A converged news operation offers improved quality control, more efficient workflows, cost savings, and new business opportunities.

The newsroom needs to have a central superdesk operating as the command-and-control centre for the media organisation. All the main editorial decisions will be made by those working on the superdesk.

The superdesk will be responsible for ensuring that one set of sourced, attributed and verified facts are made available to the widest possible audience on multiple devices.

The material will be created by a multiskilled production team using multiplatform authoring tools.

Convergence is essential for a multimedia news organisation.

The print, on-air, online and mobile versions of the news organisation’s output need to cross-promote each other.

Each must add specific elements so that the user is able to access information on the various platforms.

It’s also essential to use social networking tools for research, newsgathering, production and news dissemination.

Setting up a newsroom superdesk

Convergence is an editorial strategy issue and not a space, resource, technology or time issue. These are the most common excuses given for delaying or opposing the introduction of such a system.

It is not a nice-to-have option to be accommodated or considered by print, TV or interactive staff; it is essential for the effective functioning of a modern newsroom.

It doesn’t need to be expensive. There are many open-source tools available to help media organisations introduce convergence without incurring high costs.

In my media development work, I have helped print and broadcast news organisations build converged newsrooms based around a central superdesk system in Zimbabwe, Serbia, Croatia, Guatemala, Vietnam, Malaysia, Syria, Indonesia and Georgia.

Some have a handful of staff operating in a space the size of small living room, others have large purpose-built newsrooms and employ several hundred staff.

It doesn’t matter what size the news organisation is, what matters is adapting the following strategy to work for you and your audience.

Rules

• All interactive elements of your output must be by-products of a converged news operation and not stand-alone and self-managed entities
• The news website must display the main editorial choices made by the editorial teams in charge of your news organisation’s output.
• The news website must offer visitors an interactive experience that gives background information to all stories covered on air or in print.
• The audience must be fully engaged in, and be able to participate in, the newsgathering and news dissemination process via embedded interactive and social networking tools on all items.
• All platforms must cross-promote the others with information that helps the audience find the material you are producing and engage with your output.
• No story will be exclusive to one platform, but will be available on all devices.

Benefits

• News output will be consistent on all devices. This will strengthen the brand.
• Centralised quality control will ensure that the content on all devices is of the highest standard.
• Shared planning will ensure a steady supply of original journalism covering the issues of most concern to the audience.
• Streamlined newsgathering will improve news response speed and efficiency.
• There will be a reduced duplication of effort leading to savings in resource costs.
• The news organisation will be able to respond to new business opportunities and will be able to produce the content from existing resources.

Workflow

• All senior editorial staff need to sit together. This could be around one central superdesk, or in one area of the newsroom where they are all breathing the same news air and can hear the latest news calls.
• Sitting around the superdesk in a large news organisation will be an intake editor, various output editors, a planning editor, and a resources manager. In smaller organisations staff might have to take on multiple responsibilities.
• The planning editor needs to work closely with the interactive editor (I/A in the graphic below) to ensure that all in-depth, issue-led, investigative journalism is supported by fact files, timelines, profiles, and interactive features, so that these elements can be cross-promoted.
• The interactive editor must make full use of social media not only to inform the audience, but also to inform the news organisation’s journalism as to the needs and priorities of the audience.
• All will be involved in a continuous news discussion, making one set of editorial decisions and then ensuring that the output is consistently good on all devices and that all cross-promote the other.

A sample converged workflow

Editorial essentials

• Define your news organisation’s core editorial proposition. This is what you cover that others don’t, or the distinctive way you cover news.
• Ensure that all staff know the target audience for each platform, what that audience needs to know and how that audience uses the platforms.
• Continue to educate all staff, from senior journalists to the most recent recruit, in the continuing changing audience behaviour and the ways the audience is consuming news. Never presume that this news consumption stays the same. It doesn’t.
• List the special sections and in-depth areas that the online version will be required to create to support the overall editorial proposition.
• Work out the expected content production levels (number of stories a day and frequency of updates) so that you can manage resources effectively.
• Translate this into staffing needs, hours to be covered, multi-skilling training required. All staff should be able to use all newsroom systems and the online content management system (CMS) to update all platforms.
• Train staff in the writing disciplines needed to create content once so that it can be used on multiple platforms.

Technical essentials

• Where possible try to use tried, tested and proven open-source tools for news production.
• Install a central CMS and instruct all journalists to create their articles in it.
• Consider free tools such as YouTube, Vimeo or SoundCloud to embed audio and video in articles.
• Install a central database for storing content and distributing it to multiple devices.
• Add social media sharing buttons to all your online pages and assets (audio, video, maps, timelines, images) so that the audience can save, share, re-use and comment.
• Ensure that all journalists have a desktop social media monitoring tool, such as HootSuite, TweetDeck or any other aggregator and encourage them to watch how the audience is responding to news developments.

Design issues

• The design elements that distinguish your brand must be visible across all platforms.
• Your will need a breaking news tool that can be managed from the superdesk. This is so that one output editor can update all devices with one action once the news is confirmed. Make sure these connect to Twitter, Facebook and all your social media outlets.
• Ensure that all your web pages are optimised so that they will rank highly in search results. This is called SEO (search engine optimisation).

Human resource issues

• Ensure that all existing staff and new staff realise they are working as part of a multi-skilled team in a multi-platform news operation – you may need to look at existing contracts.
• Offer training for those who need to learn new skills, but make it part of the media organisation’s development rather than a personal preference.
• Set corporate, unit and individual objectives defining newsroom performance targets.
• All staff must work flexible hours.
• Implement a rota system that ensures adequate recovery time.
• Carry out workplace assessments in terms of ergonomics (whether the seats and desks are set so that they don’t injure your staff).
• Ensure adequate screen breaks for all computer users.

Convergence offers many more benefits than just cost saving and efficiencies in news production. It will prove a major benefit to your journalism and your media business.

The post Creating a converged news operation first appeared on Media Helping Media.

A converged newsroom operates like a content factory, responsible for all intake, production and output. It gathers and processes raw material, creates different products, and then ensures they are delivered to the target audience.

In this module we look at how it is done.

The superdesk

This module is about the workflows and roles and responsibilities that make a converged newsroom run smoothly.

Below is a graphic setting out what a typical superdesk might look like.

Both intake (everything that comes into the news operation), and output (everything that is delivered from the news operation to the audience on multiple devices) need to be close together.

Ideally, representatives of both will sit around the same desk. If space is an issue, and one desk can’t be set up, then they need to be sitting close together. They need to be able to communicate and collaborate at all times in order to respond swiftly to changes in news priorities.

People give this desk different names. Some call it the news hub, some the news cog; it doesn’t matter what it’s called, what matters is what it does. For this series of training modules we are calling this desk the superdesk.

The superdesk is the newsroom’s central command-and-control. It’s where all the main news decisions are made. It serves as a responsive, dynamic focal point for everything to do with the smooth running of the news organisation.

Who sits around the superdesk?

Those sitting around the super desk need to be breathing the same air, hearing the same news alerts, and be taking part in impromptu news meetings, called to deal with the unexpected.

Choosing who sits at the superdesk is up to you. That decision will depend on your overall strategy and who the main decision makers are in your news organisation.

It will also depend on where you need to prioritise effort, the most popular platforms/devices used by your target audience, and the resources available to you.

However, there are a number of important roles that should be represented on the superdesk.

These are roles, not necessarily individuals. For example, the intake editor role will probably need to be covered 24 hours a day for a large news organisation. In that case, the intake editor position on the superdesk should be a seat, populated by different people as working shifts change.

The exceptions might be the planning editor and the cross-promotions roles. They might be positions that need to be filled during the daytime only.

You will need an intake editor role. This is the person who is responsible for everything coming into the building.

You will need an output editor role. This is the person who provide the quality control for everything going out of the building and who liaises directly with production.

You will need someone from the interactive team. They need to ensure the website is publishing all breaking and developing news updates. They will also report to the superdesk regarding all developments on social media.

You will need someone to manage resources, and someone representing planning.

There are other roles you could add, but let’s start with the main ones.

The intake editor

The intake editor acts as the eyes and ears of your news business. They are responsible for all the material that comes into your news production process. This will include the news gathering efforts of your own team of journalists.

It will also involve responding to stories that are being fed by wires services, and monitoring the stories being covered by the competition.

The intake editor has the authority to call an instant, stand-up impromptu meeting when there is breaking news, in order to help the output team adjust to new developments.

They are, essentially, looking out of the building at all the elements that will inform and feed your news operation.

They are not responsible for output. This is an important point. That role falls to the output editor.

The output editor

The output editor looks after quality control. They are also responsible for ensuring deadlines are met. They are the defender of the news brand. Nothing gets past the output editor that could damage that brand.

They ensure the material is accurate, that it’s objective, impartial and fair. Their job is to focus on production values. They need to ensure all platforms are served.

They can’t afford to be distracted by watching the competition, keeping up to date with the wires services, and responding to input issues and logistics. That’s why those tasks are the responsibility of the intake editor.

However, the two work closely together, although doing different jobs. They are in constant communication. Between them the main news decisions for the whole news operation rest.

Planning editor

We discussed the strategic role of the planning editor in the module about forward planning. The planning editor is responsible for managing the news organisation’s unique editorial proposition of in-depth, well-planned, investigative journalism, which provides your market differential.

The planning editor will attend all the main news meetings held at the superdesk. They will offer at least one piece of original journalism a day, probably more than that.

They will listen to what is happening on the day and will ensure that all the major stories are followed up. The shared planning calendar will help.

The planning editors role will not only take the pressure off the journalists working on the daily output, but it will also guarantee that there is a continuous stream of unique content produced on all platforms.

Interactive editor

Having someone from the interactive team sitting on the superdesk means that the online and mobile coverage will be able to respond faster to breaking news developments.

It also means that the superdesk will be informed about how the audience is responding to developing news, and it will provide a different perspective on newsgathering and how news should be covered.

Similarly, having someone from the social media team, will alert the superdesk to developments on the various social media platforms used by the target audience.

This will ensure that the online and other digital versions of your output are not just an after thought, but are a central part of all you do.

And that will show through in your production values, which, in turn, might encourage the audience to engage with your content more.

This will also help with cross-promotion because your on air presenters can be briefed to drive audience traffic to the online and on mobile versions for any added value content.

Resource manager

This role is sometimes called the production manager. This is the person who is responsible for all the resources required to produce the journalism. This could be the camera crews, the vehicles, and the edit suites.

The resource manager needs to respond quickly once the intake editor has alerted the superdesk of a new story development, and the editorial team on the superdesk decides that information is so important that resources have to be shifted from a lesser story.

Cross-promotions producer

Some newsrooms have a cross-promotions producer. Their job is to ensure that all output areas are aware of what others are doing and that content is exploited for the maximum benefit of the news brand and the audience. They will work across TV, radio, print, online and mobile where appropriate.

In some cases they will design teasers, in other cases they will make sure the material is produced by others. Essentially, they will ensure there are no wasted opportunities.

Next we look at the workflow for a converged newsroom.

The converged newsroom workflow

The roles and responsibilities outlined above are just a guide. You will need to design your own version of a superdesk so that it makes business sense for your media organisation.

But do try to keep intake and output as separate roles. And do ensure that you have a planning function. Once you have reorganised, the workflow is fairly simple.

As has already been stated, the superdesk is your newsroom’s central command-and-control. All the main news decisions are made here. It is responsible for intake, planning and output.

As you will see from the graphic below, once those decision are made the instructions are sent to production – ideally via a representative attending the superdesk meetings.

The production teams then ensure that the appropriate platform-specific value is added to the story based on audience needs, device/platform capabilities, and strategic business logic.

That means that if they are working on the web or mobile versions they will add interactive timelines, infographics, photo galleries, video, and other digital assets, where appropriate.

If they are working on the TV version they will create TV packages that can cross-promote the digital assets being offered on the other platforms.

Production will no longer be carried out in isolation but as a part of a coherent and coordinated presentation on multiple devices.

The post Convergence, workflows, roles and responsibilities first appeared on Media Helping Media.

There are many demands on a newsroom. There is the routine flow of news releases and stage-managed events that need to be covered. There are the stories from the various wires services. There are the unexpected breaking and developing news stories. There are the original stories which journalists stumble across in the course of their work.

And there are well-planned, in-depth reports, produced by reporters investigating issues and uncovering previously unpublicised information.

In this module we look at a tool that can be used to help media managers prioritise effort and resources on the stories that really matter to the target audience.

If implemented, you will find that resources, previously allocated to stories of little interest to your audience, can be saved and reinvested in the stories that support your content and market differential.

The content value matrix

Managing all the news sources mentioned above is a challenge.

Running a modern, converged news operation, delivering content to multiple devices, 24 hours a day, is like being on a treadmill; there is so much to do that editors sometimes find it hard to stop and take a hard look at the material being produced.

That is why a content review is required from time to time to ensure that journalists are being deployed strategically, and that the work they are doing is meeting the information needs of the target audience.

The content value matrix will help media managers focus resources on the stories that matter, and it will help them drop – or reconsider – the stories that the audience doesn’t find interesting.

Essential data

Before you start you will need to gather some data. This can be from audience research, or it can be from analysing the visits to your online and mobile material.

Use this data to find out which stories the audience values the most. Then plot the stories in a graph.

Draw a vertical line on a white board. This is your cost line. At the top put a plus sign and at the bottom a minus sign. Now draw a horizontal line through the middle. This is your audience appreciation line.

On the left put a minus sign, and at the right put a plus sign. Now enter the stories as a scatter chart.

Box 1 – high audience value, low production costs

Stories in the top left quadrant, Box 1, are stories that the audience values, and which are not costly to produce.

These are the stories on which you should focus. The more you do of these stories, the more the audience will appreciate your news service, and the more efficient you will be.

The challenge you face is to remain focussed on these stories and avoid being distracted by trivial news that has no real value to your audience or to your business.

Box 2 – high audience value, high production costs

Stories in the top right quadrant, Box 2, are stories that the audience values, but which are costly to create.

The challenge for you as a media manager is to move these stories into the top left quadrant, Box 1, so that they remain stories the audience values, but they are not costly to produce.

This will mean you will need to introduce more efficient workflows. Introducing a converged newsroom will help you achieve this.

Box 3 – low audience value, low production costs

Now let’s look at the bottom left quadrant, Box 3. You will notice that these stories are not costly to produce but, so far, have not been valued by the audience.

Stories in this quadrant deserve some analysis. It could be that these stories are important in terms of informing the public debate, but your journalists haven’t been telling them properly, or haven’t been producing them in a compelling way.

Take some time to consider how these stories can be moved into Box 1. It could be that some in-house training is needed in how to write scripts, use images or interview people. It could be as simple as organising training in better headline writing.

This might not be a time-consuming task, but the more of these stories you can move to Box 1 the better.

Box 4 – low audience value, high production costs

Now let’s look at all the stories that fall into Box 4. These are stories that are costly to produce and which the audience doesn’t value. This is the easiest decision to make. Simply stop doing these stories and, instead, transfer resources to the other three boxes.

The aim of the content value matrix

Carry out this exercise at least once a year; preferably every six months.

It will help you evaluate what you are producing, how you are producing it, how you promote it, and whether it still meets the needs of your target audience – on which your entire news business logic is built.

Story weighting

The content value matrix tool should be run in conjunction with another tool developed by Media Helping Media – the story weighting system. Read more about how to apply this model in order to assess the value of stories when creating a running order or list of story priorities.

The post Prioritising production with the content value matrix first appeared on Media Helping Media.

If the editor-in-chief of your news organisation is out of the country, she or he should be able to browse your news website and, by looking at your story choice and treatment, have a good idea about the news priorities of the entire news organisation.

Your website will probably share the same news schedule as your broadcast or print colleagues. You may share reporters and correspondents. Some have a combined planning team.

When stories are discussed for TV, radio or print, someone from the online team needs to be present. They need to sit in on news meetings and suggest interactive elements for all the big stories. Their role is to come up with ideas for presenting information in ways that can engage the audience.

The duty editor needs to ensure that the material that appears on the news website cross-promotes other news output areas. If the website is part of a broadcasting organisation with TV and radio news output, it will be expected to display the best of the material produced by the broadcasters, along with supporting in-depth background information.

The news website should include details of when that item can next be seen on TV or radio. This is particularly true where your news operation has uncovered valuable, exclusive information and has a special programme, or a special report, running on TV or radio.

The cross-promotion can be shown as a text link signifying when the next opportunity for watching or listening to the news item is scheduled, or it can be a box offering some or all of the material from the TV and radio output. For news websites offering video and audio on-demand, cross-promotion is essential.

Managing all these resources so that they enhance the news website and the stories that appear on it, is one of the main functions of the online duty editor. It is also important that the audience finds the same facts online as they hear or see on air or read in print. They must not be given mixed messages.

Liaising with other departments

It is important that the duty editor has a system for letting other departments know which stories the online team is investing time and resources covering. This usually begins with the daily news meetings. The chances for cross-promotion on air, on screen, and in print, will be far greater if the person in charge of the editorial content on the website lets the editors of other news outlets know what the online team is creating.

Some news operations have a shared folder on the organisation’s computer system where the various elements of a story are added so that all are aware of what is being created and what is available. Some have a superdesk system where representatives of all outlets sit together and share knowledge. Whatever the system, the duty editor in charge of the news website should tap into this resource regularly.

TV and radio producers will need to know when an interactive element is likely to be ready so that they can promote it in their programmes. They will want to know when the interactive team is in place to take feedback from users online. They will need to know when a guest is being lined up for an online interview.

All these elements need to be brought together by the duty editor and offered to all outlets in good time for them to include a mention in their output. It is pointless for a news website to organise a talking point on an issue if the duty editor hasn’t told his or her counterparts about it.

As you inform these outlets, be ready to consider their suggestions. The other editors might have excellent ideas about what should be created online. Keep an open mind. Be prepared to try new ideas if they will enhance the output.

News agenda

The duty editor of a news website must check every decision to ensure that it is in the best interest of the news brand and its users. Examining motives is essential. There have been hand-over meetings where the incoming duty editor has decided to change the front page completely.

This is justified if the previous front page was an inadequate reflection of the news, but it is not justified if it is to try to make the incoming duty editor look good. There have been stories that have taken hours to create, removed from the front page after appearing there for less than an hour. It may be, however, that there is so much breaking news that there is no room for everything.

The news agenda must:

• include all the main stories being covered by the rest of the news operation.
• exploit all resources and effort being committed to covering the news.
• reflect the strengths of your organisation’s newsgathering effort.

The news agenda is not:

• the chance for the in-coming duty editor to look good.
• an opportunity to play with news to appear clever.
• an excuse to deploy inappropriate interactive elements.
• a news product isolated from the rest of the news operation.

The duty editor of a news website has an enormous responsibility. She or he needs to be clear about why news items appear, and why changes are made.

The post How to set online news priorities first appeared on Media Helping Media.

Most newsrooms hold a morning news meeting. Some hold several meetings throughout the day.

These meetings are when the editor, or duty editor on shift, organises resources, sets out what is required, gives a clear outline of what news stories are going to be covered, and encourages ideas from the journalists attending.

Copies of the news diary should be available, including the news prospects, the planning agenda, running orders of any TV or radio bulletins, and a hand-over note from the outgoing duty editor.

The news diary will list events that are in the public domain, such as news conferences.

The forward planning prospects will be about original, in-depth journalism produced to meet the needs of your news organisation’s target audience. Please refer to our training module about identifying the target audience and its needs.

In a large media organisation representatives of the various sections need to attend. In a small organisation it might be possible for most staff to attend.

If the news operation has a website, a representative of the interactive team should be present along with the person responsible for social media.

Representatives of the specialist units such as business, technology, health, environment, sport etc, should attend.

Specialist staff will be expected to have prepared for the meeting by digging around stories where they might be able to add value and insight.

The duty editor should ask them what is important in their particular areas of coverage.

It’s important to have someone from the design team attending the meeting. Their job will be to create graphics to illustrate stories.

Ideally graphics should be consistent in style whether used on air, in print or online. They could be graphics designed to explain a point, or they might be promotional graphics to draw attention to a story.

Allocating resources

The hand-over notes, prospects, and planning notes, left behind by the previous shift, will help the duty editor plan what resources will be needed, and what to expect from the journalists. See the training module on story weighting.

There is no point committing valuable journalistic effort to make repeat calls and carry out research that has already been undertaken by another member of your news organisation’s staff.

Engaging the audience

The team which runs the interactive element of the website, such as forums, polls and UGC (user-generated content), has an important part to play in the morning meeting.

They might choose to speak last after they have heard all the ideas being floated around.

The interactive team sets up opportunities for audience engagement, and also feeds back audience responses into the editorial process.

It’s in everybody’s interest to run interactive features that can feed off news items and which can cross-promote those items across all platforms.

Multimedia offering

Similarly, the multimedia team will have a representative at the news meeting. They need to hear what stories are being produced and ensure that any audio and video to be used to illustrate those stories is made available online and on mobile.

Those visiting your news website might not use the other platforms on which your news organisation’s information is presented. They might not watch TV, read newspapers, or listen to the radio. Your presentation of their daily intake of news on one particular device might be the only contact they have with your news brand.

That is why it is important that you don’t assume they have already seen the news elsewhere. You might also have to act as a clearing house for all the other news being covered by others.

Your audience will expect you to sift through the hundreds of news stories, pick the most important 10 to 20, and present them in a way that makes sense to their lives. Please refer to our training module about creating a journalism content value matrix.

You might want to read our 50 tips for running an effective news meeting.

The post Getting the best out of a news meeting first appeared on Media Helping Media.