Voices
and reach almost anyone in the
world. Readers can instantly respond to anything they like or
(more likely) dislike. And there’s
no “Continued on page A12.”
This constant demand for fresh
content, combined with staggering
budget cuts at dailies and other
print publications has given rise
to the demand for the renaissance
reporter: a journalist who not only
reports the news, but also photographs it, uploads it, tweets it
and maybe even posts some video
footage for good measure.
In other words, if Earnest
Hemingway reapplied for that
reporting job at The Kansas
City Star in 2012, odds are he
wouldn’t get it.
The unfortunate truth is that
publications can simply no longer
afford to hire new (young) staff
members to do just one thing,
even if they do that thing really
well. Nowadays, the ability to
multitask is a prerequisite for almost any new job in the industry.
So even if you want to get hired as
a writer, you shouldn’t freeze up
at the sight of a Nikon DSLR or
an InDesign layout.
The same goes for photographers, graphic designers and webmasters. If writers need to learn
GILLIAN
FREW
HUFFINGTON
10.14.12
how to brave technology and produce proficient visuals on a deadline, artists and techies should
learn the nuts and bolts of writing. In short, everybody needs to
acquire new skills.
To survive in today’s publishing
If Ernest
landscape, we as
Hemingway
media professionals
reapplied for
need to learn to help
that reporting
each other. An overgig at The
worked web manager
Kansas City
may think that trainStar in 2012,
ing technophobic
odds are he
writers to upload
wouldn’t
their own stories and
get it.”
photos is a waste of
time. But just think
how much time that web manager
will save in the future if writers are empowered to post, edit
and publish all their own content
without the middleman.
Not every member of the publishing industry needs to be a
multimedia wizard and a master
of web and print. What we do
need is a shared vocabulary, and,
more importantly, shared proficiency. To that end, teaching
writers what a CMS does or aggregators about the mechanics of
a feature story is a step in
the right direction.