The document discusses the skills and qualities of the future journalist from the perspectives of two generations. It outlines that the future journalist must have strong fundamental journalistic skills combined with digital skills. They should be a multimedia storyteller, community builder, trusted pointer, collaborative worker, and understand social media and metrics. The future journalist also needs to be a blogger, brand builder, business-savvy, clear communicator, permanent learner and embrace challenges to continually adapt to changes.

1. The Future
Journalist
Thoughts from two generations
Vadim Lavrusik
@lavrusik
Sree Sreenivasan
Name Sree Sreenivasan
Location Manhattan
Name Vadim Lavrusik
Location New York City, USA
@sreenet
Web http://sree.net Web http://lavrusik.com
Bio Working on social media
Bio Columbia J-school prof/dean & technology
evangelist/skeptic; contributing editor, DNAinfo.com @nytimes | @columbiajourn
digital media grad student |
Building @NYC3_0 | Idea
generator | Tweeting new media
goodies.
THIS DOC: bit.ly/futurej *** VIDEO: bit.ly/futurejvid

2. Social Media Today Is...
where radio was in 1912
where TV was in 1950
where the web was in 1996
Imagine discussing the future journalist
at those points in time - we'd make bad
predictions then, and we'll make bad
predictions now.
Fact is, the future of journalism is full of
opportunities, pitfalls and mistakes we
are all going to make - TOGETHER.

3. The Future Journalist knows:
Fundamentals Are Critical
Great reporting
Great writing
Journalistic ethics
Beat work -
specialization
Investigative skills
News judgment
Understands the world
Critical thinking
Critical reading

4. The Future Journalist is:
A"Tra-digital Journalist"
Term coined by
Prof. SIG GISSLER,
administrator of the
Pulitzer Prizes.
... has all the skills and values of a traditional
journalist, with a digital overlay.
[He also talks about how journalists should convey
"joyful entitlement" when reporting.]

5. The Future Journalist has:
A New Media SKILLSET
&
A New Media MINDSET
An idea from NYT's Jonathan Landman.
...you need digital skills, but you also
need the ability to THINK digitally.

6. The Future Journalist is:
A Multimedia Storyteller
Able to use the right digital skills and tools
for the right story at the right time
Has high-end digital skillset and mindset
Knows how to use words, visuals, video,
interactive graphics
Some stories need lots of bells-n-whistles,
many don't
Able to do stories in many formats, but
specialist in one

7. The Future Journalist is:
A Multimedia Storyteller
Multiple daily video
updates
by multimedia reporter-
producers at DNAinfo.com
Producing, editing, live-streaming video
Audio podcasts, Webcasts
Photo slideshows, audio slideshows
Online video consumption is growing

8. The Future Journalist is:
A Community Builder
Facilitating conversation
Each their own “community manager”
Maintaining Web beats
Connecting audiences

9. The Future Journalist is:
A Trusted Pointer
Finds and shares great content, within a
beat(s) or topic area(s)
Is trusted by others to filter out the noise
Every time he or she reaches out, the item
shared will be:
helpful
useful
informative
entertaining
funny [what would you add?]
Only rarely is the pointing to his/her own work

10. The Future Journalist:
Works Collaboratively
Knows how to harness the work of a range
of people around him/her - colleagues in
the newsroom; experts in the field; trusted
citizen journalists; segments of the
audience, and more.
Doesn't try to start every story from
scratch - can work collaboratively with
existing material and concentrate, when
necessary, on advancing the story.
A simple test: can you work on a story with
another journo within Google Docs?

11. The Future Journalist:
Gets Social Media
We mean, really, really gets it.
Uses it to LISTEN, not only to broadcast
Uses social media to:
find new story ideas, trends and sources
connect with audience(s)
bring attention and traffic
help them create, craft and enhance their
personal brand

12. The Future Journalist is:
Blogger and Curator
Has a personal
voice
Is curator of Web
content
Participant in the
link economy
Knows value of
speed and SEO
Pete Cashmore, founder of Mashable
Builds a
community

13. The Future Journalist has:
An Entrepreneurial Spirit
An experimental
open-mindedness
Innovator
Filling a gap in
news
Cody Brown, founder of NYU Local,
Problem solvers Kommons
Might be an
entrepreneur
within existing
companies
But not everyone David Cohn, founder of Spot.
Us

14. The Future Journalist is:
Web Programmer/Coder
A knowledge of what's possible
Telling stories with CSS, HTML, PHP,
JavaScript, ActionScript, etc.
Flash interactives
Showcasing data and making it
manageable
“I run a newsroom team of
journalist/developers at The New York
Times.”

15. The Future Journalist:
Crafts His/Her Brand
Online presence
Credibility
Influence
Expertise
Specialist (topical,
subject area, or
geographic)
Adrian Holovaty
Hi there! I’m a Web People return your
developer, journalist calls, text msgs, IMs,
and musician DMs, @mentions
in Chicago

16. The Future Journalist is:
Business Savvy
Understands the business of
his/her industry
Understands value of content
Understands new media
business models
Explores new business
relationships and partnerships
Doesn't try to invent
everything; harness what's out
there

17. The Future Journalist:
Knows & Embraces Metrics
Understands the value and danger of
metrics
Studies today's major metrics tools,
Google Analytics, Omniture, Nielsen,
Bit.ly, etc

18. The Future Journalist:
Thinks "Career Management,"
Not "Next Job"
Understands value of thinking long-
term
Thinks strategically about career
choices
Keeps re-tooling
Builds a "board of advisers"

19. The Future Journalist is:
A Clear Personal
Communicator
Hi Sree,
I was just wondering where the best place to send
pitches for the Huffington Post is - I have sent a couple of
emails to them trying to find out - but have had no luck...
Thanks,
Cxxxxx
During the talk, I got this Twitter DM from Huffington
Post's Craig Kanalley:
ckanal
across anyone who wants to know where to send HuffPost
pitches again, send them to me! It's part of my job. :)

20. The Future Journalist is:
A Clear Personal
Communicator
Thinks through every tweet,
Facebook posting, e-mail message
Reintroduces him/herself in
cyberspace to people he or she
met in the real world
Clear subject lines in e-mail

21. The Future Journalist is:
Permanent Learner
Open to new ideas
Reading, asking, talking about the
changes all around us
Media diet includes
Mashable
PaidContent.org
ReadWriteWeb
Lifehacker
Poynter, Mediabistro blogs,
Mediaite, CJR, etc
[what would you add?]

22. The Future Journalist is:
Permanent Learner
When the plane lands in the
Hudson, it's too late to figure out
Twitter.
When your company starts layoffs,
it's too late to figure out LinkedIn.
When ____ happens, it's too late
to figure out _____.

23. The Future Journalist:
Knows & Enjoys the Challenge
"It’s the people who are entering the profession
right now that are going to create the editorial
models, the publishing models, the business
models, that define journalism in the 21st
century.
And that is something that’s exciting, it’s a
challenge, which, in my mind, totally outweighs
the bumps in the road, the instabilities, and the
lack of security that journalists face today that
maybe they didn’t 20 years ago."
- Joshua Michah Marshall of Talking Point Memo to Columbia J-
school graduates, May 2009

24. The Future Journalist:
Gets More Out of Speakers
@lavrusik / vadim@lavrusik.com
blog: lavrusik.com
@sreenet / sree@sree.net
Facebook: facebook.com/sreetips
Social-media Skills syllabus: bit.ly/socmediaskills
WEBCASTS: Basic Twitter for Journos &
Advanced Twitter for Journos:
bit.ly/columbiajtw2
SREE WORKSHOPS: bit.ly/workshops
THIS DOC: bit.ly/futurej *** VIDEO: bit.ly/futurejvid