Words from AnnArbor.com's Stefanie Murray and Juliana Keeping
The employees at AnnAbor.com seem to be optimistic about the future of online journalism. Both Juliana Keeping, AnnArbor.com reporter, and Stefanie Murray, Ann Arbor.com staff writer and community director, came to speak to my small journalism class in East Quad’s ResidentialCollege. As a new experiment for the online journalism model, AnnArbor.com has pioneered several new approaches. Built to work essentially in only a community of Ann Arbor's size, this innovative method lists news articles in a newsfeed-style river of headlines.According to Murray, following much feedback from the community claiming it was too difficult to distinguish what stories were most important, the site added a "Top Stories" feature to provide clarity. Murray went on to discuss AnnArbor.com as a work in progress, noting that community feedback is valued highly.
Returning to hyper-local content seems to benefit AnnArbor.com, as the site is then able to create its own community around it. Many local residents flock to the site for area coverage and use it to voice their opinions through the "community wall" feature. Along with the opportunity to comment and vote on stories, the audience becomes engaged in the site and has thus far been quite successful for the site. The evidence is in their average of 40,000 hits to the site per day, according to Murray and quite surprising to me. AnnArbor.com's lack of distinction between hard news and commentary has always been bothersome to me. Their use of only six reporters, but 160 community bloggers decreases the site's credibility as a quality news source. Furthermore, blogger content is posted before it is edited. Editing does not happen until an hour or so after the blog post has virally penetrated the Web. That is a dangerous line, and one that is very far from traditional news organizations.
Perhaps the most promising thing Murray said about AnnArbor.com was in her response to an inquiry about the potential of charging for their content. She said that unless there is a major overhaul in the entire online news model, the company does not plan to charge for its content. The majority of income comes from advertising, in both their online and print editions. Local retailers are more likely to advertise online, while others, like Kroger and JCPenney, stick to print, Murray said.
When I asked Keeping what she thought Ann Arbor was missing without a print daily, her answer was absent of substance. She replied with a compassionate statement about feeling bad for the local elderly who are now largely without a newspaper, and went on to mention the specific content that AnnArbor.com itself may lack with only a small staff.
Although the talk lasted an hour and a half, I left with the same sentiment toward AnnArbor.com, that I began with. While I admire the ambitions of its creators, and recognize its success on local community influence, I am still cynical about its sustainable success. Can this site, an intersection of news and social media, be the future of journalism?
Ali, From what it sounds like annarbor.com has figured out a successful online model to replace print journalism. I think it's important that they have a large space devoted to community member's commentary because I believe that ultimately it should be the community that declares what "news" is and how it is presented. However, the fact that blogs are not immediately being edited poses a problem towards the amount of credibility associated with the content. Hopefully this is something that will change with time!
You went pretty in-depth on your post here, and I really liked it. You provided all sides, both pros and cons to the annarbor.com model. I liked how you started with examples of how the site has improved itself with additions like the 'Top Stories' feature, and then you went into your personal opinion about the drawbacks to their site. I completely agree with your insight about the negative aspects of the editing process behind the blog posts; it doesn't make sense to me either. Finally, I like how you incorporated actual parts of their presentation to your class and questions that were asked.
My job for the university requires me to read annarbor.com, but as a sophomore and junior I had to read the Ann Arbor News. I have to say that I enjoy annarbor.com much more, simply because it seems less wasteful. The AA News had a few pages of original reports and editorial pieces, but the rest of it was all AP stories that I could find online. I understand that that section of AP stories is a staple for most local newspapers, but it has always seemed unnecessary to me. With annarbor.com, I can just go online and read the highlights about what's going on in Ann Arbor, which is why I wanted to read that paper in the first place. We'll have to wait and see if this model works, but for now, I think they've got a good model that works for this community.
Allison, I am advising an honors student on a thesis about Annarbor.com. Do you mind if she contacts you? As for the sustainability of Annarbor.com, we shall see. It now has a number of competitors including The Ann Arbor Chronicle, which you may want to take a look at as a juxtaposition to Annarbor.com. Nice work. Fara
Ali,
ReplyDeleteFrom what it sounds like annarbor.com has figured out a successful online model to replace print journalism. I think it's important that they have a large space devoted to community member's commentary because I believe that ultimately it should be the community that declares what "news" is and how it is presented. However, the fact that blogs are not immediately being edited poses a problem towards the amount of credibility associated with the content. Hopefully this is something that will change with time!
You went pretty in-depth on your post here, and I really liked it. You provided all sides, both pros and cons to the annarbor.com model. I liked how you started with examples of how the site has improved itself with additions like the 'Top Stories' feature, and then you went into your personal opinion about the drawbacks to their site. I completely agree with your insight about the negative aspects of the editing process behind the blog posts; it doesn't make sense to me either. Finally, I like how you incorporated actual parts of their presentation to your class and questions that were asked.
ReplyDeleteMy job for the university requires me to read annarbor.com, but as a sophomore and junior I had to read the Ann Arbor News. I have to say that I enjoy annarbor.com much more, simply because it seems less wasteful. The AA News had a few pages of original reports and editorial pieces, but the rest of it was all AP stories that I could find online. I understand that that section of AP stories is a staple for most local newspapers, but it has always seemed unnecessary to me. With annarbor.com, I can just go online and read the highlights about what's going on in Ann Arbor, which is why I wanted to read that paper in the first place. We'll have to wait and see if this model works, but for now, I think they've got a good model that works for this community.
ReplyDeleteAllison,
ReplyDeleteI am advising an honors student on a thesis about Annarbor.com. Do you mind if she contacts you?
As for the sustainability of Annarbor.com, we shall see. It now has a number of competitors including The Ann Arbor Chronicle, which you may want to take a look at as a juxtaposition to Annarbor.com.
Nice work.
Fara