British paper turns readers into newshounds
LONDON, Nov 15 A British newspaper has thrown open its office doors, let the readers stride in, and invited them to peer over reporters shoulders digitally, at least.
The website of the left-leaning Guardian daily is publishing its newslist a schedule of stories its journalists are working on and asking readers to help shape the coverage by contacting its reporters on Twitter.
In a country known for its raucous, fiercely competitive press, where tabloids have sometimes paid journalists at rival papers for access to this list, the idea seemed risky.
Competitors are going to see what youre doing. But we havent had problems with competitors stealing stories from us, or breaking embargos were careful to keep exclusives and embargoed stories off the list.
The computer screen behind him displays five grids showing the days domestic, foreign, sport, business and science coverage.
A link to the writers Twitter page accompanies every story, so readers can contact them with tip-offs or suggestions.
The overwhelming reaction was very positive, says Randerson. Most people quite enjoy the voyeurism of being able to see into the workings of a paper.
A key advantage is that editors get a better sense of what the audience wants. There was a big health story one day and we hadnt done enough on it, he recalls.
We really got a sense from Twitter that people were worried about the future of the NHS (National Health Service). So the next day, we responded with a much bigger i! nvestiga tion.
Youve got to take it with a pinch of salt, because Twitter is not representative of the world at large, he admits. But its useful to have some feedback.
The papers national editor Dan Roberts said that in the wake of Britains phone hacking scandal which forced the Rupert Murdoch-owned News of the World to close down people have a greater interest in seeing how news is made.
Theres a cynicism about journalism at the moment, he says. People no longer trust the model that goes: Well work out in secret what were going to tell you, and you dont need to know whether we hacked someones phone or lied to get it, or whether we made it up. To gain credibility, in a more transparent age, you need to show your workings.
The Guardian admits the experiment has so far only attracted a small minority of the websites 2.9 million daily readers.
Randerson estimates that reporters receive roughly 100 messages a day about the newslist, of which just a handful are useful.
But Charlie Beckett, director of the Polis media think-tank, said this was to be expected and did not mean the open newslist was a failure.
The people getting involved are the kind of people who used to write letters to the editor, he told AFP.
Theyre news nerds. Not many people are going to spend all day coming up with ideas for the Guardian. Probably only one per cent of readers will ever contribute, and only one per cent of their ideas will be good but thats better than nothing.
The experiment is not the first of its kind; for two years Norran, a Swedish regional newspaper, has been running a chat room where readers can suggest story ideas.
The paper says this has driven traffic to the site, bringing back advertisers who fled during the recession.
In Canada the Winnipeg Free Press has gone a step further, opening a cafe where readers can discuss the news with journalists face-to-face.
For the Guardians parent company Guardian Media Group, interactiv! e experi ments like the open newslist are part of a digital-first strategy that it hopes can reverse last years 33 million (RM164 million) operating losses.
The Guardians 190-year-old print edition now has a circulation of just 233,000 copies. GMGs chief executive Andrew Miller warns the group could run out of cash in three years, so online success is crucial.
Executives want the website, which in September launched a separate edition for US readers, to boost the groups digital revenues from 47 million this year to 91 million by 2014/16.
Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger hopes that more participatory journalism will attract readers and therefore advertisers and Roberts believes the open newslist will be adopted by other newsrooms.
People want professional journalism, but they also want to discuss it, he says. Theres a large number of people now who really engage in the news. Its a small sub-set of the readership, but at a global level, thats millions of people who want to be part of the news process. AFP-Relaxnews
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