Atlanta J-C has no metro editor; no sports editor
.
The newsroom as you know it is toast.
Meet the new world order:
[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution] now has no conventional metro editor, no sports editor, no deputy features editor.
The AJC
—Content and production teams have their own leaders, who are supposed to stay in close touch, but no one person oversees, say, the business section from start to finish.
The strategy of thinking Web first, talked about nearly everywhere, is demonstrated hourly. The newsroom has no formal late-afternoon budget meeting, but a 1:30 p.m. page-one huddle around a slot editor’s desk (which managing editors seldom attend), plus several similar digital and section gatherings.
Action at ground level, not orders from on high, is the watchword.
This, according to the University of Maryland’s Carl Sessions Stepp in the latest issue of American Journalism Review:
After months of brainstorming and planning, including several tense weeks in which about half the staff had to apply for new or different jobs, the Journal-Constitution this summer abolished traditional desks and reconstituted itself into four departments instead of more than a dozen.
Two produce the content: News and Information, the largest department, supplies breaking news and other material directed first toward the Web. The Enterprise department develops surprising, watchdog-type stories largely for the morning newspaper.
The two other departments, Digital and Print, independently select from this content and handle presentation for the Journal-Constitution and its Web site, ajc.com.
“We had a newsroom built for the old world,” says [Editor Julia Wallace. “In the old world, the content people had control of print but not online, and I thought that was an unwinnable situation. We can’t just be a newspaper anymore. We need to be a news and information company. Online will become the new mass medium, and print will be aimed at settled adults.”
In general, Wallace says, the younger online audience’s message is, “Help me navigate my life in Atlanta,” while the older print crowd is seeking “deep local news commitment.”
AJC editor Julia Wallace
—So the new AJC structure serves up constantly updated online news, lifestyle guides and interactive multimedia features, with about 5 million unique visitors a month. The print paper, circulation 360,000 daily, 525,000 Sundays, stresses depth and enterprise.
“News and Information, by philosophy, is supposed to think online first. Enterprise thinks print first,” says Shawn McIntosh, who indeed holds the title director of culture and change. “This has taken off like a rocket.”
Naturally, there was a lot of trimming involved, too. The newsroom staff now totals about 435, writes Stepp. That’s about 20 percent less that it was at its peak.
Stepp goes into quite a lot of detail about the changes in Atlanta. He quotes both positive and negative aspects of what’s happened there. He also touches on similar structural experiments going on at The Tampa Tribune, the Spokane Spokesman-Review, The Wilmington (Del.) News Journal, Al Día in Dallas, The San Jose Mercury News and my own former paper, The Des Moines Register.
The 150,000-circulation Register has about 195 editorial staff, down fewer than 10 from a 2003 peak, she says, and it, too, is adding online firepower. The Data Desk, for example, works to develop reader-searchable information of all kinds, from bridge safety to where the bathrooms are along a cross-state bicycling route.
[Editor Carolyn Washburn] has squeezed out some new positions by consolidating beats (two reporters cover agriculture now, down from three), redistributing work (two editors in features, down from three), and, yes, jettisoning the local movie critic position (to the copy desk).
To underline the online emphasis, the Register is developing new performance reviews that will include sections on reporters’ multimedia and database contributions.
This one’s a must-read, my friends. Find it in the American Journalism Review.
October 1st, 2007 at 12:57 pm
This is almost identical to the reorg Orlando implemented in June - to invigorating results so far. A big adjustment, but certainly exciting. Good luck, AJC!
October 1st, 2007 at 1:18 pm
I’m not sure I’d say we have NO metro or sports editor. That’s just not fair to the wonderful job Joe Earle and Kevin Whaley are doing, respectively. Metro Editor and Sports Editor are their titles; they just aren’t the stereotypical jobs we see across the industry.
For instance, Kevin organizes, collaborates with designers/copy editors and decides what goes into the sports section every day. The only thing he doesn’t do is working with PROVIDING the content or CREATING the content. That’s done by the two content departments, News & Information and Enterprise.
Kevin doesn’t directly work with columnist Jeff Schultz and help mold what Schultz writes. Rather, Kevin works with a budget provided from the N&I or Enterprise department and decides which stories are best for the section and when they run.
Kevin IS the sports editor for Print. We also have a “Sports Editor” for digital too and this person organizes and work with our content (provided by N&I and Enterprise) for ajc.com.
Check out a great video the multimedia created about our re-org. It’s for the APME convention:
http://www.ajc.com/news/mplayer/m/31637
October 1st, 2007 at 9:38 pm
Kenny - if you can get “Digital” to post that film clip on Blip or Brightcove or iFilm or Viddler (All free sites) then it would make it a lot easier for it to go viral, be blogged, and you know live a happy life out here in the land of tubes.
October 2nd, 2007 at 8:24 am
Thanks for the clarification, Kenny. I like the idea of producing a pool of content and drawing from it for each medium rather than producing something primarily for web or print. The no metro/sports editors thing was the thing I wondered most about after reading that story. It seemed like you’d really still need to have someone overseeing production of the section. To follow up on that, is there an editor/leader of some sort on the N&I side who coordinates, say, all the sports coverage or all the metro coverage (in essence manages the writers while the “sports editor” manages the section)? How much communication is there between the N&I side and the people who produce the sections, especially in advance planning? Also, the story talked about the concern of writers/photographers losing control over their content after they’ve been created. Can you shed some light on that aspect? How much communication is there between the people who produce the content and the people who use that content for web or print?
I don’t know how much from the Politico example can be applied to most newspapers. In today’s climate, what mainstream newspaper is going to be willing to wait three years before an innovation or remodeling starts making money?
October 2nd, 2007 at 11:06 am
Where do copy editors fit into this plan? Do they work with N&I on the front end so that the copy that hits the Web is cleanly edited, or are they more involved with the Print team?
October 2nd, 2007 at 4:27 pm
so many questions!
Hope I can answer ‘em all
1. Is there an editor/leader of some sort on the N&I side who coordinates, say, all the sports coverage or all the metro coverage (in essence manages the writers while the “sports editor” manages the section)?
YES! On the N&I side (breaking news, daily beats), there’s a College Editor, a Pro Sports Editor and High School Editor. They handle the writers, columnists and free-lancers. On the Enterprise side, we have two enterprise writers that focus on broader topics (like The Rise & Fall of Michael Vick, features profiles, etc).
2. How much communication is there between the N&I side and the people who produce the sections, especially in advance planning?
Wow, good question. We also have planning editors in Enterprise, N&I and Digital. They look at the long-term. In fact, we had the Enterprise planning meeting this morning. I know about 85% of what they are offering over the next 3 weeks. (The estimated 15% left is reacting and going in-depth to news stories from N&I. Those stories, obviously, aren’t budgeted)
3. Also, the story talked about the concern of writers/photographers losing control over their content after they’ve been created. Can you shed some light on that aspect?
Well it’s been a tough transition, but collaboration really helps. Photo Editors focus on working with photographers, rather than pitching their best photo to print or digital. It’s up to the designers and producers to pick the photo they want. I know that sounds pretty harsh (and it has been at times), but there is still communication between photo and designers on which is the best photo. We’re not in the business to make enemies with co-workers. LOL …. Plus, we like our photo staff. We WANT strong photography (who doesn’t??) FYI: The photo staff is under N&I, as they are considered news gatherers.
4. How much communication is there between the people who produce the content and the people who use that content for web or print?
Constant communication. Constant, constant, constant. We still haven’t mastered it, that’s for sure. We talk all the time. Phone, email, walking up (or down stairs). N&I and Enterprise are on the 8th floors, while Print and Digital are on the 6th floor.
5. Where do copy editors fit into this plan?
Copy Editor are under Print. They work for the Print product. Producers in Digital should have the copy-editing skills to look through the copy before it lands on ajc.com.