*The Integrated Newsroom - Literature Review*

2.6 PRODUCER

The profile of the integrated journalist is changing as quickly as this new media. With the WWW, the journalist faces added responsibility and a different set of challenges. For HotWired's copy chief, Pete Danko, a recent ŽmigrŽ from the San Francisco Examiner, the switch from print to online has meant a departure from tradition, a new way of thinking, of editing, including the incorporation of audio and video into stories. It meant tossing out the Associated Press stylebook in favour of rules established by Wired magazine, the ad rich, beautiful print cousin of HotWired. Wired's Ten Commandments, which sit by Danko's elbow, include "Don't Sanitize" and the "We're not in newspapers anymore" directive: "Invent New Words" (Pogash 1996, p.26).

The immediate nature of the WWW and the disappearance of the time lapse between when a journalist writes the story and the reader receives a crisp copy of the newspaper has created multiple deadline pressures for the journalist. Information and news stories can be updated 52-weeks a year, 7-days a week and 24-hrs a day. CNN Interactive's editor in chief Scott Woelfel observes, "If you look at newspaper deadlines, that's an artificial deadline based on distribution needs. Sometimes it's more important to track the stories minute by minute" (Lasica 1997, p.48).

Electronic mail and the speed of communication diminish the barrier and enhance the interaction between journalist and reader. These days, a reader can type and send an e-mail to the journalist and this message arrives at his/her computer in seconds. Katz describes this interactivity as the greatest fear of journalists. He says journalists are afraid of the commitment required in attaching an e-mail address to their column. It becomes necessary to reply to their queries. "Interactivity is the most radical political idea on the Internet because what it does is change the relationship between vendor and consumer," Katz said (Kees 1999).

This added interactivity does have its benefits and ideally befits the concept of civic, community or public journalism. Public journalists believe that news is more than a spectator sport New York University Professor Jay Rosen explains "there's a difference between what the audience wants and what the public wants. Treating people as citizens is asking them about the problems in their lives, and the things that concern them for their

future." He argues that instead of allowing the conflict between the entertainment and news functions of the media to arise, the challenge lies in getting the news function right to compete against entertainment and pleasure (Hume 1999).

At the 1995 Nieman Foundation's conference on "Public interest journalism: Winner or loser in the online era?" industry leaders agreed that the WWW had positive effects. Time Inc. new media editor, Walter Isaacson said, "The more people that get more information and get more involved, the better off you are, unless you don't believe in democracy" (Webb, 1995 p.28). With time, the mysterious barrier between journalist and reader is slowly disappearing and this could have a positive effect on a journalist's final product. Deuze (1999 p.385) characterises civic journalism in three steps; it reformulates the relationship between the press and the people, it emphasises establishing connections and contacts between journalists and the communities they cover looking at audiences as equal partners instead of simply 'consumers', and finally, it focuses on issues instead of institutions. The very nature of the WWW should promote and create a favourable environment to promote civic journalism.

Wired technology writer Kline supports this view. "I'm surprised by the extent to which I can keep my finger on the pulse of what's happening in my beat because the feedback is so immediate." He hit a public nerve by accident when he wrote about an Internet Service Provider's lack of quality service and he received ten times his normal e-mail volume. His story was later picked up by other news outlets (Webb 1995 p.28). However, Sulzberger Jr. argued that The New York Times on the WWW would not be affected outright by new media, and would stick to its, "we provide judgment ... not merely collecting and analyzing data" approach (Webb, 1995 p.28).

With the information explosion, the traditional gate-keeper role of a journalist is evolving. The integrated journalist's role will develop into one who verifies, filters and comments on information for the reader (Singer 1998 p.2 - 4). A 1997 study by Singer (1998) indicates newsroom staff are modifying their definition of the gate-keeper to incorporate notions of both quality and sense-making, in particular as credible interpreters of an enormous amount of available information. It coincides with a similar study by Weaver and Wilhoit (1996), who concluded that journalists see their primary role as interpreters rather than news gatherers and information disseminators. Katz describes the new role of a journalist would be to "step back from the fray and be a dependable place where people can go to get the truth, to get reasoned arguments, checked facts, an ethical sense of perspective. The Web can't do that. The Internet cannot filter information. It's not a good place to go for analysis" (Kees 1999).

At a new media conference at UC-Berkeley Journalism School in June 1999, a Wall Street reporter referred to a new breed of techno-journalists as linkalists - people who provide links for other people in this hypertext era (Rosenberg, 1999). Rosenberg argued that linkalists couldn't compare to the labours of a journalist. Instead, techno-journalists would welcome this new ability to "document their sources, explain obscure facts and point people to further readings." Jane Singer's 1997 (p.77) study of newspaper journalists role in an online world, "Still guarding the gate?", concluded that journalists felt that there was an even greater need for someone to make sense of all the information that was provided over the WWW - this person needed to be skilled in not only selecting the information but more importantly in making sense of it. The Sun Bureau (one of the three metro USA newspapers she examined) chief said that it was only the delivery method was different. "We still have to gather the news, we still have to write it, we still have to edit it, the presentation might be different, and that's all" (Singer 1997, p.79). The downside to this new technology, which interviewees expressed, was that not everyone could afford a computer and access to the Internet. "Everybody can afford a newspaper. But they can't buy laptops. It's not that some voices won't be heard it's that their absence is due to their economics," said a Sun reporter (ibid 1997 p.83).

Philippines writer Roberto Verzola has commented that the global information economy supports this view. "Most of these technologies except radio (and possibly black & white television) are beyond the reach of the poor. They are toys of the rich and it is the rich who will be best positioned to make the most of them" (Verzola 1999). In the Philippines, it would cost the government a social investment of several billion dollars every three years or so to set up a network for its citizens to access the WWW. Verzola develops his argument further by introducing three waves of globalisation (developed from papers presented at the 1998 Indian Social Institute conference Colonialism and Globalisation: 500 years after Vasco Da Gama). The first wave was colonialism, which involved military conquest and physical occupation of Asia. The second wave, an extension of colonialism, was the globalisation of capitals and markets. Verzola says we are still experiencing this wave, but a third wave is already in place, the globalised information economy, with information and communications technologies at its backbone (ibid 1999).

Besides the general changes identified above which are sweeping through the journalism techno-sphere, Deuze (1999 p.380 - 385) highlights fresh and present skills which need to be adapted by the integrated journalist in this digital environment. He defines them in two categories - skills and standards:

Skills

Application of storyboarding when planning an online story - It requires dropping the 'text' mentality, instead focusing on 'convergence'. The journalist explores all possibilities, angles and formats a story can cover and the interactive possibilities available, all of which require a structured and planned approach. Storyboarding is useful when considering the hierarchy of information online which exists if the journalists practices non-linear writing.

Non-linear writing - With this style, the concept of the 'inverted pyramid' is virtually dropped. Non-linear writing is a challenge as the journalist needs to write 'chunks of content' which are spread out across a number of web pages. The reader should be able to be read the different sections, in no particular order yet still be able to grasp the news.

Language on the Internet - Despite cultural and national differences, an informal and grammatically 'relaxed' language has emerged on the Internet though the question remains, whether journalists should adopt such 'popular' language and style of writing.

Utilising interactive tools to expand content - The journalist and online news site, in this case, utilises technology such as web chats, bulletin board services, online surveys and other tools to gather feedback from readers and promote a sense of interactivity to a level beyond that of traditional media. Here, the integrated journalist needs traditional skills as well as a keen understanding of the WWW, domain names and e-mail traffic to be able to verify Internet sources and e-mail interviews.

Content layering - This expands on non-linear writing. Journalists should realise that not all readers have the latest software and hardware set-up, and by gathering content in a layered format, readers can seamlessly skip (automatically or manually) sections that are inaccessible without missing essential content.

Standards

Offering additional hyperlinks - Maximising the WWW's archival ability by providing access to past stories, online reports and interview transcripts.

Allowing the reader to trace the newsgathering process - By offering hyperlinks to the story source and documents, the reader can directly access information in its original form

Offering an extensive 'About Us section' - Providing extensive information about the organisation, its goals and the option to directly contact individual staff adds credibility, authority and a brand image to the organisation and its website.

Always answer reader's e-mail - To promote a healthy journalist-reader relationship, e-mails should be answered promptly as taking readers seriously is a way of keeping them. This could be supported by carrying bylines and e-mail addresses on appropriate pages.

Applying personalized e-mail services - Teasers or reminders could be sent out to registered readers as new editions or breaking news are published. Headline-only editions could be sent out as an agent of personalized e-mail services.

Online news sites should serve as community resources - The audience should be viewed as a community albeit a virtual one. This helps the news site focus and identify with its readers, and suggestions include giving out free e-mail addresses for brand and community-building purposes.