New Models for News | Background on Digital First Media by Jim Brady | Journalism Interactive Conference 2013 | journalisminteractive.com/2013/ PRESENTER: Jim Brady, Editor-in-Chief of Digital First Media, @jimbradysp DESCRIPTION: Presentation on Digital First Media, which jointly manages the Journal Register Company and MediaNews Group, with more than 800 print and online products serving 57 million Americans each month. The presentation also discusses the launch of Project Thunderdome, which will redefine how the company produces journalism for the digital age by creating a centralized team that produces high-quality non-local journalism for all JRC properties on all platforms.

1. New Models for News
Journalism Interactive
Gainesville, Fla., Feb. 8, 2013

2. Digital First Media

3. DFM’s Print Scale
Print Circulation

4. DFM’s Digital Scale
1 Yahoo!-ABC News Network
News Category Reach 2
3
NBC News Digital
HPMG News
4 CNN Network
5 CBS News
6 USATODAY Sites
7 FOXNEWS.COM*
8 DFM Network
9 Examiner.com Sites
10 BBC
11 Slate
12 Belo
13 U.S. News
14 NBC Owned TV Stations
15 The Atlantic Consumer Media
16 WorldNews Network
17 ABC OTV
18 NPR.ORG
19 Scripps Television Group
20 THEBLAZE.COM

5. Where We Were: 2011
• Shrinking staffs.
• Unsustainable cost structure.
• Too many journalists focused on production, not the creation
of compelling local content. – our only competitive advantage.
• Different print designs, web designs and content management
systems from property to property.
• No common ad map on print and digital.
• No ability to take advantage of scale.
• Not enough digital focus.
• In short … too much inefficiency.

6. Thunderdome

7. T-Dome Functions
Centralization of
non-local news
editing and
production
Creation of Creation of new
DFM-wide traffic- and
editorial support revenue-driving
network with key content
digital channels
capabilities

8. Easy. Right? …

9. Easy. Right? … Uh, no.

10. What Is an Intrapreneur?
• "A person within a large corporation who takes direct
responsibility for turning an idea into a profitable
finished product through assertive risk-taking and
innovation.”
-- The American Heritage Dictionary

11. What Is an Intrapreneur?
• "A person within a large corporation who takes direct
responsibility for turning an idea into a profitable
finished product through assertive risk-taking and
innovation.”
-- The American Heritage Dictionary

12. Things You Still Hear…
• “That’s not how we do
things.”
• “That’s not my job.”
• “The business people
will deal with that.”
• “If it’s such a good
idea, how come no
one else has done it?”
• “This will destroy
journalism.”

13. Coverage: Newtown
• More than 60 DFM journalists from 20-
plus papers in CT, MA, PA, NY, VT and
CO contributed to the coverage.
• Thunderdome’s data, video and
curation teams collaborated with local
newsrooms.
• Thunderdome filled in any gaps in what
local could handle.
• Thunderdome made sure all of DFM
knew what Newtown content was
being produced across the company –
and the country.

14. Sharing: Tech Review
• Story was published in Oakland Oct. 3 and shared via
Thunderdome.
• Posted on 25 DFM sites
Page views for Oct. 3-Nov. 11
• Oakland Press: 7,000
• LA Daily News: 114,000
• MercuryNews: 72,000
• Total: 390,000

15. Creation: 2012 Election
• Oct. 31-Nov. 7:
• 50 Thunderdome-produced election
stories
• 691,495 page views
• Three stories = half of all page views
• 12-hour programmed live chat =
45,000 uniques and 67,000 page
views.
• MercuryNews.com posted 45/51
items and totaled 267,000 page views.
• 25 of 67 sites surveyed posted 0-3
stories (less than 5% of election-
related content)
15

16. Support: St. Paul Elections
• St. Paul CAR editor Mary Jo Webster
and producer/developer Brian
Henderson worked with data team
• Planning started 4 weeks before
election
• Responsive design (mobile)
• Because state site crashed, reporters
were able to use results in deadline
reporting
• Generated 700,000+ page views
“In the end, it saved us a big chunk of money as it allowed us not to pay for
AP's election-day results feed. … From our perspective, (this was) absolutely
nothing but a success.”
- Chris Clonts, St. Paul Pioneer Press
16

17. Curation: Denver Debate Chat
DFM metrics:
• DFM PVs: 198,756
• DFM Uniques: 160,495
Externally syndicated by:y:
• Bellmedia, KQED-NPR, Postmedia-
Canada.com, Vocento EEUU, Democrat-
Herald, Vancouver Sun, Lincoln Journal
Star, Rappler]
External metrics:
• Non-DFM PVs: 1.5m page views

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22. Mobile