Sunday, March 06, 2005
Mark Glaser - The Media Company I Want to Work For
I’m an online journalist, and I write about online media. Here is what I'm looking for:
- A news outlet that creates new content, aggregates the best outside content, and makes sense of everything, presenting it in a clear, simple format for the consumption of everyone.
- A company founded on the values of serving the public and allowing the public to serve journalism by participating in all discussions of mission and direction.
- A company that answers directly to its readers and consumers and doesn't talk down to them from editorial ivory towers.
- A company that is focused on the value of journalism, the practice, and not only of marketing and stock dividends.
- A group of like-minded people who are willing to start from scratch and build a new way of doing smart, groundbreaking citizen journalism. Not too amateur, not too professional but something in between.
- A company that is flexible and knowledgeable, with people who "get it" and understand how they can tap the latest technology to improve the craft of journalism -- and help it survive. These new journalists would blend the research done online via search and databases, the production process of a content management system, the community involvement of bulletin boards and wikis, and the delivery mechanisms of RSS, blogs and mobile platforms. Rather than teach old dogs new tricks, employ techno-literate people from inception. The "everyone gets it" company.
- A commitment to provide more transparency for all writers and editors, including political leanings, conflicts of interest and other details that will help readers know who they are. A balance of privacy for journalists with the public's need to know who they are and where they come from.
- A staff and board of advisers of englightened media people and bloggers such as Jeff Jarvis, Jay Rosen, Elizabeth Osder, Susan Mernit, Matt Welch, Howard Owens, Robert Cox, Steve Rubel, John Battelle, James Lileks, Bob Somerby, Dan Gillmor, and many others who walk the talk.
- A company where journalists follow the spirit of the rules and ethics of journalism -- and not the letter, as fundamentalists would.
- A company where people realize that the Web audience is potentially global and therefore work together to create stories and packages that cross national and cultural boundaries.
- A place where news will be a conversation and not a one-way lecture. Where the readers will also report, edit, fact-check and photograph the world around them.
