Once upon a time, the routine in a newsroom was quite universal (in some places it still is): a morning meeting where all section editors would gather to discuss stories moving through their pipelines. In the 9:30 a.m. meeting usually the editor in chief would review the morning’s published edition, do a quick critique, praise the good stuff, pin the bad stuff on the wall of shame, then go around the room for each editor to present his/her content agenda.
That was then. The emphasis was on one edition—tomorrow’s newspaper.
Today, we don’t deal with editions as such. That sense of finality has disappeared in the digital era with a 24/7 news cycle for consumers who come to their phone more than 100 times a day, expecting updates and up to the minute breaking news alerts.
That is why modern newsrooms trade the large conference rooms and the heavily orchestrated, ritual-like meetings for the concept of “workshopping stories”. Editors follow stories during the course of the day, updating, changing hierarchy, channeling those stories through various platforms and social media.
At NOZ Digital
It is a delight to be in the midst of an exciting project with NOZ Digital of northern Germany, which moved to newly built headquarters August 1 in Hamburg and where small, cozy areas are where editors meet to “workshop” their stories in brief, but frequent, gatherings. The digital revolution is not just in the way news is presented for consumption in mobile devices, but in the logistics and the environment in which the content is created and executed.
This, however, is easier said than done, as with many other challenges that involve changes in mentality and the fear of change and transformation.
In all of my workshops I remind the teams that it is not just about declaring that the organization is now digital first.
It is not just about learning how to write/edit/design for mobile devices.
It is very important to create an environment which is conducive to a more dynamic approach to content management, the flow of copy and, indeed, how the workshopping of an individual story (ies) corresponds with the way and speed with which our audience consume the content we produce.
As you can see below, at the new headquarters of NOZ Digital this is already a reality.
TheMarioBlog post # 2912