Knowledge of computer-assisted reporting preferred
By William M. Hartnett on Oct 29, 2007 in featured, jobs, newspapers
The title of this post comes from a line I was happy to see in a job listing for a municipal reporter at the Tribune-owned Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale. (This being South Florida, the full sentence actually is, “Spanish skills as well as knowledge of computer-assisted reporting are preferred.” Probably in that order.) As Ryan McNeill, who recently joined the Sun-Sentinel and just started blogging, points out:
“Newspapers across America are spending an awful lot of money training reporters how to get audio and video, and then how to edit it. But aren’t newspapers missing the boat by forgetting about content? It doesn’t matter what kind of equipment you have or how much audio/video is on the Web site if the content isn’t there.
Isn’t that what we dislike about TV? All flash but no content?”
Let’s not forget that reporting skill still matters, particularly as we rush to sign up for the A.V. Club.
Ryan Sholin | Oct 29, 2007 | Reply
As someone who regularly recruits reporters to join the A/V club, I’ll just say that if I’m talking to you, I’m assuming you’re already a great reporter, and those skills translate directly to audio and video.
Training reporters how to press the ‘record’ button and hold the camera still is the easy part; training them to think about what makes compelling video journalism is the part that takes more effort.
William M. Hartnett | Oct 29, 2007 | Reply
True, but there still are plenty of newsrooms in which CAR and the related skills, particularly math and stats, are not considered essential to being a great reporter. Most local news beat reporting job listings don’t mention it at all. That’s not because it goes without saying, believe me.
I still hear and see people young and old called great reporters even though they don’t understand the basic math or don’t know how to find the numbers essential to their otherwise “well-reported” story. I call that journalistic malpractice, akin to not knowing how to operate your telephone.
Pat Thornton | Nov 2, 2007 | Reply
William, I think you’ll find a lot of journalists lacking in skills they don’t consider “journalism.” These non-journalism skills include basic math or the ability to properly employ stats.
This is why it’s not so surprising that I find so few journalists with decent Web skills. I’m not talking anything exciting of that you would need a degree for. Many journalists consider the ability to write all they need. They forget that there is a lot more to reporting than writing.
I agree with Ryan that if I am training someone to capture audio or video for a story, they already know how to be a reporter. What I am here to do is to teach you a new way to report.
But I do wish journalists would broaden their definitions of journalism.