As we move forward with the newsroom’s reorganization and start to get new multimedia journalists hired, there will be another change – how the newsroom is actually organized.
Previously, we essentially had four groups. We had news reporters, lifestyles reporters, the sports guys, and the photographers. Each reporter had a beat (education, public safety, etc.) and the organization was very old-school.
Now, a while back, I wrote on this blog about passion topics and beats. Both are an important part of the newsroom restructuring.
We will be forming three teams. Each team will be composed of three to four multimedia journalists capable of covering the news with excellent writing, great photography and good video skills. They will be able to push content through social media or more traditional channels and will have substantially more operational independence than before.
Each team will have a team leader who will help organize team projects and will maintain day-to-day news plans for his or her team.
The sports team is fairly obvious. Our award-winning and nationally-recognized coverage of MTSU athletics and prep sports will not falter. We will also be increasing our coverage of participant sports – things like tennis, golf, and adult rec league sports.
The Boro Beyond team will be focused on issues related to growth and development. Government issues, education from an issues and policy perspective, and similar topics are the backbone of this team. We’ll be hiring someone to increase our coverage of MTSU as well. It is the largest and arguably most important institution in our city. We must cover it well.
The Families Issues team will hone in on issues that impact families. This will include healthcare, what’s happening in the classroom (as opposed to policy), healthcare, faith and religion, childcare and development issues, recreation/active lifestyles, and other issues that impact your life on a daily basis.
Though not really a “team,” there is another group of people in the newsroom. These are the editors, the night print production team, and the digital support. They each make their own important contributions to the local report.
Each journalist is going to be given what I call a focus area. About 70 percent of their reporting time will be spent on the focus area. Another 20-25 percent of reporting time should be spent on topics not related to the focus area, and the final bit of time will be spent on various miscellaneous tasks – and anyone who has ever worked in a newsroom knows there are tons of those miscellaneous tasks.
Now that 20-25 percent is very important. There are always stories that don’t fall neatly into the defined focus areas, but still need to be covered.The journalists will use the 20-25 percent to work on those or special projects…
And cover breaking news. We are setting up a rotation to handle the daily police/fire/court reports. Each team will take turns handling breaking news. This team approach is going to result in more breaking news being covered and more meaningful breaking news reports (and follow ups) being presented to you.
Breaking news was once primarily the responsibility of the public safety beat – one person. No more. It is now everyone’s responsibility. That means 11 street journalists three editors and two copy desk editors, along with interns and clerks, will all be expected to jump on breaking news as it happens. It is on every single job description, including mine. Even sports or an editor may be required to go out and cover a major fire or crime scene.
The restructuring has a plan, a purpose, and a definitive set of criteria for success, and under it, we will continue to operate the largest newsroom in Rutherford County, providing you more local content than any other news outlet.
As always, you may contact me with questions. My email address is cmorgan@dnj.com and my Twitter is @clay_morgan.