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An opportunity for reinvention: from fortress to open house

According to Charlie Beckett (left), director of Polis, LSE's think tank on the role of media in society, in order to reinvent the content of journalism curricula and define the role of a journalist, journalism schools first need to determine what is meant by journalism. He said educators need to teach prospective journalists about the values of risk and experimentation and provide students with the ability to reconsider their idea of journalism.  He also rejected the idea of labelling this approach as 'theory'. "It's not theory anymore," he said, "it's tomorrow's practice."

Notwithstanding a traditional journalism background (Beckett started as a local newspaper reporter and gradually worked his way through the ranks at the BBC and Channel 4), Beckett advocates throwing out the rule book on conventional journalism wisdom. He argues that too many journalism institutions have become fortresses, too set in their old ways, with a foundation that leaves little room for flexibility.

On 19 June, Paris' Sciences Po École de journalisme played host to a selection of the world's leading journalism educators (Chile, China, Denmark, Jordan, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, UK and the USA) who were invited to discuss the "Challenges and Evolution of Journalism Education."

Opening the conference, Bruno Patino, dean of the Sciences PO School of Journalism, said: "The only thing certain is uncertainty," in reference to the news industry, which has seen advertising revenue across developed countries plummet in the wake of the economic crisis and the growing influence of the Internet.

In 2005, the Guardian prepared itself for what was heralded as a revolution in newspaper journalism by switching from traditional broadsheet to the Berliner format. (See the first issue of the Berliner Guardian, right, printed 12 September 2005.) For the first time since its makeover, the Guardian explains in detail why it decided to make the move and how it went about doing it.

Four years ago, when news first got out that the Guardian was getting geared up for a reinvention, journalistic tongues were soon wagging, such was the interest generated among its rivals.

Speaking at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in Washington DC on
Saturday 9 May, president Barack Obama said that "a government without newspapers, a government without a tough and vibrant media is not an option for the United States of America."

In what was mostly a speech packed with jokes and humorous anecdotes, Obama ended his discourse on a serious note about the state of journalism in the country, acknowledging that there were many good journalists who had recently found themselves out of a job.

In the space of one week, three of Belgium's "quality" newspapers will have undergone a total design overhaul. On Tuesday, Le Soir (published by Rossel) unveiled its new look, followed on Wednesday by La Libre Belgique, part of the IPM portfolio. Saturday will see the anticipated launch of L'Echo, the country's business newspaper, whose most noticeable change will come in the choice of its new choice of colour, salmon pink, bearing a striking resemblance to the UK's Financial Times.

Le Soir, for instance, has decided to give more prominence to its analysis articles. "It is by no means a coincidence that the [country's] three "quality" newspapers have decided to act," said Daniel Van Wylick, director general of the Soir, adding that their efforts "demonstrated the dynamism of the Francophone press in Belgium."

Columnist Steve Outing reports that in order to save print newspapers, "publishers must improve them with the older print loyalists in mind."  

With publications shutting down print services from a seven day-a-week schedule to weekly, cutting staff, or slimming their number of pages, the crisis for print news could be solved not by redesign but by quality improvement, Outing says, and leveraging digital offerings in print editions.

On Wednesday, October 22, chairman and publisher of The New York Times Company, Arthur Sulzberger Jr. made a speech at the WebbyConnect conference about transformations at the New York Times.

"Our 21st-century news cycle, with its trials and tribulations, feels even more immediate because of our access.  It is reasonable to ask: Do we need all this news and information? Do we want all this news and information? Can we tolerate all this news and information?," Sulzberger asked.

He believes that in this day and age people are looking more towards trusted and pragmatic voices.  He also advocates an effort to reject "the increasingly frenzied 'apocalypse now, tomorrow, and forever' talk.  Quality content matters...trustworthy voices are more important than they have ever been."

On Tuesday, October 21 Tribune COO, Randy Michaels sent a memo discussing the reinvention of the Tribune's newspapers for readers and advertisers to employees as a means to provide some positive reinforcement.

Michaels talked about recent changes to the Tribune's eight papers.  In the last six months, all of them have been redesigned and operations in the news room have been restructured.

He also discussed new print partnerships: the Tribune's Florida's Sun Sentinel will begin printing, packaging and transporting the Palm Beach Post; The Baltimore Sun is printing and distributing the Washington Times in areas around Baltimore; and the Chicago Tribune is distributing the Chicago Sun-Times.

Newspapers around the world are facing a challenging time, not only because of the current difficult economic climate and declining advertising revenues, but also because of the ever more rapid push to multi-platform publishing and the changes to the operation that this has involved. Is it time the whole operating model underwent a shake-up? Neil Benson, Editorial Director - Regionals, at Trinity Mirror believes that newspapers need to radically overhaul the entire structure and that, being from a "conservative industry", they have been "overly-cautious" for far too long.

Benson, and the three Editors of the Birmingham titles affected, have rewritten the rulebook on workflow and newsroom management at the Birmingham Post (Editor Marc Reeves - business orientated newspaper), Sunday Mercury (Editor David Brookes - tabloid) and Birmingham Mail (Editor Steve Dyson - a popular evening paper); and the new system is scheduled to go live in mid-October. Benson says that in previous recessions for the media industry, the standard way newspapers have responded is to cut the pagination of the paper and axe staff, but Trinity felt that this was simply "inadequate". Benson says, "The financial pressure is nothing new, but the additional factor is the internet and convergence and the effect that this is having on the industry, so we felt that rather than do the straightforward cost-cutting, we needed to do something much more imaginative." The Editors Weblog spoke to Benson to get all the details.

Rethinking workflow

Trinity Mirror has been using the same tried and tested newsroom workflow as most other newspapers, ie, (1) journalist writes the article, (2) submits it to the news desk, (3) designer fits the story into the page, (4) sub-editing desk scrutinizes, and (5) final revision and publication. This whole system has been completely turned on its head, with Benson stating, "We are truly a multi-media business now, so lets structure for that." The old five-step system has now been honed down to just three steps: create, place and complete. Benson says that not only did they have to look at the overall operating costs in the current difficult economic climate, but they also wanted to fully integrate multi-media working practises into the operation. With the advent of new publishing platforms, such as mobile and the Internet, newsrooms have had to adapt rapidly and have thus frequently "bolted-on" on new practises to the traditional model. Benson wanted to revamp the whole process so that multimedia is fully integrated into the operation.

The new workflow system is as follows:

1) Reporters - who will now be known as multimedia journalists*, - create the content.
2) Send to the "Multimedia" desk where a newly trained multi-skilled team will not only check the copy but also place it into heavily templated pages. This is the key step in the reinvention; here Trinity have merged the news editing and production function into one.
3) Page finishing, revising and tidying up.

Benson says he cannot remember such substantial changes being made to a newsroom in 35 years. Not only will this system help to cut costs and integrate multimedia publishing, but it will also cut down on the time between a reporter finding a story and it appearing in print or online. Furthermore, the three titles at Trinity Mirror Midlands will all be sharing a newsroom; so if a big story breaks the merged newsroom can push more resources towards the story and cover it more thoroughly than was ever possible before.

Integrated newsroom - open space and collaboration

One of the key areas where the changes can be seen is in the newsroom team itself; the individual Head of Content or Head of Sport for each title will be merged and will now work across all titles and channels. Furthermore, the whole team, including advertising and sales, will all be on one floor working together.

In the centre of the new newsroom (the whole team is moving to a new purpose-designed site in Birmingham in about a month's time) there will be a structure that Benson describes as being "like a broken doughnut" (ie, a round structure, open at two points for exit and entry) which is the multimedia desk: everything will be directed from this central hub. It will also contain the conference table where all of the news meeting will take place, making it open to the entire staff rather than in the Editors office behind a closed door as in the past. This structure also enables the multi-media desk staff to always be at their workstations even during the news meetings.

Furthermore, over the summer, a new publishing system was introduced called "Content Watch" (produced by a MediaSpectrum) which is completely web-based making it possible to file copy and sub copy from anywhere.

Training journalists: the "nuts and bolts" of integration

The training programme undertaken to make this radical change in structure possible has been comprehensive. Benson describes the training as "nuts and bolts" and philosophical, ie, enabling the team to "think" multi-media when they are working.  Staffers are all being equipped with laptops for filing on the move and Smartphones (Nokia 95 Smartphones for shooting video, streaming video, and take digital pictures), so there have been practical training sessions for the new kit, being led by the Head of Multimedia and the editorial training manager.

The team have brought in Paul Bradshaw from Birmingham City University, who has an online journalism blog, for the philosophical side; the sessions involve talks on multimedia and issues surrounding it for senior staffer, who will then "percolate this knowledge down". The staff have also been attending a series of multimedia awareness sessions led by Andrew Dickinson from the University of Central Lancashire, who also has a journalism blog.

Benson is very clear on the importance of this training programme, "We are asking people to do something very new, and unless you invest in the training it is not going to work."

Managing the team through unfamiliar waters

Another key consideration for Trinity Mirror in this reinvigoration of its newsroom has been its staff. The process resulted in 65 voluntary redundancies at the newspapers and this understandably caused concern for staffers at the group's Birmingham titles. Furthermore, with the whole workflow system being turned on its head, staffers were required to apply for roles within the new structure. This, reports Benson, was a difficult decision and one "not taken lightly". However, the changes in structure are so radical that they felt it was necessary to take this step to underline the enormous change the Birmingham titles were undertaking, and for the staff to truly consider if they wanted to be involved in it. Benson reports, "We had our eyes open, we expected a big reaction."

Bearing this in mind, management moved ahead quickly and launched a consultation period where staffers had one-to-one sessions to discuss concerns and ask questions. Rapidly after, the job application process started.  

The UK's National Union of Journalists took a role in the process, telling management that they would fight any forced redundancies; thankfully, the voluntary process proved successful and a strike was averted. Benson reports that communication was open with the union throughout the process.

With hindsight?

Trinity Mirror Midlands is nearing the finishing line in this whole process, but with the benefit of hindsight, would they have done anything differently? Benson says that he does not feel that there is a "fundamental" in the process that they got wrong. He does believe that the communication process with staff is vital and needs to be as open and detailed as possible. For Trinity, communication has been, "pretty good, but more would have been better."

Furthermore, with the office move planned well in advance and with Trinity's desire to undertake the changes before the office move so teething problems could be ironed out, lack of time was an issue. Benson says, "Ideally, a bit more time, but then again I have been involved in projects in the past where you can give yourself too much time. Being journalists, we all like a deadline."

* The multimedia journalists role now involves shooting video, taking picture, and so forth, as well as being equipped to file from anywhere with the new web-based publishing platform.

The New York Times has announced plans to expand its online business coverage. This will be done through the redesign of its Technology section, a new Economy section and a new blog on energy and the environment, entitled Green Inc.

The Technology section will feature expanded coverage, new journalists, more spotlight on the Bits blog, and new content providers including, GigaOm, Venture Beat and ReadWriteWeb.

NYTimes.com also plans to introduce more changes in the coming months. Some of these changes include expanding the Small Business, Personal Technology and Your Money sections. NYTimes.com will also bring on board more journalists and continue to add new tools and multimedia features.

Over the past two years there have been a large number of newspapers from the United States that have eliminated their Washington bureaus.  The latest announcement came on September 18 when The San Diego Union-Tribune announced plans to close its Washington D.C. bureau after the election.

In addition, Washington-based Newhouse News Service announced last month that it was closing down after Election Day.  NNS used to be home to a staff of reporters exploring the American political landscape by covering topics such as, race, religion and economics.

Juan Senor, partner with the Innovation International Media Consulting Group told the news industry that newspapers needed to "innovate or die," if not they will face "death by a thousand cuts."  Senor focused on the reinvention of newspapers, stating that newspapers need to reinvent the formula of the medium and "rediscover the soul of their business".

Senor compared the newspaper industry to the Ringling Brothers circus, which he said died in 1967 "because television could bring you those elephants up close."  He believes that Cirque du Soleil, established in Montreal in 1984, is an excellent representation of reinventing an industry, "they reinvented the formula completely -- most importantly, they got rid of the elephants."  He uses this comparison to demonstrate the ability of newspapers to reinvent the industry.

The Los Angeles Times announced that it is the first Tribune Company paper to be available for Amazon's Kindle Reader. This is a further step in the reinvention process that newspapers worldwide are adhering to.

The Kindle Reader offers newspapers a chance to adapt to today's world laden with mobile technology, by offering an e-reader-compatible version of their paper. Some editors, however, do not trust in the full-fledged future of the e-paper the 2008 Newsroom Barometer showed.

Kindle e-papers are offered by top US papers like The New York Times and the Washington Post as well as international papers like France's Le Monde, Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine and China's Shanghai Daily.

Source: Los Angeles Times Blog

See also:

A Paperless world?
Are we heading for all-elecronic papers?
   
 

Several major newsrooms have chosen to integrate their print and online operations to adapt to the digital age, including the Daily Telegraph in the UK and Fairfax in Australia, and most recently The New York Times moving into its new building. But most newspapers remain non-integrated or consider – such as Le Monde in France or El Pais in Spain – that full integration is not the best choice. In light of this debate, the Weblog interviewed Bruno Patino, Vice President of Le Monde group and President of Le monde interactif, to figure out which is the ‘right’ way to rethink the newsroom, or whether or not integration should be the main concern altogether.

The reinvention of the San Jose Mercury News is still moving along with its plans for a smaller and very different product. However, some staffers and readers are concerned with the fact that "the very top of the organization is saying, blow up the newsroom," says Chris O'Brien, a reporter for the Mercury.

Fortune editor-at-large Richard Siklos argues that, despite many troubles, newspapers have yet a long life ahead of them, in an article entitled “Newspapers down but definitely not out.”

Yesterday the Weblog announced that BusinessWeek’s new formula, with its emphasis on webby features, might spark a reinvention of print thinking. Managing editor Bruce Nussbaum concurs: the result “is a new kind of print medium that I think will be the model for magazines to copy.”

Must-read. The American Journalism Review takes a look at the reinvention of the newsroom and editorial process through the eyes of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s (AJC), Politico, and others.

Launched two weeks ago, LePost.fr is not your typical online-only news site. With a resolutely ‘new media’ approach to news, the website fearlessly tackles new trends in news consumption, and caters to a younger public generally perceived as having deserted the arena. Its editorial content and processes have been adapted to this aim, which can also be seen as a traditional media publisher’s attempt to experiment with the future of online news.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel has appointed one of its columnists, Howard Goodman, as blog editor. While some newspaper people still condemn blogs’ lack of professionalism, here’s one that is following the tide and making its blogs professional.

The Danish newspaper market is in upheaval: free newspapers have rapidly taken over a 50% share. Not only are these papers being distributed on public transport, office buildings and coffee shops. Now 1 million Danish freesheets are also being delivered directly to readers’ front doors. Toger Peter Seidenfaden, Editor-in-Chief of the quality paid-for daily, Politiken, commented on the influx of free papers and previewed the presentation he will make at the 14th World Editors Forum in Cape Town, June 3-6.

Rich Gordon, Director of Digital Technology in Education at Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, argues the necessity to reinvent the journalism production process. And not only does he argue it, he actually outlines a new process.

As the humid summer season falls on Western Massachusetts, I've returned to the area where I grew up to see what's happening at the inaugural Media Giraffe Summit. The first session gathered some of the "usual suspects" as they called themselves to discuss how journalism will stay relevant, to whom and in what forms.

Very simple, but very perceptive paper from Adam Hanft, Inc.com weblog: "For years now, the newspaper industry has been virtually paralyzed as it has watched its readership age and younger consumers turn to other media. While they've made a few feeble gestures, for the most part, newspapers have seemed to accept this geriatricizing as inevitable... Nonsense. There is ample evidence that younger consumers are readers. As far as men are concerned, witness, for example, the explosion and success of gaming magazines. Or, the rapid acceptance of Conde Nast's �Cargo.� Young women are flocking to �In Style�, �Lucky� and others. Newspapers simply haven't created the kind of editorial that is compelling to a younger demographic."

Very simple, but very perceptive paper from Adam Hanft, Inc.com weblog: "For years now, the newspaper industry has been virtually paralyzed as it has watched its readership age and younger consumers turn to other media. While they've made a few feeble gestures, for the most part, newspapers have seemed to accept this geriatricizing as inevitable... Nonsense. There is ample evidence that younger consumers are readers. As far as men are concerned, witness, for example, the explosion and success of gaming magazines. Or, the rapid acceptance of Conde Nast's �Cargo.� Young women are flocking to �In Style�, �Lucky� and others. Newspapers simply haven't created the kind of editorial that is compelling to a younger demographic."