This presentation was used at the Spokane Intercollegiate Research Conference on April 25, 2009. It came out of a paper by the same name that was done for an independent study this fall.

1. Getting the News Online
Today’s journalist and the Web
Image courtesy of Paper Cuts

2. Getting the News Online
Today’s journalist and the Web

3. Overview
What will be covered in today’s presentation?
State of the media
Defining journalism and journalists
Emergence of the Web
The role of a journalist today
The skills journalists need
Reflections in the industry
The future of journalists

4. State of the media
What does the media landscape look like today?
Layoffs at U.S. newspapers:
2008: 15,859 layoffs and buyouts
As of April 15,2009: 8,097
Closures and bankruptcies:
Seattle PI, Rocky Mountain News
More than 50 newspapers closed so far
Job openings: On JournalismJobs.com
Aug. 2007: 628 postings in newspaper/wires
April 15, 2009: 144 postings in newspaper/wires

5. State of the media
What does the media landscape look like today?
Attitude:
30 percent of reporters and editors think it is not
likely they will lose their jobs in the next three years
Reasons:
Loss of revenue and readership:
Classified ads and subscriptions down
Newspapers bought at inflated prices
Content available online for free
Current economic situation

6. Survival
How will newspapers overcome these challenges?
“Newspapers cannot be defined by the
second word - paper. They’ve got to be
defined by the first - news. If we’re going
to define ourselves by our history, then
we deserve to go out of business”
-Arthur Sulzberger,
publisher of the New York Times

7. Journalism defined
What is journalism?
Definitions
“Written material of current interest or wide
popular appeal” (American Heritage Dictionary)
“An invention or a form of expression used to
report and comment in the public media on the
events and idea of the here and now” (G. Stuart
Adam)
Roles of a journalist
To gather the facts and tell the story

8. News goes online
How did we get to where we are today?
“ I think most of the machinery now
employed in printing the day’s, the
week’s, or the month’s doings
will be junked by the end of this century
and will be as archaic as the bell ringer’s
bell, or the herald’s trumpet. New
methods of communication I think will
supersede the old.”
-William Allen White, 1931

9. News goes online
How did we get to where we are today?
Internet and the press
1991: Web is made available for commercial
use
1994: 20 newspapers in the world had Web
sites
1999: 5,000 newspapers had sites
2000: International Online Journalism Awards
created
Today: Few newspaper are without a site

10. News goes online
How did we get to where we are today?
Internet and the audience:
1992: Two million computers were connected to
the Internet
Today:
75 percent of all Americans adults of a total
population of more than 230 million use the
Internet
70 percent of those who use it do so daily
39 percent of these active Internet users
seek news online daily

11. News goes online
How did we get to where we are today?
Internet provides
Capacity
Flexibility
Immediacy
Permanence
Interactivity
Democratization of publishing
What does that mean for newspapers?

12. The journalist today
Who is a journalist?
News as a conversation
“Everyone can be a journalist”
The citizen journalist/blogger
37 percent of all Americans who go online
engage with user-generated content
Challenges
Legal definitions of journalists
Press passes
Do professional journalists still have value?
-Yes, but their role has to change.

13. Skill sets (Broad)
What skills does a journalist need?
Thinking online Understanding of the
Storytelling across changing media
mediums landscape and media
Writing across consumption
Ability to
platforms, including Web
writing manage, moderate and
Copy editing participate in
Researching and guiding interactivity
Curiosity and healthy Data management
Enterprise
skepticism
Strong technical skills Energy and passion

14. Skill sets (Technical)
What skills does a journalist need?
Create multimedia Social networking
Video and video editing Social booking and
Audio media sharing
Photography and photo Soundslides
RSS
editing
HTML Podcasting
Use of content Flash
Twitter
management systems
Photoshop Remote transmission
Blogs

15. Current state
Has it really changed that much?
Journalists’ responses
2/3 of professional journalists think splitting
time across platforms is positive
45 percent of local journalists say the Internet
will weaken rather than strengthen those values
25 percent of journalists spent no time working
on their organization’s Web product
National journalists are 3x as likely as local to
devote half or more of their time to multimedia

16. Current state
Has it really changed that much?
Washington journalists say
“Community paper” focus still makes it mostly
about the print product
Concerns about immediacy, decreased accuracy
and loss of depth
Only a few respondents were more positive and
saw needs for embracing new technology while
balancing other aspects of the job

17. The future of the journalist
Is the challenge really possible?
Jack-of-all trades
Helpful or hurtful
Compensation
Is it even possible?
“We can’t do it all, but I think – I hope – we can do
something because, to be frank, we have to.”
- Alison Glow

18. More information
What now?
Getting the News Online:
Today’s journalist and the Web
www.todaysjournalist.wordpress.com
Jasmine Linabary
jlinabary09@gmail.com
Also follow me or find me on Twitter, Facebook,
LinkedIn, del.icio.us, Wired Journalists