My Gettysburg oration: A vision for journalism that can long endure

This is the prepared text for my June 2 keynote speech to the Pennsylvania Press Conference. I ad-libbed a bit, so this isn’t exactly what I said.

I’m used to leading 90-minute workshops at conferences like this. When Becky Bennett told me I would have only 15 minutes for my keynote address, my first thought was that I wouldn’t have much time to tell you about Digital First journalism and my company’s vision for the future of our profession. But we are, after all, meeting in Gettysburg, and I recall a tradition here of getting to the point quickly and saying something memorable without wasting words. Besides which, I’m better known now for my tweets than for all the long newspaper stories, editor’s columns, blog posts or workshop handouts I’ve ever written. So I want to steal an approach from my boss (always a good idea) and talk to you in a series of 10 tweets (with a little elaboration that might go over 140 characters, but definitely not over 15 minutes).

Before I start the tweets, I’ll say that these are focused on the journalism rather than the business because this is an audience of journalists. But we need to be as forward-looking in our business approach as we are in our coverage of the news. I am encouraged by the progress we’re making at Digital First Media in developing a new business model and finding new revenue streams, and you can read more about that on my blog and John Paton’s (he’s the boss who gave a speech to NAA that was built around tweets). But here I’m focusing on the future of journalism.

Platforms are tools of journalism. Principles transcend platform: accuracy, truth, fairness, accountability, watchdog. #keystone2012

— Steve Buttry (@stevebuttry) June 2, 2012

Much as you and I might love the feel of a newspaper in our hands and the smell of ink, and even though our craft uses a machine so precious it was mentioned in the Bill of Rights, quality journalism has no inherent connection to print. Liars Janet Cooke, Jayson Blair and Jack Kelley all worked in print and every crappy supermarket tabloid is a newspaper. The things that make us proud of our profession can make us proud of our digital journalism: commitment to getting the facts right, dedication to seeking and reporting the truth, high ethical standards, holding the powerful — and ourselves — accountable, serving the watchdog role with honor.

Media have evolved throughout my career & yours. Don’t expect evolution to stop now. Or next year. Or the next. #keystone2012

— Steve Buttry (@stevebuttry) June 2, 2012

The first newspaper I carried as a boy in the 1960s, the Citizen-Journal in Columbus, Ohio, died in 1985. The first newspaper I wrote for, the Evening Sentinel in Shenandoah, Iowa, died in 1993. The Fort Worth Press died twice in the 1970s while I was a student at Texas Christian University. The Des Moines Tribune died when I worked for its sister newspaper, the Des Moines Register, in 1982. I worked for the Kansas City Times when it died in 1990. (No, this is not part of my job-interview spiel). All those newspapers died before the World Wide Web was born. Disruption is part of life in the news business.

As Darwin taught us, the fittest survive. So we must be nimble. We must be fit. We must adapt and evolve.

The community makes our content better (& always has). Engage through blogs, social media, comments, chats, submissions … #keystone2012

— Steve Buttry (@stevebuttry) June 2, 2012

Good journalism has always relied on good sources and has always told the community’s stories. Crowdsourcing, in combination with traditional reporting and source development, helps us find the best possible sources and tell the best stories. By engaging blog networks, curating social media and joining and hosting the community conversation, we help the community tell its own stories, so we can focus our energies on those stories we can tell best.

Master #DigitalFirst tools: video, data, blogs, slideshows, timelines, Google Voice, Facebook, Pinterest, Storify … #keystone2012

— Steve Buttry (@stevebuttry) June 2, 2012

Texas Instruments Silent 700

I started my career using a manual typewriter and carbon paper. (I didn’t think of including a pica pole here until we were drinking in the hospitality suite later in the evening.) In the 1970s I learned to use computers – big, massive computer terminals connected to a mainframe. In the 1980s I learned to use personal and portable computers – first a Texas Instruments portable that printed out my stories on thermal paper that curled up into rolls, then a “Trash 80” with only four lines of display on its screen. In the 1990s I learned to use spreadsheets, databases and cellphones. In this century, I’m mastering social media, blogging platforms, mobile apps, smartphones and tablets. Each of these tools helped me be a better journalist. I can figure out how to use Pinterest. I figured out Timetoast this week. I wonder what’s in store for me next week.

Twitter makes you a better editor. It connects w/ community, helps cover breaking news, shows staff you’re learning new tools. #keystone2012

— Steve Buttry (@stevebuttry) June 2, 2012

I’m talking here especially to top newsroom editors, though much of what I say will apply to any journalist. If you’re not using Twitter yet, you need to start now. You’re only something like four years late. Twitter is the most useful tool introduced to journalism during my career, with the possible exception of the cellphone, but since you use Twitter on your phone, each makes the other more valuable.

If you don’t use Twitter to cover breaking news, you’re missing out on eyewitnesses to news events. You’re missing your chance to tell the story as it unfolds, reaching many who never pick up a newspaper. If Twitter isn’t part of your daily routine, you’re blowing a chance to eavesdrop on the community conversation. And you’re telling your staff that it’s OK to be left behind. It’s not OK to be left behind. It’s too late for you to be a Twitter pioneer. But it’s not too late to lead your staff in catching up and to change your newsroom’s culture.

A #DigitalFirst newsroom reports what’s happening now. Master liveblogging, livetweeting, livestreaming & live chats. #keystone2012

— Steve Buttry (@stevebuttry) June 2, 2012

What business are we in? News, that’s right. Well nothing is newer than what’s happening right now. Lead your staff in mastering the tools, practices and ethics of live news coverage. Liveblog, livetweet and livestream meetings, sports events and community festivals.

And insist that Pennsylvania courts recognize our right and duty to provide live coverage from courtrooms. Live coverage has worked effectively in other states and even in federal courts with no problems. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of news coverage. The Sixth Amendment guarantees public trials. Where the hell do Pennsylvania judges think they have a higher authority than two amendments in the Bill of Rights?

As @jeffjarvis says, a story is a process, not a product. Master the unfolding story & multiple storytelling tools. #keystone2012

— Steve Buttry (@stevebuttry) June 2, 2012

I love a good story. I once wrote a narrative that ran 200 inches in the newspaper and that was when pages were bigger and columns wider. (I wrote 250, but the bastards made me cut it.) But let’s be honest: Most of the content we publish isn’t stories. It’s news. It’s facts. It’s information. Let’s respect the pure, traditional story – the narrative string of paragraphs – by reserving that form for real stories that have story elements such as plot, character, setting and theme.

For news, facts and information, let’s tell stories as they unfold: a tweet here, an update there, a database, a video clip, a timeline, a slideshow, a conversation, a list. Let’s master the tools of digital storytelling and learn to match our tools and techniques to the circumstances.

Encourage, reward & demand experimentation & risk. You won’t find a prosperous future by clinging to control. #keystone2012

— Steve Buttry (@stevebuttry) June 2, 2012

We view journalism as a courageous profession, standing up to the government and the powerful in our communities, comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. Why do we lose our courage and insist on comfort in the newsroom? Have the guts to risk the chaos of live coverage and social media.

Lead the conversation in your staff about ethical journalism and verifying facts. Then trust your staff to make good decisions and practice good journalism. Have some fun with them as they and you help us find a new path to a prosperous future.

Digital tools are changing the world as profoundly as Gutenberg did. Embrace the opportunity to work in exciting times. #keystone2012

— Steve Buttry (@stevebuttry) June 2, 2012

I was privileged five years ago to travel to Germany and visit the Gutenberg Museum. Has anyone here ever been to that museum? It’s a moving experience, telling the story of the birth of print as we work now in what may be print’s twilight years.

Upstairs in a dimly lit room under protective glass, I saw three original Gutenberg Bibles. And over to the left in another glass case were some pre-Gutenberg Bibles – handcrafted works of art made in the centuries before movable type by monks known as scribes. I believe we are working in a similar time to what those monks experienced when Gutenberg introduced new technology to their work. If their product was a handcrafted Bible that families passed down through generations as an heirloom, then Gutenberg’s new technology killed their product. But if their product was a message that they believed in their souls was the word of God, the truth, that new technology brought new life to their product and brought that message, that truth, to countless people who never had a chance to read one of those beautiful handmade Bibles.

In the same way, if our product is ink on paper telling what happened yesterday, that product is fading fast. But I don’t believe that’s our product. Our product is news, information, opinion, context, meaning, connection to the community, connection to the marketplace, truth. And this new technology helps us bring this product to more people faster and in more ways than we ever could with Gutenberg’s machine.

Don’t let obstacles become excuses. Turn obstacles into #DigitalFirst war stories, as you do with obstacles to covering news. #keystone2012

— Steve Buttry (@stevebuttry) June 2, 2012

When the Cedar River surged beyond the 500-year-flood level in 2008 when I was editor of the Cedar Rapids Gazette, my staff responded remarkably, as your staff would respond. Staff members lost their homes. Our building ran on backup generators for a month. Roads were out across town and throughout our region. Photojournalists covered the flood in boats and hip waders. Reporters wore respirators to enter moldy buildings. The obstacles didn’t stop us; we had a story to tell. Our community needed us to tell it. And we were going to get that story, no matter what.

When our community faces a disaster, whether it’s a flood, a tornado or a sexual abuse scandal, we don’t care about the obstacles. We push them aside. We climb over them. We find a way around. We leap tall buildings with a single bound (remember, Clark Kent was a reporter). Somehow we get the story.

Well, transformation of journalism is the biggest story in our profession today. We face daunting obstacles. But like my Gazette colleagues kicked that flood’s ass, you and I and our newsrooms need to kick the ass of every excuse that presents itself and turn those obstacles into the war stories of how we mastered digital journalism.

I’ve already stolen an idea from my boss for this speech. Now I want to top that by stealing a line or two from Abe Lincoln. That speech he made in this same town ended with a vision for government that I think is a vision for media in a time when we wonder whether print newspapers can long endure. If we want to ensure a healthy role for journalism in our democracy, we need to stop worrying about whether newspapers will perish from the earth. We need to engage our communities and build a new digital model for media of the people, by the people and for the people.

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