Why journalists deserve low pay, a longish piece in The Christian Science Monitor, gives it to us straight about the value of traditional journalism in a new media economy.

Oxford economist Robert Picard argues that journalists don’t deserve to get paid well because,

Wages are compensation for value creation. And journalists simply aren’t creating much value these days.

Ouch.

He makes the now-familiar argument that technology has ‘deskilled’ journalists because anyone with high speed Internet and average literarcy skills can source information and disseminate it to whoever they want in any number of ways.

From an economic standpoint, information, the traditional commodity that journalists and media organizations have sold, has been devalued because there is now so much of it and much is offered free of charge.

In other words, journalists have to get out of the commodities business and start selling special expertise and skills that can’t be underbid by freebie bloggers and social media dwellers.

Basically we’ve got to get out of the pulp business and start selling hand-crafted rocking chairs.

Most journalists share the same skills sets and the same approaches to stories, seek out the same sources, ask similar questions, and produce relatively similar stories.

That’s true. How many live blogs do we need out of the Oliphant inquiry?

This interchangeability is one reason why salaries for average journalists are relatively low and why columnists, cartoonists, and journalists with special expertise (such as finance reporters) get higher wages.

Across the news industry, processes and procedures for news gathering are guided by standardized news values, producing standardized stories in standardized formats that are presented in standardized styles. The result is extraordinary sameness and minimal differentiation.

Picard offers an economic solution: each major newspaper should specialize in a few topics that have national interest and sell that expertise to other media organizations.

He suggests the Boston Globe could become the national leader in education and health (because of all the universities and research hospitals in Boston)

Dallas Morning News – oil and energy (actually, the Houston Chronicle is better suited for that role being home to Exxon and other oil companies)

Des Moines Register – agriculture

Chicago Tribune – airline and aircraft (and building on that theme political graft)

This is where Picard and I part company.

I agree that news organizations need to rid themselves of wire copy that can be read just about anywhere and become providers of quality and unique content.

However I don’t think we should leave expertise in any one topic to one organization. His economic model doesn’t calculate the influences of personal bias, whether it belongs to the journalist, the editor or the owner.

Trust me on this one. I live in New Brunswick. We live and breathe media concentration in this province and it ain’t always pretty.

But neither is the demise of journalism.

I know, weird name. It’s a play on the Province of New Brunswick’s motto, Spem Reduxit, Latin for ‘Hope Restored’.

They’ve been blogging for a couple of months now on the goings on in the Legislative Assembly and it is a fun little read. A couple of weeks ago they started what I think will be weekly audio podcasts.

The blog along with the pair’s individual Twitter posts – here’s where you’ll find Jacques and Dan in the Twittersphere – and CBC NB’s twitter feed (maintained by Dan) have become my daily source of New Brunswick political news.

The guys have got a good thing started here. I hope the CBC continues to build on the talents of individual journalists by allowing more of them to stretch their wings online – including allowing them to offer an opinion or two.

I think if media organizations are going to make the jump from old to new media they are going to have to redefine the role of journalists. News gathering is the baseline these days and offering a glorified headline service won’t get an audience. That’s the old media model.

In the land of bloggers and tweeters, those who can offer strong analysis and context will be the ones to gather and hold an audience.

Just about anyone with an Internet connection can answer the first four W5 questions – who, what, when and where.

The real money – and influence – is in being able to answer ‘Why’.

I think we need to get that out on the table because sometimes it feels like our national media companies think they can make up for their lack of news coverage beyond the Montreal-Windsor corridor by featuring alt-country musicians in their programs.

Try as they might, I don’t think putting “I Wanna Be in the Calvary” in regular rotation will enhance our understanding of contemporary Prairie culture or politics.

Its the same old story set to a slightly different tune. Those big companies – CBC, CTV, Global and its print arm CanWest – have all recently argued that they have to scale back their operations because of economic pressures. In other words, centralize. Slough off all those expensive-to-operate regional stations, staff ‘em with a minimal number of journalists and direct the news out of Toronto and to a lesser extent, Ottawa.

They say they’ve made these tough choices – the Orwellian term for massive staff layoffs – because they are losing ad revenue because (a) major advertisers, such as car companies, have got their own cash-flow problems and (b) advertisers with money are following audiences online.

The clearest evidence of this switch can be found in corporate job postings. There’s a bunch of new job titles out there – content developer, content strategist, social media marketer – that suggests the money isn’t coming back to traditional media companies until they change the way they produce and deliver content.

Content, that’s a fancy word for news.

People want more content, or more specifically they want a wider selection of content that they can tailor to their own interests.

The response of Canadian media companies? Scale back and employ journalists in small packs in big cities and then send them all out to cover the same story with a bunch of different bylines.

The media equivalent of spraypainting the side of a rock with “I was here.”

I quite literally see it every day.

I use Twitter as my newsfeed and this week the Globe, the National Post and CBC have all posted updates on the Oliphant inquiry and Brian Mulroney’s testimony within minutes of each other.

Its even more pathetic when it comes to entertainment news because the blogs beat large media organizations every time – and usually by hours, not minutes.

I get that media organizations aren’t making as much money as they used to and so naturally they have to reduce operations.

I know traditional newsroom are going to get smaller, in fact I think some of them do need to shrink.

But in the rush to reduce costs, media organizations have forgotten one of the oldest guidelines of our craft: Show don’t tell.

The best stories are told by those who were there to witness it. Telephone (or email) journalism will never equal in quality or influence the stories told by those on the ground.

At the end of this month CBC brass will begin to lay off journalists across the country. Here in Saint John, NB, the number of journalists is being cut in half, taking the station down to less than 10 people. Its the same story in Moncton, Sydney, Sudbury and a bunch of other medium and small markets.

Meanwhile, CBC has announced plans to expand its online presence and CBC.ca was spared in the layoffs.

That’s a smart move – I get all of my CBC content online now.

What I don’t understand is why CBC brass aren’t tapping into the knowledge and skill set of its existing journalists to make that conversion.

The websites for the CBC national shows are great – I love Radio 2 and 3 in particular and the Radio 1 podcasts. The same can’t be said for the regional stations, which are little more than news aggregate sites that list the latest headlines.

Its pathetic that in 2010 I can’t get a podcast of any of the shows produced in New Brunswick.

CBC’s regional cuts will limit the amount of news being produced locally. The journalists who will remain won’t have the time to explore leads and develop interesting stories. Local news is going to become even more boring.

News organizations shouldn’t be centralizing their staff; they should be dispersing staff, employing small, well-run groups across this country and telling them to go out and find original stories that no one is telling.

CBC, CTV and Global have all made cuts to local coverage, actions that show us what stories they think are worth telling.

It’ll be up to you to decide if you still want to listen.

That and Radio 2 are my near-constant companions during the day; a nice little mash-up of old and new media.

Watching all those tweets and status updates scroll by has got me thinking about my j-school days at Ryerson and the proudly ink-stained, notebook-toting profs who drilled into our heads the inverted pyramid style of writing and sparse prose for those single column stories.

Sure we all wanted to explore literary narrative devices, but they kept pulling us back, demanding we write sentences that made every word count.

There’s an art to it and once upon a time, the very best practitioners put their work on display every morning. There on the front page screamed out headlines that were designed to draw us in and make us want to read more.

Its a lost art but I have a hunch its about to make a comeback.

My favourite tweeters and Facebook dwellers offer me wit, info and a little teaser. That’s what it takes to make me click the hotlink and see what lies beyond those 140 characters.

As for the rest, well, try as I might, I just can’t fake it – I’m just not that into you.

1. It all begins with ‘why’

Everyone thinks they’re interesting.

They’re wrong.

Interesting people have a story that connects with their audience and the easiest way to make that connection is to give people what they want. Maybe it is an important piece of information, a neat new product that fits into their lives, an event they want to attend or – and this is the award-winning journalism category – it grabs them emotionally.

Everything else is  Charlie Brown’s teacher – a droning noise in the background.

Before you pitch ask yourself: Why should anyone care?

After you’ve answered that question, fill in your story with the rest of the W5 family (Who, What, When and Where) and their geeky cousin, How.

2. Motherly advice

Reporters aren’t scary; they just play it up on TV… and in the newspaper and on radio.

No really, we’re nice people.

Harried, understaffed, stressed-out people who aren’t easily impressed.

No pressure.

Talking to a journalist shouldn’t be a horrible experience (unless of course you’ve made off with the company till – then you’re in for a rough ride.)

Here’s some simple tips to remember when you see a reporter headed your way:

Be polite. That means don’t begin the conversation with “I know what you media types are like…” or “You don’t want news, you want sensationalism”, or that old favourite “I know what sells papers.” Really? You do? Well share it with us buddy because we sure as heck can’t seem to sell ‘em these days.

Journalists hate when people talk to them like that. Sort of like walking into your lawyer’s office and telling a lawyer joke or telling your contractor that he’s no Mike Holmes.

Dress appropriately. Straighten your tie. Fix your collar. Would it kill you to wear a little lipstick? If you’re going to be on TV, make sure you look good. Your audience will assess what you have to say by what you’re wearing, so if you want to be respected, don’t show up looking like a slob. So don’t wear weird stripes or patterns that look cool in person but odd in TV’s 2D world.

Smile. A nice smile, not a goofy smile or a pasted on one. A real smile. Particularly when you are on the radio because you can hear a smile over the airwaves.

Tell it to me straight. People know when they are being lied to and when they’re not getting the whole story. So don’t lie and don’t avoid the question. Answer it to the best of your ability and don’t be afraid to say you don’t know that answer. If you don’t know something, offer to get them the answer or direct them to someone who can.

Today I’m speaking at a Lunch n’ Learn session for young and new entrepreneurs at our local economic development agency. The topic is “Getting Press” and I’m supposed to explain how you grab the attention of reporters and editors so they’ll do a story on you and your business.

Meanwhile, earlier this week, I spoke to two journalist friends about life after the newsroom. One, in Ontario, was recently laid off from a newspaper and the second, out here in the Maritimes, is a bit worried about their future at CBC. Quite literally I got off the phone with one of them and five minutes later the other called.

So I’ve got one group asking my advice on how to get into the newsroom so they can make money for their business and the other wants to know how to make money after they’re kicked out of the newsroom.

I have the same answer for both and it ain’t the old newsroom.

Buzz, influence (and god willing) money lies in the hands of communities.

Traditional media organizations have defined community as the physical place where people live – the town, city, region or country – but tech and social media companies have expanded that definition to mean like-minded people who gather online or in person to talk about the things they share.

Twitter is a massive community; so is Facebook.

Amazon.com (and .ca) has proven a corporation can create a shared experience and turn customers into community members.

Media organizations – yeah, those companies that need to continue to exist so me and my colleagues can continue to earn a living as journalists – need to evolve into online communities. That means inviting others to contribute to the conversation. Hint: That’s not the comment boxes at the bottom of stories. That’s the domain of ranters and that’s why the rest of us stay away.

I’m actually more optimistic about the future of news gathering and analysis than most of my colleagues. I think the music industry and iTunes offers a hint of where we are headed. People are willing to pay for certain things, particularly production quality and authenticity (straight from the source, or creator).

In the past the media organization was the assurance of both. In this new world, the journalist fills that role. That will mean writers and journalists are going to have to take those pitching skills they honed in story meetings and use it to generate business – and audiences. Some will get to do it within a newsroom, albeit a smaller one. Most, I predict, will do it from their homes – pitching to a variety of different places and, most likely in a variety of different forms.

That’s a scary new world for those of us who have spent our careers in newsroom working to deadline.

It’s also really exciting and I intend to enjoy the ride.

I’ve got a vase of lilies blooming beside me, the sun is shining on my keyboard and I came across this neat little web project yesterday, courtesy of bookninja, that go me thinking.

Project Bookmark Canada is going to mark the spots across the country that are imagined by writers and then described in their books and poems.

Michael Ondaatje & Toronto mayor David Miller will launch the initiative Thursday, April 23 by installing one of the bookmarks – a permanent marker that describes the book and the passage that references the area. The first bookmark is going in at the Bloor viaduct, which is referenced in Ondaatje’s In the Skin of a Lion.

Its a cool idea. I just finished reading Old City Hall by Robert Rotenberg, which is set in Toronto and makes a point of mentioning Toronto landmarks, and – don’t laugh – I just read the Twilight series, and while it is a bit overwrought, author Stephenie Meyer, does make the Pacific Northwest region one of the central characters in her vampire love story.

Some other books that stand out for me are:

• Wayne Johnson helped me understand Newfoundland in a far deeper way than any history book with his novel Colony of Unrequited Dreams;
• Robertson Davies was inspired by Kingston for his Salterton Trilogy, Toronto for the Deptford Trilogy and U of T for his Cornish Trilogy – and I wanted to experience all of them;
• Stephen Leacock’s Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town is a book I reread and which has sat on my desk, next to my computer since my early days in journalism;
• Elizabeth Hay took me way up north in Late Nights on Air and of, course,
• David Adam Richards has captured the poverty of rural New Brunswick in his ongoing study of Miramichi in his novels.

If I were to put up a bookmark in Saint John, I would put it in the deep South End, to mark poet Alden Nowlan’s place in Canadian literature with his piece “Britain Street”.

This is a street at war.
The smallest children
battle with clubs
till the blood comes,
shout ‘fuck you!’
like a rallying cry ––

while mothers shriek
from doorsteps and windows
as though the very names
of their young were curses:

‘Brian! Marlene!
Damn you! God damn you!’

or waddle into the street
to beat their own with switches:
‘I’ll teach you, Brian!
I’ll teach you, God damn you!’

On this street
even the dogs
would rather fight
than eat.

I have lived here nine months
and in all that time
have never once heard
a gentle word spoken.

I like to tell myself
that is only because
gentle words are whispered
and harsh words shouted.

Where would you put a bookmark?

It’s a delightful book that illustrates not just what Saint John was once like, but also what great newspaper writing can accomplish.

David’s gift is his ability to draw his reader into each of these stories – some now over 40 years old – with language that feels fresh and inviting. He tweaks and prods the powerful and the pompous with the wit of a truly talented wordsmith.

Take for example, his May 13, 1972 column, “Booze and Business” about city councillors coming to council meetings drunk:

Of course, I would never write a column about it.

To mention liquor and a Common Council meeting in the same connection – even to hint at it by implication – would be unthinkable.

To even to attempt to answer such questions would call for the care and caution of a novice animal tamer in a cage full of lions and tigers.

David, of course, does answer the question and as I read that column, I pictured him at his typewriter in the old Times Globe office, with sleeves rolled up, wearing that half-smile you see on the face of every journalist when they are writing something that sings.

I know David, ever so slightly. He was the letters to the editors page editor and the stamp columnist when I arrived at the Crown Street newsroom in August 1997. I was a business writer for the Telegraph-Journal in those days and so I didn’t have a lot of opportunities to talk to the quiet, well-mannered and always immaculately dressed Mr. Williams.

As someone new to the newspaper and to New Brunswick, I didn’t know anyone’s back story, a distinct disadvantage when trying to build relationships in the Maritimes. So, I wasn’t aware that David had once dined on T-bone steaks with Tommy Hunter, had climbed to the top of the Harbour Bridge to take in the view and had engaged in a thoughtful conversation with the new Catholic bishop about celibacy and the role of women in the Church.

I do know that now, thanks to When Headlines Spoke in Capital Leaders.

But I’ll tell you what I did know.

I knew that David Williams stood apart in that newsroom.

That he was afforded a level of deference and respect that only one other person, the late Glen Allen, received from the staff and managers of that paper.

That he never raised his voice because he never had to.

That he listened with great patience and respect to every person who called him to harangue and harumph either him or their target of disdain.

And I knew that when I wanted to know something about Saint John or New Brunswick, David would have the answer or would know who did.

When Headlines Spoke in Capital Letters is a wonderful discovery.

Treat yourself to some great stories, told by a pretty damn good writer.

You can order the book directly from David at www.DavidWilliamsReports.com

It is also available at UNB’s Inprint Bookstore on King Street in Uptown Saint John and at local Coles and Indigo Bookstores.

Here are a few sites I like to visit:

Activate – a weekly compendium of international news, put together by the people behind Flavorpill in NYC.

Bookninja – a fabulous blog out of St. John’s NL that covers all things literary and bookish. One of the most-read literary blogs in North America – proof that some great things are percolating on the fringe.

Everywhere – an online travel magazine with great user-generated content.

Unlimited – an Alberta-based magazine that is a mash-up of business and lifestyle. I picked it up at Indigo a couple of months ago and liked it. Hope it survives.

For those who are torn between online news and the look of a newspaper, with its column inches neatly defined, check out PressDisplay. It gives you access to just about every major and regional paper in the world, allowing you to read stories as they appear in the paper. I can almost smell the ink.

Two interesting developments, one here in Canada and the other in the U.S., provide insight into the evolution of journalism and freelance writing.

Eye Weekly, a free arts and culture tab in Toronto, writes about Derek Finkle’s attempts to start a freelance writers agency, to represent the interests of Canada’s top freelance writers and demand higher fees from publications. Finkle, the former editor of the defunct men’s mag Toro!, decries the Canadian mag industry’s refusal to raise freelance rates.

“Why shouldn’t I be able to have a career trajectory? The problem is, the system doesn’t make any sense … What needs to happen can’t be done by individuals, but the idea of putting together an agency that represents 150 or 200 of the top freelance writers in the country, it could certainly impose a career arc on the industry.

“One of the consequences is that the talent pool starts to dry up. What happens is you’re in your early to mid-20s, you want to be a freelance writer, you go gung-ho, you work at it, you try to move up the ladder as it were, and write for bigger and more prominent publications. And then, if you happen to be one of the people who manage to get to the top of the ladder, and you stay there for a few years, you realize that it’s still a real struggle. What happens is, the good ones end up in New York.”

To find out more, check out www.canadianwritersgroup.com.

So while Canadian freelancers are fighting the good fight to raise rates for everyone – Go Finkle! Go! – The Christian Science Monitor announced that it was putting its print edition to bed for good. The ink-stained wretches of the print edition will henceforth be the tendonitis-afflicted hackers as the Monitor goes online in April 2009.

The method of delivery and format are secondary” and need to be adjusted, given Mrs. Eddy’s call to keep the Monitor “abreast of the times.”

As paper gives way to pixels, dare we dream that resources will be directed towards content, otherwise known as writers, photographers and editors?

Now that’s change I want to believe in.