These are slides for a presentation on how newsrooms and journalists need to change how they think and work to be digital-first.

1. Digital First Journos:
How we think and work
Steve Buttry
Northern Kentucky University
March 31, 2012
#nkujourn

2. Read more about it
• stevebuttry.wordpress.com
• slideshare.net/stevebuttry
• @stevebuttry
• jxpaton.wordpress.com
• stephenbuttry@gmail.com

3. Digital-first journos think …
1. Story is a process, not a product
2. Like to be first, but link when we’re not
3. Community = collaborators
4. When we hear great quote or learn
interesting fact, think, “I better tweet
that.”
5. More excited by RTs, likes, shares, pins
& links than by front-page play

4. Digital-first journalists …
6. Obstacles = war stories, not excuses
7. New gadget or social platform = tool
for better journalism
8. When news breaks, thinks of terms to
search for on Twitter
9. Journalism future is bright & boundless
10. Defies prediction (& lists), thinks of
new ideas, issues & solutions

5. Working Digital First
• Create content for digital platforms (web,
email, SMS, social, mobile)
• Produce print & broadcast products from
content on digital platforms
• Live coverage of events
• Breaking news coverage
• Engage community

6. Court reporter
• Live-tweet from courtroom (narrative,
not a transcript)
• Feed tweets into liveblog
• Big development: Text news alert to
editor
• Write summary or analysis story for web
& print

9. Court reporter, no trial
• Traditional rounds: lawyers, judges,
clerks, filings
• Add #DigitalFirst rounds: monitor tweets,
search Twitter, Facebook groups & pages
• Tweet/alert/blog big filings
• Video clips in interviews
• Scan or download docs if not online

10. Beat reporter
• Beatblog
• Liveblog meetings, hearings, events
• Tweet/alert/liveblog breaking news
• Live chat on continuing stories
• Data visualization
• Curate community conversation

11. Beat reporter questions
• How to crowdsource story?
• What terms, hashtags should you search
(routinely & for each story)?
• Regular/special hashtags to use?
• People to follow? New FB pages/groups?
• Other social media to search (YouTube,
Flickr, Foursquare, Google+ …)?

12. Visual journalist
• Shoot first w/ smartphone & post
• Shoot w/ camera for slideshow & print
• Shoot video
• Record ambient sound, interviews
• If disaster, shoot some after shots for
before/after

13. Sports journalist
• Live-tweet or liveblog game
• Color commentary/analysis, rather than
play-by-play (especially if on TV)
• Interact w/ fans (polls, answer questions)
• Livestream post-game press conferences
• Post-game chat

15. Sports, not game day
• Video clips of interviews
• Frequent blog updates & tweets
• Data visualization of stats
• Alerts of breaking news
• Webcast and/or live chat

16. Gathering news on the beat
• Video
• Links
• Databases
• Monitor officials, agencies, sources on
Twitter, Facebook, G+, YouTube, etc.
• Source documents to upload
• Map, timeline

17. Assigning editor
• Monitors social media as well as wires,
scanners, etc.
• Staff questions guide digital journalism
(data, Twitter search, hashtags,
crowdsourcing)
• Urgency for breaking news, live coverage
• Edits digital content for print

18. Senior editor
• Listen, join & lead community
conversation (blog, social media, chats)
• Lead staff in trying new tools &
techniques
• Digital focus to daily meetings
• Post daily news budgets online

20. Copy editor
• Social & Google searches to question &
verify facts
• Writes strong SEO headlines
• Crowdsources print headlines, news
judgments

22. Read more about it
• stevebuttry.wordpress.com
• slideshare.net/stevebuttry
• @stevebuttry
• jxpaton.wordpress.com
• stephenbuttry@gmail.com