Researchers: Press struggling to adjust to Web

[September 12, 2008]  LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Newspaper editors are struggling to adapt as more and more readers turn away from the printed page and toward the Web, mobile devices and other means to get their news, a leading news industry researcher says.

Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, told a crowd of editors Wednesday at the Associated Press Managing Editors conference in Las Vegas that a survey of more than 250 newspapers calls into question whether newsrooms are planning ahead.

"Do we have a plan for the future, or are we just sort of reacting as things come at us?" Rosenstiel said.

Rosenstiel said newspapers are being asked to shift from a product -- the physical newspaper -- to a service encompassing the Web, mobile devices and other forms to deliver information to consumers.

"It can be subtle, but it's a fundamental change," he said.

Results from the survey released in July showed that just 5 percent of editors were confident in predicting how their operations would work in five years. The rest of the editors were equally split between being either somewhat confident or having little or no confidence.

"Editors seem cautious and only marginally more confident than not," the study said. "In the face of such uncertainty, several editors cited their staff's willingness to accept change and embrace new technology as the factor contributing most to their competitiveness."

The survey was based on interviews with newspaper editors in 15 cities in four regions of the United States and senior news executives at 259 newspapers nationwide.

Editors attending the conference are mulling questions that were largely irrelevant to newspapers two decades ago before the Internet became a fixture.

Today, papers are struggling to generate the same revenues from the Internet as they have lost in print ad sales, which has forced job cuts and tough decisions about content.

Tyler Marshall, who wrote the study titled "The Changing Newsroom: What is Being Gained and What is Being Lost in America's Daily Newspapers," said Wednesday that editors generally feel that things are changing so fast, it's hard to keep up while keeping news standards paramount.

"This is an existential fight," Marshall said.

Denis Finley, editor of The Virginian-Pilot, said his newsroom has reorganized twice in the past three years, and could be reorganized again next year. He said the biggest change at the newspaper has been adding a team that focuses on breaking news online throughout the day.

"I don't think we've done anything revolutionary, but what we've had to do, and I think what every competitor has had to do, is be a lot more focused and really think a lot more about what we can do with the smaller staff that we have," Finley said.

Editors attending the conference also made preliminary plans to collaborate on an investigative report next year. A topic wasn't determined, but editors expressed enthusiasm for the project after a similar four-month effort this year examined congressional earmarks.

The project resulted in localized stories in dozens of newspapers in early June and a national overview by The Associated Press. APME has said more than 220 reporters from 150 news organizations participated, and editors said the stories resonated with readers and local politicians.

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On the Net:

Read the study:
http://www.journalism.org/node/11961/

Associated Press Managing Editors: http://www.apme.com/

[Associated Press; By OSKAR GARCIA]

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