Shared Purpose

[Warren Toda]

There's a video on Youtube about (trying to save) child soldiers in Uganda and arresting the leader who is wanted for war crimes.

The 30-minute video has received almost 68   69 million views in one week, (it went up by a million views while I wrote this). Although there's no information on how many of those viewers watched the whole thing, I'll guess that most tuned out after a few minutes since the video seems deadly slow and boring.

The CBC's David Michael Lamb has an interesting column about this, titled: Journalism and the Viral Video.

Near the end of the article, he uses the phrase "shared sense of purpose". This is a key phrase and it helps explain why many newspapers are failing.


Newspapers like to brag that they're active on social networking or social media. Follow us on Facebook! Follow us on Twitter!

If you have to tell people to follow you, then you're leading a very short parade.

Social media sites are popular not because they're, uh, sociable. They're popular because of a
shared sense of purpose. That's the underlying basis of social media and their success.

If a newspaper could ever figure this out, (and I don't think it'll happen for another ten years because the old men currently running newspapers are stuck in last century), then that newspaper will have a loyal audience who won't have to be told who to follow.

[Ken Gigliotti]

  The things journalists / reporters,  believe in are causing us the most trouble .
#1 Reporting what people say. What happens when they lie ? Police do not rely on what primary witnesses  say . Reporters almost never talk to primary witnesses  at breaking news events.
 #2 The news angle or slant . In the case of the video Joseph Kony is  well known, his exploits have already been reported . So what is new? What is news is that so many people have viewed the video . That becomes the angle . This  has always been a problem for the people we cover , sometimes  the emphasis on the “new”  degrades or takes away from the message or issue at hand.
 The “child soldier “, human trafficking ,is pushed back and the fact that millions of young people are taking notice is pushed forward . It is a back handed compliment , the mass of people seem to look shallow for not being more than just middle class viewers . The message  of the video repeats “old news”to reporters  , this is bad stuff , and  someone should kill  the bastard is secondary.
 The fact that there is an education process or awakening  to new  audiences should mean something to a business that has not attracted  new audiences .
  Maybe the problem for our business is structural . Yes it is structural .The news angle does not account for news  audiences , we speak only to the old middle class. Africa is the dark continent , who cares , is a attitude is held by baby boomers , it needs to be over come .
 The idea that even old news should be repeated, if it is still relevant shouldn't take away from serious issue. Our business  does diminish  the issue for the sake of old formulas. This is a formula .
  #3 The story angle has to create controversy or utter a future fear that is extended to a worst case scenario . Worst case scenarios seldom ever materialize. Crying wolf causes people to stop taking  the business  of reporting seriously.
 When our business reports facts we are second to none. When we predict the future , we are embarrassingly bad.
  The comments sections of the online product can reveal and  direct  stories in ways that empower readers and broaden the way report stories . Reporting in many cases is a mile wide and an inch deep.
 Even ignorant and racist comment reveal that these to are our readers , these people do exist . The CBC and  other media would like to ignore these segments , but they gain power in the silence .
 Social networking has evolved the way that ordinary people want it . The business  world has been excluded .  Really smart people are the owners of the platform . The platform ownership is something media has controlled untill now. We are now renters of platforms . We don't do this well.