JOURNALISM’S 3 RSRelevance · Readers · Reinvention

By Nick Fiorillo, editor in chief Vince DeMiero, adviser

Hawkeye · Mountlake Terrace (Wash.) High School

“A LONG HABIT OF NOT THINKING A THING WRONG, GIVES IT A SUPERFICIAL

APPEARANCE OF BEING RIGHT.” ~ Thomas Paine, Common Sense

FIRST, A STORY…

STEVEN

RELEVANCE

• Steven Sample saw a need for a new way to control electronic devices

• He didn’t see himself as an expert, but as a questioner

• Experts are disinclined to question the status quo

• If you already know, why ask?

RELEVANCE• Instead of a dishwasher controller, we must reinvent the

way news is delivered – our democracy demands it

• The biggest names in media are grappling with this issue

• Jeff Bezos – Amazon.com & The Washington Post

• New York Times – NYTNow app

• To date, no one has fully solved this issue

RELEVANCE

• Agreed: We need a more relevant way of delivering the news

• Challenge: Traditional news delivery methods are dying out

• So: If we don’t address this pressing challenge, who will?

OUR STORY…• Established 1960

• Traditional broadsheet on a 3 week cycle

• Straight news w/dated info

• Experimented w/a feature magazine in early 2000s

• Online since mid-90s, but not a focus; reposting print w/some exceptions

OUR TIPPING POINT

• Hawkeye mid-year retreat December 2012

• Joe’s challenge…

• Here’s where your audience gets its info

• Here’s what you’re doing

• Why are you doing that?

?

OUR TIPPING POINT• Content in Context Mission:

• The right content

• Delivered to the right audience

• Using the right media

• At the right time

READER REVOLUTION• June 2013 Leadership Meeting…

• Who are our readers? No, really. Who are they?

• What do our readers want?

• What do our readers need?

• How do our readers access and consume information?

• What do our readers already do that we can tap into?

REINVENTION• Hawkeye’s decision…

• Digital first

• Continual news cycle

• Long-form, timeless, feature-based, visual print edition

• Multi-media & live streaming

• Leverage cooperative media partnerships

Journalist-In-Residence !

MLTNews.com

HBN/Hawk TV !

SLSN !

TEMPO !

Newton Street Group !

CTE

BEAUTIFUL QUESTIONS

~ Warren Berger A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas

“A BEAUTIFUL QUESTION CHALLENGES ASSUMPTIONS, CONSIDERS NEW

POSSIBILITIES, AND HAS POTENTIAL TO SERVE AS A CATALYST FOR ACTION

AND CHANGE.”

BEAUTIFUL QUESTIONS• WHY?

• Helps confront a problem

• Articulates the challenge

• Why does this situation exist?

• Why hasn’t anyone addressed this issue?

BEAUTIFUL QUESTIONS

• WHAT IF…?

• Helps envision what might be

• What if I came at this a different way?

• What if we try a different combination of X & Y?

• What if we borrow an idea from an unrelated area?

BEAUTIFUL QUESTIONS• HOW?

• Turns speculation into reality

• Tend to be practical and actionable

• How might we get this done?

• How might we take the initial steps?

• How might we identify the root causes and fix them?

OUR CHALLENGE TO YOU• What would you do?

• Scenario…

• New school.

• New media.

• Your call.

• What are your beautiful questions?

TURN AND TALK

• What are your Beautiful Questions?

• Identify as many WHY? WHAT IF…? and HOW? questions as you can

• We’ll share out some in a few minutes

SHARE OUT

• What are your Beautiful Questions?

• How will you reinvent news media for your audience?

• What are your great ideas?

SUGGESTED TOOLS

• SWOT Analysis

• Networking

• Retreats

• Hack Days

• Guest Presenters

• What else?

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES

OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

• How to contact us

• Nick: editor@thehawkeye.org

• Vince: adviser@thehawkeye.org

• www.TeachFreeSpeech.com (Vince’s teaching website)

HAWKEYE | THEHAWKEYE.ORG