
How The Correspondent plans to handle audience engagement
The Correspondent has revealed a little bit about how it's going to be run — and where its money is going.
The Correspondent has revealed a little bit about how it's going to be run — and where its money is going.
A few weeks ago, The Correspondent — the crowd-funded, member-supported offshoot of De Correspondent that's had a rocky start — published a breakdown of its costs and it makes for interesting reading.
A couple of things caught my attention:
Paying freelancers
The "word count" rate has remained powerfully entrenched into the business model of most journalism operations. And, of course, it makes very little sense at all in the digital age, where a good article could consist of a mix of images, embers, videos and more. Commissioning based on time — be it time to create or time to consume — makes a lot more sense.
Audience engagement job roles
The split of audience engagement into what me might term reach — the engagement editor — and interaction — the conversation editor — is an interesting one. I'm not sure how convinced I am that they should be separate roles, as conversation is a key driver of reach. But it still shows that they are taking engagement seriously at all levels.
I'm less convinced that the split of copy editor and an image editor is a good plan - that's very "print"y, seeing words and pictures as the only two options. Still, this is the first thing I've seen from the fledgling site that piques my interest. I'll be watching more closely after this.
Written by
Adam has been a blogger for over 20 years, and a journalist for more than 25. He currently works as a consultant and trainer, helping people do better, more engaged online journalism.
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