Bob Stepno: Bob's AEJMC Newspaper Division Blog

Exploring the newspaper niche & newsTAO

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:34:48 GMT

"America's newspapers are narrowing their reach and their ambitions and becoming niche reads," says the Project for Excellence in Journalism's study called "The Changing Newsroom: What is Being Gained and What is Being Lost in America's Daily Newspapers."

Among the things being lost are many of the newsroom jobs at both papers I've worked for, The Hartford Courant and the Raleigh News & Observer. Here's a fascinating scary site that maps the losses nationwide: Papercuts.

PEJ says managers need to "find a way to monetize the rapid growth of Web readership before newsroom staff cuts so weaken newspapers that their competitive advantage disappears." That's hardly "stop the presses" news!

As papers narrow their focus to local and community news and try co co-opt local bloggers into supporting local newspaper brands, who watches the wonderful people and big crooks in the worlds of business and politics? Are we moving to an era of very few reporters covering big national stories? Foundation-funded investigative journalists? Trusting all coverage of national and world news to The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall St. Journal, USA Today, TVnews departments, BBC and NPR? (And I don't mean celebrity a la mode stuff, sports and fake reality entertainment news.)

Meanwhile, the Newspaper Division of the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication is struggling with its own self-definition. More than 50 professors have joined in the on-line discussion creating 10 times more traffic on the group's e-mail list this month than ever before. The question: Should the division's name be changed to "News Division" or Newspaper/Online News Division" or will that just start a turf battle with the AEJMC divisions formerly concerned with radio, television, magazines and technology?

I vote for having a "Journalism" division to deal with the online multimedia common ground and continuing the industry-specific divisions with clarified mission statements.

For now, the Newspaper Division's definition at national headquarters says:

The Newspaper Division examines key concerns facing journalism education, the newspaper industry and society; topics include ethics, new technology, readership, minority recruitment and the media's role in society. Publishes Newspaper Research Journal and a newsletter. Visit the Newspaper Research Journal Website: http://www.newspaperresearchjournal.org. See Newspaper Research Journal - Research You Can Use.

For evidence of the work division members do, here are recent articles from its journal:

"Official Sources Dominate Domestic Violence Reporting,"
by Cathy Ferrand Bullock
"How Online Journalists Rank Importance of News Skills,"
by Shahira Fahmy
"Survey Measures Burnout In Newspaper Sports Editors,"
by Scott Reindary
"Suicide Story Frames Contribute to Stigma,"
by Valica Boudry
"Tribune-Review Revives Competition in Pittsburgh,"
by Linda Steiner and Nora Bird
"Comparison of Demographics For Media in 1995, 2006,"
by Guido H. Stempel III and Thomas Hargrove
"Study Asks If Reporters' Gender or Audience Predict for Paper's Cancer Coverage,"
by Maria E. Len-Rios, Sun-A Park, Glen T. Cameron, Douglas L. Duke and Matt Kreuter

I'll settle for everyone agreeing that "newspaper" means "all the things newspapers have done, all the things newspaper companies do now, and all the newspaper-like things that other organizations do online." Everything is "online," so slashes and hyphens plus that word are redundant.

Traditional media and "alternative media" of all kinds do the same things "online" -- text, audio, pictures, video, interactivity -- it's just the way digital convergence works. That's why I've added "the new TAO" to this blog's subhead. Watch for "newsTAO.com"!

Traditional, Alternative and Online: The TAO of Newswork

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:09:14 GMT

The Newspaper Division of the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication is contemplating a possible name change and has an excellent discussion going on its e-mail list. Here's my contribution:

We talk about Web "pages" where no physical pages are involved and "freedom of the press" where no pressing goes on. I think "newspaper" is a fine name to use for any 21st century Web site that features news and that may or may not print an edition using ink and paper... text, pictures, video, audio, traditional, alternative or online-only.

(I use "online newspaper" as an inclusive term when referring to CNN's Web site, NPR, MSNBC, the late Nando.net or the New Haven Independent. I encourage others to do the same.)

The name "Newspaper Division" -- with a short mission-statement subtitle -- is my first choice. My second choice would be "News Division." Third would be (listen to the feathers ruffle) "Journalism Division." The line beneath that headline on the division Web site should tell the story.

So what /do/ division members study enough to present in that subtitle? If there's a division whose member can write a great subhead, this must be it! Mine may be verbose and too inclusive, but it's a try:

"Focused on the reporting, editing, uses (and gratifications), business, culture and significance of the traditional, alternative and online news media."

I'm sorry that I won't be in Chicago to talk about this in person. We also might note parallel organizations: Our interest in business aspects of the formerly pulp-based newspaper industry parallels that of http://www.inma.org -- which now says its "N" stands for "Newsmedia"; our interest in the practice of news and information gathering, editing and presentation links us with SPJ, ASNE and ACES. And so on.

I'm also rushing out to trademark the title "Traditional, Alternative and Online: The TAO of Newswork."

Journalism education group honors Tennessee & Elon profs.

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:37:25 GMT

The AEJMC Newspaper Division's spring and summer newsletters are now online, including plenty of news:

National faculty awards for professors Dorothy Bowles at UT Knoxville and Janna Quitney Anderson at Elon University (see page 3 of that PDF newsletter)
A call for discussion of changing the Newspaper Division's name to reflect changes in members' research and in the converged news industry itself. (As I mentioned on the division home page, what was once the International Newspaper Marketing Association, now uses the word "Newsmedia" in its name, but other groups like the Newspaper Association of America and American Society of Newspaper Editors still emphasize their roots. The American Press Institute is still around, too, along with its Newspaper Next project.)
Listings of conference paper presentations and forums at the annual AEJMC Convention, which will be in Chicago next month.

AEJMC is the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication, which consists of 17 divisions, 10 special interest groups and 2 commissions, all providing newsletters, research competitions and convention programming.