The Scoop.
A nugget of raw fact unearthed from soil hard trampled under the feet of everyday life.

The News.
Raw facts are combined and melted down in the crucible of editorial prudence. Carefully considered, impurities are skimmed away, and only the purest and most relevant of material remains. Poured into recognizable form representing a degree of purity – of certainty – the contents have been tempered with insight, producing a vetted final product which is inherently valuable well into the future.

Journalism = Journal + ism.
Journalism is not the scoop. Journalism is not the news. Journalism isn’t necessarily the Merriam-Webster definition of “journalism.”

Whatever journalism is, I hope you agree with me that content aggregation, rapid-fire paraphrasing of the latest sound bites or press releases, endlessly trying to out-scoop everyone else is not journalism. It’s more like gossip. It’s a recipe for limited readership and discussion of the story after the fact. To me, journalism is the doctrine of following the story consistently over time. Journal+ism. What follows are my personal beliefs on what constitutes journalism and why both the mainstream media and many in the blogosphere fall short.

Find a story.
I’m not saying the scoop isn’t important, but unless you did the legwork, dug up the facts, and published original content of value, you’re just skirting the definition of plagiarism. (Seriously.) Why keep reposting RSS material? Why not start creating some of your own. Read those feeds, find something that jumps off the screen at you. If you feel an issue is important, you’ve found your story.

Own it.
Don’t just re-package existing information and move on. Own that shit. Run down leads. Figure out who is most affected by the issue and why it matters to them. Begin to clarify the issue on their terms. Reach out to those affected and learn to understand their points of view. What do they want? What do they need? How are you going to help them get it?

Context, perspective, insight, value.

Follow it.
Stick with your story until you can say – without any doubt – the issue has been resolved. Is there a happy ending, where those affected audience members, after numerous debates and setbacks, were finally presented with whatever it was they needed? How are their lives better because of this outcome? Have you set yourself a reminder to follow up with some of them in the future to cover the long-term effects of the issue? What if everyone died in a fire before they got what they were after? Aren’t there a million and one questions needing answered now?

Live it.

Do you consider yourself a journalist? How much more fulfilling is clicking that publish button when you know – you know – that the content you’re posting to the world is that refined ingot of precious material? You understand the needs of your audience and, with every piece you publish, you demonstrate that you have their best interests in mind. You become so much more than a media outlet. You tell the stories. You become a trusted source of news and information.

Mine.
Anyone can grab a shovel and sling dirt. There may be random nuggets of value in all that dirt, but it’s mostly dirt. Journal+ism. The doctrine of documenting the story incrementally over time. Rapid-fire, paraphrased, press releases and sound bites make for random, shallow potholes. Nobody expects to find gold in the bottom of a pothole.  True journalism, on the other hand, presents a deep mine of context and insight where people expect to find gold or diamonds – where readers can explore the whole story in depth – getting right down to the mine face where precious materials are being exposed on a daily basis.

That’s the difference as I see it.

In the glovebox:

• The Future of Work
• Inspired by Jk & Rob
• Human ROI