Today’s reporter needs much
more than a notepad and a pencil.
“They need to be conversant
with all the new media,”
said Bucks Journalism
Professor, author, blogger and
About.com journalism writer
Tony Rogers, explaining the
choice of speakers for the
Centurion’s 11th Annual Media
Day Forum – “In Print, Online
and On-Camera: Local
Journalists Doing It All.”
The forum will be held at 10
a.m. Wednesday, April 14 in
the Gateway Auditorium.
The theme of the forum is the
role of new media in local
journalism.
In the past the forum has featured
experts in their field:
NBC News President Steve
Capus (a former Bucks student),
New York Times
reporter Charlie Leduff, and
Fox News senior producer
Jerry Burke.
This year’s featured speakers
are Bill Johnson, Convergence
Editor, Bucks County Courier
Times, Rachel Canelli, Courier
Education Reporter, and Chris
Stanley, Online Editor, The
Lansdale Reporter. All are
multimedia experts, combining
everything from print and photography
skills to blogging,
video-casting and online production
in their daily presentation
of the news.
Students will also be able to
learn about Bucks’ journalism
and communications programs,
through tours of the
Centurion newsroom, the TV
production studio, and film
editing lab.
Experts in ew Media
Journalism to Speak
Johnson, the Courier’s convergence
editor, has won over
100 local, state and national
journalism and photography
awards. Johnson has transformed
the Courier into a 24-
hour multimedia newsroom
through its website,
PhillyBurbs.com.
By publishing breaking news
stories on the website, such as
the indictment of state Sen.
Vincent Fumo, with links and
extra features, web readers can
get updated news before the
daily paper is published.
Canelli, full-time education
reporter for the Courier, is
another example of the versatility
of the new journalist.
“She also crafts topics, places
and scripts and assists in editing
an online weekly video
feature for the [Courier] and
Intelligencer newspapers’ websites
called the Buzz in Bucks,”
according to the Bucks forum
press release.
Stanley, the Online Editor at
The Reporter, a daily newspaper
in Lansdale, Pennsylvania,
is another award-winning new
journalist. Stanley manages
the newspaper’s website
(www.thereporteronline.com),
designs web pages and logos,
writes, creates audio
slideshows, maintains blogs,
and promotes reader interaction
through social networking.
He “has produced, shot, and
edited hundreds of videos for
the site since 2006, averaging
two to three a week.”
“The forum is held every
spring. It is intended to give
journalism and other students
an opportunity to learn what’s
going on in the industry from
professionals in the field,” said
Rogers.
The forum is usually
designed around a theme.
The theme of last year’s forum
was generally about online
journalism. “This year, we
decided to get more specific,”
Rogers noted.
“Our journalism graduates
are not likely to begin at the
New York Times orWall Street
Journal. They’re going to get
their start at local papers.”
“Even small and local papers
are getting heavily involved in
multi-media,” said Rogers.
“Journalists need to be adept
with digital, video and social
networking skills.”
What’s the future of journalism?
While new media and the
web is transforming journalism
– “in the broadest sense the
future is online” – Rogers
points out that the vast majority
of newspaper revenue still
comes from their print editions.
He believes that print
newspapers will be around for
quite a while, in tandem with
news websites.
“No one’s really figured out
how to make money delivering
online news. People have been
conditioned to expect their
web content for free. News is
not free. It costs a lot of
money to produce news,” he
said.
Rogers muses that perhaps
people will get used to paying
for online content, such as
news, in the long run. “In the
early days of cable, everybody
was saying that it wouldn’t
work because everyone
expected their TV for free.
Look at it now.” He points out
that cable channels are booming
while the traditional freecontent,
advertising-supporting
networks and their stations
are struggling.
Whatever the future holds,
the Bucks journalism program
and the Centurion’s Media Day
Forum are designed to help
journalism and other students
develop today’s cutting-edge
skills.
The forum is a must for journalism,
communication, video,
graphics and design students
who want to learn how the new
media is being used in the
world of news. This program
should also appeal to faculty
and students with a general
interest in the topic.