A newspaper tweets retro-style: A fading daily newspaper finally gets it

February 26 2010, 9:31am

NOTE: This article was written by guest blogger Duncan McMonagle, Journalism Instructor at Red River College. The opinions shared here are that of the author and not ICUC Moderation Services Inc. The Winnipeg Free Press, whose dead-trees edition has been hemorrhaging readers for two decades, is learning how to use social media: Tweet it and they will come. It’s succeeding the old-fashioned way, by covering a city council meeting. On Feb. 24, 2010 reporter Bartley Kives tweeted his way through a contentious debate on whether the city should give $3.4 million toward a youth centre proposed by Youth for Christ in a bleak area of central Winnipeg. Councillors eventually said yes by a 10-4 vote. For six and a half hours Kives filed on Twitter every five minutes or so from the debate. His irreverent tone is perfect for social media. “We have our first ‘The children are our future.’ I’m surprised that took 107 minutes.” But Kives differs from many bloggers because he includes plenty o’ helpful facts. “More delegations and a council debate will come before a YFC vote. Expect it at about 3:30 or 4 p.m.” He was optimistic by 40 minutes, pretty close as city council meetings go. But perhaps the best news for the Free Press is that this daytime event drew about 115 comments, two-thirds more than Kives posted. Hardly any were deranged. That’s not much compared to what the moderators allow on stories about crime or unstoppable Toyotas, even on sober news sites such as The Globe and Mail. But not bad for the hashtag #wpgcouncil. Now the Free Press needs to add moderation to answer readers’ questions in real time, for example,“what is going on? did it go through? YFC have their way?” And poor old Kives still had to interview participants and write stories for the paper’s website and for the newsprint edition the next morning – as well as keep an eye on council’s debate about garbage containers. Give the man an assistant! Kives has a tweet-buddy at the Free Press in Mike McIntyre, who covers big (though fairly brief) court cases online. And the newspaper has tried Twitter coverage of concerts, although some promoters insisted that the reviewer shut down this scary newfangled device. During Manitoba Moose playoff games, some readers contributed to an experimental Free Press Twitter feed while sitting in the stands. Remember, fan is short for fanatic. Looks as if the paper may have encouraged some city council fanatics, too. Next: Winnipeg school board? Talkative trustee Mike Babinsky must be salivating.