An experiment in "podcasting": the San Francisco Chronicle's editorial board takes to the internet

Masthead, The,  Spring, 2006  by Lois Kazakoff

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When U2's Bono came to talk with the San Francisco Chronicle's editorial board on November 8 about the global crises he is working to move center-stage, the editorial writers arrived with notepads--and a digital recorder.

By five p.m., we had an editorial in the paper and online, along with the first of three podcasts for readers to download from our website, sfgate.com.

Tech-savvy readers in the wired Bay Area could read what the Chronicle had to say about Bono's ideas and then listen to the rock star himself in an MP3 file. Plug in an earbud and it was as if Bono were talking to you across your kitchen table.

The Bono series is our most successful editorial podcast to date, and the three podcasts rank Nos. 2, 5, and 8 among nearly three hundred the Chronicle has posted since February 2005. (Bono was eclipsed only by a podcast on what else?--sex-casts.)

The Chronicle's editorial writers have been experimenting with delivering our opinions as podcasts since June 2005. The effort is part of a paper-wide collaboration between the newsroom and SFGate to transform the Chronicle into a multimedia organization.

In a changing and challenging media environment, it is no longer enough for editorial writers to form and convey an opinion on the issues and events of the day. We need to convey our views in an emerging array of new media. That means learning to exploit the strengths of each medium and combine them in new and different ways.

We realized immediately that not every editorial lends itself to a podcast. (We don't have Bono drop in every week.) We've been careful to make the podcast editorial a bonus or added value to, not a replacement for, the print editorial.

The format has varied in each. Some are set up almost radio interview fashion. Others are soliloquies. Once we recorded an editorial board meeting with California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuflez and then wove his views into a podcast conversation between the editorial page editor and an editorial writer.

As part of our continuing editorial campaign to change state policies and priorities for the foster-care system, we interviewed a foster-care teen, Sade, about growing up with the state as her parent. The podcast included Sade's performing a piece of slam poetry she had written about her experiences.

Sade's podcast provided an opportunity to bring a voice to our opinion pages that perhaps wouldn't otherwise be there. Those involved in many community debates might be passionate and articulate speakers but totally overwhelmed by the idea of writing an op-ed piece. This can restrict not only the voices we hear but the topics we take up, because we are limiting the debate to good (read: well-educated) writers. Most op-ed editors have limited time to help a contributor craft a strong and compelling op-ed. Podcasting offers another way to let voices be heard.

Our conservative columnist, Debra I. Saunders, tries to record a podcast every week. She has completed twenty-two podcasts, which have been fully downloaded about nine thousand times. She generally develops her podcast around her Thursday column. The topic is the same, but the material she uses and the sources she cites are different. Once she included a snippet of a congressional hearing downloaded from a government website so her listeners could hear the chilling words of the animal-rights activist who was the subject of her column.

We try to keep the podcasts short--three to seven minutes--and pithy.

Participation in the podcasting project is voluntary, so we're wary about committing to a schedule that overtaxes our resources. It takes about an hour to set up, record, edit, and post a five-minute podcast. The software is relatively easy to learn, and posting a digital file is similar to posting any other kind of computer file. To date, we've produced nine podcast editorials, which have been fully downloaded seven thousand times.

The podcast downloads pale in comparison with the Chronicle's daily circulation figures, but they are increasing (which we cannot say about the newspaper's circulation). More important, we know we are reaching that demographic all publishers crave--the young. We should all be concerned about reaching an audience that more and more often is carrying an iPod instead of the morning paper.

On this page, the Innovations Committee highlights at least one interesting, innovative, or off-beat approach designed to better engage readers and keep them interested.

The committee is always searching for new ideas. It doesn't have to be as cutting edge as this one on podcasting. It might be a fresh page layout, or an unusual way of writing an editorial. Send us an example with a short narrative and we'll post it on the NCEW website and consider it for the Masthead feature. (Send JPEG files for The Masthead or PDF files for the website.)

For inspiration, check out your colleagues' work. Go to ncew.org, click on "Member Services" on the top bar and then "Innovations."