Tracking the Changes and Transformations in Today’s Newsroom

A very cohesive panel on changes and transformations in the newsrooms featured three panelists on the transformations in physical newsrooms.
Sue Robinson took a look at the physical space of changing newsrooms and how to spatially arrange a newsroom to promote a successful digital transition, especially by the older, traditional journalists. Placing the online journalists and editors in the front and center of the traditional print journalists is one of the best practices she found, because it keeps the digital transition accessible and on everyone’s mind. She also found that old school journalists feel that working online is not real journalism, and management expectations can address his by acknowledging the time journalists spend engaged in cross platform work.
Neil Thurman next presented his research on Europe’s first online-only newspaper, Taloussanomat. The financial daily went online only in December of 07. Thurman presented many aspects of his research, including the way journalists and editors stuck to traditional print operations, even in the absence of it. He found that the journalists as the paper he studied wanted to have stories ready by the end of the day, even without that old deadline restriction. He also presented research on lost profits and reduced expenditures.
This panel’s final presenter, Chris Anderson, focused on Web production, audience and metrics, describing an alternate way of addressing audience, and how technology changes the news product.