NEWSPAPERS – PART 1NEWSROOMS, ROLES, STRUCTURES

JOUR 2300 – Principles of News

Professor Neil Foote

Mayborn School of Journalism

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Source: http://www.ablongman.com/stovall1e/chap04/chap04.html

Newspapers: Key Concepts• Newspapers are highly profitable businesses, but they are

facing an uncertain future because fewer and fewer young people seem to be reading them regularly.

• One of the major trends for newspapers during the last half of the 20th century was concentration of ownership; that is, fewer and fewer companies are owning more and more newspapers.

• Newspapers get revenue from two sources: 60 to 80 percent from advertising and 20 to 40 percent from sales and circulation.

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The “Traditional” Cycle

• Daily news meetings in morning and afternoon• Morning meeting discusses major stories• Afternoon meeting discusses what goes on front

page and section fronts• Weekend sections meetings typically on

Wednesday to discuss what’s going in Sunday’s newspaper

• Reporters generate their own ideas OR are assigned

• Editors are working on stories for the daily newspaper, and many days in advance

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The “Traditional” Cycle cont.

• Reporters work independently throughout the day• Coordinate with photographers and graphic artists as needed

• File stories by mid to late afternoon• Editors work on stories throughout the day, pushing towards evening deadlines for various editions:• One Star – prints by 7 pm• Two Star – prints by 9 pm• Three Star – prints by 11• Final Edition – prints by 1 a.m.

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Need to Know Terms• Circulation• The average number of copies of a newspaper distributed

or sold in a given time period. Often expressed as daily circulation (Monday-Saturday) or Sunday circulation.

• Paywall• A policy of limiting access to a website (or a part of a

website) to users who pay a fee or purchase a subscription.• E-editions• E-editions include paid online subscriptions, subscriptions

on e-readers (Kindles, iPads, Nooks or others) and e-replica editions (full online reproductions of newspapers, typically viewed on a computer).

Source: http://stateofthemedia.org/2013/newspapers-glossary/

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Major Trends

Paywalls• Digital pay plans are being adopted at 450 of the country’s

1,380 dailies and appear to be working not just at The New York Times but also at small and mid-sized papers.1

• digital paywall movement has circulation revenues holding steady or rising with the help of increases in print subscriptions and single-copy price.

• Together with the other new revenue streams, these added circulation revenues are rebalancing the industry’s portfolio from its historic over-dependence on advertising.

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Today’s Strategy for Survival

Reduce Expenses

Reduce Staff Eliminate Sections

New Distribution MethodsOnline Mobile

Generate New RevenuePaywalls New Ad Models

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Circulation Stabilizes

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Source: http://www.auditedmedia.com/news/blog/top-25-us-newspapers-for-march-2013.aspx

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• Newspapers may include digital editions — tablet or smartphone apps, PDF replicas, metered or restricted-access websites, or e-reader editions — in their total circulation.

• Digital editions now account for 19.3 percent of U.S. daily newspapers’ total average circulation, up from 14.2 percent in March 2012.

• Branded editions, which are newspaper-owned products such as commuter, community, alternative-language or Sunday-Select type newspapers, may also be included in total circulation. Branded editions account for 5.1 percent of U.S. newspapers’ total average circulation, up from 4.5 percent in March 2012.

• - See more at: http://www.auditedmedia.com/news/blog/top-25-us-newspapers-for-march-2013.aspx#sthash.yx9muM14.dpuf

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Print to Digital: The Slow Transition

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Shrinking Newsroom Workforce

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Why Newspapers Matter• Newspaper Association of America – NAA

• Newspaper industry trade group

NAA Introductory Video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBJ3S1InGXk&list=PL4cY4TLCUVY_Mo9mHR_bBCL74FPE9a-6-

Jim Moroney III, Chairman/Publisher, Dallas Morning Newshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE_4U20RPx8&list=PL4cY4TLCUVY_Mo9mHR_bBCL74FPE9a-6-

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Source: http://www.ablongman.com/stovall1e/chap04/newspaperorgchart.html

Newsroom Culture???: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuvENDtXWrchttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo9DAhfPdoU

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Defining Key Newsroom Positions

PUBLISHER• The publisher is

responsible for all of the operations of the newspaper, both editorial and business. The main job of the publisher is to see that the newspaper remains financially healthy.

EDITOR

The editor is responsible for all of the editorial content of the newspaper and for the budgets and money spent by the editorial side of the newspaper. Often on smaller papers, the publisher and editor are the same person.

Source: http://www.ablongman.com/stovall1e/chap04/newspaperorgchart.html

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Defining Key Newsroom Positions

EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR• The editorial page editor is

responsible for the editorial page and the "op-ed" page of the newspaper. These pages are where the newspaper's editorials are printed as well as letters to the editor, columns by syndicated columnists and guest columns by local people.

MANAGING EDITOR

The is the person who is in charge of the day-to-day production of the newspaper.

Source: http://www.ablongman.com/stovall1e/chap04/newspaperorgchart.html

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Defining Key Newsroom Positions

CITY EDITOR• The city editor --

sometimes called the metro editor -- is in charge of the news coverage of the area in which the newspaper is located. That position is one of the most important on the staff. The city editor usually has the largest staff and assigns most of the local news reporters.

NEWS REPORTER

A news reporter rather information about news stories in the local area. A beat reporter covers the same subject or location all the time; a general assignment reporter covers any story assigned by the city editor or assistant city editor.

Source: http://www.ablongman.com/stovall1e/chap04/newspaperorgchart.html

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Defining Key Newsroom Positions

CHIEF COPY EDITOR• The chief copy editor is in

charge of the newspaper's copydesk. The people on the copydesk read news stories (and sometimes stories from other sections) to make sure they are written according to the newspaper's standards. The chief copy editor makes final decisions about the copy and is in charge of the staffing of the desk.

NEWS REPORTER

A news reporter rather information about news stories in the local area. A beat reporter covers the same subject or location all the time; a general assignment reporter covers any story assigned by the city editor or assistant city editor.

Source: http://www.ablongman.com/stovall1e/chap04/newspaperorgchart.html

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Defining Key Newsroom Positions

COPY EDITOR• A copy editor is specially

trained to read the stories that other have written and make sure they conform with the rules of grammar and style. A copy editor also writes headlines and performs other duties that help produce the newspaper every day.

PHOTO EDITOR• A photo editor is not a

photographer, although it is often the case that the photo editor is a former photographer. This editor assigns photographers and helps select the photos that the newspaper prints.

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Defining Key Newsroom Positions

PHOTOGRAPHER• A photographer takes

pictures of local news events for the newspaper. A photographer might have a variety of assignments each day. Larger newspapers have a staff of sports photographers, but on most newspaper, a photographer will be assigned to shoot sports stories as well as news events.

GRAPHICS EDITOR• The graphics editor is

the head of the graphics department, sometimes called the "art department." This editor is in charge of all of the graphics and illustrations produced for the newspaper.

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Defining Key Newsroom Positions

GRAPHICS REPORTER• A graphics reporter

researches and designs informational graphics that support news stories the paper. A graphics reporter is an expert in graphic forms and also must be able to local information that can be used to build graphics.

GRAPHICS EDITOR• The graphics editor is

the head of the graphics department, sometimes called the "art department." This editor is in charge of all of the graphics and illustrations produced for the newspaper.

Source: http://www.ablongman.com/stovall1e/chap04/newspaperorgchart.html

The Journalists’ Flow Chart

Idea

Report

Write

Edit

Revise

Publish

Newsworthiness

Timeliness

Proximity

Unique

Human Interest

Impact

Helpfulness

Celebrities

Entertainment

Dramatic

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The Inverted Pyramid

The Lead

Backing Up the Lead

The Nut Graph – ‘So What Graph?’

Lead Quote

Impact

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Typical News Story StructureA student at a Nevada middle school opened fire with a semi-automatic handgun on campus just before the starting bell Monday, wounding two 12-year-old boys and killing a math teacher who was trying to protect children from their classmate.

The unidentified shooter killed himself with the gun after a rampage that occurred in front of 20 to 30 horrified students who had just returned to school from a weeklong fall break. Authorities did not provide a motive for the shooting, and it's unknown where the student got the gun.

Teacher Michael Landsberry was being hailed for his actions during the shooting outside Sparks Middle School.

"In my estimation, he is a hero. ... We do know he was trying to intervene," Reno Deputy Police Chief Tom Robinson said.

Both wounded students were listed in stable condition. One was shot in the shoulder, and the other was hit in the abdomen.

Lead

Nut Graf

Lead Quote

Backing up the lead

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What Every News Story Has

• Headline• Sometimes a subhead

• Quotes from key sources• People, documents or live events

• Attribution• Who said what

• Background / Details / History• Facts / Analysis• AP Style

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Newspaper Writing Style

• Eliminate unnecessary words

Bad Best

Appoint to the post of appoint

Conduct an investigation into Investigate

Rose to the defense of defended

Succeed in doing do

Shot to death shot

Devoured by flames burned

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Basic To-Dos of a Journalist

• Be concise• Be specific• Use strong, active verbs

• Focus on ‘so what’• Be objective• Attribute opinions• Do extensive, exhaustive reporting

• Verify Check, double-check and check again

• Keep it simple: “If I were telling this story to a friend, how would I tell it …”

• Avoid exaggeration• Always remember the readers

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21st Century Newspapers & Newsrooms

• Convergence is a reality• Multiplatform gathering and presentation of news the

norm• Adapt or die• The Guardian Newspapers in London:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yXT_1pvDv4

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The Newsroom – Converged /Multiplatform

Digital- Accelerates the speed and volume of news and information posted on multiple digital and print platforms.

- The heart of the newsroom

Local- Focus is to expand the coverage so it includes hyper-local stories.

- MoJos: mobile journalists providing coverage of breaking news

In 2006, Gannett restructured all of its news operations into seven desks:

Source: Principles of Convergent Journalism, p. 56

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The Newsroom – Converged /Multiplatform – Gannett’s strategy cont.

Data- Figuring out ways to present the information gathered in new ways

- Taking events, entertainment news and presenting it in searchable, interactive formats

Multimedia- Visual presentation: photos and video

- Photographers responsible for both stills and video

Source: Principles of Convergent Journalism, p. 56

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The Newsroom – Converged /Multiplatform – Gannett’s strategy cont.

Custom Content- Create content that targets certain types of readership, like niche magazines

- Define targeted audiences to generate loyal readers on specific topics

Public Service- Engaging readers / citizen journalists to “crowd source” stories

- Create interactive, searchable databases of information

- Tapping into the community to help the newspaper fulfill its watchdog role

Source: Principles of Convergent Journalism, p. 56

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The Newsroom – Converged /Multiplatform – Gannett’s strategy cont.

Community Conversation- Expanding editorial page using blogs and other online forms as well as traditional editorial columns.

- Inviting public to create and host forums to discuss community issues

Source: Principles of Convergent Journalism, p. 56

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Today’s Discuss Question

• Publisher Jim Moroney says that in 10 years he and other newspaper publishers will be drinking champagne while the critics will be eating crow. He says newspaper folks have to rally together to fight off the naysayers and give them a dose of “whipa—”

• Pick a side: A newspaper proponent or a newspaper naysayer.

• Give three reasons why you support or don’t support the future of newspapers