This is the nerve center of a "digital newsroom" of the future – an online news service that compares news perspectives, providing an unprecedented multisource view of the world’s news coverage. Where media intersects with technology.
Jim Spencer wanted to "bring something back" to his alma mater.One way to give back would be to simply write a check. But Spencer, a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, wanted to create opportunities for J–School students outside traditional laboratories such as the Missourian, KOMU–TV and KBIA radio station that would train J–School students.
Spencer is doing that with Newsy.com, a partnership with the University of Missouri, the city of Columbia, the state of Missouri and private investors.Newsy has built a fully converged, digital, global newsroom within walking distance of the University of Missouri. Its first product monitors, synthesizes and presents the world’s news coverage in a way that will soon be viewed by the world.
Users are provided two to three minute multi-perspective "smart video snapshots" highlighting differences in coverage from various news sources. For example, users can view short snippets of news reports from CNN right next to those by Al Jazeera; the BBC right next to ABC, the New York Times and a wide range of other sources from around the world.Spencer said Newsy’s anchors provide "immediate analysis of the news" that will allow viewers to form their own opinions.
"We won’t change the news but we will change your view of it," he said. "The value proposition is that we make you smarter faster."On the Newsy website, there will be links directly to the news organizations highlighted in the report.
"We believe that to compete on the global stage you must have multiple perspectives," Spencer said. "We make that easy – we combine context with convenience and help make you more informed – smarter and faster."We live in an increasingly networked and globalized world. In order to be an informed and effective global citizen, our viewers are telling us they want multi-perspective news in order to make their own decisions. News sources are abundant, but less trusted. We provide easy access to those perspectives so that viewers can make their own decisions."
Spencer emphasizes that "computers can’t tell you what’s different about stories; they cannot yet do context."Only people can do that," he states. "Computers can’t tell you that the BBC took this approach, that Chinese TV took that approach; that CNN took that approach and Al Jazeera that. Only the viewer can and it is their decision that matters. It’s great to have 10,000 news stories about Obama on Google News being in Europe but how do I really find; how do I really drill down to get to the real story?
"Objectivity is a cool concept but it doesn’t exist. Over 70 percent of the US population believes news coverage is biased – news organizations often rank the lowest in terms of credibility in most polls – and people are looking for real information to make their own decisions. It is impossible for mainstream media to write a story from a totally objective standpoint. We should celebrate and listen to our differing perspectives and act accordingly – it is what the founders of the Missouri School Journalism, the first and the finest in the World helped inspire us to do."Newsy.com’s digital newsroom will provide students from several schools the opportunity to gain critical skills, training and experience in the information technology marketplace by delivering multi-perspective news around the globe via the internet, mobile communication devices and emerging platforms.
The irony of this new media is not lost on Spencer, which is perhaps why he has chosen the centennial celebration of MU’s J-School, the nation’s first such school, to premiere the new site."Media has changed significantly since I graduated from there," Spencer says, motioning to the MU School of Journalism, just a stone’s throw from Newsy’s offices. "The importance of entrepreneurialism in media is key. We’re seeing that people have to constantly keep reinventing themselves along the way."
Spencer knows a little something of what he speaks – he has built great teams before that have created some of the most popular online news sites. He formed Newsy.com and brought to Columbia a team that has a combined 45 years of Internet management experience. Newsy’s highly skilled and experienced management team consists of people who continue to "reinvent" themselves as well; those who helped build the top-ranking online news operations as well as helped found successful internet ventures in search and social media.In addition to founder and president Spencer, who himself has a impressive list of credentials (former news executive with NBC, MSNBC and AOL, and a founding vice president of Ask Jeeves), Newsy.com’s management team consists of George Schellenger, vice president of production and content and an Emmy Award winning executive news producer for AOL, TimeWarner, MSNBC, Xprize and Pulitzer; Max Carratura, vice president of finance and business operations, Bank of America Investment Banking, and CFO of Lamplighter Studios; and Alexandra Wharton, vice president marketing and community lead marketing in addition to editorial roles at The Well, Cybernautics, USWeb/CKS, MRI Research and Revenue Magazine. The management team is guided by Newsy’s advisory board consisting of J. William Grimes (former president and CEO of ESPN, and of Univision, and of Multimedia, Inc.), Amy S. McCombs (former president of Chronicle Broadcasting and of KRON TV; and Ruth Owades, (founder and CEO of Calyx and Corolla and of Gardener’s Eden, Harvard Business School Lecturer).
All share a common thread."The founders of CNN and ESPN were pioneers and risk takers," Spencer said. "They realized that producing content for this next platform was where the next big opportunity was."
Spencer sees Newsy.com as that "next big opportunity." He’s not alone.Recently, Mediacom Communications and Newsy.com agreed to launch an innovative partnership focused on delivering new forms of news content to Mediacom customers. The partnership will develop and test several different methods of news content and distribution using a combination of Mediacom’s advanced cable and broadband network and Newsy.com’s digital news services. The intention of the partnership is to provide the communities that Mediacom serves with innovative news services.
A native Missourian, Spencer spent several years in California (San Francisco and Silicon Valley) yet he longed to return to his Midwestern roots. Two things made such a move possible: The Internet and globalization. "Before you had to be in Silicon Valley, New York or Los Angeles," he said. "Now you can do it right here in Columbia." As such, Newsy.com decided to base its operations in Columbia, and relocate its management team there as well."We are here because we tried to put this company in the smartest, most economically viable place on the planet," Spencer said. "We believe that to be Columbia Missouri."
Spencer believes that by developing Newsy in Columbia, with a rapid plan for expansion that will necessitate the hiring of several positions ranging from highly skilled jobs for engineering and editorial to IT specialists and administrators, it will showcase the city as a desirable location to incubate businesses, in turn fostering additional tech entrepreneurship in the Show–Me State."American and highly skilled foreign entrepreneurs gravitate towards the technology centers of the U.S., such as Palo Alto and Austin, Texas, because they understand the innovation that a university inspires," Spencer said. So too does the Missouri Department of Economic Development, which provided tax credits, as well as the Missouri Technology Corporation, which invested $250,000 in Newsy.
Newsy.com has also coordinated with university, state and city officials, as well as the private investment community in this venture to create an economic development model for other entrepreneurs to encourage them to locate their new businesses in Missouri. Approximately 80 percent of the start-up funds for the venture were raised in state.According to DED Director Linda Martínez, Newsy.com’s choice of Columbia to locate is of "statewide significance." "For Missouri’s economy to get back on track, we must do everything we can to create good–paying jobs and encourage economic development," Martínez said. "Innovators such as Jim Spencer are creating the jobs of the future here in Missouri, and their businesses are the foundation of our economy. Newsy.com is a trailblazer that we hope will pave the way to that economic recovery."