Insights into the hybrid print/digital newsroom

Second panel at the Online Journaism Symposium focuses on the hybrid newsroom, bringing together Chris Lloyd, Assistant Managing Editor, of The Daily Telegrah, Rich Meislin, Associate Managing Editor/Internet Publishing of The New York Times, Almar Latour, Managing Editor of the WallStreetJournal.com, Guillermo Franco, Editor of ElTiempo.com in Colombia and Liza Gross, Managing Editor/Presentation and Operations at The Miami Herald.
Lloyd touches on the theme of change, talking about how The Telegraph made its transformation from a print business to a media company across platforms, about the “pain and angst” of the process.
Key to this transformation was educating journalists in the need for change. This involved taking 25 journalists out of the newsroom for a week-long training programme over a period of 17 weeks to emphasize the need for change.
“We have to change the mindset of not only our journalists, but our whole organisation,” said Lloyd.
Rich Meislin of The New York Times talks about the road to closer integration between the web and print journalists over the past 10 years. Part of this is making the newspaper how the web audience of the NYT is different to the paper and making editors understand how to serve the needs of these audiences. For example, the travel section in the newspaper is useless if you are online trying to plan a journey online.
The challenges ahead are shifting towards a 24-hour publishing cycle and a “publish when ready” attitude.
Almar Latour of The Wall Street Journal talks about some of the issues at the paper of bringing the print and web sides together.
What is surprising to hear is that the web team is still trying to persuade reporters to file online and to break news online, rather than holding back stories for the paper. It serves to highlight the issue of cultural change which is emerging as a major theme at this conference.
Liza Gross of The Miami Herald takes the stage to talk about how it is shifting from a print product with 350 journalists to an organisation working across platforms.
She says the key to this operation is the continuous news desk is key, which she describes as the brains, heart and marketplace of ideas for the Herald.
The continuous news desk is where all news decisions are made such as how to best tell our stories and on what platforms. It includes representatives of all key desks and directs news coverage. This has been working much better for daily news coverage than long-term planning.
One interesting aspect is that the Herald now has some 40 deadlines over the day, across web, cellphone, radio and print. This is a major shift from a print organisation with just a handful of deadlines.
For a slightly different perspective, on comes Guillermo Franco from ElTiempo.com in Colombia. This is a large media group which reaches 5.2m people across the country through its range of outlets in print, online and TV
Franco talks about the benefits of physical integration, that by bringing everyone together under same room has “increased our collective intelligence”.
But what is more interesting is how the content side has been reorganised into thematic teams work in areas such as city, sports, business. These function as internal as news wire agencies servicing the product side of the business, with a database that holds all the content.
In practice, any outlet can take content in real time from the database, and it can only request specific content from the thematic teams.
Interestingly, he also focuses on the issue of cultural change as the biggest obstacle in the newsroom.
And he also adds that El Tiempo is not trying to train every journalist to do everything. Rather, it is looking to have journalists who have more than one skill, such as writing in print, in order to be able to tell stories across platforms.

Source: reportr.net

Sky News: Integration and innovation in the newsroom

WALKING into Sky's newsroom for the first time, you can't miss the studio: no walls, remote camera operation and its circular shape have removed barriers between the everyday presenting faces of the channel and the news operation behind it.
The open plan newsroom, which puts senior editors and producers on the same 'eye-level' as reporting teams, was part of a series of constant innovations in the organisation's 20-year history.
Bulletins were originally broadcast from a cupboard space, I'm told during a tour of the Osterley headquarters. More space was required, the cupboard left behind, and presenters began sitting in the round.
Closer integration of all newsgathering operations and outputs, from mobile and Sky Active to online, led to the compact, concentric layout around the 'studio' space.
Geography is everything: from its former home secreted on another floor, the online team are now in earshot of bulletins as they are broadcast and can grab producers and new news angles as the cameras roll.
Live feeds from the newsroom floor are broadcast from between desks, where online news chats are being carefully moderated – on my visit the topic of discussion being whether a mother should pay for sex for her Down's syndrome son.
Taking part in this is the recently appointed, and much-discussed, Sky News Twitter correspondent – another innovation by the team driven by experimentation and a desire to reach new audiences [listen to executive producer Julian March's thoughts on this below].
"We lucky in that we have a culture in the newsroom where we are not afraid to fail," March tells Journalism.co.uk.
Perhaps even more fortuitous is the team of developers overseen by head of technology Steve Bennedik, residing in an upstairs office.
New features of the website and flash templates are being built by a dedicated team, says Marsh, that other broadcasters would kill to have.
While building flash templates is an investment in the long-term, the site is keen to continue experimenting and exploiting the undefined boundaries of online journalism, says Marsh.
Current projects include a data mash-up of the UK's job crisis, multimedia coverage of Pakistan week, Dermot Murnaghan's 'Economic Cycle' and plans for a backpack journalist to cover a project in China 'free of the encumbrances of broadcasting'.
New ways of storytelling are very much the focus of developments, which - thanks to the site's relaunch last summer - are now all the more possible:

Source: Journalism.co.uk

The Profitable Strategy of Newsroom Integration

The Editors Weblog has been following the Integrated Newsroom trend for several years. Major papers around the world from the Guardian to the New York Times to Kuwait's Awan, and the Hindustan Times of India have merged print and online operations. But there are plenty of papers that haven't taken the integrated route. In the following article, Espen Egil Hansen, Editor-in-Chief of Verdens Gang (VG) Multimedia, Norway, shows that keeping print and digital teams separate at his paper have led to steady profits for both newsrooms.

I am generally sceptical of the idea of one media house, one newsroom. When was the last time anyone won both the 100 meter dash and marathon during an Olympic game?
There are two fundamental issues that call for a greater degree of separation and specialization - what I like to call the model of focus.
First and foremost; newspaper and internet are by nature so diverse that they demand completely different working methods and organizations in order to succeed. This applies at all levels: in the editorial department, sales, distribution and management. To argue that "newspaper" and "online news" are the same because both are news, makes as much sense as saying that a roaring river and a glass of water are the same because both are water.

"The newspaper and the internet are by nature so diverse that they demand completely different working methods and organizations in order to succeed."

The strength of the online journalism is the possibility to develop the product minute by minute, interacting with the readers. Their experience and presence (the readers are where we aren't, they know what we don't) becomes an integrated part of the continuous journalistic working process. An article does not have a deadline, the readers submits comments, we ad links and so on.
The strengths of the newspaper are opposite. Towards deadline one search for the most exclusive story and the best possible angle on another story. These stories are then being thoroughly edited and presented on a limited space.
While internet by nature has its strength in that the users themselves can choose from a stream of information (the roaring river), the strength of the newspaper is its well edited presentations (the glass of water with a twist of lemon).

"The idea of integration is a threat both to the printed product and for the online news site."

Furthermore, the basic differences in business models, rate of development, distribution and so on are also so substantial that they in my opinion demands specialized organizations in order to succeed.
The second fundamental issue that calls for a greater degree of separation is that we are living in the middle of a media climate change! The glaciers (the traditional publishing houses) are melting, the storms (the competitors) are getting violent and coming from unexpected places, and the changing circumstances for life are such that ancient species must succumb to new ones (goodbye Tribune - hello Facebook)
Where we earlier had to cope with a certain number of newspaper and channels on TV and radio, we are now exposed to an infinite offer of information wherever we are. As I am writing this, on one of the first days of 2009, I am simultaneously following one of many Twitter-feeds reporting a new round of bombing in Gaza. The news agencies will report the same stories during the next hour, but without the nerve and credibility of someone who are in the midst of the falling bombs...

"As I am writing this I am simultaneously following one of many Twitter-feeds reporting a new round of bombing in Gaza."

In this entirely new media landscape, I believe the specialists will win. The ones that are best adapted and that are able to change fast enough. What until now has been regarded as the power of publishing houses - tradition, position, stability and financial security - is now turning to become a weakness.
The idea of integration is in my opinion a threat both to the printed product and for the online news site. To the printed product because the integration in a way conceals a level of costs and way of working that is not sustainable in the long run. And the threat to the online site is that it will inherit the way of working, organizing and a level of cost that is not competitive in this market.
In the publishing house of VG we have, with success, chosen the model of focus. We have two companies, two boards, to editorial departments, to chief editors, two managing directors and so on. We cooperate where appropriate for both organizations (which means a lot), but at the same time we are free to choose whatever necessary in order to succeed on our own platform. We've made some tough choices. While down-sizing by 100 people in the print organization we hired 40 more online. No one was moved from print to online. With this model of focus we've achieved the number one position online and in the print market. Both editions have for the last couple of years been very profitable.
Our success is obviously not a guarantee for this model of focus being the best one in the years to come. Neither is our success with the model a guarantee that it will work in all other media houses, and markets. It makes greater sense to integrate if you're at a number two position (or lower), than if you are leading in the market. The current financial turmoil is accelerating the media climate change, and we must constantly evaluate whether our organization is optimal.

Source: Editorsweblog.org