Investigative Reporting: A future (presentation)
Last week I spoke at the Wits Power Reporting Conference on investigative reporting where I was asked to share some thoughts on a possible future for investigative reporting and the new media tools which we may use. I sketched out something of the work we have been doing at the Dispatch and then imagined some future possibilities.
Essentially, I see three exciting technologies and methods becoming central to journalism in general and investigative journalism in particular. They are data visualisation, GIS or geo-located news, and crowdsourcing. All three of these areas have become personal obsessions of mine and I'm spending many, many hours of my personal time studying them and thinking of their potential application in our work at the Dispatch. Watch this space!
Anyway, if you are interested, I have embedded my presentation below.
[slideshare id=2409357&doc=investigativejournalism-091103034619-phpapp01]
Is this SA's broadcasting revolution?
There’s been plenty of chatter over the last couple of days over a new bill which seeks to scrap our existing television licence system and replace it with a new income tax to fund public broadcasting in South Africa.
While many will welcome an end to the hassles of dealing with television licence it is inevitable that the new system will impose a fee substantially higher than the R250 a year currently levied.
A careful reading of the Public Service Broadcasting Bill reveals that this proposed legislation does not merely envisage a new funding model, but a complete revolution in the the public broadcasting landscape of South Africa.
Among the many proposals of the bill is a plan to expand the number of television channels available to South Africans with the SABC having to introduce channels specifically focused on education, health, youth, parliamentary services and interactive government services.
It also imagines a network of community-based broadcasters run by community members but with the active involvement of local municipalities who will assist in providing content, infrastructure and support services. It further proposes using the Public Service Broadcasting Fund to finance extensive local content development.
Specialist channels will be licensed on a free-to-air basis which will carry children’s programming, local ethno-documentaries and wildlife material.
There is also an international leg where Channel Africa (the SABC’s external service) will be moved into a new division with a mandate similar to that of Voice of America, promoting South African foreign policy objectives on the African continent as well as pushing a strong Afro-centric news and content agenda.
The scope of this bill is grand and imagines a broadcasting environment which truly lives up to a public service mandate. Many will welcome these proposals which theoretically will open up the airwaves to new and diverse voices as well as ensuring that community media will thrive.
Embattled local content producers may see themselves blossom in this new model. However, this new landscape will carry a significant price-tag which, it is clear, will overwhelmingly be carried by the taxpayer.
By way of example, existing British television licences cost £142.50 a year (about R1800) and generate nearly R40bn in revenue annually. That is what it costs to produce broadcasting with the range and scope of the BBC. SABC television licences currently generate about R900m annually.
The Public Service Broadcasting Bill clearly imagines a BBC-style mandate, but what price will South Africans be prepared to pay to see such a mandate delivered?
Scridb filter137 years of news and merriment
Journalists don’t need much of an excuse to have a party. The only thing that flows thicker than ink through our blood is, ahem, merriment. So you can imagine our delight when we were reminded last week that the Dispatch was celebrating its 137th birthday.
In short order our marketing department had whipped up the makings for a braai with bottles of, ahem, merriment and by Friday much merriment was being had by all.
Using the web to help you in print
DECIDING what we put in the paper each day and the kind of emphasis we give to stories occupies a great deal of our
Dispatch web interest in stories and what we publish in the paper - do they correlate?
time and is cause for plenty of debate in our newsroom.
We watch the indicators we can access and try and tweak out decisions according to the information to hand. Our weekly sales reports can give us a good idea if we hit the spot or not but, unfortunately, there are plenty of other factors that can influence the sale of a newspaper besides the story we have on the front page.
These can be anything from the weather (when its wet and cold we sell less) to the season of the year (I know, I know, it’s great mystery to us as well).
Of course we are also guided by reader research in adjusting our news offering..
So how do we know if we’re getting it right? Our circulation numbers are obviously a very clear indicator of success or failure but even these can be difficult to rely on. In a recession, such as the one we are experiencing at the moment, do we sell fewer newspapers because readers are disinterested in the news or because they can’t afford the paper as often as they used to?
Twitter and the courtroom: our experiment in a murder trial
Followers of the Dispatch on Twitter (@dispatchnow) may have noticed our experiment in following the murder trial of Wendy Manthe using this micro-blogging service over the last two days.
Manthe is an East London mother who starngled her two young daughters to death and it is a trial which has gripped our community. You can catch the stories on this trial here.
We tried it earlier during the pleading stage of the trial which I wrote about on this blog at the time. I believe this was a first for SA journalism and now we are at the sentencing stage of the trial and DispatchOnline news editor Jan Hennop has been trying it again - this time really pushing the limits of what micro-blogging can do.
During Monday's testimony when Manthe took the stand Jan gave a blow-by-blow account of the unfolding court drama which I personally found riveting. It was far more comprehensive than the earlier attempt and I felt as if I was in court hearing the evidence as it unfolded.
Here is a small sample. It obviously runs in reverse chronological order like a blog.
Scridb filter