Hello there,

Stefan’s on vacation, so this week you’ve got me. Hallo!

Whatever plans I’d had for this newsletter, it was pretty obvious by Sunday breakfast time what the topic of the week was going to be.

The image matters: people hear what they see

That image - the one of Trump holding a fist high in defiance, mouth curved around the words “Fight! Fight! Fight!” in the moments after an apparent assassination attempt - is one for the ages. It will be a photograph that defines a moment. It was a moment surely all photojournalists long to capture.

While we all understand on a cellular level how important images are in the newsroom’s arsenal, it’s only when you’re faced with those truly extraordinary moments captured on film that you realise the power of a photograph.

Coincidentally, a couple of weeks ago I found myself at an exhibition entitled ‘What is Truth?’. Alongside an installation in which a deep fake President Nixon reads out the actual alternative speech his staff had prepared in the event that the Armstrong/ Aldrin moonwalk went horribly, tragically wrong (well worth a look), there was a series of photographs taken of the Tiananmen Square protests. The solitary figure - Tank Man - standing in front of those tanks is chilling, even now, forty years later. My eleven year old, who I’d dragged along with me, did the thing that kids are so great at: “What happened to that man in the photograph?” He asked. Of course, we don’t know. We’ll never know. This is partly why the image is so arresting.

In a classic ICYMI moment, here’s a useful and relevant case study we published last month on A/B testing images.

read case study

Where there’s no update available, there’s a vacuum. And audiences abhor a vacuum.

The Washington Post reminded us once again that newsrooms, in their belief that it’s better to be ‘right rather than first’, have a lot to lose.

“The Washington Post’s initial headline said, “Trump escorted away after loud noises at Pa. rally.” CNN’s first take was headlined, “Secret Service rushes Trump off stage after he falls at rally.”” - WaPo

What some consider responsible reporting (two sources, please), others view as a lack of assurance. And so it goes.

That’s going to be a hard problem to solve, but where updates and confirmation may have taken time to publish, there have been some excellent examples of story chains and user needs coverage around this story- particularly on the ‘Understand’ driver:

Understand // Give me perspective // Podcast

The News Agents, a British political podcast, jumped straight into context-rich reporting. Yes, it’s what they’re renowned for, but it’s also what their listeners are frantically clicking the refresh button for.

Understand // Educate me // Expert testimonial

Veteran NY Times photographer, Doug MIlls, may not have had the angle to take ‘that’ shot, but his vantage point did prove the basis for an explanatory article about the technicalities of capturing a micro-moment.

Understand // Educate me // Explainer

Outside of the US, in countries where gun control is much tighter, readers might appreciate an explainer about how this could have happened. The Guardian’s explainer series does a good job.

WEBINAR

Yes! Another useful webinar! This time it’s on the art of tagging articles - and how AI can lend a digital hand. Our data analyst, Marina Pantelić, will be in the hot seat for this one.

TUESDAY 13 AUGUST, 3.00pm CET

  • Why is tagging important?
  • What is automated tagging?
  • How can smartocto recognise and categorise user needs using AI?
  • What challenges arise when tagging content automatically?
  • How can media organisations start integrating these practices into their newsroom?

To end, we invite you to head over to our LinkedIn page, where we're compiling a survey of the most influential news photograph of all time. What's your pick?

That’s it from us for now. As ever, feel free to reach out if you’ve got any questions about user needs, editorial analytics, A/B testing - or anything else of that ilk. See you next time!