Whenever I visit my wife in Northern Virginia and I read her copy of the Washington Post, I find myself reading stories I know I would have passed over in my local paper, The Florida Times-Union. Why is that? The question has been bugging me since Christmas.

I think what is happening is that the Post has such an aura (of…what?) around it that it just automatically makes everything seem interesting. Although, I think it is not so much that I think what is in the Post is more interesting, but that I make the opposite assumption about the T-U.

The T-U does not have the same staff as the Post, my thinking goes, so the coverage and the story are not going to be as good. Or maybe it’s the headlines. I am going to really watch myself read this week to try to see if I can understand what’s going on.

I do think that, based on my initial observations, cutting staff and thereby cutting the quality of the product, is not the way to go. You can only cut so much before you not only make decision not to read, you make the decision not to buy.

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Should j-programs go with a convergence model, which gives students experience with multimedia tools, or should they create subject-matter experts, allowing them to gather the necessary technical experience on the job?

I think many schools are going with the former, bringing together their print and radio/TV folks under one roof. The University of Missouri is going with the latter, probably with an eye to blogging for cash, should traditional newspaper or newspaper web site jobs not be available.

The main point here is that most j-schools are flying blind. They don’t truly know what journalists will need in five years, aside from the usual critical thinking skills and the ability to put words together in a meaningful way.

What do you think?

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I can also see how it would be useful in gaining new sources for
stories, especially in the middle of a breaking story. You could
have, for instance, searched for people who were Tweeting during
Katrina and gathered all sorts of useful information and quotes.

Here are some things I have gathered from the web:

1. Good way to spot and follow trends
2. Again, it is searchable for interesting keywords
3. Good way to build a good list of sources to follow
4. It is way to make journalists seem more human to their readers,
sort of different from years ago, but very suitable in our social
media world. Journos don’t need to get TOO personal, but a few
personal tidbits here and there will help keep readers connected.
Not a bad idea in today’s media world.
5. You can even use Twitter to send out breaking information: a
wreck on I-95, something unusual at a city council meeting, etc.
6. Not only can individual journalists use Twitter, but the paper
can create a persona or just use the newspaper’s name, and send
update information to followers — who are likely the younger group
you are trying to reach — about pop culture news you get on web
feeds or breaking news.

So there you have it. I think it is worth looking into. You can follow me at

http://twitter.com/newsdesign

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