It's obvious that new New York Times executive editor, Dean Baquet, is moving fast to change the dynamics of the Times' ingrained newsroom culture, not to mention that he has obviously paid close attention to the leaked Times innovation report, released just about the same turbulent time in which former editor Jill Abramson had been fired, and Bequet promoted to her position.
That report was critical of many of the traditional practices of the Times' newsroom, with emphasis on its daily meeting schedule, conducted very much as it always was—long before digital was a part of the operation.
I have said it repeatedly, recommend it constantly to those client newspapers with which I collaborate, and mentioned it recently in this blog, with very specific reference to The New York Times.
I admit that I have never sat in a Times' planning meeting, but I have sat thru hundreds of them around the world, so I know what goes on usually in those meetings. People gather around a table to plan tomorrow's newspaper, and there are seldom any references to any of the other platforms. It is not even about all of the print edition, but, primarily, the front page–with which editors globally seem to have a fixation that is hard to shake— and the key stories for each section.
These meetings have ran their course, they violate and impede progress in the area of how we look at frequency, and are absolutely the antithesis of the two tempo philosophy of publishing that I endorse: the constant flow of information and the curated variety at certain times of the day.
I applaud Editor Bequet for accepting that the way the scheduling meetings are conducted must be changed:
“The newsroom is unanimous: We are focusing too much time and energy on Page One. This concern — which we heard in virtually every interview we conducted, including with reporters, desk heads, and masthead editors — has long been a concern for the leadership.
“And yet it persists. Page One sets the daily rhythms, consumes our focus, and provides the newsroom’s defining metric for success. The recent announcement from Tom Jolly to focus the Page One meeting more on the web report is a great step in the right direction, but many people have voiced their skepticism that it will truly change our focus.
Amen times 10
We will be watching carefully what happens at the Times with this radical change of philosophy about its daily meeting.
In a memo, from Baquet and Karron Skog, head of the news desk and home page during the day, we find out that:
We are shifting the focus of the 10 a.m. meeting, away from the next day’s A1 to a more lively discussion about how to create a robust, comprehensive digital report for the day. To accomplish this, we will run the meeting with a keen eye across all of our nonprint platforms — NYTimes.com, NYT Now, mobile, social and INYT — bearing in mind that our aim is to get our best content in front of the most readers.
Those are the key words that should resonate in every newsroom, and for which I personally thank the person who leaked the Insider blog post from the Times:
“Get our best content in front of the most readers.”
I would add:
“Get our best content in front of the most readers now, when something happens, and continue to update and to polish, to turn into the cooked sirloin, as the day goes on.”
The daily meeting to plan tomorrow? Eliminate it.
Instead, plan by chunks of the day in which you are operating.
In the modern newsroom where the chefs handle more than one way of cooking meat, tomorrow is a nice thought, but the next moment is where the energy of the editors and the time of those meetings should be spent.
That's how our audience views frequency. It's about time that editors throw away the calendar and get, instead, watches and clocks with bigger numbers and frequent chimes.
That's what digital first now is about.
The New York Times could become the best laboratory in the world to show us how effective that can be.
Of related interest:
The firing of two female editors allows us peek into newsroom tumult
THE GHOST OF FREQUENCY
While many publishers and editors talk the digital talk, buzzwords and all, such philosophy is rarely fully implemented. All it takes is sitting in one of those now somewhat obsolete morning meetings (the ones where the news agenda for tomorrow's edition is set), to realize that many in these newsrooms come there everyday to produce a newsPAPER, emphasis on paper. It is business as usual. It could be 1957 or 1987.
Story first morning meeting energizes the newsroom
https://www.garciamedia.com/blog/story_first_morning_meeting_energizes_the_newsroomHighlight
Newsroom morning meetings can make the difference if the editor leads the team in a constructive and inspiring session. At Norway’s Aftenposten, that is the case.
World Cup graphic: a call from Adonis Durado
Interesting mail and project from that most award winning and talented designer, Adonis Durado, creative director for Times of Oman and Shabiba, of Oman.
“My team is currently working on a special project for the World Cup. I reckon that this is an opportunity to engage the readers and celebrate what print as a medium can still do in this digital era. I look forward to hearing from people that I should communicate with and who will be interested on this? “
Time is of the essence, Adonis reminds us, since the World Cup is just around the corner, June 12-July 13.
Details of the project
Let me share you an exciting project that the Times of Oman has cooked up for the World Cup. We have created a graphic supplement where readers will have the opportunity to construct a life-size collectible football model. The entire supplement will be full of information and statistics about the 32 national teams. The extent of our research and database building took us months to gather.
For more information, contact Adonis Durado directly: adonisdurado@gmail.com
Or go here:
