How EJCP has revived my passion on journalism
It all started in 2017, when I created a Facebook page “图懂天下” (aka Newsgraphy, literally means to understand your world through graphics) to explain news stories through infographics in Mandarin.
The response was encouraging and reached the peak shortly after Malaysia’s 14th general election in 2018. One of my infographics went viral and shared by more than 1000 users, and my page followers sharply rose to 1500+.
At that time, I was casually managing the page then putting in on pause, as I still need to commit to my full-time job as a journalist. I never thought that it would become my full-time venture someday.
Fast-fashion Journalism
During the COVID-19 pandemic, I worked for a digital news outlet. At the beginning, the experience was fulfilling, as I had the chance to produce solutions and explanatory journalistic content. That changed once the editorial direction became more traffic-oriented.
News editors are looking for quantity but not quality; speed but not substance; conflict but not constructive. Most of the content blindly follows and replicates what other media have been reported, sometimes even without fact-checking.
Meanwhile, most of the digital news outlets in Malaysia have the same problem — fragmented and sensationalized content for clickbait purposes. It doesn’t reflect the audience’s needs and concerns.
A revived passion
Worked in such a newsroom was really frustrating, but that sparked my intention to revamp Newsgraphy as a data journalism website that tells stories beyond numbers that matter to the young adults in Malaysia, and helps them to make informed decisions about their daily lives.
In Malaysia, data journalism has a huge potential to develop as there are many useful data and statistics with hidden insights, whether it’s from public, private or non-governmental organisations (NGO) sectors. However, most news outlets here are not doing data storytelling on a regular basis, because it takes a lot of time and effort to analyse and visualise data.
I strongly believe that Newsgraphy can fill the gap, by providing simple and memorable visualisations based on credible evidence and good narrative. In this spirit, I joined the100-day Entrepreneurial Journalism Creators Program (EJCP) at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. I even quit my full-time job, and learned how to start and sustain a venture from scratch.
Product, Sustainability, Community
As a journalist with zero entrepreneurial experience, EJCP came at the right time. Through frameworks and case studies shared by instructors, I attempted to make my venture more purposeful by understanding my audience’s frustrations and needs, as well as to identify revenue models that will help monetise my content and make my product sustainable.
One of the key takeaways that I learnt from EJCP is to have a “community” mindset instead of “audience,” because journalism is all about service related to the community.
Every entrepreneur aims to make money, but revenue comes after trust, and quality is what makes money. If we create content that resonates for the community and solves their problems, then we can build and sustain a trustworthy relationship with them, which is fundamental for my venture’s success.
Besides the nitty-gritty of what a mediapreneur should know, EJCP was also a valuable lesson on personal growth: stay true, be organised, stay nimble, and more importantly, say “NO” to non-important and non-urgent task.
Mutually Beneficial Networking
Although the program was held virtually, I was not alone, as I was joining like-minded global journalists as classmates, who were very passionate and determined to serve their communities. We learn, reflect and grow together, and that connection will last for many years to come.
Meanwhile, I’m also grateful to have a mentor in this journey. With his expertise and experience in data intelligence, he provided useful suggestions for me to apply in my venture.
Educate, Engage, Enrich
The 100-day program is over, but my mediapreneur journey is still ongoing. I’ve developed an action plan, and I’m excited to tell the world that Newsgraphy will be back very soon!
Here’s my pledge: Newsgraphy will not be a typical news website that’s blindly looking for traffic and sensationalised content. It will be here to educate readers with deeply-researched, data-driven content that matters; to provide an engagement platform by letting them express their views and thoughts; and to help them make more informed decisions that will enrich their lives.
Reach out to me at dexterchan9109@gmail.com, as well as the following social media accounts:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dexterchan/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/im.dexter.09
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/im.dexter/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dexterchan9109
