Q&A: Syria Deeply Founder, Lara Setrakian
LARA SETRAKIAN is Founder and CEO of Syria Deeply, which she launched in 2012 to cover the crisis in Syria. I heard her speak about this project at a Her Girl Friday event (video) in New York, which featured some other incredible women.
Lara spent five years in the Middle East as a foreign correspondent on-air, reporting for ABC News, Bloomberg Television, the International Herald Tribune, Business Insider and Monocle Magazine. She was widely recognized for her work covering Iran’s 2009 election protests and the Arab Awakening in 2011, particularly her groundbreaking use of social media. She was such an early adopter of Twitter that her handle is simply: @Lara.
1. How does the single-subject site fit into the news ecosystem? The single-subject news site is supplement to the news ecosystem. It’s like an off-site deep dive that gets users more acquainted with a subject, helping them gain a holistic view of the story. Once they’re acquainted with the story it becomes all the more interesting when they see it anywhere else, on TV or in print. Everybody wins when we serve our audience with in-depth information.
2. What affect has Syria Deeply had on mainstream coverage of Syria? We’re glad and grateful to say that Syria Deeply has increased the flow of information into mainstream coverage of the conflict. Our work has been picked up by CNN, NPR, BBC News, Wired, the Wall Street Journal, ABC News, MSNBC and the Guardian, among others. We have roughly two dozen Syrians working writing for out platform, mostly inside the country, so that their reporting can now reach the world.
The most important part of launching a startup news site is building and maintaining your credibility.
3. In today’s market, is it better for a reporter to have extensive knowledge in one beat, or strong skills in general reporting? One can succeed either way. I personally believe in developing deep domain expertise, as a beat reporter or subject matter specialist, simply so that you can see more of the story. It helps you serve the audience with better knowledge and critical thinking. But strong skills in general reporting are great as well. If you can transition the skills of storytelling across beats that puts you in a place of tremendous value. It’s even more so if your reporter’s toolkit includes digital journalism and design thinking.
4.What are your long-term goals with News Deeply? Our long-term goal is to stand up platforms that respond to a deficit in the news cycle, covering underreported issues and stories that are too complex for traditional media to capture. We’re specifically focused on complex global issues–conflict zones, states in transition, then science, technology and public health. That means we could potentially do anything from Congo Deeply and Myanmar Deeply to Alzheimer’s Deeply to Robotics Deeply. It’s wherever in-depth information, the combination of content plus context, can serve best.
5. What is the most important part of gaining momentum with a new site or blog? The most important part of launching a startup news site is building and maintaining your credibility. There’s no point running an innovative newsroom if no one trusts your content. For that, one can only lean on the core principles of good journalism: making the strongest possible efforts toward objectivity, neutrality and even-handedness in reporting. From there, you’ll find your natural audience. Its momentum will grow based on the quality and relevance of the work itself.
