The newspaper business often is all-consuming.
An example would be that I just took a short break from my job and ... read part of an article about the newspaper business. This particular article, in the April/May edition of American Journalism Review, discusses the quality-control quandary newspapers and their online sites are facing.
Newspapers nationwide have been undergoing newsroom job cuts to accommodate declining revenue. Meanwhile, the increased emphasis on Web products has created additional work for those newsrooms. An end result, addressed in the AJR article, is that there are more stories to read and fewer copy editors to read them.
The major focus of the article is the growing number of articles that are posted online by newspapers without having a copy editor read them. More and more stories are being placed directly online by reporters without editing. More often, newspapers are posting first and editing later.
This helps newspaper Web sites accommodate the publics insatiable demand for immediate news and constant updates. But the question AJR asks is whether the practice ultimately hurts content and credibility.
Its an interesting debate that no doubt will go on for some time as newspapers continue to alter and improve their Web presence.
At the Times, it is extremely rare for any news or sports story to get posted directly online without being edited at least once. (Blogs often are posted without initial editing, however.) That sometimes can mean were not as quick as Id like us to be at getting stories online. A perfect example would be Tuesdays developing story about the gun found in a students vehicle at Monroe High School this week.
Our reporter, Brian Gray, knew about the story for more than an hour before anything was posted online. He used the time to get as much initial information as he could from Monroe Police Chief Fred Kelley and Monroe school district Superintendent Larry Brown. Then he wrote a story that was more than just a few quick sentences that would alert readers to the news more quickly. We chose to do this because of the sensitive nature of the case. Better to get as many facts as possible first before posting a story.
Not long after the initial story was posted, Brian learned that the gun found may have been reported as stolen. That took a little time to confirm. And, frankly, once it was confirmed, there were no editors in the building to read and post the update. I was at home taking a nap between split shifts. Our news editor, working nights, hadnt gotten yet arrived at the office. Were a small newsroom, with no wealth of resources.
So while I was trying to sneak in a few winks of sleep that have proven elusive as we adapt to our new schedules, we were getting hammered on our Web site by readers who had heard about the stolen gun aspect of the story either from other sources or by word of mouth.
We actually could have posted the updated information earlier than we eventually did, and weve already discussed processes to remedy that in the future.
A potential solution that Im just not committed to yet is allowing stories to be posted or updated without being seen by a copy editor. But weve certainly discussed the possibility, and very well may decide in the future to go that route to become even more nimble online with the few resources we have.
An example would be that I just took a short break from my job and ... read part of an article about the newspaper business. This particular article, in the April/May edition of American Journalism Review, discusses the quality-control quandary newspapers and their online sites are facing.
Newspapers nationwide have been undergoing newsroom job cuts to accommodate declining revenue. Meanwhile, the increased emphasis on Web products has created additional work for those newsrooms. An end result, addressed in the AJR article, is that there are more stories to read and fewer copy editors to read them.
The major focus of the article is the growing number of articles that are posted online by newspapers without having a copy editor read them. More and more stories are being placed directly online by reporters without editing. More often, newspapers are posting first and editing later.
This helps newspaper Web sites accommodate the publics insatiable demand for immediate news and constant updates. But the question AJR asks is whether the practice ultimately hurts content and credibility.
Its an interesting debate that no doubt will go on for some time as newspapers continue to alter and improve their Web presence.
At the Times, it is extremely rare for any news or sports story to get posted directly online without being edited at least once. (Blogs often are posted without initial editing, however.) That sometimes can mean were not as quick as Id like us to be at getting stories online. A perfect example would be Tuesdays developing story about the gun found in a students vehicle at Monroe High School this week.
Our reporter, Brian Gray, knew about the story for more than an hour before anything was posted online. He used the time to get as much initial information as he could from Monroe Police Chief Fred Kelley and Monroe school district Superintendent Larry Brown. Then he wrote a story that was more than just a few quick sentences that would alert readers to the news more quickly. We chose to do this because of the sensitive nature of the case. Better to get as many facts as possible first before posting a story.
Not long after the initial story was posted, Brian learned that the gun found may have been reported as stolen. That took a little time to confirm. And, frankly, once it was confirmed, there were no editors in the building to read and post the update. I was at home taking a nap between split shifts. Our news editor, working nights, hadnt gotten yet arrived at the office. Were a small newsroom, with no wealth of resources.
So while I was trying to sneak in a few winks of sleep that have proven elusive as we adapt to our new schedules, we were getting hammered on our Web site by readers who had heard about the stolen gun aspect of the story either from other sources or by word of mouth.
We actually could have posted the updated information earlier than we eventually did, and weve already discussed processes to remedy that in the future.
A potential solution that Im just not committed to yet is allowing stories to be posted or updated without being seen by a copy editor. But weve certainly discussed the possibility, and very well may decide in the future to go that route to become even more nimble online with the few resources we have.
