Circle me on Google+Young reporters tend to think they need a byline from The New York Times to make a difference in the world. If they really want to have an impact, get a job with a community paper, and start asking the tough questions that no one ever asked before."
— Samantha Swindler, managing editor of the Corbin (Ky.) Times-Tribune, explaining how 2 twentysomething journalists brought down a corrupt Kentucky sheriff
We’re switching to Facebook comments because building or maintaining our own system does not seem like a good use of our company resources and because we believe fixed identities will make the comment threads more civilized, engaging and less threatened by marauding trolls and bad (comment) actors."
— Josh Marshall, Talking Points Memo
Big media might be cumbersome and occasionally numb-skulled when to comes to digital, but they’ve got deep pockets, and they’re not totally stupid. They hire smart young minds, who know what’s going on. They realize that digital offers a huge opportunity and a challenge. And they’re acting on it."
— Hamish McKenzie, It’s Time to Stop Talking About the Death of Big Media | PandoDaily
Aggregating and rehashing stories might trick Google’s algorithm, but for a story to move on Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, or Reddit, actual human beings need to think the piece is worth sharing. That is a higher bar but that is great for journalists who already hold themselves to higher standards of quality."
— Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed founder, quoted by Forbes
Digital First Media editors’ description of the impediments to “getting the job done,” summed up in a word cloud (via A Lot Still To Do | Digital First)
More and more newspapers are erecting paywalls, thinking they are zoos filled with scarce, exotic animals when in reality they’re more like puppy mills in a land of strays."
— Wayne MacPhail, Giving up on newspapers
The ‘future of journalism’ industry must be worth more than the journalism industry itself at this stage.
— Adam Maguire (@AdamMaguire) March 8, 2012
Online news experiences share unique design challenges due to the large amount of monetized, variable content. I find most visually overwhelming yet dull, typographically tense with poorly organized content areas. GOOD Magazine, The Guardian and The Telegraph approach these challenges in the best possible manner. They magnify readability and focus on consistency, higherarchy and balance."
— Veronika Goldberg, design director of The Onion, to The Society for News Design
Complaining about someone re-writing reporting is kind of like kvetching about the rain: it’s pointless, because you’ll end up wet regardless of your protestations. Every journalist relies on other people’s work. I became a reporter because I wanted to find important ideas and share them. Whether that happens through my authorship, or someone’s summary, is less important to me than making sure the news is spread."
— New York Times reporter Charles Duhigg, to Jim Romenesko
