|
At Its Core, Convergence Is Still Old-Fashioned Journalism
By
Shellie Branco
Co-located newsrooms |
Media convergence isn’t about a multimillion-dollar TV and newspaper complex in Tampa. It isn’t even all
about technology.
It’s about “good old-fashioned journalism” that integrates the audience, according to Ifra Newsplex training
director Martha Stone.
Now that people have a wide range of news sources and devices they can use to consume information, audience consumption behaviors
have caused huge competition among the media as they grapple with the newsrooms of the future, Stone told a gathering of journalists
attending the Western Knight Center’s seminar on the business of online journalism.
Among these new behaviors is increased multitasking, Stone said, noting more than half of both men and women watch TV while
surfing the Net.
In order to bring together disparate media like television and newspapers, there needs to be one editorial philosophy, one
news agenda and one ethics philosophy, she added. The journalism of the future requires a deep understanding of audiences across
media channels and an audience-driven, not media-driven, economy.
“When you put a face on your audience, you see whom you aren’t serving or are serving,” she said.
Stone pointed to Steve Yelvington’s “Manifesto for the Future” for tips on how to handle convergence. Learn
to deal with customers on their terms, not yours, she said. Also, create projects users will actually want to pay for. And learn
to be guides, not gatekeepers, while maintaining good news judgment.
The actual convergence of two newsrooms doesn’t have to cost millions, Stone said. The best strategy is co-located newsrooms,
as at the Chicago Tribune, she noted, where a TV studio sits in the middle of the newsroom.
As for the staff itself, Stone suggested creating new job descriptions for old roles. Have an “orchestra conductor” in
charge of all the media in the room—a person who makes editorial decisions across a “time continuum” and decides
where and when certain news should break. Along with a “backpack” journalist, she said, you might want to have a “news
resourcer,” a librarian/journalist devoted to assisting with research.
Stone conceded that it may be difficult to do basic reporting as a multitasking journalist. If reporters and editors find
it hard to spare time for training meetings, organize brown bag lunch sessions or swap jobs with others on training days, she
suggested, adding that the trick is working in teams and creating a strategy that works for each organization. |
