Archive for February, 2008
February 14th, 2008
At last count, we had posted 38 photos in our gallery, seven videos and dozens of news updates. That’s how we start telling stories these days: Web first. It would be easy if that’s all we did, but we have tomorrow’s newspaper as well. So as reporters, photographers and videographers are filing from the NIU campus, writers, editors and producers in the News Tower are taking that information and turning it around for posting to the Web and tomorrow’s newspaper. What used to be a simple, straight “assembly line” has morphed into a “Slinky,” where news goes on the first available “platform.” Tonight that was the Web. We’ll recraft the Web for print tomorrow, and push the print back to the Web and keep going.
Some folks think that approach is new. For those of us who have been in the business three or four decades, we know differently. We used to publish two editions a day, sometimes multiple ones, write for radio and television, and send updates to AP and UPI all day. It’s only been in the past 20 years or so that we limited ourselves to one newspaper each morning. I’m glad we can tell stories this way. We’re learning a lot.
P.S. Thanks to those who are reading online tonight. It’s nice to know you’re out there — even the unhappy ones. Godspeed and good night.
February 14th, 2008
It’s 7:06 p.m. and I am sitting at my desk listening to the journalists in the News Tower cover the shooting at Northern Illinois University. Is it one dead, or four? Eighteen injured or 17? The challenge is nailing down facts and resisting the temptation to repeat what we just heard from a caller, an e-mailer or another news outlet. In the rush to push information to the Web, to parents, students and people around the world, it would be so easy just to “go with it.” We can’t. That’s simply not what we do. We gather the information, sort it and stake our credibility on what we post and what we print. There’s lots of information out there. Our job is to sort the facts from the speculations.
Over the next several days, this is what you can expect from the Rockford Register Star and rrstar.com: full, 24-7 coverage on the Web. We have reassigned our journalists to ensure they are in DeKalb fulltime, reporting and posting photos and videos around the clock. No matter what time you come to rrstar.com, you should expect to find updated information. In the daily newspaper, we will cover the news, provide more context and help readers understand what happened. In Sunday’s newspaper, we will recap the three days on campus with a multi-page special section.
Rrstar.com will break the news, provide the links and ensure deeper, broader coverage as fast we we can and with our commitment to credible, important, factual information. In print, we will add the context to help us all understand what cannot be understood.
This is our job.
February 14th, 2008
Charles Apple is a well-known designer in the media business. He writes a blog about visual editing, and he recently “interviewed” top Register Star newsroom boss, Linda Grist Cunningham.
February 12th, 2008
Want to watch a light-hearted NPR interview? Watch Cookie Monster in action. As a Sesame Street fan and a journalist, this was a fun interview.
February 11th, 2008
We have this massive database in our newsroom. It’s called mySource and it contains contact information for some 7,500 people who live in the Rock River Valley.
We’ve had an electronic database since 2000. We ask people we meet, people who call us, people who complain, people who praise and just plain people to be our sources. The information given is kept confidential and only used by newsroom staffers. So, if you agree to be our source, we won’t give your info to our circulation department so it can ask you to subscribe to the newspaper. We just ask you to fill out a form. All the questions are voluntary, so you can be as detailed as you want.
Our database just went through a massive upgrade which means the search function is much improved. If I want to talk to a Twinkie lover for a story I’m writing about the birthday of the cream-filled cake snack, I do a keyword search and in a matter of seconds I have a person I can call. It’s pretty cool.
I share with you in case you want to be one of our sources. Drop me an e-mail, and I’ll get you a form.
February 8th, 2008
(if you’ve seen one newsroom, you’ve seen ‘em all — photo of the newsroom courtesy of the capital times…)
the capital times in madison is pretty much going web-only.
the afternoon newspaper with about 17,000 circulation will make the change in april and cut back its staff accordingly (a number of reductions likely will be copy editors who deal with print — but just so you know, copy editors normally are and continue to be in high demand, especially ones who work on multiple platforms).
the cap times will maintain two weekly tabloid products that will go to racks but also subscribers of the bigger mad-city newspaper, the wisconsin state journal, with which the cap times already has a partnership.
this story is attracting national attention because it’s considered to be the first newspaper of prominence to go this way.
February 7th, 2008
the newseum, a museum dedicated to the journalism industry, has finally set an opening date for its new d.c. location in april. see sketch above. i tried uploading photos and sketches, but they were too big, so see here.
this is so exciting. at the web link on newseum above, you can take a virtual tour or view hundreds of newspapers from around the world.
i visited its original location (below) back when it and usa today were in rosslyn, va. it was pretty cool then. it’s much bigger now.
February 5th, 2008
It’s Election Day. That means it’s pretty quiet in the newsroom right now. We’ll operate with a skeleton crew until late afternoon when coverage on the election starts picking up. We’ll be covering voter turnout, including mishaps when local people went to their polling places today.
Here’s a link to our coverage so far this morning.
February 2nd, 2008
Some of you made sure to tell us we were missing the point when we called out Rolling Stone for dissing Rockford in its feature story on how the U.S. fights terrorism. One reader said, “I’m new to this area and hope the people of Rockford are smarter than those representing you at the RRStar.”
Gee, thanks. We didn’t take issue with the theme of the article. Nor will we. Rockford got a bad rap. And we didn’t like it. So, we told you. One reader challenged us to find images that proved Rockford is a great place to live. So, we did. Here’s a photo gallery which we hope reminds you all what’s great about this city.
And if you’re going to whine about how awful it is to be here, either help make your community better or find a new place to live and complain about.
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