WAN-IFRA, in association with IREX Europe, accept applications for Creating and Developing New Media Platforms Component

Organization: World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and IREX Europe

Programme: EU-funded Media Strengthening Programme for Georgia (MSPG)

Project: Creating and Developing New Media Platforms

Deadline: COB July 2, 2010

Call for Proposals

WAN-IFRA, in association with IREX Europe, who together provide unrivalled global expertise in developing and delivering business solutions for publishers, invite you to join the Creating and Developing New Media Platforms Component of the EU-funded 2010 - 2011 Media Strengthening Programme for Georgia (MSPG).

The Programme and the Programme's Creating and Developing New Media Platforms Component

The Creating and Developing New Media Platforms Component has been specifically designed to help media managers and practicing journalists discover how to operate a converged news operation producing multiplatform journalism that will enable their news organizations to deliver content to whatever platform/device the audience turns to in order to access information. There will also be a heavy emphasis on the editorial integrity needed to deliver responsible and robust journalism, based on creating objective, impartial, fair and accurate journalism designed to inform the public debate. Within its Creating and Developing New Media Platforms Component, the programme will offer a series of consultations conducted throughout twelve months by WAN-IFRA expert and local co-trainer for the media outlets selected as a result of this call.

Who would benefit from this training?

This training is designed for managers and practicing journalists of print and broadcast (radio and TV) media outlets, who wish to develop skills to launch new and multimedia platforms, understand new media tools and ways to use them, and have the desire and ability to develop and implement relevant realistic ideas.

The topics covered by the first round of the Component will include:

Media Strategy (for editorial and business managers and senior editors):

• Converged Newsroom - how to set up a 'news factory' where a news organization's content is created in a platform-neutral way to enable it to be exploited on all devices
• Superdesk - the running and operation of a news organization's central 'command and control' operation in order to ensure there is a vibrant new media focus that not only reflects output but also helps direct the news organizations editorial thrust on traditional platforms.
• Roles & Responsibilities - who does what in a converged news operation
• Workflows & Disciplines - needed to produce a thriving multimedia and new media newsrooms
• Identifying the Audience - knowing where the audience is moving in terms of new media consumption and ensuring that the media organization is in that space.
• Social Networking - how to embrace an increasingly fragmented, often young, audience which is using new media and social networking tools (such as Twitter) for their daily news experience.
• Engaging the Audience (1)  - how to build a compelling content offering that encourages the audience to feed back user-generated content (UGC) which will enhance the news offering with fresh perspectives and a widened breadth of coverage.
• Maximizing the Minimum - how to build a credible new media offering with few resources yet which celebrates the news organizations key strengths, engages the audience and offers revenue-generation opportunities.
• Objectives, Appraisals & Training - setting goals for a media organization's new media strategy and following them through into the staff assessment programme and the resulting training.

The topics covered by the second round of the Component will include:

New Media Production (for senior editors, desk and field journalists):

• Online Journalism Basics - how stories should be written for new media platforms
• New Media Story Journey - how a new media story builds, the component parts, when they should be added and why
• Multiplatform Authoring - how to write a new media story once so that it can be distributed to multiple devices/platforms
• Managing a News Website - how to ensure material is continually fresh and relevant including when to update
• Engaging the Audience (2) - how to manage UGC, including running forums, polls. This covers pre, post and reactive moderation.
• Editorial Values/Ethics (2) - how to ensure that all new media output is ethically sound, including issues such as privacy, taste & decency, offence and consent.
• Archiving - when to save and when to overwrite. Ensuring there are news records creating milestones in history. Creating a repository of essential information.
• Forward Planning - the practical implications of issue-led journalism.

What we will be looking for

To qualify for the programme a media house needs to show a commitment to:

• adapt to changing audience behaviour and be open to considering fundamental changes in the way content is produced
• implement change and pass on that training to junior staff to ensure that the intervention has maximum impact
• embrace social networking and so-called new media in order to better engage the audience and enable full and meaningful audience participation in the news organisation's output
• eliminate wasted resources, duplication, old and tired working practices and move to modern and effective ways of working
• inform the public debate with objective, fair, impartial and objective journalism and instilling,  throughout the entire news organisation, a level of integrity that guarantees robust and responsible journalism
• enable those taking part in the programme to operate as trainers of trainers in the future in order to pass their learning on to others in the region.

These criteria will be used as the basis for selecting applicants whose ideas, challenges, issues and opportunities can best be served by the programme content.

How to apply

Those wishing to apply should submit an essay (no longer than 800 words) in English setting out how you would ensure that you meet the criteria set out above. The essay should contain an assessment of:

• the new media and social networking landscape in Georgia
• any revenue-generating platform opportunities that could be served by a converged news operation
• the opportunities and threats facing the media in Georgia
• your personal use of online media and social networking
• your personal mission-statement about how you  view your role in the future of Georgia's media.

The programme will use the information gathered to assess both who should attend and how the planned programme should be adapted in order to offer the best skills training and individual coaching required to successfully launch and apply new media tools and turn them into profit generators.

The final content will however - and this is one of the elements that makes the programme unique - be tailored to suit the participants needs and experience, through expert facilitators who will work with participants both on site and remotely.

Number of slots

The group of finalists is limited to maximum of 12 people representing maximum 12 outlets.

We cordially invite you to join The Programme's Creating and Developing New Media Platforms Component by submitting your proposals by COB July 2, 2010.

We also would like to invite interested prospective applicants to attend an Open Door day which we will conduct to answer all possible questions related to the application and the Component on July 1, 2010 at the premises of the' Open Society - Georgia' Foundation (Training Centre) at 10, Chovelidze Str., Tbilisi.

Please submit your applications at mspg@mspg.ge

Please indicate 'Creating and Developing New Media Platforms Application' in the subject line of your email.