News execs discuss integrated newsrooms

Editor’s Weblog has a round-up of comments on the benefits and challenges of integrating web-and-print newsrooms from news execs who’ve done so.

Here’s a couple to be getting on with but the whole piece is worth checking out.

Azubuike Ishiekwene, Executive Director, Punch Nigeria
The question of integration is not optional – it’s functional. The speed and timing of integration may differ from newsroom to newsroom in countries and even within regions. But we at the Punch have found that the only way to remain relevant is to anticipate and follow the readers. A good example of this is mobile phones. With over 50 million people in Nigeria now using mobile phones and one out of every four phones being WAP enabled, our newsroom has been preparing for our next major step – delivering the news through mobile phones. As for our journalists, we are not creating separate boxes for print and digital. We’re starting with print journalists who already have a flair for the digital platform and encouraging the rest to join in the fun. At entry level, however, our preference now is for digital natives!

Ed Greenspon, Editor-in-Chief, Globe and Mail, Canada
So far, I have not seen a single danger in joining print and digital journalists.  Like any kind of exercise that brings together people with different skills and dispositions, it seems to do nothing but generate greater creativity all round.

Marcelo Rech, General Product Director, RBS Group, Brasil
I believe the first task of a journalist is being relevant – being read, watched or listened by the highest number of people, and making a difference. When our journalists realized they were becoming more relevant due the internet, they largely volunteered for work with the digital side on a routine basis.

Roman Gallo, Director of Media Strategies, PPF Financial Group
On the other hand, the dangers of joining print and online journalists is that you can destroy your original brand. Why? To be able to succeed in different media fields you have to change the way you reach readers. Here I sense a hidden risk. During the integration process you can gradually lose losing the main characteristics of your brand. For example, if you write for the internet and your goal is speed, you may quickly lose your sense of accuracy. Step by step, this bad habit can reach your newspaper. In conclusion, no matter which medium you use, the quality of your journalism has to correspond to your brand.