Membership as a force multiplier for beat reporting

Here’s the paper: Join the Beat, a force multiplier for beat reporting. It says we ought to push membership models in news down to the beat level, and describes some simple ways that could work.

The paper is written for beat reporters and their editors, but anyone can read it. (Fair warning: it’s 3,200 words.)

We’re also trying to recruit a handful of beat reporters (6 to 8) into a practical experiment. Different journalists with different kinds of beats coming from the different places on the public service dial all try the “networked beat” model at the same time. By working in parallel they form a small learning community. Membership Puzzle Project is adding a wrangler and helper for that community: Melanie Sill, former editor of the Sacramento Bee and Raleigh News & Observer, former vice president for content at Southern California Public Radio.

If you’re interested in joining the experiment, or know someone who should, contact Melanie <[email protected]> or leave a comment here.

A bit of background:

I actually did this project once before, in 2007.

Brad Wolverton, then a reporter at Chronicle of Higher Education, told me recently: “That experiment helped a lot of reporters think about their beats differently.”

I have been talking up the possibilities of a “networked beat” for a long time.

Here’s a piece from Poynter on what we’re up to with the Membership Puzzle Project.

Last year, I interviewed David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post about his use of a “networked” approach when he was on the Trump charitable giving beat. He won a Pulitzer for that, in part because of the way he incorporated readers and what they know.

Which is to say: we know this is not a new idea. Here and there it has been done. Now is the time to push forward with it.

That link to the concept paper again.