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Trib editor looks to journalism future

——Albuquerque Tribune Photo Phill Casaus

by VANESSA STROBBE
C&J 475

From print to Web, from a piece of paper to a computer screen, and from one-track writers to writers who have to do everything, journalism is making an undeniable shift from old times to new.

“This is the era of smaller journalism,” said Phill Casaus, editor of The Albuquerque Tribune. “It’s not just print, not just broadcast. Being a one-trick pony is going to be tough.”

As more news seekers are flocking to the Web, more newspapers are suffering the effects. On Aug. 28, The Albuquerque Tribune’s owners, E.W. Scripps Co., announced it was putting the paper up for sale, and if it did not sell in two months, the company would shut it down.

Negotiations with potential buyers have been ongoing for months, so the fate of the afternoon paper is still uncertain. (The last issue was published after this story, on Feb. 23, 2008.)

But Casaus, head of the paper for five years, is certain of one thing: journalism is changing, and journalists need to change too if they want to stay in the business.

“Journalists need to add depth, because that is the future of journalism,” Casaus said. “The job is harder but more fun.”

Casaus said producing a story is no longer about writing what’s comfortable and covering things the way media outlets used to.

“Journalists should ask themselves, ‘Can you think of a story in five different ways? – an in-depth feature, short Web blurb, pod cast, radioish report, or a video feature that keeps me on the site for a long time.’”

And as news absorbers are shifting to the Internet, papers are trying to transition the same. Most newspapers have created Web sites where they post what was in their print paper that day. While Casaus says this method is OK for the short term, in the long run, it won’t be enough.

Advertisers are shying away from newspapers and drifting toward the Web, creating a burden for the newspapers to take their readers to their Web sites, too. With this shift, Casaus says papers have to find a way to make their Web sites more intriguing to keep the readers there longer.

“Newspapers will no longer be seven-section, huge newspapers,” Casaus said. “The paper must draw people to the site, because that’s where the money will be.”

Casaus said advertisers are placing their money on the Internet, because it’s less broad than putting advertisements in a whole, huge newspaper.

“A newspaper is like a big department store – like a Kohl’s,” he said. “You go there, and you can get everything. You can buy a pot for the kitchen or some clothes or anything.

“But in the future, advertising is not buying everything. The companies want specific things. A newspaper will turn into a TV Guide – small, quick, go through it knowing what you want to do.”

So while the second and third generations of the Internet grow up, journalism must grow with them. As journalists accompany their stories with video and Internet options, newspapers must accompany their print with a Web site.

For upcoming journalists, it’s a matter of expecting a different type of career. For others, it’s relearning everything they know.

“It’s like changing career in mid-career,” Casaus said. “So journalists have to make a decision to leave or retrain.”

--February 15, 2008

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