Comments on: Time to get crazy

By: Throw out the rulebook, if only for a day a month | The Evolving Newsroom

Throw out the rulebook, if only for a day a month | The Evolving Newsroom — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 06:50:53 +0000

[...] this post from journalism teacher Mindy McAdams about throwing out the rulebook one day a month, forgetting everything you know about filling [...]

By: links for 2008-01-21 « David Black

links for 2008-01-21 « David Black — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 02:25:38 +0000

[...] Time to get crazy – Mindy McAdams “The goal is to make everyone in your community start talking about your newspaper and your Web site… Tear up your news hole. Destroy it… Do it fast and furiously, as if your life depended on it. Because it does.” (tags: internet newspapers newspapersites participatory journalism citizemedia newsrooms integration innovation) [...]

By: Wenalway

Wenalway — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 06:17:58 +0000

RSM:

Sorry, you’ve failed to convince me. You cite no examples other than your own beliefs, and those can be questioned almost immediately. (Saying designers have strong news judgment immediately throws your cred into serious doubt.)

It sounds as if you, like many failing journalists, keep rubbing your little rabbit’s foot in the vain hope that somehow the failed and failing design-based approach will right itself. It won’t. Best to realize this quickly and to look for a real solution. It won’t come from the design crowd.

By: rory

rory — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 03:03:37 +0000

Word on office politics getting in the way of breaking down any barriers.
As a reporter, if I try and write so much as a brief in another section it has to pass through two editors.
When I asked to shoot video, I was told “online would take care of it.”

It’s really frustrating to want to learn but being discouraged from putting any of that learning to use. Editors seem to be afraid of change and being unpredictable.

By: rsm

rsm — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 21:24:15 +0000

@ Wenalway: I'm not sure where you work, but in my newsroom, every designer on staff went to j-school and/or worked as a reporter or copy editor before designing full-time. Most have worked in newsrooms their entire careers, and have developed strong news judgment. They're valuable because they are able to aggregate what others produce into a more meaningful whole.
The inclusion of design as an important part of newspapers began as soon as the first illustrations appeared, continued with the addition of photos, then maps and graphics, and so on. Stop all the bad-mouthing and start accepting reality.

Fact is, things definitely have to change. We have fewer people, and we must collaborate more and better to survive. People who cannot and will not work with others, who maintain some misguided superiority and who are unable to appreciate another's contribution are absolutely useless if not destructive in the business of innovation. The ship is sinking. Start pumping with the rest of us or get off the boat.

By: Mindy

Mindy — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 15:40:59 +0000

@Becky: I believe a lighter, smaller management structure would help most newsrooms. I once worked at a start-up news organization in which the number of management personnel — president and VPs — almost equaled the number of editorial and production people. How does that make any sense?

By: Becky Blanton

Becky Blanton — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 15:36:08 +0000

I’ve been saying this for a decade. I’ve been doing it for a decade – when I can. Established, stodgy, “We’ve always done it this way,” newsrooms call me “a loose canon” because they never know what kind of story I’ll bring back – but they know it won’t be the traditional snooze. (Like the time my editor chastised me for stopping to cover a fully envolved structure fire when I was “supposed to be” doing a story on the library’s new reading hours or something. And that scares them. I notice that that newsroom is now being sold…imagine…

Also – perhaps readers have noticed that 20% of us do 80% of the work and that the 80% don’t like being pushed to do more? It’s not just about fear of change on the part of management. While they’re strategizing about where to go with news, in the newsroom there are issues of workplace bullying, jealousy, and lack of training. There are a lot of us who want to do what you’re suggesting – that’s why we’re reading your blog, pestering management, working on ideas on our own time and dime and not sitting on our butts complaining, trashing and gossiping about co-workers. We’re DOING it…or trying to.

What it will take is a management team committed to excellence, zero tolerance of bullies and incompetence and someone not afraid to embrace radical change – including its *failures* (failure = piece of the puzzle that doesn’t fit where you’re trying to put it) – because out of failures comes success.

By: Be A Part Of The Culture In Which You Work

Be A Part Of The Culture In Which You Work — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 02:54:21 +0000

[...] I read Mindy McAdams post last week "It’s Time To Get Crazy", I couldn’t help but cheer, "right [...]

By: Tahoe Journalism » J-School angst

Tahoe Journalism » J-School angst — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 07:32:42 +0000

[...] McAdams says it’s time for newsrooms to “get crazy.” Here’s my idea: take her description of what a newsroom should do (blow up the [...]

By: Wenalway

Wenalway — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 15:37:25 +0000

That last example is precisely what’s usually wrong with these efforts. People think redesigning is the key to it all.

The true key is excluding the non-journalist designers. Don’t include them on the teams. Then maybe they’ll get a clue and pack up; they can be replaced with real journalists, and this will allow the newsrooms to move forward.

Newspapers have got to cast aside the failed approaches and get back to what works: good content, written well and edited tightly. Designers don’t make this happen; they just get in the way.