*The Integrated Newsroom - Straits Times Findings*

4.3 Changing Role of the New Media Editor

The role of the editor has changed as much as that of the journalist in the online world. This section presents findings of industry practitioners' opinions on how the WWW has changed their role. For one, the editor is today is known as a - web content manager, online editor, new media editor or other such titles. This new role involves the editor having to keep track of hits, content and the marketing of the site, however it may or may not be very different from the traditional role of the print editor and the full effects of a convergence has yet to be seen.

Editors have always kept tabs on circulation figures and work with the marketing and business folks. In many cases, their jobs depended on this. Most of us 'line' editors have not realised that, because the best editors at the top did their darndest to insulate us from those forces. All they talked about were the editorial imperatives. Now, suddenly we are on top of the heap on the New Media side, and there is no insulation any more. In other words, not much has changed except that younger people are in charge and staffs are much smaller, which requires many roles to converge that might be separate on the print side in a metro daily.

(Rozen Lee, Manager of New Media, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, pers comm, 18 October 1999)

Argentina's La Nacion Line product manager, Angelica Ramos (pers comm, 5 November 1999) in response to the author's e-mail to an online newspaper discussion list said that the role has simply been redefined to suit the medium and changed in a number of areas;

É the new role of 'new media editor' includes caring more about interactivity, looking more 'outside-in' than 'inside-out' and leading a 'content team and resources' more than an 'editorial product'. Content in this medium has more than two dimensions (you can interact, link and relate subjects), consumers habits and needs are different.

I see two angles in this medium that an 'editor' should care of leveraging from the content point of view: one if 'frequency' and 'timing' of information (breaking news, last minute coverage), the other is 'depth' thanks to the unlimited space you can get (links to other sites, related stories, profiles, archiving and so on).

Ayn Veronica (pers comm, 19 October 1999) web content manager of worldroom.com, argues that the responsibilities have not changed except they have become more pronounced. She said that the editor has always been concerned with advertising, circulation and marketing and that only the terminology has changed and lists the following:

Traditional print

New Media

Print web

circulation hits or clicks

front page home page

pass-on readership "e-mail this article to a friend"

sections/pages navigation bar buttons or links

She adds that before she commissions an article, there are a number of variable she needs to consider and how it affects her vendors, readers and product. For example online editors need to ask themselves: Is this going to attract hits? Why would the visitor be interested in this? And as much as there should be a benefit to the customer, there should also be a benefit to the company that manages the site.

I have to concern myself with what would draw hits, how to make people spend money on our site (online shopping, third-party tie-ups), save money (hotel/airline discounts), or make money (securities information, information on industries, business laws).

As a result, the lines between advertising and editorial tend to get blurred occasionally, Veronica explains:

And there is never really a complete separation between church (editorial) and state (advertising), that should also be taken into concern. That's why once in a while, the advertising people make requests to include a special feature to attract advertising. That's ok, as long as it does not jeopardise our editorial ethics.

(ibid)