Journalists don’t tend to look back every often, which is why a session on 10 years of online journalism at the International Online Journalism Symposium at UT Austin in Texas is timely.
The conference is celebrating its 10th anniversary, so on day two, the first panel looks at what has happened over the past 10 years and what the next decade holds.
The panel brings together the people who were here 10 years ago.
Gerry Barker, Digital Operations Revenue Manager, The Palm Beach Post in Florida, recalled the optimism of 1999, with Belo Interactive investing $100m in the web over five years. That initial optimism evaporated around 2004.
Fast-forward to 2009, and the world is upside down, said Barker. Old enemies such as Yahoo are now friends of newspapers, the underlying economics of the news business are crumbling, localized niche sites are springing up everywhere, newspapers are going online only and mobile is finally coming into its own as a viable platform.
His advice: be a risk-taker and don’t be afraid to fail. He quoted industry analyst Ken Doctor, saying we are at the end of the beginning, rather than the beginning of the end.
The entrepreneurial journalist
Steve Sullivan, Multimedia Editor of The Baltimore Sun in Maryland recalled the early days of online, which largely involved training reporters to work across platforms.
Looking to the future, he said versatility is still necessary. But Sullivan said he was also looking for entrepreneurial journalists who can grow audiences and revenue, and look for places where established media haven’t been before.
Janine Warner, Digital Alchemist with Artesian Media described how things have changed over the past 1o years. In 1999, the big worry was the Y2K bug. Now it is bankruptcy.
In 1999, everyone wanted big portals, whereas now, said Warner, it is all about niche sites. Ten years ago, everyone wanted stock options, today everyone fears the pink slip.
Warner also pointed to the increasingly importance of entrepreneurial journalism – the importance of the personal brand, rather than the institutional brand.
Peter Zollman, Founding Principal of the AIM Group took the plinth by joking how the conference was recycling panelists and themes.
“I still believe in newsprint,” he said, but newspapers will be very different.
Looking ahead, he argued that the future lies in video. And the future is in mobile, in community and in niche audiences.
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