Building the ideal newsroom for the next 50 years
Scott McCartney's Page
Profile Information
- Organization
- The Wall Street Journal
- Title
- Columnist
- Location
- Dallas/New York
- About Me
- AP for 11 years. WSJ for 15+
- Your Website
- http://www.wsj.com
- Share your thoughts about how the newsroom of the future should be different . (And if you do, please post a copy of your answer in the forums).
- I think what is most important is a comfortable space in a central, well-traveled campus location. Staffers need to see the Chronicle office as their own, a special place with lots of history and character where they feel like they are stewards of something big. Because they are. They need to sprawl out on couches and crowd in for edit council and create their own memories of how great it is to work at that paper. It should be a place where they want to hang out, where they can make friends as well as make phone calls, where they can work together and play together until 5 a.m... I worry that a fancy, sterile newsroom could kill the culture of the paper.
I don't think equipment and physical layout is as important--the equipment changes rapidly, the technology negates many office needs. What's most important is having a flexible space that can adapt to different staffs as well as different technology.
In terms of location, it needs to be central enough so that editors can pop in for a quick check on a story or photo. And the location needs to reflect the paper's importance to the Duke community. The Chronicle -- a strong daily newspaper with a long history of excellence that has produced many journalists at a school lacking a journalism school -- is an institution Duke should be proud of, and should highlight to prospective students and alumni. To maintain its voice on campus, it shouldn't be shunted off into a remote corner. The Chronicle is every bit as important to Duke as basketball and the Chapel. (Well, maybe not quite as important as basketball....)
Hope that helps. Good luck with the project, and let me know if I can help.
--Scott
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