The editor of the web newsroom of The New York Times, Fiona Spruill, has been answering questions from readers all week.
As someone who manages the Times’s web newsroom, made up of the 60 producers and editors responsible for publishing NYTimes.com 24 hours a day, she has some sound advice for budding online journalists:
Our web newsroom is closely integrated with the print newsroom, so I am looking for people who can flourish in both worlds and who I could see fitting into many different jobs at The Times. Among other things, producers are responsible for packaging the news online and for creating original multimedia. As a result, they need to have solid journalism credentials and strong technical skills.
On the technical side, we want people to walk in the door with a proficiency in Photoshop, HTML and blogging software, and an understanding of Web publishing systems. Experience in the production of multimedia — including the use of audio and video editing tools — is strongly desirable. For our more specialized multimedia positions, we expect to see an extensive knowledge of Flash and an understanding of how to integrate databases into multimedia presentations.
This is good advice for all journalists. Every journalist should have a basic grasp of multimedia journalism. This sort of training should be mandatory in all journalism schools but is lacking in many.
As a side note, Eastern Illinois University has just approved a multimedia journalism class as a requirement for journalism majors beginning in Fall 2008.
(Via E-Media Tidbits)
Filed under: journalism, multimedia, new media , Fiona Spruill, New York Times, online journalism
Overall, I was disappointed with the quality and depth of this “conversation.” As I wrote on my blog, I would have expected more, both from the New York Times and from Spruill. You can read my full entry: http://www.yonigreenbaum.com/?p=56
Why exactly is the “understanding of Web publishing systems” necessary? Do the content producers also publish their pieces on the publishing system themselves?