Coffee shop newsrooms – a cool idea but you have to pick the right shop<\/h3>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/files\/2010\/08\/starbucks_streetview.jpg\" "\\"Clark")
<\/a>Setting up "bureaus" in coffee shops could help reporters connect with communities. But they have to pick the right one. GOOGLE STREET VIEW<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nPerhaps a better approach might be the coffee shop newsroom experiments that Poynter wrote about<\/a> extensively at the beginning of this month.\u00a0 Placing a reporter in an already trafficked space like a coffee shop may make reporters more accessible to the general public than a space exclusive to the news organization.\u00a0 Some of the benefits of putting reporters or “newsrooms” in coffee shops seem pretty cool: more transparency\/accountability, more audience understanding of the reporting process, developing new sources, getting new framings for stories or new dimensions for stories of which the reporter is already aware and recruiting citizen journalists.<\/p>\nThis week I had my own experience with reporting and coffee shops.\u00a0 I often work in coffee shops because I find them more convenient, and often less distracting than heading down to the Medill Newsroom.\u00a0 While I use them primarily for convenience, they can still be a good way to connect with sources.\u00a0 However, you have to go to the right coffee shop.\u00a0 In reporting a story about LGBTQA youth of color in Boystown and a parking policy proposed by some residents designed to deter the youth, I did a lot of writing in Lakeview coffee shops.\u00a0 I usually went to one close to my house a little east of Boystown or one close to Boystown but seemingly catering to a more particular customer demographic.\u00a0 I liked the coffee shops I chose because they were locally owned and independent, there was interesting art on the wall and employees sometimes seemed like they were hanging out with friends or family as much as they were serving customers, creating a casual, comfortable atmosphere.<\/p>\n
But, because they were somewhat more expensive and closed around 10 p.m., they didn’t really attract customers who were young people of color coming to hang out in the neighborhood.\u00a0 The night I spent writing at the Starbucks at the corner of Belmont Avenue and Clark Street, a wide range of customers came in, including folks who could have been sources for my story.\u00a0 While I could have gone out on the streets searching for people who could tell me their experience of coming to the neighborhood, a common thread in what youth I had interviewed told me is that they often feel profiled by police and neighborhood residents.\u00a0 Both residents and youth described sidewalk confrontations that escalated and didn’t lead to a productive dialog.\u00a0 As a reporter, I didn’t want to contribute to these dynamics. Spaces like coffee shops are important for reporting across dynamics like the ones in Boystown because they’re more neutral.\u00a0 People from a variety of backgrounds can be on equal footing in the coffee shop as patrons and engaged in the same activities, like working on a laptop.\u00a0 Had I spent the entire quarter working at that Starbucks, I might have been able to meet some sources with a good insight into the dynamic in a way that developed out of a more organic conversation, over music or helping someone reach a power outlet) rather than cornering people on the street.\u00a0 Also, the public nature of the coffee shop could have attracted other people into the conversation, adding multiple perspectives to the reporting and perhaps even bridging the resident\/visitor divide.<\/p>\n
My experience with diversity and neighborhood coffee shops may be more universal.\u00a0 Kim Feller, author of “Wrestling With Starbucks: Conscience, Capital, Cappuccino<\/a>“, <\/strong>wrote about diversity and coffee shop client\u00e8le on the Colorlines website<\/a>:<\/p>\nWhile there are still funky independents eking out a living on the retail margins, most coffeehouses and designer roasters are niche markets, like purveyors of artisan cheeses, hand-painted T-shirts and limited-edition sneakers. They appeal to those on the trendy, cutting edge and survive by exclusivity\u2014by pleasing a small, loyal and financially privileged. Starbucks, on the other hand, has been able to risk expansion from urban business cores and upscale suburbs into more modest settings, where it often provides the only meeting place that is neither a noisy fast-food restaurant nor a bar and that is often surprisingly multiracial.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Mosques and SEO<\/h3>\n
In terms of stories that sit across a cultural divide, nothing’s been bigger, or representative of journalism’s struggles to bridge those gaps, than reporting about the controversy over plans for a Muslim community center near the site of the World Trade Center towers destroyed in the September 11, 2001 attacks.\u00a0 One idea that’s likely inflamed the debate is the use of the phrase “ground zero mosque” in the media, which suggests, incorrectly, that the community center is being constructed at the site of the former towers.\u00a0 Mark Coddington at Nieman Labs has a good rundown of what a number of media critics have been saying about the use of this term.\u00a0 While some blame cable news, others point to SEO.\u00a0 As a term gains traction with the public, online news websites have to choose between using an incorrect term or making their content more difficult to find.\u00a0 Coddington wrote:<\/p>\n
Poynter ethicist Kelly McBride zeroed in on that idea of search-engine optimization<\/a>, noting that the AP is being punished for their stand against the term \u201cground zero mosque\u201d by not appearing very highly on the all-important news searches for that phrase. In order to stay relevant to search engines, news organizations have to continue using an inaccurate term once it\u2019s taken hold<\/strong>, she concluded. In response, McBride suggested pre-emptively using factchecking resources to nip misconceptions in the bud. \u201cNow that Google makes it impossible to move beyond our distortions \u2014 even when we know better \u2014 we should be prepared,\u201d she said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nCoddington also pointed out that Online Journalism Review\u2019s Brian McDermott pinpointed our news consumption patterns<\/a> as the culprit for the proliferation of incorrect terms for things.\u00a0 As we move more quickly from media to media, terms like “ground zero mosque” have more sticking power than Park51 or the Cordoba Center.<\/p>\nThe tough choice of deciding between content discovery and accuracy is the same one I wrote about regarding the phrase “sissy bounce” and New Orleans artists’ distaste for the term<\/a>.\u00a0 In a pretty interesting, but unrelated thread, Anthony Neal, a scholar who studies Black popular culture, posted some tracks from New Orleans in the 1960s<\/a> that refer to a dance called “The Sophisticated Cissy.”\u00a0 Still, even if the term “sissy” may have some interesting connections to New Orleans musical history, it’s important to remember that contemporary artists don’t use the term to identify their work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Me this week Last week, I talked with Rhonda Jones-Gillespie, news editor at the Chicago Defender and I feel like I need to follow up with her.\u00a0 It wasn’t until after our conversation that I realized why there seemed to be a disconnect around some of my questions.\u00a0 While the Defender does report about African-American… Continue reading Memo for the week of August 22: Coffee shop newsrooms and name games with mosques and SEO<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[20492],"tags":[20537,569,20536,20538,248,21297],"class_list":["post-2099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reporting-across-boundaries","tag-coffee-shop","tag-language","tag-mosque","tag-pritzker","tag-race","tag-reporting","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4wnIz-xR","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2099"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2116,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2099\/revisions\/2116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/a>Perhaps a better approach might be the coffee shop newsroom experiments that Poynter wrote about<\/a> extensively at the beginning of this month.\u00a0 Placing a reporter in an already trafficked space like a coffee shop may make reporters more accessible to the general public than a space exclusive to the news organization.\u00a0 Some of the benefits of putting reporters or “newsrooms” in coffee shops seem pretty cool: more transparency\/accountability, more audience understanding of the reporting process, developing new sources, getting new framings for stories or new dimensions for stories of which the reporter is already aware and recruiting citizen journalists.<\/p>\n This week I had my own experience with reporting and coffee shops.\u00a0 I often work in coffee shops because I find them more convenient, and often less distracting than heading down to the Medill Newsroom.\u00a0 While I use them primarily for convenience, they can still be a good way to connect with sources.\u00a0 However, you have to go to the right coffee shop.\u00a0 In reporting a story about LGBTQA youth of color in Boystown and a parking policy proposed by some residents designed to deter the youth, I did a lot of writing in Lakeview coffee shops.\u00a0 I usually went to one close to my house a little east of Boystown or one close to Boystown but seemingly catering to a more particular customer demographic.\u00a0 I liked the coffee shops I chose because they were locally owned and independent, there was interesting art on the wall and employees sometimes seemed like they were hanging out with friends or family as much as they were serving customers, creating a casual, comfortable atmosphere.<\/p>\n But, because they were somewhat more expensive and closed around 10 p.m., they didn’t really attract customers who were young people of color coming to hang out in the neighborhood.\u00a0 The night I spent writing at the Starbucks at the corner of Belmont Avenue and Clark Street, a wide range of customers came in, including folks who could have been sources for my story.\u00a0 While I could have gone out on the streets searching for people who could tell me their experience of coming to the neighborhood, a common thread in what youth I had interviewed told me is that they often feel profiled by police and neighborhood residents.\u00a0 Both residents and youth described sidewalk confrontations that escalated and didn’t lead to a productive dialog.\u00a0 As a reporter, I didn’t want to contribute to these dynamics. Spaces like coffee shops are important for reporting across dynamics like the ones in Boystown because they’re more neutral.\u00a0 People from a variety of backgrounds can be on equal footing in the coffee shop as patrons and engaged in the same activities, like working on a laptop.\u00a0 Had I spent the entire quarter working at that Starbucks, I might have been able to meet some sources with a good insight into the dynamic in a way that developed out of a more organic conversation, over music or helping someone reach a power outlet) rather than cornering people on the street.\u00a0 Also, the public nature of the coffee shop could have attracted other people into the conversation, adding multiple perspectives to the reporting and perhaps even bridging the resident\/visitor divide.<\/p>\n My experience with diversity and neighborhood coffee shops may be more universal.\u00a0 Kim Feller, author of “Wrestling With Starbucks: Conscience, Capital, Cappuccino<\/a>“, <\/strong>wrote about diversity and coffee shop client\u00e8le on the Colorlines website<\/a>:<\/p>\n While there are still funky independents eking out a living on the retail margins, most coffeehouses and designer roasters are niche markets, like purveyors of artisan cheeses, hand-painted T-shirts and limited-edition sneakers. They appeal to those on the trendy, cutting edge and survive by exclusivity\u2014by pleasing a small, loyal and financially privileged. Starbucks, on the other hand, has been able to risk expansion from urban business cores and upscale suburbs into more modest settings, where it often provides the only meeting place that is neither a noisy fast-food restaurant nor a bar and that is often surprisingly multiracial.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In terms of stories that sit across a cultural divide, nothing’s been bigger, or representative of journalism’s struggles to bridge those gaps, than reporting about the controversy over plans for a Muslim community center near the site of the World Trade Center towers destroyed in the September 11, 2001 attacks.\u00a0 One idea that’s likely inflamed the debate is the use of the phrase “ground zero mosque” in the media, which suggests, incorrectly, that the community center is being constructed at the site of the former towers.\u00a0 Mark Coddington at Nieman Labs has a good rundown of what a number of media critics have been saying about the use of this term.\u00a0 While some blame cable news, others point to SEO.\u00a0 As a term gains traction with the public, online news websites have to choose between using an incorrect term or making their content more difficult to find.\u00a0 Coddington wrote:<\/p>\n Poynter ethicist Kelly McBride zeroed in on that idea of search-engine optimization<\/a>, noting that the AP is being punished for their stand against the term \u201cground zero mosque\u201d by not appearing very highly on the all-important news searches for that phrase. In order to stay relevant to search engines, news organizations have to continue using an inaccurate term once it\u2019s taken hold<\/strong>, she concluded. In response, McBride suggested pre-emptively using factchecking resources to nip misconceptions in the bud. \u201cNow that Google makes it impossible to move beyond our distortions \u2014 even when we know better \u2014 we should be prepared,\u201d she said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Coddington also pointed out that Online Journalism Review\u2019s Brian McDermott pinpointed our news consumption patterns<\/a> as the culprit for the proliferation of incorrect terms for things.\u00a0 As we move more quickly from media to media, terms like “ground zero mosque” have more sticking power than Park51 or the Cordoba Center.<\/p>\n The tough choice of deciding between content discovery and accuracy is the same one I wrote about regarding the phrase “sissy bounce” and New Orleans artists’ distaste for the term<\/a>.\u00a0 In a pretty interesting, but unrelated thread, Anthony Neal, a scholar who studies Black popular culture, posted some tracks from New Orleans in the 1960s<\/a> that refer to a dance called “The Sophisticated Cissy.”\u00a0 Still, even if the term “sissy” may have some interesting connections to New Orleans musical history, it’s important to remember that contemporary artists don’t use the term to identify their work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Me this week Last week, I talked with Rhonda Jones-Gillespie, news editor at the Chicago Defender and I feel like I need to follow up with her.\u00a0 It wasn’t until after our conversation that I realized why there seemed to be a disconnect around some of my questions.\u00a0 While the Defender does report about African-American… Continue reading Memo for the week of August 22: Coffee shop newsrooms and name games with mosques and SEO<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[20492],"tags":[20537,569,20536,20538,248,21297],"class_list":["post-2099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reporting-across-boundaries","tag-coffee-shop","tag-language","tag-mosque","tag-pritzker","tag-race","tag-reporting","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4wnIz-xR","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2099"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2116,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2099\/revisions\/2116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Mosques and SEO<\/h3>\n