US: Morning Call rethinks newsroom

Posted by Jean Yves Chainon on January 11, 2008 at 11:15 AM

Local paper Morning Call, Pa., is rethinking its newsroom and editorial processes. Changes will include creating an “innovative universal news desk” and reorganizing the visuals department to enhance digital offerings, as well as the creation of new editorial positions.

In a memo to staff, Morning Call editor Ardith Hilliard outlines the changes to be made, as “reader habits are rapidly shifting, demanding that we rethink our entire business,” he wrote in the memo.

Changes will include:

- completing the establishment of its “universal news desk”
- reorganizing its visuals department to enhance didigtal initiatives, and investing in 40 video cameras for the newsroom
- creating three new positions to build print and online audiences: a watchdog reporter who will publish investigative consumer columns, a lab technician to handle video editing, and an online producer who will update sports news web pages and the Varsity Web site, as well as build photo galleries as part of a continuous news cycle

Changes will also include cutting back on 10 existing positions. Hilliard admits in the memo that the plan partly aims to reduce editorial costs – through cutting positions.

Read here for a more critical take on changes at Morning Call.

Source: Poynter Romenesko

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