Results matching “in newsrooms pays off”

In light of the recent wave of newsroom layoffs and cost cuts in the US, Tim McGuire worries that newspapers and editors may be forgetting the core values of journalism.

McGuire is a former editor and Senior Vice President of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis and is currently Frank Russell Chair for the business of journalism at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications

The argument isn't new: cutting costs at newspapers (despite the fact that research has already shown that investing in newsrooms pays off) leads to reduced coverage and decreased editorial quality.

But according to McGuire, the situation is worsening today. "Shortcuts which would never have been considered 15 years ago are becoming a part of daily operational procedure," writes McGuire.

He takes the example of newspapers increasingly relying on press releases for coverage - unmodified press releases. The practice seems to be widespread and international, as echoed in books by Guardian journalist Nick Davies and French investigative journalist Paul Moreira.

"It's probably only a matter of time before a sports information department fails to mention a brawl or some other unseemly event at a game that would have been revealed by in-person coverage," writes McGuire.

According to McGuire though, the main problem isn't the increased reliance on shortcuts due to fewer resources. The real danger is editors forgetting their ethics because they are used to these practices.

In the case of the press release shortcut, one easy rule for editors and reporters is to credit the real source of a story, unless "our newsroom adds value," says Indiana Star managing editor Pam Fine.

There will continue to be editors who are willing to uphold their journalistic values in the face of cost cuts. Think of Jim O'Shea who recently left his position at the Los Angeles Times after disagreeing about budget cuts with his publisher.

But the danger is that editors who get used to working with reduced budgets forget the editorial values that are necessary to journalism.

"I hate the fact that readers get a worse news product, but I am even more concerned about which ethical values are being checked at the door by resource-strapped newsrooms," writes McGuire.

Source: McGuire blog, Arizona State University

Contrary to common managerial practices of extensive cost cuts, investing more in a newsroom is effective for business, revealed a study that will be published in the April issue of the Journal of Marketing. Investment generates profits, divestment worsens financial gaps.

German programers. Chinese Master students. American software developers. Iranian bloggers. These are just a few examples of the eclectic mix of 300 Wikipedians who invaded a youth hostel in Frankfurt for the First International Wikimania Conference. But what attracted two veteran journalists who began their careers in major news organizations, the very institution that Wikis and citizen journalism purport to challenge? Simple. They are self-defined media lovers. Independent documentary filmmakers and co-founders of the international media firm Globalvision, Inc, Rory O'Connor and Danny Schechter, popped over to Deutschland complete with camera crew to document a phenomenon that is having a significant effect on newspapers and the media in general.

German programers. Chinese Master students. American software developers. Iranian bloggers. These are just a few examples of the eclectic mix of 300 Wikipedians who invaded a youth hostel in Frankfurt for the First International Wikimania Conference. But what attracted two veteran journalists who began their careers in major news organizations, the very institution that Wikis and citizen journalism purport to challenge? Simple. They are self-defined media lovers. Independent documentary filmmakers and co-founders of the international media firm Globalvision, Inc, Rory O'Connor and Danny Schechter, popped over to Deutschland complete with camera crew to document a phenomenon that is having a significant effect on newspapers and the media in general.

German programers. Chinese Master students. American software developers. Iranian bloggers. These are just a few examples of the eclectic mix of 300 Wikipedians who invaded a youth hostel in Frankfurt for the First International Wikimania Conference. But what attracted two veteran journalists who began their careers in major news organizations, the very institution that Wikis and citizen journalism purport to challenge? Simple. They are self-defined media lovers. Independent documentary filmmakers and co-founders of the international media firm Globalvision, Inc, Rory O'Connor and Danny Schechter, popped over to Deutschland complete with camera crew to document a phenomenon that is having a significant effect on newspapers and the media in general.

This is a very convincing article on how newsrooms' staffs need to understand the new business model of the newspaper industry. Thanks to Robert Niles and the Online Journalism Review for this analysis: "Technology that allows advertisers and readers to better connect continues to drive economic changes in the news business. The Internet hammered the newspaper classified business over the past decade, and now new technology for placing display advertising on Web sites promises to challenge remaining news industry business models. Many journalists don't give much thought to what happened on the other side of "the wall." But advertising pays the bills – including reporters' salaries – in almost all news organizations. And changes that interrupt the flow of money from advertisers to publishers ultimately result in less cash for newsrooms.

"If a newspaper had umpteen million dollars in revenue from employment advertising, which was the most lucrative category of advertising at newspapers, bar none, and that category has dropped by 40, 50, 60, 80 percent -- that has a significant impact on everything at the newspaper," said industry analyst Peter Zollman, founding principal of Advanced Interactive Media Group...

This is a very convincing article on how newsrooms' staffs need to understand the new business model of the newspaper industry. Thanks to Robert Niles and the Online Journalism Review for this analysis: "Technology that allows advertisers and readers to better connect continues to drive economic changes in the news business. The Internet hammered the newspaper classified business over the past decade, and now new technology for placing display advertising on Web sites promises to challenge remaining news industry business models. Many journalists don't give much thought to what happened on the other side of "the wall." But advertising pays the bills – including reporters' salaries – in almost all news organizations. And changes that interrupt the flow of money from advertisers to publishers ultimately result in less cash for newsrooms.

"If a newspaper had umpteen million dollars in revenue from employment advertising, which was the most lucrative category of advertising at newspapers, bar none, and that category has dropped by 40, 50, 60, 80 percent -- that has a significant impact on everything at the newspaper," said industry analyst Peter Zollman, founding principal of Advanced Interactive Media Group...

This is a very convincing article on how newsrooms' staffs need to understand the new business model of the newspaper industry. Thanks to Robert Niles and the Online Journalism Review for this analysis: "Technology that allows advertisers and readers to better connect continues to drive economic changes in the news business. The Internet hammered the newspaper classified business over the past decade, and now new technology for placing display advertising on Web sites promises to challenge remaining news industry business models. Many journalists don't give much thought to what happened on the other side of "the wall." But advertising pays the bills – including reporters' salaries – in almost all news organizations. And changes that interrupt the flow of money from advertisers to publishers ultimately result in less cash for newsrooms.

"If a newspaper had umpteen million dollars in revenue from employment advertising, which was the most lucrative category of advertising at newspapers, bar none, and that category has dropped by 40, 50, 60, 80 percent -- that has a significant impact on everything at the newspaper," said industry analyst Peter Zollman, founding principal of Advanced Interactive Media Group...