COMP 2903 A19 – Center Stage Danny Silver JSOCS, Acadia University

Carl Sessions Stepp American Journalism Review, April/May, 2006 Senior editor of American Journalism Review Writes about changes in the news profession Served as a writing and editing coach for newspapers in US and Canada including: – USA TODAY, The Washington Post, and Toronto Globe and Mail.

Newspapers v. Online News Will the standard print media be over taken by Web media? Online newsrooms: – What do they look like? – How do they work? – How are they effecting print news media

Newspapers v. Online News They are look cleaner, quieter, younger Desks grouped into pods Executives behind glass offices Web journalists mostly post copy gathered by others – called producers, news directors or editors Arranged by sections + studios, technical hideaways

Newspapers v. Online News Big vital difference: – With many people posting, speed of the essence, no fixed schedules – Impractical to funnel all content through a copy desk – Little or no editing, fact checking, reveiw

Two clear trends 1.Move toward merging online and print newsrooms 2.News production around the clock Revolutionizing newsrooms, raising important questions: – Who will produce the copy? – Who will monitor quality? – What will be stressed in hiring? – What will this do to journalism?

News v. Columns v. Blogs What is the difference? Why do news outlets have blogs and support them?

TV News v. Web Video News What is the difference? - see p. 82

Online has Pros and Cons Pro: Most recent news is always available Con: A lot of high pressure work Con: Little editing means a dumb headline is used Pro: Change it as soon as it is caught. Even stories are not permanent

Some reasons for hope … Broadcast sensibilities are filtering in Editors are emphasizing journalism over technical know how The sense of “public trust” is there Online is not an excuse for sloppiness Some schedules sneeking in – do not wish to confuse readers with too much of a moving target

Convergence of print, TV and Web News NY Times and LA Times have been at forefront Can be complicated: – Cultural differences (talking versus s) – Unions in print offices / none in online offices – Rate of production different (24-7 pace online) – Print versus broadcast processes vary Washing Post is purposely not consolidating; viewed as two different but complimentary groups

The Future ?? P. 85 “We write for online and update for print” Online news allows traditional print media compete with broadcast news Most editors see a move to consolidated newsrooms – Single chain of command – Great journalists / writers produce copy – Air traffic controllers placing it on media