Update from Paradise

Being part of a start-up there’s a hunger to get it up and running as quickly as possible. But that desire runs head on into the reality that there’s so much to do and the only way to get it done is to be deliberate, to take one step and then the next. Sometimes, it feels like I’m taking one step forward and two steps back. But more often it feels like a deeper picture is emerging every day of the journalistic landscape here and the possibilities for our news service. I’m finding people in Hawaii’s journalism community generous with their time and with their thoughts.

It’s difficult when talking about Peer News because there’s much we’re not prepared to share about our plans just yet. But I thought it might be helpful for people trying to understand Peer News to see a few of the things we’re talking about and sharing on our internal blog.

One column we found thought-provoking and relevant came from John Tierney of The New York Times.

Much of our focus at Peer News is on community and Tierney’s column explores a study on motives for sharing stories. While one of our group correctly points out that it’s an unusual sample because it’s New York Times readers, something in it strikes me as true and revelatory about the impact of quality journalism.

“Emotion in general leads to transmission, and awe is quite a strong emotion,” one of the University of Pennsylvania researchers, Dr. Jonah Berger, told Tierney. “If I’ve just read this story that changes the way I understand the world and myself, I want to talk to others about what it means. I want to proselytize and share the feeling of awe. If you read the article and feel the same emotion, it will bring us closer together.”

The key words for me are “changes the way I understand the world and myself.” By doing that, journalism makes people want to talk to others. That seems to get at what we hope to do with our journalism.

Another interesting article came from the Harvard Business Review.

This article by Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto (my alma mater), gets at the value and importance of community.

He writes: “At our core, we are all social creatures. Community matters to us. This is why even when humans engage in profoundly anti-social activities; we do it in tightly knit social groups whether they happen to be called Crips, Yakuza or Al Qaeda. This is because as social creatures, much of our happiness is derived from our relationship with community — however that community is defined. We long to be: a) a valued member of a community; b) that we value; and c) is valued by people outside the community in question.”

Another article we’ve discussed recently is a strong piece by Glenn Greenwald of Salon about a New York Times article on Wall Street’s alleged feeling of buyer’s remorse over its support of President Obama in the 2008 election. One part of the column addresses the use of anonymous sources by the writer. That article highlights the potential pitfalls anonymous sources can pose in political coverage. Standards for the use of anonymous sources will be one of the things we talk about with our staff before we launch. There’s more we’re talking about internally, obviously, but perhaps this gives a sense of the kinds of things we’re thinking about on Waialae Ave. in our office with a view of the Pacific.

Q&A with Pierre Omidyar re Peer News

Those of you interested in learning more about the service I'm helping build in Hawaii might be interested in this Q&A with Pierre Omidyar published by Pacific Business News.

Key quote: "Our goal is to create the new civic square. We want to provide a platform for people to come together as a community. We hope to encourage people to become more engaged in the world around them and provide them with ways to respectfully discuss important issues with their neighbors."

My first week in Paradise

On the seventh day in a startup, you do not rest. It’s been one full week since I started work as editor of Peer News, what we’re calling a next generation news service in Honolulu. And as on all the days before - except my “days off,” when I drove around town looking for housing - yesterday was a mix of conversations with my new colleagues about topics we need to work through - for example, how to handle the contributions of non-staff writers - and the quiet of a blank office with a small group tapping away on Mac laptops.

What does an editor do to launch a new news service?

First, my new colleagues, Pierre Omidyar and Randy Ching, had already given a lot of thought, with their adviser Howard Weaver, to what the new service should look like. So the basic editorial direction has already been set, which gives me a huge head start. And they had adopted an approach to hiring, based on the book "Who: The A Method for Hiring,” which they used to hire me. So how to go about recruiting our staff had already been established, too. What I needed to do was focus on the basics. That meant unsexy tasks like writing job descriptions to make it possible to recruit people and have them understand what would be expected of them. I’ve also written a beat/coverage guide, again to sharpen what the service would offer and help explain it to prospective hires. All these, of course, go through rounds of editing and discussion. (We’ll be talking about our plans in more detail closer to launch.)

Moving has been a reminder of the stress that any new employee goes through. Good to remember. All the HR paperwork and questions. The crazy things that happen in a new town. Leaving the lights on in the rental car and getting stranded in a rainstorm. The difficulty of finding an apartment. New software tools to learn. Posterous. Dropbox. Skype Chat. (OK, I knew to how use it. But not properly, according to Mr. Omidyar...By the way, I thought I knew how to use e-mail, but it turns out I've been using it wrong all along. Blame it on my Blackberry.) And new user IDs and passwords to remember.

Job applications are rolling in. A gentle reminder: If you’re looking for a job, it’s a good idea to follow directions. A second reminder: Sending an online news service a resume that says your goal is to work at a metropolitan daily newspaper or something other than the job you’re applying for is probably not a good idea. Also, think about customizing your resume for each position. It makes people appear more serious if they seem to understand what we might be looking for. Generic doesn’t help somebody stand out.

One thing that’s impressed me in Hawaii is how open everybody is to meeting and talking about the work. Aloha actually means something. And for that I’m grateful.

I’m happy to be here. At the beginning. Digging in. Building.

I’m moving to Honolulu to become the first editor of Peer News

I’m moving to Paradise. For a dream job.

Today Pierre Omidyar, founder and chairman of eBay, announced that I’m going to become the first editor of Peer News, a Honolulu-based local news service that will produce original, in-depth reporting and analysis of local issues in Hawaii.

Pierre and Randy Ching co-founded Peer News Inc. in 2008 “with the goal of empowering citizens and encouraging greater civic participation through media.” I learned of the project in November when a friend pointed out Pierre’s blog post about his search for an editor. He wrote: “We believe that a strong democracy requires an engaged society supported by effective news reporting and analysis. And, we believe that this can be done in a profitable, sustainable way.”

I share those beliefs, and when we began talking I became excited about the opportunity to work as a member of their team. I’ve collaborated with many great people in the newspaper industry over the years, but my new colleagues come at these challenges from a fresh perspective and with a record of accomplishment in the online world. I’ve enjoyed my freedom since the Rocky Mountain News closed last February. I’ve been writing here and elsewhere, speaking, consulting, traveling and learning new skills. But as I wrote in a column for The Wall Street Journal last summer, "I genuinely miss being part of a larger entity with a purpose." That I now will have the opportunity to help build one from scratch, to create a new news culture with such talented partners, makes me very happy.

I’ll be joining the Peer News team in Honolulu later this month and will begin working right away to hire a staff. If you’re a reporter or assistant editor candidate interested in joining our team, you can learn more and submit your resume here and here, respectively. Please don’t phone or e-mail me directly. We’re looking for thoughtful writers with a proven record of breaking new ground with investigative reporting. The job will require more interaction with readers and the community than is typical at most local news operations. Hawaii experience or background is a big plus. And everybody on the team must be savvy about using today’s technology and ready to embrace any new tools. It’s a start-up, so candidates also need to be passionate about the idea and willing to do whatever is necessary to get the project off the ground.

I feel very lucky to have had the opportunities I’ve had as a journalist. Every step of the way I’ve been able to become part of fascinating communities - Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Toronto, Denver - and now I look forward to immersing myself in Honolulu. I’m grateful to so many in Colorado and will miss my adopted state and the many friends I’ve made there. But I’m excited about the future and about the possibility of making a difference in a new community.

You’ll be able to follow what we’re doing at Peer News on Pierre’s blog and on a blog I’ll start as editor. I also plan to start a new twitter account at Peer News. For the time being, I’ll keep you up-to-date on my doings at Peer News and my thinking about journalism and media issues on this blog. I’ll post a link to the conference call where we discussed the new initiative today as soon as I have one.

Onward.

Back in the blogosphere

This is my first post in more than a month. I've been working as an on-site consultant to the Greenspun Media Group in Las Vegas and found that it was very difficult to keep up a blog and work inside a media company as an adviser. The blogosphere is a place for open and robust discussion. But that conflicts with the work of a consultant, which is to offer insight and assistance on a confidential basis. Not only is the work demanding and time-consuming. But it seemed to me that anything I wrote could be read as some type of commentary on the place where I was working or the issues I was working on. I don't think it would have been right to have done that. It could have confused the staff or given the wrong impression to the community or competitors. It made more sense to me to keep everything internal.

It was difficult to find where to draw the line when writing about journalism or media issues when I was working as a media consultant. So I drew it very broadly. I would have felt differently if I had been a member of the company's very talented staff. In that case, as when I was editor of the Rocky Mountain News, I would have used my blog and twitter to interact with the community and try to provide insight into our decisions and actions as a news organization. As I would advise any editor to do today.

I've now wrapped up my on-site work in Las Vegas and look forward to rejoining the online debate.

Today Show interview of woman who claims to have had sex with Tiger Woods: How depressing can things get in journalism?

When the Today show interviews a woman who "claims" she had sex with Tiger Woods, there can't be any confusion over why the public thinks so poorly of journalism.

How can a show that interviews presidents spend its time asking a woman about her alleged relationship with Tiger Woods?

Depressing. To put it mildly.

Why would people call for a boycott of a guy like Don Imus and then think it's worth going on the Today show? Ratings can be the only explanation.

Rest in peace, E&P: Killed by an aggregator

As someone who has experienced the death of his own publication, my heart goes out to the folks at Editor & Publisher, especially Joe Strupp, who always approached coverage of the newspaper industry with passion.

But perhaps there's a lesson in what happened to the industry trade magazine that other journalists should take seriously.

In 2006, I wrote a blog post with the headline, "Why Editor & Publisher has become irrelevant."

Three years later, it's dead.

It's easy to underestimate the power of aggregation. But the truth, in my view, is that Romenesko replaced Editor & Publisher long ago as the place where journalists turned to find out what was going on in their world. It's not limited by one medium or industry. It's timely. And it's deep. The magazine couldn't compete. And it's not just Romenesko. There are many sites and blogs to turn to today to learn what's going on in journalism. Which is why E&P couldn't survive as a viable business. I know many would like to think that the same thing couldn't happen to other publications. I wouldn't if I were them.