Newspapers looking to reinvent their newsroom culture could learn a few things from small, nimble tech start-ups, according to a post on tech-meets-journalism blog 10,000 Words.
Suggestions include replacing your website’s dull list of contacts with individual journalist photos and biographies and getting journalists to do more behind-the-scenes blogging about their daily work.
“In an era when we’re pushing for news transparency more than ever, creating a team page and individual biography pages should be easy to accomplish,” the site says.
“For a newspaper or other news site, the page could contain background information, areas of interest, disclosures, and ways to contact that author if you have a tip.
“There’s so much we can learn from trials and tribulations in our newsrooms that we can share with other newspaper staffs or our readers.”
At first pass, I like the idea of having a glimpse inside the newsroom. My second thought, especially after watching another nauseating 10 minutes of a local TV newscast, is NO THANKS.
Better: instead of showing us what reporters do “behind the scenes,” produce real news (I don’t care that my local weather reporter runs marathons, and I DON’T want to watch a :20 clip of her training) and thoughtful, balanced feature reporting.
Professional reporting will tell its own story about what’s going on behind the scenes.