May 25th, 2007
New York Times Will Lower Editorial Standards Online And Reduce Size Of Print Newspaper
New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller made a series of announcements at a staff meeting that make it clear the Times is aggressively accelerating its transition from print to digital publishing with some dramatic changes (via Gawker):
Newsroom editors, he said, “need to be better informed about features that appear in their sections. They don’t necessarily have to know how to put up a slide show or put up a graphic, but they need to know who does what.”
The age of tech-savvy, multimedia journalism has truly arrived. Journalists who can only produce for one medium are an endangered species.
He also spoke about the “gradual reallocation of resources from print towards digital” and copy editors being moved to the day side, so that there could be a “greater flow of fresh quality edit material.”
and
“We can’t let our reverence for quality become a straitjacket in new media,” he warned. “The web environment is different… We can offer guidance but we cannot insist on the same control we exercise over print.”
This is huge — while shifting “quality control” resources to help crank out more content online, the venerable New York Times is conceding that it will have to lower its editorial standards in order to compete online. No more turning its nose up at unedited independent blogs that produce more content and attract a larger audience than the Times on breaking stories.
This doesn’t mean that the Times is going to abandon editorial standards for online publishing, but given the choice between being perfect and being too slow to matter, the Times is wisely going to search for the right middle ground.
I suddenly feel better about my typos.
Part of the future includes a reduction in the size of the paper at the end of the summer. “Folks, it ain’t that different,” he said. There’s that warm Bill Keller we all know! “It’s an inch and a half narrower. There’s no dramatic makeover of our design.”
It’s inevitable that the physical product will shrink along with the business. Still, it’s clear that cost cutting can’t compensate for the decline in the print business and the limited, albeit robust in percent terms, growth of digital revenue:
Someone asked how the Times plans to make money off the web. “I heartily believe we will,” Keller said. “How, is a lot more complicated.” He talked about Wall Street, and doing PowerPoint presentations. “There’s a phrase they use in drug and alcohol rehab—’fake it til you make it.’ That’s basically what we’re doing.”
A brave concession that the New York Times, like every other media company on the planet, is making this up as they go along.
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I think “lower its editorial standards” is incorrect positioning. Instead, how about “lower editorial scrutiny?” If lower editorial scrutiny increases relevancy, speed and often comprehensiveness — while at the same time being transparent about this transition, and open to corrections and debate — then one could argue that editorial standards have actually increased. No?
Max,
I think that’s a distinction without difference — lowering scrutiny requires lowering standards.
Despite all the hype over the blogosphere and online publishing being “self-correcting” in a magical organic way, that’s no substitute for the traditional rigorous editorial progress. Mistakes are more likely to go uncorrected because there are some things that readers don’t generally look for — or its opening up to chance that readers of given content will have the knowledge to spot certain mistakes. It’s inevitable that this will result in a lower editorial standard. How much lower — and the significant of the differential — is the real issue.
The Times is betting that the differential will be acceptable. I think it’s a good bet to make. But we should call a spade a spade.
“New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller made a series of announcements at a staff meeting that make it clear the Times is aggressively accelerating its transition from print to digital publishing with some dramatic changes” http://publishing2.com/2007/05/25/new-york-times-will-lower-editorial-standards-online-and-reduce-size-of-print-newspaper/ Alex
[...] Interesting post from Scott Karp pointing to changes at the NY Times: New York Times Will Lower Editorial Standards Online And Reduce Size Of Print Newspaper. [...]
[...] New York Times Will Lower Editorial Standards Online “We can’t let our reverence for quality become a straitjacket in new media.” Deplorable. (tags: nty media sad) [...]
New York Times Will Lower Editorial Standards Online
New York Times Will Lower Editorial Standards Online And Reduce Size Of Print Newspaper
[...] In another blow to traditional media, editor Bill Keller at the New York Times announced that they will “gradual reallocation of resources from print towards digital” and “The web environment is different…We can offer guidance but we cannot insist on the same control we exercise over print.” (source) [...]
gradual reallocation of resources from print towards digital†and admitted that “the web environment is different…We can offer guidance but we cannot insist on the same control we exercise over print.†(source
Scott Karp
[...] (link via Scott Karp) [...]
Keller said. “How, is a lot more complicated.†… “There’s a phrase they use in drug and alcohol rehab—’fake it til you make it.’ That’s basically what we’re doing.†(link via Scott Karp)
blivit lite bättre. Ingen av dessa “tvÃ¥ klarar en annalkande lÃ¥gkonjunktur”, det är jag fortfarande säker pÃ¥. • New York Times som varit sÃ¥ duktiga pÃ¥ webben hÃ¥ller pÃ¥ att vackla i sin övertygelse, läs en redogörelse hos Publishing 2.0. Och vill överleva pÃ¥ webben genom att “sänka den redaktionella standarden”. När exekutiva redakören Bill Keller svarade pÃ¥ hur de skulle tjäna pengar pÃ¥ webben: “Jag tror verkligen att vi kommer det. Hur, det är mer komplicerat. Det finns en
to their CEO Ann Moore, being partly successful with their digital media. One example is Sports Illustrated´s website that is projected to contribute to 18 % of the brands revenue in 2007 compared to 5 % in 2005. Read more at Scott Carp´s, who also writes about New York Times transition from print to digital publishing. … … magCulture notices that I-D has run out of winks. Personally I just think they ran into Bjork. … … Another report of internet advertising revenue breaking records.
New York Times Will Lower Editorial Standards Online And Reduce Size Of Print Newspaper
New York Times Will Lower Editorial Standards Online And Reduce Size Of Print Newspaper
New York Times Will Lower Editorial Standards Online And Reduce Size Of Print Newspaper
???? ?NY Times??????(2006?12?4?) ?WSJ????????(2006?12?6?) Source “New York Times Will Lower Editorial Standards Online And Reduce Size of Print Edition” May 25, 2007, Publishing 2.0 “New York Times Live Blogging And The Transformation of Journalism” June 3, 2007, Publishing 2.0
???? ?NY Times??????(2006?12?4?) ?WSJ????????(2006?12?6?) Source “New York Times Will Lower Editorial Standards Online And Reduce Size of Print Edition” May 25, 2007, Publishing 2.0 “New York Times Live Blogging And The Transformation of Journalism” June 3, 2007, Publishing 2.0