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THE EVOLUTION OF THE BEAT
MATT THOMPSON
@mthomps
mthompson@npr.org
mthomps.com
TWO
PARABLES
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 proprietors
willing to fund investigations.
IT’S CRITICAL
READERS.
Step 1:
MASTER THE
CONVERSATION.
Talking Points Memo
tell us everything
we need to know
about something
draw patterns
connect dots
build context
not a series of isolated dispatches.
A STREAM.
Step 2:
NURTURE THE
CONVERSATION.
traditional reporting
is about building a
ROLODEX
j
a b c d e f

tomorrow’s reporting
is about building a
NETWORK
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 is
before you can go
where it isn’t
FORTUNE, 3/5/01
The column that felled Enron
Vanity Fair’s Bethany McLean
was also at the breakfast, and she confirmed that
the blogosphere is a goldmine
for people like her who want
to understand the [financial] crisis.
FELIX SALMON, 2010
Imagine an alternate history
Stories2 streams
Stories2 streams
Thank you.
@mthomps
mthompson@npr.org
mthomps.com

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