Collaboration, non-profit, and multimedia: the future of journalism?

I'm stepping out of my role as a photographer for a sec and taking a look at the bigger picture, so to say. I will always consider myself a journalist, first. Photography just happens to be my medium of choice for communication. So I follow a lot of web sites and blogs to keep abreast of issues and trends in the industry.

MediaShift, one of my favorites, recently posted a story about a project – UBC Students, Globe and Mail Investigate Hidden Cost of Shrimp.  It's the type of long-term, labor-intensive investigative journalism that's been falling by the wayside in this era of change and transition. It's also a fascinating study and perhaps an ideal example of the direction journalism might be headed.

Not so long ago, newspapers were tremendously profitable and broadcast networks were willing to operate their news divisions at a loss as a public service in exchange for use of the pubic airwaves. Professional journalists tossed out information for audiences to consume, sometimes without ever knowing if it resonated. But companies were willing to spend vast resources to produce multi-part investigative series and devote multiple pages or air time so photojournalists could explore the world and report their findings visually.

No more.

Stemming the tide of newspaper readers defecting to the Internet for information is a losing battle, no matter how hard or smartly fought. And the advertisers follow the readers. The broadcast industry no longer considers any endeavor that's not wildly profitable to be worth their resources. They are also losing a considerable share of advertisers to the internet.

So these "legacy media" companies must get into the internet game or risk becoming entirely extinct. The Internet is a beast, though. A wild, untamed, spirited beast that's still evolving. It's a medium that requires entirely new ways of thinking: thinking about ways to communicate. Ways to make money. Ways to engage an audience.

The nuances of complex stories are ideally conveyed in a comprehensive multimedia approach.

Journalists who are uncomfortable interacting with their audience need not apply. Reporters specializing in only one medium of communication soon will find out that job listings for their kind are short. Graphic designers and sales representatives specializing in static display advertising better start learning to code, write apps, and teach others how to use them – or retire soon. News companies (once fiercely competitive and protective of their products and brands) who don't learn to share resources might find themselves standing alone – and bankrupt.

It's a brave new world where interaction and multimedia rule the day.

And honestly, that's not such a bad thing. There are lots of details that need to be worked out over time. Such as how to fund journalism in the future. That's a pretty big detail, if talented folks want to continue and make a career in journalism.

This collaboration between the University of British Columbia journalism students and the Globe and Mail, largely funded by a private foundation, could be one of many possible frameworks for the future.

I can tell you that the legacy media companies, particularly newspapers, aren't relishing the non-profit aspect, but they probably need to face up to the fact that the days of 20-30% profit margins common in the mid-to-late 1990s are unlikely to ever return. Non-profit isn't the only new tract for funding journalism. In fact, recent non-profit ventures have had their share of setbacks. There are numerous ways to develop new sources of revenue, limited only by the imagination and the level of willingness to try new things.

But they will have to start buying in to the collaboration part if they want to survive. If they don't embrace collaboration, they will end up competing against the very people they've laid off in recent years: the so-called journalism entrepreneurs who are cropping up in communities everywhere. These lean, mean, often one-man or one-woman operations already have advantages over the legacy companies by having to adapt and innovate out of necessity. The legacy companies ought to think twice before creating David vs. Goliath scenarios. We know how that one turned out. A smaller, adaptable, skilled combatant shouldn't necessarily be considered an underdog against a stubborn, slow-moving giant. Rather than competing, media companies and entrepreneurs ought to start thinking of ways they can mutually benefit from collaborations. Like I said – brave new world.

The multimedia nature of the shrimp project is an example of how different the Internet is from print and broadcast. The production published on the Globe and Mail website, The high environmental cost of global shrimp, is a web video snapshot of the larger project. However, we really see the benefits and potential of multimedia production on the journalism school's self-produced micro-website: CHEAP SHRIMP: Hidden costs. Says student Erin Empey:

"This worked well as a multimedia project because of its complexity. By using several multimedia tools and breaking the video into chapters, we were able to present the nuances of the story clearly."

The nuances of complex stories are ideally conveyed in a comprehensive multimedia approach. Words. Images. Sound. Timelines. Maps. Links galore. All in a relevant, dynamic fashion. An editor or producer doesn't decide entirely how facts and ideas are presented, and in what order. Folks who view this project can choose how they wish to experience it. They can comment on its effectiveness. They can ask further questions. They can interact with those who produced this work – journalism where its practitioners are directly accountable to their audience. In this capacity, the Internet shines.

There are lots of really good examples of on-line journalism out there, if you look. This one hits home, though.

Think a project generated in Canada isn't relevant to you? Think again. If a report on the shrimping industry isn't meaningful to folks in Southeast Georgia, I don't know what is.

So, let me know how you see the future of journalism.

How can the news media use the Internet to better serve the community? How can they interact and collaborate with each other? With you, the audience? With the business community to provide services, create connections with potential customers, and help fund professional journalism?

And what's in your low country boil?

Half a Tank: I HAD to share this ...

Yolanda Vazquez walks with her six-year-old son Jonathan down the hallway of the
Hilda M. Barg Homeless Prevention Center. Photo by Michael Williamson/The Washington Post

This is the kind of link I would normally share on my tumbleblog. Especially since it's a series that ended over a year ago. But I just randomly happened across it. I couldn't believe I missed it in the first place. I haven't even had a chance to get into it and experience it for myself. But I decided to share it right away. It's the kind of work I get excited about because it combines topics and interests I've always been drawn to.

The subject of this post is a series, done in the form of a blog, by two Washington Post staffers, writer Theresa Vargas and photographer Michael Williamson. The series, called Half a Tank: Along Recession Road, was a 5-month long quest to find photographs and stories about the lives of ordinary folks and how the current economic recession has altered their lives. The project ended in October of 2009, but it's still available for viewing.

I can't say I'm familiar with Ms. Vargas' work, but I'm acutely aware of Williamson's. I seem to always be just a step behind Michael Williamson. Or he behind me. He briefly left the newspaper business to teach photojournalism at Western Kentucky University – my Alma Mater – just a couple of years after I left. And he joined the staff at the Washington Post when I was still working in that metro area – shortly before I moved to Georgia.

I've never met the man but I've always been strongly drawn to his work, which can have a sort of dark, Americana feel to it. A feel that harkens back to the days when Life magazine was the chief window to the world. And, like myself, the guy has an affinity for the road. Getting out of the nation's megopolis, off the interstates. That's where you'll find America and its history. Williamson has driven countless miles. Hopped trains with hobos. He's probably hoofed more miles than many of us have driven.

I'm also keen on history and the power of photography to document and preserve visual records of people and eras for all time. Williamson has literally traveled in the footsteps of iconic photographer Walker Evans, who, with writer James Agee, produced the book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, which depicted the lives of sharecroppers in the South during the Great Depression. Fifty years later, working with writer Dale Maharidge, Williamson chronicled the descendants of those portrayed in Evans' work. The resulting book, And Their Children After Them, won a Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction in 1990.

While following in Evans' tracks and sharing with him a fondness for photographing the details of cultures and places, I think, personally, Williamson's work often resembles, in both in style and intent, that of Robert Frank, who's momentous book The Americans was critically panned when first published. The pictures of both photographers are unsentimental in their blunt and sometimes brutal honesty in their depiction of America – especially the poor, the downtrodden, and the homeless. But they are pictures clearly made by the mind and soul of an artist. Evidence of the American Dream are everywhere in Williamson's work, but his images powerfully remind us, sometimes uncomfortably so, that there's still plenty of work to be done in this great democratic experiment of ours. While Robert Frank's view of the American Dream was that of an outsider due to his immigrant status, Williamson's is due to his upbringing.

It's natural that Williamson would be drawn to the road and to downtrodden subjects. He grew up in foster homes and orphanages in over 15 states.  His brings his own experiences to his work and gives these people a voice through his photographs. It's important and notable work. Photojournalism at its very best.

A self portrait Michael made in North Dakota.
Photo by Michael Williamson/The Washington Post

Please make some time to view Half a Tank: Along Recession Road. One caveat, though. The blog reads from the end to the beginning as each blog post replaces the one before it. I wish the Post would re-format the piece so it is easier to experience it chronologically, as if we were traveling with the two journalists.

Still, it will be worth the effort. Maybe I'll finally meet Michael Williamson, one day. Until then, we're all privileged to experience his journeys and historic chronicles through his eyes.

Update (Nov. 19): Michael Williamson's latest project, From middle class to poverty, was just posted on the Washington Post website

Reader submissions enabled on a small(er) voice

Following up on the announcement of my supplemental blog, a small(er) voice, I enabled the ability for readers to submit their own content to encourage discussion.

Got a link to a web page you want to share? A quote? A picture or slideshow you think is a great example of news photography or photojournalism? A video you think deserves some conversation?

Please feel free to click on the "Conversation" link and submit your content for posting. While the focus of this blog is photojournalism, conversation about journalism in general and current events is also encouraged, although some discretion will be exercised.

Your content could be the subject of a post here on a small voice, too. While comments for all posts will be allowed to be made anonymously, the sharing of links must include the attribution of both the sharer and the source of the content. All submission are subject to approval before posting.

So, folks, contribute and share away!

Bookmark a small(er) voice

I'm still experimenting with my on-line "presence," so I started a tumbleblog as a compliment to a small voice.

I want a small voice to be mostly focused on my work specifically as a photojournalist for the Statesboro Herald. Here is where you will find my more thoughtful attempts to connect with the community about what I do. Commentary, tips, stories behind the stories, etc.

So, rather than clutter up this blog, I created a small(er) voice as an attempt at a more stream-of-consciousness sharing of links, articles, information and pictures, with examples of my own work and others that I admire or find interesting.

You can find the link on the sidebar to the right. So check in and follow me on both, if you like.

Oh yeah. Feedback. I need feedback, folks! Let's "conversate."