Reinventing the article
Jay Rosen felt a Reuters article was too complicated for the average reader to understand. This led to a discussion about rethinking how articles are presented.
@AntDeRosa Should be a sign on this story: "written so people who aren't in the investor class cannot understand it." reut.rs/KbIxhi- Why Business Insider and @hblodget are owning the Facebook IPO story, from the user's point of view. slate.me/JhEg7R
@jayrosen_nyu I'm definitely not in the investor class and I understood nearly ever word of it. What part was confusing?- @AntDeRosa Okay, I guess I just don't have the knowledge to participate in this story.
- @felixsalmon @AntDeRosa I don't have a problem with Reuters writing for the investor class. I just want them to tell me: "not for you, Jay."
@felixsalmon @AntDeRosa @jayrosen_nyu Thus the need for backgrounders as ongoing assets (not mere mentions/grafs)- @jayrosen_nyu If I could offer one improvement for non-investors, I would have given a better explanation of what a market-maker is.
- @AntDeRosa What these people on this critical phone call do, what they couldn't do because of screw-ups, and how that affected other people.
@AntDeRosa I'm with @jayrosen_nyu, this is a story for professionals, not the public. Frinstance, how did the market makers lose money?- @AntDeRosa @jayrosen_nyu it's impossible to answer that question without substantial information that isn't in the story
- @felixsalmon @jayrosen_nyu Like I said, I think the story would have been improved with a better definition of a market-maker.
- @felixsalmon @jayrosen_nyu In fact, I think Felix could do a fine job explaining it in a Felix TV video.
- @jeffjarvis @felixsalmon @AntDeRosa Right. The story doesn't come with any way to access the background knowledge it actually depends on.
- @jayrosen_nyu @felixsalmon @AntDeRosa Background paragraphs should be links -- and more than paragraphs
- @AntDeRosa @jayrosen_nyu @felixsalmon Not all readers are the same. Articles can/should be assets & paths
- @jayrosen_nyu @jeffjarvis @felixsalmon Some parts should have been obvious to provide background on (market-maker) the rest requires what...
- @jeffjarvis @jayrosen_nyu @felixsalmon ...I've been pushing for, a Quora for news sites, so users could ask more
How do market makers calculate the bid-ask spread?Asymmetric Information In a quote-driven market, market makers (MMs) are essentially continuously posting limit buy (bid) and limit sell ...- @AntDeRosa @jayrosen_nyu @felixsalmon Expert comes for just what's new; novice gets explainers that are separately maintained
- @AntDeRosa @jayrosen_nyu @felixsalmon The link kills/supersedes the background graf, which necessarily ill serves all
- @AntDeRosa @jayrosen_nyu @felixsalmon But you can anticipate those questions--that's the journo's main job--and answer them in new ways
- @felixsalmon @jayrosen_nyu @AntDeRosa Imagine a news story as a Prezi path among assets, different for everyone: what's new, nut graf...
- @jeffjarvis @felixsalmon @jayrosen_nyu I agree, if I was rebuilding the whole thing from the ground up, that's exactly how I'd want it
