Results tagged “CNN” from eHub

I have a unique vantage point from which to view the transitions facing our industry. This semester I've worked as a graduate research assistant for Knight Chair in News, Leadership and Community, Pam Fine. This spring we conducted a time-use study with some of the top newspaper editors in the country.

The goal is to gain a better understanding of how these editors budget their time. Data is still coming in, but an incidental finding appears to be that many participants are spending increasing amounts of time dealing with organizational change--things like restructuring, finances, new technology, and staff training--and less time focusing on the production of news.

It certainly is an interesting time to conduct such a study: furloughs, layoffs, buyouts, belly-up. 
 
How are newspapers to survive? Two words: horizontal integration.
 
In order to survive, newspapers must recast themselves not as print outlets, but as media outlets. The method(s) by which a news outlet chooses to disseminate information becomes a strategic business decision, based on the needs of the target audience. Not just print, broadcast or online, a true multi-platform approach to provide readers information on their terms--in their preferred media formats.

It's an even more interesting time to be fresh out of college, looking to land that first job as a journalist. So, moving forward, what skills are required to be a successful journalist?

I interviewed CNN's Political Director and Senior Executive Producer of Political Programming, Sam Feist, to get his take on what skills journalists need to be competitive in today's media marketplace.

CNN's Sam Feist on skills journalists need from Josh Patterson on Vimeo.

And for those who can't adapt...

Can Twitter and Facebook save journalism? I think someone better be a damn good journalist to have a large following on one of these social networking sites. Usually the successful bloggers who start their career online are people like Perez Hilton and Nik Richie. But who would have thought that Perez Hilton would have such great success from his celebrity gossip blog. Or that Nik Richie would earn millions by creating thedirty.com, a site that allows people to post pictures and talk shit about their enemies online. 

If I want to become famous by creating an online persona, do I have to be a shit talker? Do I need to neglect all of my journalism skills and draw a penis on a celebrity's face (aka Perez Hilton) to make a buck? Well apparently, I can be the next Anderson Cooper and when my show gets canceled I can just start a Twitter account and call it day. 

Yes, I think it's important for journalists to have Twitter and Facebook and all that social networking shiz but I don't think it's going to "save journalism." Everyone has such a utopian perspective about this site and frankly I think it's kind of dumb. Yes, having 60,000 followers on Twitter is going to boost your readership but I think your main audience is actually subscribing to your newspaper/magazine or watching/listening to your news show. 

For instance, I follow NPR and CNN on Twitter but I rarely get updates from these people. And when I do, I ignore them because they are coming from a massive RSS feed (aka there is no one behind the message). I enjoy listening to NPR on the radio and I'm praying that I don't have to check Twitter to get my news updates. Can we all get a moment of silence for this small chronic break. But really, Twitter might help us a little but it's not going to save journalism.