After a long hiatus (attributed to that dreaded corporate illness “meeting-palooza”), Betsy returned to the studio today to talk about local digital journalistic endeavors — on her vacation, no less! This week, she was joined by web editor Jeff Bunch and reporter Libby Tucker, both with The Columbian in Vancouver, Washington.
If there was a theme to this week’s show, it’d be this:
Stop. Look. Listen.
Jeff and Libby both reinforced time and time again the value of listening — Jeff recounted the face-to-face conversations he’d had with disgruntled Columbian readers (including one Aaron Hockley!) disenchanted with the earlier iterations of the Columbian’s initial web presence, then talked about how he’s been able to change that model over time by integrating the entire newsroom into the publishing process & following through on initiatives to make the site more useful, relevant and engaging.
Libby talked about how her dual roles — that of business reporter and community manager for Innovate Clark County — aren’t that different after all, and how she’s become a better reporter by engaging with the people and companies she’s covering.
Both Libby and Jeff agree that Barry Johnson’s “news nuggets” concept, along with ditching AP/wire copy, moving towards incremental publishing, and putting digital people in front in order to drive change, will all help shift print-only mindsets into multi-platform publishers. While print as a relevant vehicle may have a short shelf life remaining, content producers should be able to adapt in order to stay relevant.
Jeff closed by sharing some of the insights he gleaned from attending Editor & Publisher’s Interactive Media Conference earlier this year, along with his experiences as an EPPY judge. (Please do take the time to check out Jeff’s personal site, jeffbunch.com, if you appreciate his POV…!)
Thanks to both Jeff and Libby for joining us this week, and come back for next week’s show, when Betsy will be joined by some of the creative team behind the new Portland news, analysis & entertainment hub EnzymePDX.
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