Amber Lineweaver
Clayton Valley High
Concord, CA
Monday, May 16, 2011
The Future of Journalism
The trailer for 'Inside the New York Times' reinforces my concerns about the future of journalism and newspapers. As a first year journalism teacher, I wonder whether or not we should continue to publish hard copy papers, or just go to an online paper that is linked to Facebook. High school students seem so reluctant to actually read a newspaper, but are constantly connected electronically. My Dad, who is 66, says he will always read the morning paper while drinking his coffee but my Dad is not my target audience. Hmmm. . . makes me wonder.
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In my years in legal publishing (CCH Inc.), we determined that survival depends on staying flexible in terms of delivery (we owned our own printing plants, then consolidated to one) and focusing on the most "value-added" content. I'm sure people will always want to know what is going on, so journalism is not dying though the newspaper most definitely is. CCH got smaller and leaner, and reduced the paper products a LOT.
ReplyDeleteIt's tough for daily papers because advertising in the print product is so lucrative, yet the print product appeals to an older demographic while younger people are engaging in online channels that fragment audience and don't yield nearly as much ad revenue. From what I've read, the cost savings from eliminating the print product and going online only wouldn't begin to make up for lost print advertising revenue. I'm interested in what happens with The New York Times' paywall and the Detroit move to thrice-weekly publishing and strictly online other days. We have a paper out here, the East Valley Tribune, trying something like that.
ReplyDeleteSteve Elliott
Arizona State University
Phoenix
Print in high school is a costly endeavor if your school doesn't foot the bill. It leaves the students to learn very quickly the 'business' side of the industry, and this is not always a pretty picture...
ReplyDeleteLong ago are the days when journalists just had to write well... now the reality is that a journalist must be a master of design, publishing, writing, editing, packaging, etc. This makes it hard know what to teach students and how, especially in a limited amount of time. Most journalists are being asked to be 'backpack' journalists and as a result, when they return to the newsroom/classroom with footage, they have an array of materials to use. Talk about being able to multi-task...
We are in the second year of our paper and printed our fourth issue this week. The kids are not that interested in paper publications. They devour anything on the web and by the time we get it out in print, it's very old news and very uninteresting to them. They also like to interact with their text. We have to generate our own revenue for a printed publication, and I, too, am wondering if a printed publication is worth it versus becoming very aggressive online. I am looking foward to hearing from journalism professionals and fellow teachers to exchange ideas and strategies. I do not believe Journalism is dead or dying for these kids; I do believe paper publications are out in favor of interactive media.
ReplyDeleteJohn Bradford
Creekview High School
Canton, GA
My principal overheard me telling a colleague that one of my goals for the Reynolds Institute was to learn how to build an online newspaper. She assumed that we were abandoning the printed paper and became very concerned. I had to reassure her that we would still produce a printed paper. She was afraid that students without web access (as many students in our mostly rural and poor district are) would not have access. However, we print only 750 copies for 1800 students, and sometimes we have trouble giving them all away. It is clear, not all our students are reading the printed paper.
ReplyDeleteBecky,
ReplyDeleteWe have always had a print version of our paper and last year was the first year we added an electronic version. We do not post our print version online, instead we have a separate team of reporters writing for online. We try to post every other day (we are on an A/B schedule, 80 minute classes) We print once a month, so one of our challenges is finding interesting, relevant, timely things to cover. I love doing both, but I have to tell you, having both of them is challenging. Developing an audience online has not been easy despite efforts we have made (having a link on our schools Edline page, printing the web address in the student's daily planner, handing out 'you've made the news...' slips to students we quote, feature, etc. I am not sure why that's the case.
We must adapt. The large dailies, such as The Dallas Morning News, are adding minority issues and tabs wich are being distributing at bus stops and rail lines. And now the full on-line paper is available by subscription only.
ReplyDeleteSo where does this leave the high school paper. We are adapting also. This year we switched to a tab format and expanded our on-line paper.
But nothing works unless we have stories that captivate our readers and everything is updated daily.
Next year I hope that the on-line staff will increase dramatically in size. Most of our staffers are multi-tasking--yearbook, printed paper and on-line paper.
Finding the right mix of interesting stories and photos that will capture student interest is an exclusive beast. Maybe my time at ASU will point me in the right direction.
My task as a first year journalism teacher was to take our print publication to an online format. We managed to make the transition, but it was a very hard sell to the experienced staff. One of the biggest factors was deciding where to host our paper. We wanted the "kindle" style reading experience, one in which the reader turns the page and the advertisements are imbedded in the text. It worked out- as we host our publication at issuu.com and link it to our school home page.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lot of hurdles to jump to get to that point though! Too many to list here.
We are going to publish the 6th issue next week.
Our on-line paper is supposedly updated daily. But it does not always work out that way. However, this is our goal and we strive to make it work. One thing about a daily updated paper is that the principal does not get first right of review unless she wants to sit next to our editor everyday.
ReplyDeleteWe are changing our format so it can be viewed on an I-Pad. It looks like due to budgetary concerns next year we will also switch our printed newspaper to a literary magazine format to be printed to only two or three times during the year.