Newsroom Culture at Play

Fun is endemic at the entertainment and news website BuzzFeed. As in many tech startups, its office is filled with amusements. Staff play ping-pong or human-sized Connect Four, and go through an abundance of drinks and snacks during breaks. Editorial’s elongated tables are festooned with a legion of Mac laptops, Play-Doh, and toys. One staff member called work “adult daycare.” Conference rooms are named after cats. Employees sign emails with animated GIFs. In short, the fun of the website, which some laud and others denigrate, emanates as much from the culture inside the company’s Fifth Avenue headquarters as it does from the content the organization originates.

Still, even advocates of playful news mechanics and products recognize the obstacles of economics, know-how, and effort in implementing game-based strategies. This chapter will analyze how to overcome these hurdles through the spirit and practices of a more playful newsroom, which ultimately shapes the content newsmakers create.

BuzzFeed may not entirely embody the potential of such a newsroom, but it tends far in that direction. With editors like Jack Shepherd, who utilizes game theories in his management; a development team of game designers mandated to create playful products; and a focus on content that treads the line between entertainment and news, BuzzFeed is exploring how play can influence journalists’ practices and relationships to their audience.