Build new media skills, says Ferrier
Adapt to changing news ecology while maintaining old values Michelle Ferrier tells an Elon reporting class
By Hannah Williams
Sept. 21, 2008
Michelle Ferrier addresses Elon communications students and faculty regarding the changing news ecology.
ELON, N.C. – Michelle Ferrier predicted the evolving world of news will become increasingly dependent on social media tools in a discussion with Elon student reporters and communications faculty Friday.
She encouraged students to experiment with emerging technology: “Build the flexibility and the knowledge sets that you have to be able to dance between the old and new media with elegance.”
Ferrier has applied for a faculty position in the new interactive media master’s program to be offered by Elon’s School of Communications beginning summer 2009.
Ferrier is the proprietor of MyTopiaCafe.com, an online community for the residents of Volusia and Flagler counties in Florida. It is an interactive news site parented by The News-Journal of Daytona Beach, Fla.
The site boasts 2,200 registered users, 10,000 posts and 100,000 monthly hits after one year of operation, which it celebrated Sept. 15.
Ferrier described MyTopiaCafe.com as a hyper-local site for area residents. “It’s a place to be and be seen,” she said.
Furthermore, Ferrier said she hoped that the site had the feel of a local coffeehouse bulletin board, allowing people a platform to share information they value with their community.
Ferrier defined her role as a community weaver: “Someone who’s brokering conversation and brokering interest within the community.”
In the changing news ecology there’s no central core, she said. “It is a much more distributed, news-information gathering, sourcing, creating process,” Ferrier said.
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The Old News Story. Courtesy of Journalism that Matters, News Tools ‘o8. |
New technology forces legacy media – print, broadcast – to reevaluate their role.
Previously, editors played the central role in news media, assessing the community situation and presenting the news accordingly. Ferrier said, not so anymore.
“Flows and dynamics are changing between the roles, and the roles themselves are changing,” Ferrier said.
Ferrier equated legacy media to a sidewalk that is beginning to buckle and crack under the pressures of new technology and changing revenue streams. The new, flexible media bubble up through the cracks to fill the needs of the community.
Technology is now as accessible as ever. Widgets and other web tools make constructing a website like building with Legos, said Ferrier.
She also highlighted the benefits of social networking sites.
“Between two [virtual] handshakes,” Ferrier said, “you might know the head of a corporation.”
The changing news ecology raised some concerns for Ferrier. An interactive media environment could potentially lead to a pull-based media model.
“How are you going to get a good, balanced diet of information,” Ferrier wondered, “to be able to challenge your long-held beliefs, to be able to get different points view, to be able to grow to participate in a democracy?”
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The Emerging News Ecology. Courtesy of Journalism that Matters, News Tools ‘o8. |
Ferrier also feared for people’s privacy, especially those in online social networks like Facebook and MySpace. She warned the college students in particular to be aware of their profile content.
“You may think your expunging your record to some extents,” Ferrier said; dropping her voice to a whisper, she added, “It’s still there.”
Regardless, new media is emerging to fill roles that old media have relinquished.
Craigslist provides free online classifieds and a new advertising model.
Readership is being transformed by search portals, RSS feeds and email links.
YouTube, Twitter and social networks arose to fill the news hole left by decreased print media resources.
“Displaced journalists” and concerned community members transformed into bloggers and comprise the staff of these new Web 2.0 media organizations.
Ferrier reminded her audience that the new media demanded more than tech savvy.
“You have to be in and of the community, engaged in the community,” Ferrier said, “in order for this technology to survive.”
