What I learned from NewsTrust

Hello all,

After more than a year and a half as NewsTrust's Assistant Editor—and regular author on this blog—I'm leaving NewsTrust to work at Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo. I'm sad to go, but you'll continue to see me here, now as a regular member. This being one of my last full days on the job, I wanted to take a moment and reflect on what I've accomplished with this wonderful staff and community.

First, let me flash back. It's May 2008. I've just graduated from journalism school and, unsurprisingly, I'm jobless. Journalism is not a field that's kind to 23-year-olds. As I begin the tiresome process of shaking down connections and scouring the Web for work, I keep myself sane by tapping into an interesting startup news site called NewsTrust.

I take to NewsTrust almost immediately. The community of reviewers seems to pride itself on looking beyond the day's memes at the deeper, more impactful stories that often get lost in the noise. I see a unique value in its mission, its advanced rating system and its push for transparency. NewsTrust seeks to be better than the Hive, and I like that.

Then, one day I get a private mail from an editor about a job opening...

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I don't think I could have joined the NewsTrust staff at a better time. The site was riding a wave of popularity and buzz following a spectacular News Hunt on John McCain with the Huffington Post's OffTheBus team. The most intense months of the 2008 presidential election were just around the bend. The nature of the war in Afghanistan—still called "the forgotten war" at the time—was beginning to change, with questions about how a new president would handle the United States' presence there. August was marked by the Olympic Games in China, and the conflict in the Caucasus between Georgia, Russia and South Ossetia. The Democratic and Republican conventions followed. And who can forget what happened that fall?

All told, the first few months were as exciting as they could have been. There was a seemingly endless supply of timely and important stories for NewsTrust to scrutinize -- and a dedicated group of news junkies to help do it.

After the landmark election of Barack Obama, however, the news cycle seemed to change dramatically. The 2008 election broke many precedents, including the record for longest presidential election U.S. history. When it ended, things undoubtedly slowed down for news organizations everywhere, and NewsTrust was no exception. It became trickier to engage people in the wake of that huge event, and we saw it in our numbers. But the intensity of those months in 2008 galvanized me (and I think all of us at NewsTrust) for the more difficult work to come.

If you're reading this you probably have a good idea of the effort it takes to make this site work. Like a lot of sites in our league, it's an ongoing experiment, and NewsTrust is attempting to tackle a massive set of problems: How do we create a trust filter for the abundance of news on the Web? How can we help people become more critical news consumers? In a news cycle where everyone's trying to "win the day," how can we slow down the process and get the best information?

Beyond that first phase on the job, I sum up my experience at NewsTrust as a daily attempt to help my team and the community here find solutions to those problems. It hasn't been easy, and we've all had moments of frustration. But through it all, I've never lost sight of that initial drive I had when I joined, and still share with our community.

It was there last January when we teamed up with Link TV to focus on the war in Gaza. In June, when a fraudulent election led to social upheaval in Iran, we followed daily developments vigorously. Since last summer, it seems hardly a major health care story has slipped under our radar. I'm proud to say our community rejected Sarah Palin's "death panel" accusations and other rumors right off the bat—and when the debate was still raging in October, we persisted with another stellar health care News Hunt with our partners at the Huffington Post. Another key moment came with the launch of the new version of our site in September—the culmination of months of work that brought vast improvements to NewsTrust.

Those are just a few of the great projects I've taken part in during my relatively short time here. To me, they add up to a bold statement: NewsTrust is different. I can think of few other sites whose aim is to help people become better citizens by harnessing the power of the community, and I don't think any does it as elegantly as NewsTrust. I take off next week to make my way into national reporting for another site I admire equally, and in due time you just might be reviewing my stories on NewsTrust. My greatest hope upon leaving is that you'll be around to do it.

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My most sincere gratitude goes to the NewsTrust team: Fabrice, Kaizar, Subbu, David, Adam, Joey, Beth, Caleb and the many partners, friends and advisors I've been fortunate to meet. You've been amazing mentors, brilliant colleagues, and good friends. I've never worked with such a talented, dedicated and selfless group of people. Many thanks also go to the community members I've interacted with since I got here. There are dozens of you, so I won't name everyone, but please take my thanks as genuine. See y'all online!

-- Derek Hawkins

Comments

[Samuel W Velsor IV]

The very best of luck to you, Derek. I know I join thousands in wishing you nothing but the best Talking Points Memo is gaining a most valuable member.

Good Luck

[patricia lherrou]

derek, i have read, and often reviewed so many stories with your name behind it, i feel if you've been here for much longer. i am happy for you to be going to work that you clearly will love and be happy for, but i and i know many reviewing, reading, will miss you here. the best of everything in your future in your work and i look forward to reading stories written by you.
patricia