Page 1 of the November 2011 edition of Publishers' Auxiliary, featuring a story on the ACM Digital Reporter Project
American Consolidated Media’s Digital Reporter Project received Page 1 treatment from Publishers’ Auxiliary, the monthly trade publication of the National Newspaper Association.
The article quotes Josh Shannon, reporter with the Cecil Whig, located in Elkton, Md., and Micah Moore, reporter with the Stephenville (Texas) Empire-Tribune, and discusses the progress and scope of the project, and how it has affected news gathering at the newspapers within the project.
Below is the full story from Publishers’ Auxiliary:
Newspaper company works with new technology to spur digital-first reporting
By Stanley Schwartz
IRVING, TX—American Consolidated Media is trying new technology to increase the timeliness of the reporting at its newspapers’ websites.
The jump page from Publishers' Auxiliary featuring the story on ACM's Digital Reporter Project.
Project Development Manager Rick Rogers said the best way to sell more advertising is to have your salespeople out in the field selling.
“The same holds true for reporters,” he added. Rarely, does news happen in the paper’s office. “I wanted to get reporters out in the field more,” he said. So he launched a content strategy utilizing Apple’s iPad2.
“We want reporters to get the news online as quickly as possible,” he said, “then follow up with more in-depth stories in print.” Rogers added that he knows print readers prefer the more in-depth stories that newspapers provide. ACM owns about 100 newspapers. Rogers purchased 10 iPad2s and put them in the hands of reporters at the company’s papers in Maryland, Ohio, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Texas.
Rogers went to the company’s regional managers and asked them to nominate reporters who they thought would be able to handle the new online-first initiative.
Then, he provided one-on-one training on how to effectively use the iPad2.
“I was surprised at how well it has gone,” he said. “It’s a dynamic machine.”
The 10 reporters currently using the iPad2s take the devices whenever they leave the office.
One reporter, he noted, went to a structure fi re and was able to report, shoot a video, edit it and send it back to the office before leaving the scene.
“By the time he got back to the office,” Rogers said, “the story and video were already on the paper’s website.”
Although the iPad2 is a great tool, he added, it’s not perfect.
The camera app opens the tablet’s photo function, but it doesn’t have a zoom. (For more on what reporters would need on an iPad2, see the sidebar on Page 23.)
“You have to be close,” he said. “But this is not Dateline NBC. We’re print journalists.”
Rogers said he also bought the iMovie app for the iPad2, which makes it fairly simple to post movies to the YouTube channel.
Right now he is considering buying more iPad2s, because of how well the program
is going. “You can do everything on it that you can do on a desktop computer except paginate.”
Also, he noted that he did not consider other tablets when first launching the project, but as he looks at the project’s next phase, he is considering trying a handful of Android devices to compare abilities.
Before this project was initiated, Rogers said the company’s reporters used the Flip video camera. But because it was not in hand most of the time, creating and posting video was an afterthought. Now, he said, the reporters in the test group are thinking Web first when they arrive at the scene of a story.
“The iPad2 makes them think digital. It’s not an afterthought.”
And because of this, he added, website traffic has increased at the newspapers where the reporters are using the iPad2s.
The equipment is especially helpful at sporting events and city council meetings, Rogers added. Reporters can tweet and write stories while at events. They can make and edit videos and post them to the paper’s website before they get back to the office. All the iPad2s he bought are equipped with 3G cell phone network technology. He also bought cases and Bluetooth external keyboards.
“That way they don’t need to find a Wi-Fi hotspot to post stories and videos,” he said. “They are excited with what they can do with it. I tell them to treat it like a newborn baby,” he added when questioned about the iPad2’s durability.
Currently, the reporters have to send their stories to an editor first. But when iPhone5 technology becomes available, Rogers said the reporters will be able to post directly to a paper’s website.
It’s up to the individual editors, he said, but reporters should be trusted enough to be able to post three to fi ve paragraphs of clean, accurate copy on breaking news.
He said the company is also beginning to create a social media policy for employees who post information under the paper’s name.
PUTTING THE TECHNOLOGY TO USE
Micah Moore, a reporter who has been with ACM’s Stephenville (TX) Empire-Tribune for a little more than a year, said he had been using the iPad2 for about a month.
“As a tool, it’s really changing a lot about how I’m able to report a story,” he said. With the keypad, camera and video camera, he said he can publish a story online quickly. “It helps us to compete; to stay fresh.”
And instead of asking if a story is going to be online or in print, the story is automatically added to the paper’s website and followed up with a more in-depth story in the print product of the paper.
Moore said he is impressed with the video quality of the iPad2, but not the tablet’s camera app. That is why he keeps an SLR camera on his shoulder when he is covering a story.
“It’s easy to use,” he noted about the iPad2. Creating and editing video on the tablet can be done quickly. It’s not as high quality as a TV station’s newscast, but that is “because we don’t have the same equipment resources, but it is comparable.”
At a recent high school football game, Moore shot video of the marching band’s half-time performance. He told the band teacher that the video would be posted on the paper’s website before the game was over.
One of his former journalism professors, Moore said, asked him to return and talk to his class about the real world applications of the iPad2.
COVERING DISASTERS
Josh Shannon, a reporter with the Cecil (MD) Whig, used the iPad2 after Hurricane Irene swept up the Eastern Seaboard, flooding parts of the state.
“There was a lot of fl ooding in our county,” he said. “The main thing I’ve been using it for is the ability to shoot and quickly post video. I can edit it right on the iPad2.”
Shannon stood in the fl oodwaters reporting on current conditions a few weeks after the storm. He had a photographer from the paper hold the iPad2 while he did his on-the-spot reporting.
Shannon, who started at the Whig in June, said he recently traveled about 45 minutes to cover a news conference about a slain police officer.
“It was pretty big news here,” he said. “I literally wrote and posted the story from the parking lot. The ability to do that is really changing what we can do.”
Not having to return to the office to file his story allowed Shannon to make the
paper’s deadline. “Almost everything I do on a desktop computer I can do on the
iPad2, but out in the field.”
Having the ability to post quickly has also boosted morale, he added.
“Now we joke about who will get more hits on YouTube,” Shannon said. “It’s exciting to see where things are going to go from here.”
Being in front of the camera is something with which Shannon said he is becoming more comfortable. But he prefers to do voice-overs for his video posts.
“There’s a reason I went into print journalism,” he said. “I’m not a natural on camera. But after you do it a few times” it becomes easier. And after two months with the iPad2, he said it feels like old hat.
When shooting video, Shannon said he has to remind himself not to walk and shake the tablet.
“I have to lock my elbows into the sides of my chest or sit down and rest my hands on something.” Using two hands is important, as well.
Shannon said he believes ACM is really pleased with the results of the test and will be buying more tablets soon to give more reporters the ability to post from the field.
Rogers said the 10 iPad2s with all the apps and accessories cost about $10,000.
The front page of the Tuesday, May 22, 2012 edition of the Miami (Okla.) News-Record was featured in the Top 10 pages of the day gallery on the Newseum website.
