Page 221 - Convergent Journalism an Introduction Writing and Producing Across Media

Everything Is Knowable

Writing styles may need to change, to accommodate different
audiences. For breaking news online, the inverted pyramid form of
reporting remains the best way to get information on the Web quickly
and effectively. Journalism may evolve into two main forms: very
short (breaking news online and news briefs on paper) and very long
(magazine-style writing and enterprise or investigative reporting). The
latter will likely be valuable when audiences have the time to dedicate
to long-form journalism, or in situations where professionals need deep
content such as in the pages of publications like The Wall Street Jour-
nal. Literary journalism is ideal for some of these circumstances, but
journalists also need to give their audiences inverted-pyramid stories
and bullet points. The skills of synthesis and analysis may involve boil-
ing down a huge amount of data and information into a few hundred
words on a single subject. Think of the way The Wall Street Journal
summarizes the key business and news events in the “What’s News”
section of its front page, and transfer that format to your local daily or
Web site. Sometimes, all that busy people can process is a synthesized
form of news.
Smart journalists need to think of themselves as content providers 211
in the best sense of the word. Content has never been king because
the world already has more than enough content. We know it as data
smog and information overload. Quality content is what will keep the
media alive and intelligent; educated reporters and editors will help
shape and mold this form of journalism. By providing useful, novel,
and intelligent content, journalists can keep audiences interested and
informed.
As we’ve reiterated at many stages of this book, the technology
continues to boom, but that is just a small part of what will make
convergence successful. All the technology in the world can’t make
you write better, find better images, improve your diction, or work
well together. In the end, the success or failure of convergence comes
down to the people who either make it work or stand in its way.
Convergence involves recognizing that audiences are changing and
that we need to give those audiences what they seek in terms of news
and information. This is why, at many stages of this book, we eschewed
the opportunity to turn this into a technical manual. We could very
easily have written a great deal more about how to use a particular
type of software or how use a specific piece of technology. Instead,
we attempted to show you how to build the skills of a good journalist
and how to use those skills to meet the challenges of operating in a