Watch the live Web cast: Live Web cast
Panelists:
Suzanne Levinson — Miami Herald, director of site operations
Phil Lewis — Naples Daily News, editor & vice president of editorial
Ricardo Lopez — Miami Herald, visual journalist
Brent McDonald — New York Times, visual journalist
Will Payne — Current TV, College Outreach
Phil Lewis has been at the Daily News for 30 years. The dynamic started to greatly change when they hired Rob Curley (now at Washington Post).
“We blew up our newsroom and we took a third our newsroom and said, ‘You’re the print side,'” Lewis said. “We took two-thirds and said you’re our new media newsroom and everything you do goes to the Web first.”
Suzanne Levinson became involved with The Herald’s Web site in 1996.
“They felt so lucky to have an experienced journalist that knew HTML [to some extent].”
But their path has been different than the Daily News.
“We didn’t have a Rob Curley; we needed a Rob Curley,” she said, explaining that it was basically her and a few others on the online side advocating.
She said the tipping point for The Herald was when they realized ad revenue and circulation would continue to decline.
“Be willing to learn new things and be aware of the changing landscape,” she said as advice to students.
The new mindset of The Herald: “We all have open minds. It’s a change in the way they look at things, but they are all just journalists.”
Ricardo Lopez began with photography but evolved as a visual journalist. He learned new tools and began working with video and Web.
Will Payne is a part the newest outlet represented on the panel, Current TV. He discussed how their dynamic is different from traditional media.
Brent McDonald, of the New York Times, has a background in documentary film and was part of the Times’ multimedia pilot program in November 2005.
Discussing video journalism:
“It’s still a frontier and we’re still playing with how stories can be told. It’s still a collaborative process.”