where you meet sources, learn new things, get story ideas and tips, and start really understanding what makes City Hall tick.

    Related: Will blogs replace newspapers? Only if blogs actually make money

    Newspapers have traditionally paid the most money in their communities for reporters to pay attention to what’s happening at City Hall. And the police department. And the local utility. And so on. That’s why the slow demise of newspapers worries people like Clay Shirky, who argues it could take a very, very long time until anyone figures out how to consistently produce the kind of expensive, accountability journalism that newspapers funded but are cutting back:

    Now this doesn’t mean that all newspapers go away. It does mean that a lot of them go away. … Which leaves us with a giant hole, and a very threatening one. And in the nightmare scenario that I’ve kind of been spinning at for the last couple years has been: Every town in this country of 500,000 or less just sinks into casual, endemic, civic corruption — that without somebody going down to the city council again today, just in case, that those places will simply revert to self-dealing. Not of epic, catastrophic sorts, but the sort that just takes five percent off the top. Newspapers have been our principal bulwark for that, and as they’re shrinking, that I think is where the threat is.

    This YouTube video features Shirky’s entire talk — it’s worth a listen.

    Shirky isn’t arguing that we need to save newspapers to preserve journalism — we just need to preserve journalism. And there’s the rub.

    The post Could a blog win a Pulitzer prize? appeared first on John Tedesco.

    ]]>     5328     Readers aren’t getting the memo that no one reads newspapers https://johntedesco.net/blog/2010/04/09/readers-arent-getting-the-memo-that-no-one-reads-newspapers/ https://johntedesco.net/blog/2010/04/09/readers-arent-getting-the-memo-that-no-one-reads-newspapers/#comments Fri, 09 Apr 2010 23:10:13 +0000 http://johntedesco.net/blog/?p=5256 With all the doom and gloom we keep hearing about newspapers, you’d think no one ever reads them. Tell that to Aaron Blanco. Six days ago, reporter Brian Chasnoff wrote a cool feature story about Blanco and his company, Brown Coffee Co., where Blanco roasts fresh coffee beans in small batches to unlock pungent, fruity ...

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    ]]>     With all the doom and gloom we keep hearing about newspapers, you’d think no one ever reads them. Tell that to Aaron Blanco.

    Six days ago, reporter Brian Chasnoff wrote a cool feature story about Blanco and his company, Brown Coffee Co., where Blanco roasts fresh coffee beans in small batches to unlock pungent, fruity flavors. I live in the neighborhood and have known Blanco for several years, and I volunteered to make an online video for the story. Photographer Lisa Krantz also stopped by the café to shoot some photos.

    The story, photos and video were published Sunday. And since then, Blanco said new customers keep walking in the door. Today, someone brought a copy of the article and asked for Blanco’s autograph.

    “It’s been great,” Blanco told me today when I bought a coffee — and later an espresso. “The article has drawn quite a bit of business my way.”

    With so many layoffs in the news business, many people assume that readers have abandoned newspapers in droves. While print circulation is certainly down, news stories still make the rounds in print and on the Web. We have a money problem, not a readership problem.

    Last year, I ran into another business owner who was profiled in the newspaper, and he had the same experience as Blanco. A talented intern at the San Antonio Express-News, Jaime Klein, wrote about an obscure barbershop downtown in the basement of the Sheraton Gunter Hotel. Here’s how the story started:

    The Gunter Hotel’s basement was once a men’s refuge. In the 1950s, a man could feast at Rathskeller’s buffet, get steamed in the Turkish bath and then talk shop while getting a shave, haircut and shoeshine at the hotel’s barbershop. Before venturing home, he could stop on the main level to buy jewelry for his wife.

    Most of the businesses closed in the 1960s, and the hotel’s housekeeping services now surround the barbershop — which turned 100 this year, the sole survivor of the “men’s center.”

    Lee Bosman, the shop’s owner, was lucky enough to see some of what he calls the “golden days.” At 27, after retiring from the Navy and a short stint with aviation company Swearingen, he graduated from barber college and started at the shop in 1975. He never left.

    I had never heard of the barbershop, so I stopped by for a shave and a shine. Bosman, the owner, was raving about the article. In fact, he had it framed. And, like Blanco, Bosman said new, curious customers visited the shop after the story was published.

    Bosman told me he had doubted, at first, that a young intern from the newspaper would “get” his business. But she did.

    “She did a really good job,” Bosman said.

    I don’t think newspapers are perfect. But clearly they’re still making a difference — even at small cafés and barbershops.

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    ]]>     https://johntedesco.net/blog/2010/04/09/readers-arent-getting-the-memo-that-no-one-reads-newspapers/feed/ 2 5256     How will end of print journalism affect old loons who hoard newspapers? https://johntedesco.net/blog/2010/03/09/how-will-end-of-print-journalism-affect-old-loons-who-hoard-newspapers/ Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:47:31 +0000 http://johntedesco.net/blog/?p=4885 God, I love the Onion.

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    God, I love the Onion.

    The post How will end of print journalism affect old loons who hoard newspapers? appeared first on John Tedesco.

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