stories2 streams

from STORIESto STREAMSTHE EVOLUTION OF THE BEAT

MATT THOMPSON@mthomps

mthompson@npr.orgmthomps.com

TWOPARABLES

I: A tale of two scandals.

Watergate Enronv.

ladouceur78 / Flickr alex-s / Flickr

The Watergate Hotel - Noah Kalina / Flickr

FORTUNE, 3/5/01

The column that felled Enron

from information scarcity …

… to information overload

II. The classic editor

RAIJSI / Flickr

redmondbarry / Flickr

The water cooler effect in reverse

ARTHUR MILLER, 1961

A good newspaper,

I suppose, is a NATION TALKING TO ITSELF

twistori.com

But that’s already happening…

so what does a good journalist

do now?

There is a new profession of

TRAIL BLAZERS – those who find delight in the task of

establishing useful trails through the enormous mass of the common record.

VANNEVAR BUSH, 1945

Nobody is looking for another thing to read.

FELIX SALMON, 2010

The biggest shortage in journalism right now

isn’t good writers, or even enlightened proprietorswilling to fund investigations.

IT’S CRITICAL READERS.

Step 1:MASTER THE

CONVERSATION.

Talking Points Memo

tell us everything we need to knowabout something

draw patternsconnect dotsbuild context

not a series of isolated dispatches.

A STREAM.

Step 2:NURTURE THE

CONVERSATION.

traditional reportingis about building a

ROLODEX

j

a b c d e f

tomorrow’s reportingis about building aNETWORK

j

A B C D E

Gd

e f

turn sources into commenters

WBUR’s CommonHealth

… cont’d.

Step 3:EXTEND THE

CONVERSATION.

you have to go where the

conversation isbefore you can gowhere it isn’t

FORTUNE, 3/5/01

The column that felled Enron

Vanity Fair’s Bethany McLeanwas also at the breakfast, and she confirmed that

the blogosphere is a goldminefor people like her who wantto understand the [financial] crisis.

FELIX SALMON, 2010

Imagine an alternate history

Thank you.

@mthompsmthompson@npr.org

mthomps.com