ICM Interview: Howard Owens

Editor’s Note: Howard Owens is the Director of Digital Publishing at Gatehouse Media, Inc. He’s a long-time web journalist. You can read his LinkedIn profile to see that he’s got the pedigree to speak about this “new” media stuff. He also writes a weblog about new media: Media Blog. It was both an honor and a pleasure to interview him for ICM. The interview was conducted Friday, Jan. 12, via IM.

ICM: first, tell us a little about what you’re doing for Gatehouse in your (relatively) new position.

Owens: Short form is, I’m overseeing digital content. Basically, I set policy and strategy for anything related to content on the web, and other digital platforms as they emerge, this includes web site design and structure, as well as citizen journalism, multimedia and publishing strategies.

ICM: How are the journalists in the Gatehouse papers adapting to the digital platform? Successes and struggles?

Owens: In any newspaper company, you’re going to have your challenges, and we have the additional challenge of starting with sites that are really less than zero, and we’re growing really fast, with no pre-exististing corporate infrastructure in place, so it’s a lot of work, and we sometimes move more quickly than some people might be comfortable with, but entirely out of necessity.

That said, I’m pretty blown away by the degree of eagerness and acceptance we’re getting from throughout GHS. My preconceived notion when I took this job was that, “oh, a bunch of small papers. It’s going to be a big uphill battle to get things more webcentric,” but actually, there is far less (by orders of magnitude) resistance here than any newspaper I know about. For a lot of people, we just simply can’t move quick enough. A large swath of people are concerned that we’re not moving fast enough, and they’re probably right. But we’re moving as fast as we can.

ICM: Just as an overview, what are some of the things you are attempting to do in these papers that might be adaptable to other situations like college media?

Owens: Of course, a fair question might be, what can we learn from college media, especially about appealing to a younger audience, and filling a niche? But I think there are things that might be universal.

Web-first publishing � publish quickly and often, everything you know that might be of interest to your audience, and on print deadline, pick the bet of what you published online, maybe (if needed) flesh it out a bit and print it.Second, think like bloggers, everything published on the web: write in an authentic voice, be real, be honest, be transparent. Related to web first publishing, publish what you know, don’t wait for for the perfect fact or quote to make your story.Third: multimedia, especially video, is critical to engaging an audience. Create video that is highly watchable, fun, authentic, interesting, well thought out to the context of how it’s being used. That applies to both pro and college media, I think. I should add, it doesn’t address the issues around UGC (user-generated content), but they are relative easy for existing media to capture.

ICM: Which leads a little bit into my next question … The online media universe has been changing dramatically over the last two years. What parts of that change do you think are most crucial for student journalists to comprehend?

Owens: Blogging and video. I don’t think many people grasp how much we can learn from blogging about how the way people consume information is changing. Those wrapped up in the Packaged Goods Media paradigm only see the so-called pajama media, and aren’t paying attention to what the real attraction to blogging is: authenticity of voice, relevance of subject, frequency of publishing, ease of consumption.

And then with video, a lot of the same applies, but visually, which has it’s own draw and engagement.

ICM: Taking those ideals from blogging and video, then, how can those be added to the skill set students are cultivating while working in student media. Maybe some tips on how students can get started here.

Owens: Blog. Shoot and edit video. But mainly, blog.

Every student journalist should spend at least six months totally immersed in blogging. Start a blog and try to draw an audience. Do the things that bloggers need to do, read other blogs, create a blog roll, link to other blogs, post frequently on topics relevant to the audience you’re trying to reach (and read those blogs in that category), comment on other blogs. Learn to be a participant. That’s my advice to pro journalists, too: if you want to learn this culture, become a participant in it. It will totally change the way you think about media and online publishing.

Also, I think today’s journalist needs to have more business literacy than they normally do. On my site you can find a post about five books journalists should read, just a place to start and understand better the business environment. Journalists today are at the vanguard of creating 21st Century journalism, and they can’t really be fully relevant to that process if they don’t understand the competitive environment as its changing.

ICM: so the aspects of engaging the community – through learning to blog – are more essential to learn than the technical aspects of the video side?

Owens: I think you’ll make better video for the web if you understand the web.

ICM: Now to turn that around to the organization point of view, how can student media organizations (student newspapers, tv stations) better adapt to the web? what can advisers – managers – do to help?

Owens: One of my big concerns about j-school professors today is that many of them don’t get the web. You blog, but how many others do? How many have done anything to participate in the participant culture, even so much as be a regular on a message board or mailing list?

So, again, you’ve got to understand to teach. You can’t just read about it in a book. Of course, I have no numbers to know if my perception is accurate or not, but I’ve run into so many recent J-school grads who seem intent on protecting old-school journalism, or worse, would rather write for print than web.

Educators who get the web, and get what needs to be done can communicate with some authority. I know some have required students to blog. They should make sure that student publication policies reflect the three prime strategic initiatives I outlined above. Students and faculty should just assume their future is online, and design curriculum and publication efforts accordingly … be even more dismissive of print than mainstream pubs are right now.

ICM: Some would argue that student media is in an enviable position, in that their audience isn’t eroding as the trad media audience is. What would be the key arguments *for* taking the approach you mentioned above?

Owens: Is the job of J-school to protect j-school journalism or prepare students to enter the for-profit world of modern journalism? I mean, if the goal is to protect current business models, then by all means … why even have a web site?

But if the job is to prepare students to be tomorrow’s journalist, then the whole program needs to be exploded with no concern for revenue streams and invent the media organization of five years from now.

ICM: You mentioned above, and on your weblog that you see a lot of newly minted journalism grads who still have a “print-centric” attitude. What do you think can be done on a college level to change that attitude? Anything? Beyond new j-profs?

Owens: I’ve got to believe, though maybe I’m wrong, that either their HS teachers, or college profs are the biggest influence in this thinking. Or if students are just attracted to journalism because they once watched Lou Grant, then those teachers need to correct some of their magical thinking about journalism, and frankly, I believe, that if you’re turned onto journalism because of the romantic myths of journalism (the crusading, typewriter wielding savior of all things civic and good, etc., and getting the scoop, and making a difference), there hasn’t been a better time since the early part of last century to be a journalist. I think these are exciting times, a chance to be at the vanguard of creating journalism for a new era, and in a far more competitive environment than most journalists have known over the past 30 to 50 years.

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