Deez Interviews: Meet the journalism ~platypus~ working on audience engagement at Seattle’s PBS station
//
The interviewee: Sarah Darby (follow her @_SCDarby!)
The gig: Audience engagement analyst at KCTS 9
The hustle:
I am part of a (all women!) data team at KCTS 9, Seattle's PBS station, and Crosscut.com, a non-profit news site. I build weekly and monthly analytics reports for TV, web, social media and email, and I also write an all-staff email sharing audience insights.
Beyond those basic tasks, it's a hodge podge of fulfilling research requests, designing data collection processes and a LOT of communicating to really different teams about what the numbers mean. I also get to work on special projects through my organization's innovation lab — A colleague and I just launched an audio flash briefing for Amazon Alexa (Please listen!).
I recently came across an article on Twitter that I really relate to about journalism "platypuses." It's basically an attempt to describe people who are thinking about how editorial, business, audience, product and ~data~ intersect. I went to journalism school thinking I would be a reporter, but I'm so happy to have found a space in journalism I love that is a mix of all sorts of things.
You're our first interviewee from public media! How does it differ from working for privately-owned outlets?
I always think back to a previous internship where the staff was so disheartened. A reporter there relayed that management had told the newsroom, "We're all trapped in a coal mine and we have 3 weeks of oxygen left, but it's going to take the digital team 3 years to reach us."
It sounds so dramatic, but many newsrooms are under immense pressure to transform, sometimes for profit alone. Many of those newsrooms are in sink or swim mode, and it can make the entire work environment feel really unstable.
To me, public media feels like a peer to other non-profits more than it does to for-profit newsrooms. The difference in revenue model has so many implications. For example, the FCC doesn't allow PBS ad spots to have calls to action or claims of any sort. The message is always something like, "We're a proud supporter of KCTS 9." The DNA of an organization feels really different when eyeballs are a lot less important than the impact and quality of the work.
Having such a strong sense of purpose though has a flip side because it means public media wants to do everything for everyone. We aren't always as focused on what's really working well because we want to do it ALL.
You're also a co-organizer for ONA Seattle. What kind of events do you host?
At our last event, we hosted a series of lightning talks on how newsrooms can reflect the diversity our communities. Our Facebook group voted for the topic, and we had a really great turnout of over 60 people. I would love to have more crowdsourced events, and we would like to continue to have a mix of networking, training and discussion-based events this fall.
More on ONA: for young media professionals starting out, what benefits can they gain from being plugged into the Online Media Association?
I'm probably a little unique in that I've only ever been involved with ONA at the local level (Hoping to get to my first conference this fall). Local ONA chapters don't typically require a membership and often offer free events to area journalists (All of ONA Seattle's events are free and open to anyone!).
I would absolutely recommend local ONA events to people early in their careers. I've met amazing Seattle media people through the group, and it's also a great way to build professional skills.
The national ONA organization does have paid memberships that give you access to job postings, networking and conference discounts. The membership has some nice perks, but you can totally get started with a local chapter too!
When describing your work, you’ve talked about believing in “the power of audiences." In your opinion, what ~powers~ do readers hold that go most often untapped by media organizations?
Media organizations can better serve their audiences just by listening to them (And using data! Woot!). In public media, we sometimes create great mission-based journalism without thinking about where people might consume that content or how it might fit into their day. Meeting your audience where they are is just as important as the journalism itself. You can't serve people who aren't in the restaurant, you know?
Finally, what's the most interesting story coming out of Seattle that the entire world should pay attention to?
I am endlessly fascinated by the perception versus reality of Seattle. People here are really loud about their progressivism but sometimes all that noise turns out to be shallow.
Seattle's head tax proposal highlighted this gap for me recently. In May, the city council and mayor approved an employee tax on large businesses that would have raised $50 million for affordable housing.
It seems like the kind of proposal you might expect from Seattle, but then companies like Amazon raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to stop it. A lot of people were really angry and showing up to town hall meetings saying pretty hateful things about the homeless population. Long story short — the tax was repealed only a month after the vote. Seattle has problems just like anywhere else!
Oh and if you can bear it, you should also be following the Puget Sound Orca who has been carrying and mourning her dead calf for more than a week. It's a heartbreaking reminder than our Earth is in really bad shape.
//
Don’t forget to follow Sarah @_SCDarby!
Like Deez Links? Forward to more journalism platypuses!