Week 1 Highlights

MEETINGS, INTERVIEWS & ENGAGEMENT:

Scott Lebar, managing editor
Linda Gonzales, digital team/editor
Bev Griffin, administrative support
Nate Miller, digital team/analytics
Brian Blomster, digital team/metro editor
Andrew Seng, photographer/Instagram
Amy Chance, political reporter and senior editor
Ed Fletcher, city reporter
Loretta Kalb, education reporter
Tyler Stobbe and Kevin Rolf, developers/data project
All-employee meeting July 21
ONA Sacramento Meetup with Google News representative Stacie Chan July 23 with Nate Miller
Intern lunch with Pat Talamantes July 24, 2015

TAKE-AWAYS & NOTES

PR/Media Relations

Writing
- Online newsrooms are often valuable – keep them updated and current with press releases, broadcast/print-quality images, story starters, contacts
- Newly introduced to “top lines” and “high lines” providing value-add to online applications
- Do your homework on your reporter – embody their style, have awareness about length
Relationships
- Connect with reporters before you need them
- Follow them on their social media and blogs – share, like, retweet, comment when appropriate
- Be a resource – even when it has nothing to do with the organization you represent
- Remember reporters are people too – be respectful, give and take, be mindful of how they like to communicate with you
- Be a partner. Help them do their job better.
Behavior & Practice
- Transparency is paramount
- Pay attention to the reporter’s work. When you call – know the last three stories they wrote.
- Read the publication with emphasis on the relevant section for your organization – know the types of stories covered and plan accordingly.
- Be accessible – return calls even if you don’t have new information
- Be responsive especially in times of crisis or scandal – even if you don’t have the answers
- Provide unique access whenever possible – the first on a story, to people, to locations

Digital/Social Media

Sac Bee digital focus areas – mobile web, apps, video and social sharing
Highlighted recent updates:
- Visibility of sharing buttons and that they “travel” with scroll
- Responsive design
- New video player (hides length of video as to limit bounces)
- Stories are more visible and scannable
- Visible “high lines” showcasing stats, quotes, facts or numbers
- Visible “top lines” summarizing top 2-3 highlights of each story
Facts
- Facebook 2015 monthly views are double from the same period in 2014
- Twitter views are up 55% from the same period in 2014
- In mobile five key sections are highlighted that increase depth of readership (Top Stories, Sports, Local News, Politics and Entertainment)

Analytics & Metrics

Branding

The Sacramento Bee focuses on four pillars.
1. Creates connections
2. Watches the powerful in the community
3. Be interesting
4. Saves time and money
  - All initiatives and goals should circle back and fit into one or more of these pillars.
  - For example – how does a feature story on popular Sacramento hot spots for 20-somethings create connections [new sources for ad revenue] or generate interest [results in shares, likes, comments]?
Series, stories and activities resonating the four pillars:
- Arena construction, drought/water issues, culture of sports, photo series, river dangers, homeless (creating connections)
- Vaccine debate, Capitol Bureau, nursing home ownership, “accountability reporting”, mayoral sexual harassment claims (powerful in the community)
- Wrong-way freeway collisions, affordability in home ownership, El Nino, engaging visual storytelling such as drone racing quadacopters an d SF 49ers playing ping pong in the locker room (be interesting)
- Subscription based email blasts (sports, weekend wrap ups), Wednesday’s edition, advertising integration into video and social media (saving time and money)

Advertising

AGI is reshaping the organizational structure of the advertising department
Updates coming for direct marketing now that Penny Saver is out of commission
New focus on digital and capitalizing on digital opportunities in web, apps, social media and video
Joint goals in development with Audience and News
New initiatives for holidays

News/Information Industry (Sacramento Bee-centric)

Priority areas: video integration and visual storytelling with added support in equipment and training, increasing advertising revenue, reorganization of newsroom to be “digital first”, capitalization on the modern print edition
Firsts: Sacramento Bee was the first in McClatchy family to do 2020 initiative – setting the tone and paving the way for North and South Carolina and others that follow
Advertising changes – audience restructuring, separation of local and non-local segments, new distributor model for long-term service improvements

Curriculum Impacts (so far)

Restructuring emphasis on writing. Press releases matter but mostly in the context of organization newsrooms.
Teach them how to write “top lines” and “high lines” in addition to the emphasis on SEO-centric headlines and leads
Increase emphasis on value of story starter
Increase emphasis on the email pitch and what that looks like (with reiteration on first step of relationship building)
More discussion and assignments around reporter research and long-term following of social media and published work
Add in simulation of reporter engagement (mock scenarios played out live in classroom)
Introduce technologies used in the newsroom and their analytics and tracking
Introduce the concept of brand in the context of the news and information industry
Restructure SEO discussion based on insights from Google News – focus more on their four main criteria: originality, timeliness, relevance and authority
Bring Google News interface into curriculum in COMSTRAT 383

NEWSROOM TECHNOLOGY & TOOLS

Neodata out of Italy for database and audience
Newscurve: reporter-centric analytics, story trend tool with real-time views, predictive modeling and views based on key performance indicators (KPIs)
Database project – focus on creating a unique user experience through analysis, split-testing and real-time assessments
CCI (Newsgate) – population of story content, headlines, top lines, high lines, SEO terms, photo, video
Videolicious for capture, narration, editing of stories (phone app)
Adobe Lightroom for streamlined photo editing

Teaching