Journalism 2050: The Future of Stories

How will we “do” writing — and share stories — in 30 years?

It was 30 years ago today. I was 25, starting a new newspaper reporter job in the capital of Pennsylvania, America’s fifth-largest state. I’d just left one of the most innovative newspapers in the nation where I’d learned much.

The place I’d left, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, was (and remains) a boomtown, a happening place. Myrtle Beach’s Sun News was part of Knight-Ridder, the second-largest newspaper chain. As I write this, Knight-Ridder (and my first paper) are owned by McClatchy, which just filed for bankruptcy.

“I’m confident that newspapers, in some form, will still exist 30 years from now — I’m not certain what journalism will look like after that,’’ Sun News Executive Editor Gil Thelen told me in the late 1980s.

Gil was dynamic and amazing, going on to lead great papers in Columbia, South Carolina and Tampa, Florida. His words keep returning to me today since the 30 years he referenced have come and gone.

At age 55, I find myself wondering:

What will journalism look like in 2050, 30 years from now?

The old Knight-Ridder saw the future 30 years ago — then took the wrong turn. I remember how impressed I was when I learned about their experiment called “The Tablet.’’

Knight-Ridder saw what journalism could be: a portable device we’d carry to read and watch everything on (they called it The Tablet).

Newspapers spent more on paper than on paying people back then (not to mention printing, delivery, etc.) so they came up with a brilliant device we’d carry and plug in to update.

I KNEW that was brilliant and started buying Knight-Ridder stock. Unfortunately, K-R abandoned the idea when “the internet’’ really took off. And Steve Jobs and Apple would instead introduce the 2010 iPad (that I immediately bought and use daily).

(Knight-Ridder predicted the iPad and Kindle but not wi fi)…

Even further back, studying journalism at Michigan State University, our Journalism School “saw the future’’ asking to come to our student newspaper and “re-make’’ the paper to remove all editor’s cues. Varying-sized headlines were replaced with uniformity (to remove bias).

A big index on Page 1 was added so readers could pick their own preferences.

It turned out our readers didn’t like the idea of bias-free journalism — except that Yahoo and numerous “web’’ companies did great with these same sorts of indexes. Thirty years ago, journalists strived to be objective or at least fair.

Bias and stating your point of view is today’s new normal: Sam Donaldson, an ABC News star 30 years ago, recently completely dumped any pretense of neutrality by “endorsing’’ Michael Bloomberg.

Which way are journalism and writing going from here? A/B testing?

Thirty years ago, print was permanent. We had to check and double and triple check everything (going through multiple layers of editors) before printing anything. Writing had to be true or at least accurate.

Today we can “A/B’’ test everything, post, edit, delete, update. Endlessly.

I can post a story online and if the people don’t start clicking, I can keep updating (writing and re-writing) every bit of the content (experimenting with different words and approaches).

Eventually (finally, hopefully), we can stumble onto something real people want to read.

Back then, news media was like talking into a bullhorn amplifying your message to a bigger crowd. You spoke, they heard you even if they didn’t want to hear you.

Today writing is more like dancing: you move, your partner (the readers) react, then you try a different move, then back. Always moving. Cha-cha-cha.

Past is Prologue of Things to Come

I left Myrtle Beach (which was on the cutting edge) because I wasn’t making much money (I started at $7 an hour in 1987 and had risen to about $18,500 per year by 1990).

Harrisburg offered a 49 percent raise and much more money later. Thirty years later, many writers write for less than we made years ago.

So even though the Newhouse-owned Pennsylvania paper seemed slower to embrace what was “hot,’’ the family-owned chain was a place that welcomed writers and great writing so I moved. Two weeks later, an editor from my home town of Detroit called and asked me if I wanted to come try out to work there.

“I’d love to,’’ I said. “But I just started here. I put down money for a new house and I made a commitment.’’

When I asked the editor (just out of curiosity) what his job would have paid, he shot back: “A lot more than you’d make in HARRISBURG.’’ Ugh, that hurt but five years later, his paper was paralyzed by a massive strike, tearing apart relationships and trust among readers and colleagues.

So I trusted there was a bigger plan, followed my heart and believed something more was always possible.

I got home to Detroit but arrived via “newer’’ niche media

Crain’s Detroit, which I joined in 1996, pioneered “niche’’ journalism, creating a publication for every market “niche.’’ By 2000, I was at Andersen.com as the internet exploded and journalism became even more personalized.

Now we read 30 stories from 30 sources, then it was all from one or a few publications. The mighty downtown newspaper buildings of the past are gone or being repurposed. The newspapers (once cash cows) are consolidating.

Which brings us back to: What’s Next? Sharing Stories in 2050…

Will we still get our news from TV, print, web and social media in 30 years? Will the big players of today still be big players in 2050? If past is prologue some will die, change or remain (changed)? Some safe bets:

• Predicting the world will be gone in 30 years is actually something that’s been predicted (inaccurately) for thousands of years. So it’s better to live (and share stories) every day as if it’s your last (it could be). But keep saving and planning for 30 years out (because we all may well still be around).
• Don’t count on the platform or the tools to remain or stay the same (people began predicting the death of radio as soon as TV was invented and both mediums are still alive and doing well). Details and tools always inevitably change. But note, every method of communication invented still remains.
• Fundamentals don’t change: we are born needing to learn and share stories.
• We need a way to transmit and preserve our stories. The first Christians grew by seizing the newest tools (from Roman highways to printing presses to radio to TV to the internet to social media) to get their stories shared. We must do the same with our stories for now and 2050.