Justin Norrie, The Conversation
There’s been a bit of news lately about the state of newspapers in this country and how they might survive the digital divide. For Fairfax, this is how it’s going to look: reporters who survive the mass sackings will be expected to file stories throughout the day into an internal “wire” that will hold copy for use on any platform – print, online, tablet, social media and mobile.
And for the first time, editors-in-chief at The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times will be responsible for content across all platforms, not just print. “The old divide between print and digital has been dismantled,” Garry Linnell, Editorial Director of Fairfax Metro Media, said in a note to staff. “No more silos. One leadership for one integrated newsroom.”
Although editors will be appointed to each of the five platforms to focus exclusively on those areas, reporters will no longer report directly to them. Instead they will work with “Topic Editors”, who have no loyalty to any one platform.
As Justin Norrie explains in The Conversation:
Topic-based reporting teams will be arranged around national subjects, such as federal politics, business, environment and technology, and a smaller selection of local subjects, such as state politics, transport and sport.
Read the article in full at The Conversation …