ASNE DIVERSITY SUMMIT: Day 1
Leadership in Diversity: New Models for Growing Audience, Talent & Revenue; Sept. 19, 2011 @ NYT, 15th Floor conference center
A CALL TO ACTION
- Diversity 3rd consecutive year of decline across newsrooms
- 12.79% of newsrooms are diverse -- #ASNE diversity committee Karen Magnuson (@karmagnuson)
ARTHUR SULZBERGER, JR.
Opening speakerChairman, The New York Times Company, Publisher, The NYT- Embraced diversity across all business units- Audience "can see thru any effort to 'create' diversity"- Content must include diversity of thought, style and tone- Recruit outside your comfort zone- Hire someone w/less experience than you preferFRANS JOHANSSON
Headlining speaker (@medicieffect)
Author of "The Medici Effect: What Elephants and Epidemics Can Teach Us About Innovation"- OBVIOUS: diversity drives innovation- Creative Process: throw stuff out there. Narrow down, research, iterate- Creativity v innovation = new idea v execution- Warning: If your idea is too big, it mAy never get started- Watch out for those "usual suspect" gatherings - not a place for creative, innovative, diverse thinking- Best chances of developing groundbreaking ideas when you combine vastly different cultures.- All new ideas are a combination of existing ideas- Almost all innovative ideas seem obvious after the fact- Bring a different perspective, go where others didn't go before.- BOTTOM LINE: If you bring people of diverse backgrounds together you will get better ideasESPN: Blueprint for Success
Leon Carter (@ScandalB4God, VP/Exec Editor, ESPNNewYork.com)
- Whenever something goes wrong in the newsroom, , "It's a Scandal before god." Thus his Twitter handle:- Those of us in leadership positions, I ask each of you what do you do about diversity- Leave your comfort zone- You see diverse faces at online newsrooms but not too many are running things- WARNING: when using clever headlines on deadline, make sure you pass it around diverse members ie. "Dread Scott" for a sports story- If you're looking for diverse candidates diversify your recruiting habits and spend some time places you don't usually go- To recruit #diversity, need to diversify recruiting. Try recruiting at historically black colleges like Howard, Hampton- What happens when you are not there? Challenge to diverse staf//editors- When you look at the #s and you have to cut, I hope you look at the people and not cut diversityNEW BUSINESS MODELS: TARGETED CONTENT, TARGETED AUDIENCES
- Proof DIVERSITY fuels revenue , new biz models on div hyperlocal comms
- @NY1noticias@TheRoot247 @CNN @JLab @Qcitymetro
- TONJA BROWN (senior editor, strategic integration @CNN)- Revenue is a byproduct of a great idea- Value different opinions, find dissenters and those culturally curious- You got to be agile if you want to see your idea executed, do your research- Be prepared to call in whether fail, succeed etc - like Old Country for Old Men- I treat anyone who is in decision making roles at work as person at the bank, dec how fulfill needs: revenue, time before ROI- Value different opinions, find dissenters and those culturally curious- Keeps me up at night - media industry doesn't understand the multicultural general market
- - Don't duplicate - do you own market research, test drive your ideas- Figure out your elevator pitch, what your ASK is, not same for everybody, could be advice, leads, $ etc- Treat your reader as your community, not your customer- Be journalistically curious - ethics are changing - search, who/what identified, anonymous comments, publisher/editor roles, new spaces + judgements
- MARITZA PUELLO (exec editor @NY1noticias)- 20-25% Spanish speaking out of 5 boroughs in NY, challenge is representing all diff ethnicities- We're advocating for the viewer- There's a certain personality type that works in startups - good work ethic, easily adaptable- Use your staff to reach diverse audiences ie. young reporters and tech- Culture issues - paying for stories, appearing on TV - become an educator bc don't want to implode that bridge- Do more w less but what if not have more? stressful but really innovative+streamlined+meaner+eaner bigger!
- PAUL CHEUNG (@pcheung630 project director @OurChinatown)- Crossroads between diversity and tech - CHINATOWN! comm newspaper but no other outlet - found a niche!- Ultimate goal is to be a mobile newsroom = reporters capturing and downloading news on mobile- With 0 mktg + no campaigning - 7000 unique/month in Manhattan -- imagine if expanded, can capture 50% of market- Unique idea - think Chinese version of Craigslist- Be agile, not make a fuss when test kitchen somethg ie. try @wordpress - watch how develop + change accordingly
- - If you think mainstream publications are slow to adopt the web, African American ones even slower so he was quick to hop on it- The mainstream underestimate the importance of Jinwright trial - folks thought they had a comp inside the courtroom @qcitymetro covered extensively- When you're a small site and you're taking candidate money - you're very acutely aware when you're writing- Don't forget about revenue AND build audience- What gets me up in the morning is the readers- The Web is like restaurants. You don't go to the same one every day, but you return to the good ones
The Root | HomeIt's time for politicians to pay as much attention to homeowners and workers as they do Wall Street, blogs ColorLines editor Kai Wright. Obama is on track to issue more deportations in a single term than George W. Bush did in his entire eight years, according to a blog by Adam Serwer at Mother Jones.- JOEL DREYFUSS (@joeldr managing editor, theRoot.com)- Delicate balance w sponsored content- 2M uniques/month - minority of non-African Americans 20-40% but can't sell that group, advertisers only interested in African Ams audience http://wapo.st/pDb6lT- Recommends "The Tanning of America" How Hip-Hop Created a Culture That Rewrote the Rules of the New Economy- Why African Am media nec.? ie. being written out of history - Time Inc's profiles of 9-11 -- no African Americans represented!- Some potential recruits reluctant to work in ethnic media- Once a day, run a story that u think readers will not be interested in -- Reason why we exist- Root DC launched by lots of comm civic outreach, leaders, bloggers and a party for @washingtonpost http://wapo.st/osjT2R@garciaruize
