This week’s tally:

• Four audio slideshows (1, 2, 3, 4)
• Two videos (1, 2)
• One podcast (1)
• One new blog (1)
• An assortment of online photo galleries
• The creation of daytime, Web-only reporting shifts
• A smooth-going second week of copy editors handling Web duties

For us, this is a huge leap forward. What makes me especially excited is that the workload for these projects was spread out over the entire staff:

• News reporters worked day shifts
• Features reporters came in for their weekly Film Forum review show
• Sports reporters blogged
• Videographers shot and produced the Film Forum episode and a post-game wrap-up video
• Photographers shot and edited their slideshows
• Copy editors tossed out the shovelware precedent in favor of a new system incorporating outbound links, related story links and a Web-friendly mentality

Though our Web department is still set off on its own (not necessarily a good thing), we can’t do it all on our own. (Our Web staff includes just four people; our total staff is around 150. You do the math.)

Takeaways from this week:

• A multimedia series can keep momentum up.
  Our audio slideshows were each paired with a features section story. (Props to Matt Buxton, our photo chief and deputy editor, for organizing the visual side of this series.)
• Your “rationalizations” can be your worst enemy.
  I put off integrating Web and print editing duties for longer than I should have as Web editor, arguing that it just wasn’t the right time, the right CMS, the right something or another. Our copy desk has done superbly in their new roles, and they probably would have been just fine had they been given them a couple weeks earlier.
• Web-first daytime reporting can be a tough sell.
  I’m having trouble filling my 10 shifts for day reporters. This could be for a variety of reasons: scheduling conflicts with class, not enough pay, not understanding the value of Web skills. I’m sincerely hoping the culprit is a combination of the first two and not the third. Either way, I’ll keep on recruiting.

A question: What recruitment/motivation techniques have worked well for reporters specifically at your news organization?

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As I’ve risen through the ranks at the Daily Nebraskan, I’ve come to realize one major problem that is inherent in any college news organization: You will have a complete staff turnover roughly every four years. And, in most cases, turnover in top positions occurs at the end of each semester or academic year.

What that means is by the time you’ve settled into your new job and identified problems, you have only a short time to come up with a solution and get it implemented. That is if you can even figure out what that solution should be.

So how do we stop this frustrating cycle?

We share out knowledge and resources. And we do that through groups like CoPress.

What is CoPress?

If you’ve never heard of CoPress, stop right now and go poke around their site.

The guys behind CoPress are some of the most forward-thinking young journalists I’ve come across. Like most journalists today, they want to find a way to make news organizations sustainable online.

The difference is they are specifically focused on college news outlets and they’re working hard to provide resources to those who need them.

And believe me, we need all the help we can get.

A need for collaboration

The group’s recently redesigned site includes a message board that I hope will grow into a one-stop shop for tips from fellow student editors.

Last week’s discussion on the forum centered on how student news outlets need to collaborate. I could rework my original post, but I like how I said it the first time. In short, we need:

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The Daily Nebraskan has joined countless papers around the country and integrated its Web and copy editing duties. Tonight was the debut of our new copyflow, and while we hit a couple bumps, it’s been relatively easy.

In keeping with my desire for more collaboration among student news outlets, I figured I’d give you the lowdown on what’s changed and the few tidbits of wisdom I’ve picked up on so far.

A comparison

Then: A Web department staffer would copy and paste all the stories from InCopy to into our CMS each night. It was pure shovelware: No outbound links, no related stories listed at the end of the story, no Web-first mindset.

Now: Copy editors who edit the stories also upload them to the Web, allowing us to make time for adding hyperlinks and related story boxes. Plus, stories get posted hours earlier than before.

My two cents

Make a step-by-step guide complete with screen caps

The more detailed, the better. If you’ve worked in WordPress or another CMS before, learning a new system can be easy-peasy. But I’m guessing this will be a first for more than a few of your staff members, so make things as painless as possible.

If you’re working in College Publisher 5 (like us), you realize the system has plenty of tabs and buttons. It’s usually easier to show rather than just describe them.

I’ll admit, It’s not exactly fun to put a detailed guide together, but multiple staff members have told me they like to have ours on hand as a reference. One who’d never worked on our site even used it as his only guide to upload a story while I was in class and no one else was around to help him. The copy editors who I’ve trained keep it in front of them as they upload stories, too, so it looks like it’s getting used.

Be flexible – and let others know what’s going on

I made a flub by not letting all the other section heads know that the copy desk would be taking on a few more duties tonight. A seemingly impatient editor can really frazzle a copy editor’s nerves, so ask your section heads to be understanding as your desk gets the hang of things.

Getting people to show up can be half the battle

Scheduling a training session with 10 people is never easy, and I had a less than 50 percent attendance rate at our first one. However, I did a second session later that day, meaning I only have a few editors left to meet with. Plan in advance and advertise the mandatory meeting like crazy.

Stress that this will be a resume-building experience

That’s no lie, either. A recent post by Mindy McAdams (@macloo)and a year-old classic post by Greg Linch (@greglinch) both highlight the need for journalists to have a diverse skillset. And if you’ve worked in one CMS, it’s much easier to learn another. If it’s between you and another internship applicant, you never know when your Web skills might just give you the edge. That rationale can be a good morale-booster if your staff feels a little hesitant or overwhelmed.

Nothing will ever go off without a hitch – and that’s A-OK

When you alter your newsroom’s copy flow, try to avoid any foreseeable problems, but realize some will pop up nevertheless. Each night will be a learning process, so relax and enjoy the adventure.

An unexpected perk

You might get better headlines out of the switcharoo

I’ve struggled to help copy editors see how Web headlines differ from print headlines. It seemed my handouts and e-mails weren’t doing the trick. So I was pleasantly surprised that the headlines on the site tonight were much more in line with what Web headlines should be. And I didn’t do any in-depth training on it, either.

I did give them a short list of pointers:

1. Be specific and use keywords.
2. Kill the cute stuff. (Search engines don’t grasp puns, plays on words, etc.)
3. Be clear and concise.

But I’ve given this same advice before and haven’t seen nearly as same results. My working theory is that copy editors take more ownership of their Web headlines when they’re the ones putting them on the stories. Whatever the reason, I’m psyched to see more SEO-friendly Web headlines on DailyNebraskan.com.

(P.S. Thanks to Lauren Rabaino (@laurenmichell) and CICM (@CICM) for their suggestions on Web-headline handouts. I ended up borrowing these bits from Journerdism’s slideshow.)

So how about you? Do you have any tips from when your news organization consolidated editing duties? Did I fail to answer a question you had about our new workflow? Comment away!

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The Daily Nebraskan is far from being totally Web-first … but we’re working on it.

Tonight, a hazardous material crew and other emergency responders were called to a residence hall at UNL, and one floor’s residents were evacuated while 11 other floors were put on lockdown.

Our newsroom’s traditional story flow would have sent this story to the Web at least five hours after the 911 call was made.

We got it up within the hour and posted at least three more updates throughout the night. We got video of the police press conference and photos from the scene.

It’s not flawless, and updates could have been posted more often, but I’m happy with the progress we made tonight.

We had breaking news, and we covered it like it deserved.

The takeaways from tonight:

• Communicate, communicate, communicate. When you have two reporters, one photographer and another videographer all out on the same story, everyone needs to be kept in the loop.
• The AP can be really slow sometimes.
• Breaking news on a Sunday can easily shoot up to the most-read story of the day within the span of a couple hours.
• A police scanner in the Web room would be a fabulous asset. The GChat message from a friend certainly got the job done, but it’d be nice to hear the news ASAP from the police.

[ Photo by Hilary Stohs-Krause, Daily Nebraskan ]

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I’ve been on a kick with reading newsroom reorganization strategies lately, and Media General’s Tampa news outlets join my list of those who aren’t afraid to shake things up.

Read the full post here.

I am encouraged to see a focus on local news and the inclusion of watchdog and data teams.

The post poses the question that comes along with any talk of restructuring a newsroom, and I think gets to the heart of a problem faced by newsrooms across the country:

The obvious question that springs to mind is: is this new system going to work? Can a newsroom compensate for staff cuts and diminishing resources by reorganising?

The post gives plenty of details about the reasoning behind the new structure. Check it out.

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Paul Bradshaw over at Online Journalism Blog has written a great proposal of what a newsroom of the future – or better yet today – could look like.

This “information flow,” as he calls it, might not work for every newsroom. Heck, it may not work for most, but he takes a fresh look at how we can re-allocate journalists’ time and energy.

Here is how Paul sums up the typical approach to changes in newsroom structure::

The strategy of many news organisations so far has been to simply require existing journalists and editors to do more – to make videos and podcasts, take photos and write blogs; to scour social networks and forums and video sites; to encourage user generated content and audience participation.

He sees things differently:

In this part I want to look at personnel – and how we might move from a generic, hierarchy of ‘reporters’, ’subs’ and ‘editors’ to a more horizontal structure of roles based on information types. … I’ve identified 6 journalist roles based on 3 core types of information that I see journalists dealing with in a networked environment.

Why I like his proposal

He includes jack-of-all-trade reporters as well as specialists in his proposal.

As a student, I often get seemingly conflicting advice: “Specialize, specialize, specialize” or “Do it all: audio, video, print, databases, Flash.” For most journalists, achieving both just isn’t possible. Paul incorporates the jack-of-all-trades types in his MoJo and Multimedia Producer roles, as well as data-miner specialists.

(For related thoughts on the specialist vs. do-it-all approaches, see Will Sullivan’s post on “fuck you” “peace out” skills.)

He incorporates databases, which newspapers can more easily pull off than individual bloggers.

This is where journalists have a comparative advantage, in my opinion. I am certain some individual bloggers could incorporate databases of information. However, I would venture to guess they make up a small percentage of the blogging community. I think a larger percentage of news outlets could – or should – be able to take a large amount of information, such as public records, and make it searchable online.

He embraces social media and collaboration as an essential part of reporting the news.

Journalists are no longer just talking at the audience, but talking with them.

It might not be the cure-all, but …

… an restructuring how you report and deliver news can allow journalists to focus their energy on what they really need to be producing. His proposal doesn’t advocate just tossing new duties into a system that was formed with a print product in mind. It suggests a way to re-allocate resources in a more efficient, multimedia newsroom.

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