Important Qualities

Originally uploaded by ericaamerica08

Today I applied for a job as a Mobile Producer at Allbritton Communications – the parent company of Politico that is about to launch a new news organization, one that will serve the Washington, D.C. metro area and work to shape the “future of local news.”

Not long after I applied, I received a note back from Steve Buttry, Director of Community Engagement at Allbritton. He wanted to know – what are my thoughts for the job description, his or her duties and the process of the producer? Luckily I think I have this one down – and I’m so glad he asked.

Job Description: Mobile Producer

• Must have ability to produce multi-platform stories
• Must be technology agnostic
• Must demonstrate editorial judgment
• Must have story instinct

The Mobile producer must demonstrate the ability to combine traditional values of journalism (integrity, fairness, balance, pursuit of truth and focus on the facts) with the social media code of conduct – transparency, collaboration, crowd sourcing and audience interaction, among others.

The Mobile producer must be in tune with the rapid changes in the media and adapt, every day, testing new newsgathering, production and story telling techniques. He or she must be able to (1) develop original content (2) aggregate that content and (3) provide deeper context to select stories in the format of research-based blog posts, long form videos, interviews, etc.

The Mobile producer must be aware that distribution of the story is just as important as the newsgathering process. Working with the social media producer and strategists, the Mobile producer will assist in listening to the target audience, seeding the stories in communities and be nimble enough to identify and react to the best distribution techniques. The Mobile producer must take seriously the responsibility of being an intelligent filter and creator of news to the residents of metro D.C.

The Mobile producer is fearless. He or she must always have gear in pockets and be ready to catch or chase a story.

The Mobile producer must care about providing information to the residents in the Washington, D.C. metro area, a city that is unique in that it has no vote in Congress, experiences high crime, low high school graduation rates, and is seat to the most powerful government in the world.

The Mobile producer, in an ideal world, is Erica Anderson!

What else should I add? Do you think I have what it takes?

Today on my reader:

Google Stands Alone: Tech Crunch explains to us what it means when the world’s most powerful technology and media company takes on China. Evelyn Rusli gets the Skype interview with Harvard Professor Jonathan Zittrain.

Want a Front Row Seat to the White House? The anonymous White House reporter, ‘West Wing Report’ gives it to you. In his new blog, the former Wall Street news producer uses his access and makes it yours. Today for the President: conversations about reducing nuclear arms with Russia, a daily briefing at 9:35 and a 12:35 press briefing by Secretary Robert Gibbs.

The TSA Is On Top of It: The Transportation Security Agency wants to start tracking our cell phones as we go through airport security lines. The reason?  To better inform us all about wait times. Eventually, the data would be used on web sites to let fliers know how long waits will be.

Thousands March on Washington

Originally uploaded by ericaamerica08

Thousands of illegal immigrants fearlessly met  today on the National Mall. With an estimated 100,000 people in tow, the presence of illegal immigrants and activists from states like Illinois, Rhode Island, California and Florida, seemed to offer a physical reminder that they want to be next up for change.

In 2008, Hispanics, a large sub group of the Latino population in the U.S. voted for Obama 2-1. His promises to bring them out from the shadows, keep their families together and recognize them as legitimate contributors to the U.S. economy got them out to vote. Yet more than a year into his Presidency, immigration reform hasn’t taken priority – yet.

There is an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the nation’s shadows. Read the rest of this entry…

My Afternoon with the Newspaper

Originally uploaded by ericaamerica08

Saturday I took a step back – from my laptop – to catch up with the newspaper. I chose the New York Times and forked over $2.12, a small price to pay for what turned out to be three hours of reading, writing and ideating. Each time I wanted to pull out my iPhone, I dug deeper into Sections A and B, determined to have an uninterrupted afternoon with what Devin Coldewey, a CrunchGear blogger, called “delayed media,” aka the ink newspaper.

Delayed media is 1/3 of the concept that is part of the “present media triumvirate” theory coined by Coldewey. Helen Thomas once told me that the benefit of the print newspaper is that you end up reading much more than you would have if you were searching for something online. I found that to hold true during my experiment. I read about how labor shortages in China will make their exports more expensive and I learned that Citigroup is about to launch a PR campaign aimed at revamping their image with Wall Street and Washington. Neither of which I got from my Twitter feeds and the cable news loop that I typically keep on during the days.

While I love the newspaper (I starting delivering them in fifth grade), they haven’t kept up with the pace of the web and so they haven’t kept up with me. Even though I have worked to keep them in my life, I know that the average newsreader hasn’t. And I don’t blame them. But I am trying to figure out a way to apply the best of traditional media (epitomized by the delayed media) and combine it with the best tactics and tools of the new. Read the rest of this entry…