Saturday, July 14, 2018

Happy Bastille Day


Thinking

About a year ago, on what I think was a Wednesday, I spent the day working from home. I spent it thinking.

We in the news media had become terribly dependent on social media, especially Facebook, for the distribution of our content and the traffic to our websites.

I did not come up with any brilliant ideas that day but I did develop a heightened sensitivity to the problem.

About seven months ago, my engagement producer came to me with a proposition. She wanted to issue a #metoo call-out on our Facebook page to gather stories from those in our area who have been victims of sexual harassment.

I approved that. As the results poured in, we noticed a pattern. Some of the victims talked about being abused by their yoga instructors. Yoga is a huge industry in the Bay Area.

I authorized her to investigate these allegations. Today we have a 6,000 word-plus article we are preparing for publication with three shorter profiles that tell the stories of four women who say they were abused by their yoga teachers.

The first piece will probably appear next Thursday. It has cleared Legal so we can name the perpetrators.

During the process of overseeing this investigation, I have come to realize this is actually the new engagement strategy we need. Rather than relying on social media to serve us, we can use social media to yield investigative journalism.

Stay tuned.

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