The Convergence Newsletter

From Newsplex at the University of South Carolina

Vol. II No. 7 (Feb. 2, 2005)

 

Commenting on Convergence

By Holly Fisher, Editor, The Convergence Newsletter

 

Welcome to a new year of convergence! Last year saw so many developments, particularly in the areas of blogging and moblogs, and I can’t wait to see what 2005 has in store for us convergence junkies.

 

In this issue you will find a condensed version of research I did last fall on management of converged newsrooms. I spent the semester researching management practices and how they relate to convergence. More and more information about convergence is available, but it mostly addresses technical and logistical issues as well as multimedia training for reporters. The literature is lacking when it comes to management and convergence.

 

The study highlights six areas managers of converged newsrooms need to address as they look at the best way to lead their newsrooms across a converged platform. I welcome your comments on this research, so please feel free to contact me with your own ideas about management of converged newsrooms.

 

Also, featured this issue are articles on visual communications and its role in convergence along with another look at using moblogs to cover big stories.

 

This issue marks my one-year anniversary as editor of this newsletter. Over the last year, the subscriber base has more than doubled. I have been excited to add so many new readers, but now I want to spend my remaining months as editor focusing on our content. Each issue is full of useful insights and observations about convergence and I hope to make a great newsletter even better. Please contact me with your story ideas or article submissions. I would particularly like to hear from some of you working in converged environments—let us know how convergence works (or doesn’t work) when put to the real world test.

 

Holly Fisher is working on a master’s of mass communication at the University of South Carolina. Contact her at convergence-editor@mailbox.sc.edu.

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Feature Articles

 

Developing Media Managers for Convergence

Making the Most of an Online Medium

The Role of the Gatekeeper in Moblog Reporting

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Conference Information

 

Cross-Platform Media Teams

Multimedia Reporting and Convergence Seminar

Media Opportunities and Strategies for the Multiple Media Enterprise

Midwest Political Science Association 63rd Annual National Conference

RTNDA@NAB

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---------------Feature Articles

Developing media managers for convergence: A study of management theory and practice for managers of converged newsrooms

 

By Holly Fisher, Editor, The Convergence Newsletter

 

Most managers are striving to be better managers. Just read The Wall Street Journal or look at the size of the business section at your local Barnes & Noble and you’ll find plenty of articles and books on improving management skills. Even media managers study the best theories and practices for overseeing a newsroom—a tricky task when dealing with highly creative workers. Yet studying a print newsroom or a broadcast newsroom is one thing; studying how they fit together and how to manage print, broadcast and online journalists is another.

 

Convergence is shaking up the journalism world and forcing media managers to take a second look at how to manage and oversee a converged newsroom. Once a news organization opts to take the convergence path to news, managers are the ones who lead the newsrooms through the process of change and development.

 

The idea of management and convergence is just beginning to take shape. Few have addressed the way in which media managers impact convergence. Yet it is critical for managers to retrain themselves and adjust their management styles to foster convergence and to help reporters through this process of change.

 

Defining Convergence

 

Before one can really address convergence and management, the basic idea of “convergence” must be defined. Book chapters and journal articles have been devoted to defining convergence. Convergence is about using various media platforms to tell a story in a complementary fashion. Cooperation is not convergence (Quinn, 2002). Reproducing newspaper stories on a Web site or including wire service articles on a TV station’s Web site is not true convergence.

 

“If all you’re doing is repurposing the news, what you’ve done, in my mind, isn’t convergence,” says Randy Covington, director of Ifra Newsplex at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina, USA. “The content online should be a complement,” Covington says. “The fundamental issue is to focus on the story and then decide how it fits.”

 

Often the terms “convergence” and “multimedia” are used interchangeably. But multimedia information—putting a story or video clip on the Internet—is not converged information. “What differentiates the multimedia format from the converged format is the requirement by the latter for inclusion of all three platforms (print, broadcast and web/Internet) in an information-sharing environment. Anything less is truly multimedia, not convergence…” (Killebrew, 2002).

 

At its most basic—and most useful—definition, convergence means integration; it is about news organizations working together to create a story across multiple platforms. News organizations participating in true convergence find a way to integrate print, broadcast and online components to tell a story. The purpose of convergence is to think about which medium or media work best and then create the story. Convergence puts the story before the media platform. A truly converged newsroom will be producing stories for at least three media platforms—this is the test of a convergence operation.

 

Media Management

 

Media managers, for the most part, can draw on traditional management models when it comes to overseeing and leading a newsroom. Yet newsrooms and the journalists who work there have unique attitudes and working styles that require media managers to develop skill sets and management techniques specific to media organizations. Newsrooms are challenging to manage because they combine two distinct types of organizations (Redmond, 2004).

 

“They are assembly lines with strict deadlines and involved processes that must be done in order, with speed, and with repetition. … But they are also work environments where employees have a lot of creative control of their work; are highly educated and use their mental abilities to do their work, which is full of judgment calls; and tend to see their work as a higher caller” (Redmond, 2004).

 

That combination can be quite a challenge for media managers, and adding the uncertainties and newness of convergence only serves to foster the delicate way in which media managers have to handle their reporters, photographers, anchors and graphics staff.

 

Because media organization do rely on a level of teamwork in the production of the newscast, Web site, newspaper or magazine, media managers should work on fostering a bond among staff members. This relationship should facilitate the convergence process, which relies heavily on teamwork and communication across media platforms.

 

These changes are not always welcomed and many reporters will bulk at the idea of cross-platform delivery of news and information. This is where media managers and senior executives have a significant role in making the transition to convergence a smooth process. Just as journalists balked at the computer, many preferring to cling to a clattering typewriter, reporters of the 21^st century may find themselves clinging to the titles of “print journalist” or “broadcast reporter.” These titles will very likely end up in the storerooms and museums along with the typewriter. Not everyone embraces change and it is up to media managers to develop a positive attitude about change within converging news operations.

 

When dealing with creative types like journalists, a participative management style is a good way to lead employees through a period of change and for demonstrating—from the top down—that convergence is important. Participatory leadership focuses on the collective, sharing power from the highest executive all the way down the ranks (Redmond, 2004).

 

This management style fosters the concept of convergence by encouraging employees to “buy in” to this changing form of journalism. Effective leaders can accomplish their vision—in this case, convergence—by creating an atmosphere of organizational members as guided partners (Redmond, 2004). Journalists are independent and work best when left to their own creative timeline. While they work under the constraints of deadlines and time pressures, they resist micromanagement techniques. Thus, research supports the idea that journalists prefer a participative approach to management and organizational leadership (Redmond, 2004).

 

Chris Kelley, editor of Belo Interactive in Dallas, agrees collaborative-style leadership is “the only leadership style that works in a converged newsroom. The days of autocratic order-yelling city editors are over. Effective editors know not only how to craft strong, robust narratives for the newspaper, but also how to package them online with sound, video and interactivity and to work closely with TV colleagues to create compelling TV packages.”

 

The Converged Newsroom

 

Physical Structure

Once a news organization decides to take a step in the convergence direction, a host of additional decisions must be made. Those issues range from how to organize the staff to how to physically structure the newsroom.

 

In terms of how to design a converged newsroom, many news organizations have created multimedia or convergence desks to oversee the convergence process. It is unlikely a print reporter will automatically think of a story in terms of the best video or audio; a staff of editors trained to think about convergence and the best platform for the story will make this process smoother.

 

The Orlando Sentinel has a multiple-media desk for news coordination (Quinn, 2002). The desk is the hub for the organization’s editorial decision-makers. “It allowed the individuals in a complex operation to work together efficiently. Editors for print, online, radio and cable TV operations worked alongside production staff. When a major story broke, the aim was to cover it in as many formats as possible and practical” (Quinn, 2002).

 

The Ifra Newsplex at the University of South Carolina was built with an eye toward physically fostering convergence. Desks are positioned in a circular format to encourage discussion and the sharing of ideas. Founding Newsplex Director Kerry Northrup oversaw the design and construction of Newsplex. He says traditional newsrooms are usually divided into work areas that match the steps of newsflow and production—writing, editing and design (Quinn, 2002). Northrup predicts the newsroom of the future will be structured to match information flow. “The major ‘desks’ will be those that handle activities such as story development, content coordination, news coverage and content creation, media-specific presentation/distribution, reader interaction and editorial information management/technology” (Quinn, 2002).

 

Similar to the Orlando Sentinel, another Florida newspaper has become the pillar of convergence. The News Center in Tampa houses The Tampa Tribune, Tampa Bay Online and WFLA-TV. All these editorial teams work in the same building and their convergent efforts are made better with a centralized news desk (Quinn, 2002).

 

Developing Newsroom Roles

Another aspect of structuring a converged newsroom is determining who does what and that can result in entirely new roles. Kerry Northrup, founding director of Ifra Newsplex, created four roles that can work in a converged newsroom. These roles are regularly taught in training conducted at Newsplex.

 

1. Newsflow Editor – The newsflow editor looks at the newsroom from a different perspective and decides how all the pieces fit together (Covington, 2004). “…The key factor that differentiates the newsflow [editor] from these traditional roles is that the newsflow editor focuses on the story, not on the specific delivery platform” (Covington, 2004).

 

2. Storybuilder – This role takes assigning editors from the newspaper side and mixes them with producers from the broadcast side to create a new, converged manager (Fisher, 2004). Rather than managing many stories for just one medium, this new storybuilder manages just a few multimedia stories (either in print or broadcast form), filing those stories directly or making the various pieces available to other media-specific news desks (Fisher, 2004).

 

3. News Resourcer— A news resourcer is a super librarian who thinks like a journalist. The news resourcer specializes in information, providing background, depth and context to stories in any platform (LoCicero, 2004).

 

4. Multiskilled Journalist – Sometimes referred to as “backpack journalists” or the “one-man-band,” multiskilled journalists are adept at collecting interviews, photographs, audio and video footage for dissemination in print, broadcast and online formats (Grant, 2004). Rather than thinking of themselves as “print” or “TV” reporters, multiskilled journalists look at all elements of a story from the written article in a newspaper to the photo essay on the Web. Then these journalists craft a story in the appropriate formats for the best delivery method (Grant, 2004).

 

Of these new roles, the newsflow editor might be considered the most “management-oriented” job. Yet managers will have to be familiar with each of these roles and how they work. Managers will need to understand hiring, compensation and personnel management functions as well as governance issues in making these four roles work within the newsroom—either with other more traditional roles or as an entirely new newsroom structure.

 

Recommendations for Media Managers

Most people have a difficult time dealing with change. And in the situation of bringing convergence into a newsroom, managers are asking their staffs to completely rethink everything they know about their profession. They are being asked to cooperate with competitors; they are being asked to embrace a medium that is foreign to them; and they are being asked to do more—and do it faster.

 

Helping reporters through this process of change becomes critical for media managers. “At the human level media managers must confront existing cultures, traditions and conventions, while overcoming a frantic climate of uncertainty” (Killebrew, 2002). This means communication is key, and media managers must understand and accept convergence so they can share information and a cooperative attitude with their employees.

 

Team building and participative management techniques seem to work best in newsrooms where media managers are dealing with creative employees. Media managers who are engaged in and understand the creative process can better relate to employees and are better equipped to guide them through this process of change (Killebrew, 2002).

 

Media managers should consider the following steps as they begin to launch a convergent news operation:

 

1. Training of media managers—The initial reaction may be to train the employees—to put a print reporter in front of a TV camera or ask the anchor of the evening news to write a column for the Web site. But convergence must take a “top-down” approach with media managers receiving adequate training on how convergence will work.

 

Managers should be fully equipped with all the knowledge and information about how convergence will work, so they can better communicate with their employees. If media managers understand and embrace convergence, they will have a much easier time communicating that understanding.

 

“Managers who are ill-prepared to cope with the stress of change in the move to a converged news environment will increase the level of stress among employees who are being asked to work in a new cross-platform environment” (Killebrew, 2002).

 

2. Planning—An undertaking as complex as convergence requires detailed planning and organization. Convergence is not something newsrooms should dive into without adequate preparation. The participating media outlets should craft a “well-designed plan of action to foster understanding among all employees and managers” (Killebrew, 2002). This plan will address the various media platforms to be used, discussing positive and negative implications as well as the best methods for implementation (Killebrew, 2002).

 

3. Communication—Media managers simply cannot spend too much time on communication. It is critical that employees understand each step of the convergence process and that media managers explain the steps to implementation and the expectations of employees.

 

The degree to which an organization embraces openness to change is likely an outcome of the interrelationships between values, structure and climate. In instances where organizations have been open in the past and where organizational members feel there is a continuation of accurate and reliable information and actions, it is likely there will be a greater degree of acceptance to change (Killebrew, 2002).

           

Media managers should clearly communicate to employees who will actively participate in convergence what their workload will be, whether they will receive additional compensation and how their daily schedule could change.

 

But communication should not stop once the initial steps of convergence have been explained. A newly converged newsroom will be a living, breathing and changing being—employees must be kept abreast of what is happening in their evolving workplace. It is best for media managers to be upfront and honest with their employees; this decreases the likelihood that incorrect information will be passed through the employee rumor mill.

 

4. Training of employees—Some newsroom employees will have a greater aptitude and interest in cross-platform training. Those employees should be identified and given the opportunity to learn and participate in convergent operations (Killebrew, 2002).

 

All employees should receive information and training about convergence and how it will work and ultimately impact the flow of news and the structure of the newsroom. But not all print reporters will be clamoring to appear on television. Media mangers should target those with an interest in convergence; they will be the most receptive to change and new ideas. Forcing all reporters to break out of their comfort zones immediately only will lead to feelings of resentment and frustration. As those who express initial resistant to convergence begin to see how this new element of journalism works and how it expands the level of creativity among their colleagues, they will be more likely to want to participate themselves.

 

5. Implementation and introduction of new newsroom cultures—Once everyone is on the same page, media managers can begin to implement convergence. Beyond just telling a story using different media platforms, the journalists and media managers will need to work with their partners from other newsrooms to understand their work flow and organizational culture.

 

Print, broadcast and online newsrooms will need to work carefully on communication and understanding. Each newsroom will have its own schedule, deadlines and jargon that will need to be explained. Again, communication becomes a key element in smoothly implementing convergence and in getting different media platforms to work together.

 

6. Continued training and communication—Media managers should continue to train employees. Employees that are new to the media outlet will need training in convergence. And other employees who were resistant to convergence at first may change their minds and desire more training in other media platforms, which media managers should encourage.

 

As issues, problems and opportunities arise in the new convergent operation, those should be communicated to the staff. Questions should be answered and employees should have a solid understanding of changing workloads, expectations and deadline schedules. Employees will appreciate and respect a culture of openness and sense of teamwork in the organization.

 

Convergence is not going away and managers, particularly new, up-and-coming managers, need the training and understanding that will help them move into leadership positions within a converged newsroom. Employees will look to management for understanding and guidance through this period of change. If the managers haven’t been properly trained and haven’t developed the appropriate skills sets, how will the employees know what to do? Management can’t expect more from its employees than it is willing to give.

 

Professionals working in convergence and academics studying and teaching convergence must shift some of their focus from definitions, technology and training journalists in different media platforms. While all those are important to the development and success of convergence, equal attention must be given to media managers and their role in convergence. Media managers must be trained and equipped with the skill sets needed to communicate, implement and practice convergence successfully. 

 

Works Cited

Covington, Randy. “Newsflow editor focuses on journalism, not delivery method.” The Convergence Newsletter. Vol. 1 No. 10 (2     June 2004)  <http://www.jour.sc.edu/news/convergence/issue11.html>

Fisher, Doug. “‘Storybuilder’ embodies new roles in evolving newsrooms.” The Convergence Newsletter. Vol. 1 No. 9 (6 April 2004)                  <http://www.jour.sc.edu/news/convergence/issue9.html>

Grant, Augie. “Multiskilled journalists are prepared to tell stories in many forms.” The Convergence Newsletter. Vol. II  No. 1 (7 July 2004)  <http://www.jour.sc.edu/news/convergence/issue12.html>

LoCicero, Geoff. “News resourcer is key information chief.” The Convergence Newsletter. Vol. 1 No. 10 (5 May 2004)                    <http://www.jour.sc.edu/news/convergence/issue10.html>

Killebrew, Kenneth. “Culture Creativity and Convergence: Managing Journalists in a Changing Information Workplace.” The           International Journal on Media   Management. Vol. 5 No. I: (39-46), 2002.

Killebrew, Kenneth. “Distributive and Content Model Issues in Convergence: Defining Aspects of ‘New Media’ in          Journalism’s Newest Venture.” The Dynamics of Convergent Media: Columbia, S.C. 15-16 November 2002.

Quinn, Stephen. “Knowledge Management in the Digital Newsroom.” Focal Press: Oxford, 2002.

Redmond, James and Robert Trager. “Balancing on the Wire: The Art of Managing Media Organizations.” Atomic Dog Publishing: Cincinnati, 2004.

 

Holly Fisher is a graduate student at the University of South Carolina pursuing a master’s of mass communication.

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Making the Most of an Online Medium

 

By Kim Grinfeder, Assistant Professor, Visual Communication Program, School of Communication, University of Miami

 

In 1995, when newspapers truly began to emerge as an interactive medium, the print journalism industry struggled to re-invent itself. Over the past years, we have seen newspapers begin to slowly carve out their online niche, distinguishing themselves from their print counterparts. Online newspapers have quickly evolved from mere transpositions of their offline predecessors, into their own unique information offering. One quick look at the title in the New York Times Web page will tell you some of the differences “Breaking News, World News and Multimedia.” Likewise, online newspapers have their own unique set of advantages and limitations for their audiences.  One key factor--namely, the use of interactive elements--plays a role that offers both advantages and limitations.  

 

Clearly, online newspapers are not designed to simply offer text-only stories--nor should they be. Making the most of the online medium means online newspapers are leveraging their interactive capacities in new ways. Similarly, the visuals have become an increasingly important aspect of their offering. The degree to which online newspapers can continue down the interactive path--moving from text-only to full multimedia feature--is predicated on two factors:  broadband penetration (51% in the United States as of July 2004), and storytellers’ ability to adapt to the interactive information presentation. While the increasing prevalence of broadband connectivity seems likely, the emerging role of storytellers is perhaps less obvious.

 

Print newspapers and magazines have relied heavily on photographers, but photo spreads have never seemed to catch on in their online editions. Certainly bandwidth issues are partly to blame--they cause long download times. Limited screen real estate is another concern, as photographs often compete with browser buttons, task bars, and banners ads. But as the number of Internet users with broadband access continues to grow, so does the number of available interactive features. Out of this convergence a new branch of photojournalism discipline is born.

 

As multimedia packages begin to gain ever-greater online acceptance (and viewers!), newspapers are beginning to rely on photographers to deliver additional content for their multimedia pieces including audio and video. Never have storytellers had so many outlets at their disposal as they have today. And while the growing popularity of interactive content allows photojournalists to express themselves in new ways, it also demands they broaden their storytelling abilities. We are forced to ask ourselves: can we expect photojournalists to become multimedia Swiss army knives?

 

It is a debate I have often with my students, some of whom still complain about the recent removal of our dark room facilities, re-purposing the old space with computers loaded with Photoshop, but in the end most students seem to agree the role of the photographer has expanded. The Visual Communication program at the University of Miami School of Communication is an evolution of what used to be the photojournalism program and students are now required to take classes in design, photography and multimedia to learn skills for editing audio and video as well as photographs. Students often work in groups and go out on assignments carrying video, photo and audio equipment to gather data and then return to the labs to compile their stories.

 

This fluency in multiple visual media allows them to expand photographs with different media, enriching the viewing experience and achieving quite powerful results. I don’t think it will be long before we begin to see stock photo agencies bundling some of their photo stories with audio and video clips thereby providing material for online editions of magazines and newspapers.

 

As broadband Internet connections become cheaper and more accessible, we should expect to see more multimedia content in online newspapers. Interactive stories are here to stay; now it is up to us to discover how to form this manner of storytelling. 

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The Role of the Gatekeeper in Moblog Reporting

 

By Amy Eisman, Assistant Professor, American University

 

I spent many of my 25 years in news media as a traditional gatekeeper, working as a managing editor, executive editor and online programming manager. So when School of Communication students at American University took on two moblog projects during the November 2004 elections, I couldn’t quite turn over all of my inbred editorial control to some thumbs, cell phones and creative minds.

 

AU communication students were part of two experiments. My undergraduate class, Media @ the Millennium, traded eight Cingular phones among themselves to capture cell phone-eye views of the month leading up to the presidential election (http://americanu.textamerica.com.) I decided photos should go through an editor before posting, but found myself being a bit more lax on the content and didn’t force as much balance. Their moblog tended to capture more of their personal views--dorm rooms, protests, student volunteers--rather than pre-election news around Washington, D.C., USA.

 

Next, the graduate Digital Skills classes taught by Journalism Division Director Wendell Cochran took part in the Wireless Election Connection Moblog with Newsplex, TextAmerica and Cingular Wireless (http://wec.textamerica.com), a project that had a traditional gatekeeper, at the University of South Carolina, South Carolina, USA, built in.

 

Cochran likes trying out new media tools, so he embraced these projects when they were proposed to us. Such an experiment is worthwhile, he says, “because it lets us test not just the technology and the concept, but the type of content most appropriate for the medium.” He and I also agreed that journalistic standards were necessary throughout the projects, which I coordinated.

 

What did students think? I posed this question to undergrads following the first, looser, moblog and subsequently checked in with a few graduate students who had been assigned events, topics or time slots for the Newsplex-edited entries. The undergraduates, who were assigned a more grab-your-fancy kind of task, got as much of a handle on this new form of journalism as they did on this new form of phones.

 

In general, they said:

* Moblogs can be “dangerous” without guidelines and ethics;

* Technology is going out of date as quickly as we adopt it;

* But moblogs are good for capturing content/information as it occurs--by anyone, not just journalists;

* Camera phones are just one more tool in the journalist’s arsenal.

 

I was somewhat surprised, and secretly thrilled, by their fear of information flowing freely without credibility checks. One student worried that journalists might stop asking for permission before taking some images, while another dismissed moblogs as a loudspeaker for “people who want their fallen tree heard.”

 

There were those who concluded that some guidelines and rules were necessary for a journalistic blog, or else bias would take over. They also said they liked having a visual recording device handy--in this case, cell phones--should they run into news.

 

Lesley Kipling, a graduate student working on the Election Connection project says it made her ponder the gatekeeper’s role.

 

“Between this exercise and the ‘60 Minutes’ scandal, the role of the media as a gatekeeper has been a topic of many discussions among my peers both in class and just hanging out,” Kipling says.  “It seems like it will be even harder for our generation of reporters to break a big story.  In the past if someone had information they thought should be made public, they would contact the media.” She says “now they can just post it on the Internet and tell the world without ever speaking to the press.”

 

Kipling, who has served in the military in Iraq, says the projects also made her think about both the widening and narrowing of the news-gathering process.

 

“The moblog gave the audience a snapshot of election day events throughout the area, showing the everyman and the quirks of the day which would not have made national headlines. In that aspect, it widened the news gathering process. However, election day was an event that most Americans are familiar with and does not need a lot of context for people to understand the big picture. Events taking place overseas, such as the war in Iraq or tsunami recovery efforts, need much more context. To moblog that type of news story would narrow the news story to the handful of individuals and incidents photographed and could miss major big picture aspects entirely.”

 

Another graduate journalism student, Eric Kay, found the exercise empowering. “No matter what I saw, I knew that if I took a pic and wrote up a little caption, I could get it online for the world to see,” he says. “On a typical day, my eyes aren’t always constantly scanning the people, places and events going on in my environment. However, because of the empowerment the phone brought, I felt like everything I saw had the potential to be seen by others.”

 

Kay says he didn’t feel like a gatekeeper, which he defines as the role of the producer or editor.

 

“Gatekeepers, like meat plants, turn the raw into the consumable. We were merely the ranchers in this exercise, gathering raw news and publishing it online, in as close to an organic manner as one could without gatekeeper interference.”

 

Naturally, the students are far more articulate than the teacher, in this case me.

 

My own take? Moblogs, and more traditional blogs (I’ve always wanted to say those words, “traditional blogs”), are journalism when they follow journalism rules of credibility, balance, ethics--stuff the gatekeeper can try to ensure. When blogs don’t, they are a neat new form of information sharing, which opens up dialogue to a wider audience and encourages input from the populace. This is a good thing, and is not to be discouraged.

 

Amy Eisman is an assistant professor in journalism at American University. She spent 25 years in media, as a newspaper reporter, editor, executive editor--primarily at USA TODAY and USA WEEKEND--and then as a programming managing editor at AOL. As a Fulbright grantee, she lectured last summer at Moscow State University on new media and convergence.

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---------------Conferences

 

Cross-Platform Media Teams

June 21-24

Reston, Virginia, USA

http://www.mediacenter.org/content/5103.cfm

 

Sponsored by the American Press Institute, this workshop focuses on strategic thinking for a multi-platform world. Covers content, revenue and convergence for online-offline teams, departments and companies.

 

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Multimedia Reporting and Convergence Seminar

March 20-25

Western Knight Center for Specialized Journalism

Graduate School of Journalism

University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, California, USA

http://wkconline.org

 

The Western Knight Center for Specialized Journalism is accepting applications for this expenses-paid seminar that combines practical instruction in multimedia reporting with in-depth exploration of media convergence and other critical issues for online news operations. Participants will get five full days of intense, hands-on instruction on how to do multimedia stories for the Web, including using digital video cameras, photo cameras and minidisc recorders; doing storyboards, stand-ups, voiceovers and other broadcast techniques; digital video, audio and photo editing; creating photo slide shows in Flash; Web page creation and multimedia Web site design. There also will be evening and noontime panels and presentations by online publishing experts .

 

The application deadline is Feb. 4. Applicants can file online applications but we must receive a hard copy of the application with work samples and signed documents no later than Feb. 9. For more information, contact Lanita Pace-Hinton, WKC associate director, at (510) 643-7429 or e-mail pacel@berkeley.edu.

 

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Media Opportunities and Strategies for the Multiple Media Enterprise

March 22-25

Dallas, Texas, USA

http://www.mediacenter.org/content/5101.cfm

 

This event, sponsored by the American Press Institute, focuses on how to create and sell innovative content and information services for connected, multiple-media audiences.

 

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Midwest Political Science Association 63rd Annual National Conference

April 7-11

Chicago Palmer House Hilton Hotel, Chicago, Illinois, USA

www.mwpsa.org

 

This conference will include a section on Mass Media and Political Communication, featuring panels and papers about the nature, origin and impact of mediated messages. The Midwest Political Science Association is a national association of researchers with an interest in politics and policy. The MPSA was founded in 1939 and publishes one of the top journals in the discipline, the American Journal of Political Science (www.ajps.org ), as well as hosting a national conference with over 3,000 presenters on about 600 different panels.

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RTNDA@NAB

April 18-20

Las Vegas Hilton, Nevada, USA

http://www.rtndf.org/convention/

 

Attend the premier conference and exhibition for radio, television and online news.

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---------------Copyright and Redistribution

 

The Convergence Newsletter is Copyright © 2005 by the University of South Carolina, College of Mass Communications and Information Studies. All rights reserved.

 

The Convergence Newsletter is free and published by The Center for Mass Communications Research at the University of South Carolina, College of Mass Communications and Information Studies. It may be redistributed in any form – print or electronic – without edits or deletion of any content.

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---------------Submission Guidelines/Deadline Schedule

 

The Convergence Newsletter provides an editorially neutral forum for discussion of the theoretical and professional meaning of media convergence. We welcome articles of all sorts addressing the subject of convergence in journalism and media. We also accept news briefs, calls for papers and conference announcements. Our audience is both academics and professionals, and the publication style is APA 7^th edition. Feature articles should be 750 to 1,500 words; other articles should be 250 to 750 words; announcements and conference submissions should be 200 words. All articles should be submitted to The Convergence Newsletter Editor at convergence-editor@mailbox.sc.edu. Please include your name, affiliation and contact information with your submission.

 

The Convergence Newsletter is published the first week of each month (except January). Articles should be submitted at least 10 days prior to the publication date. Any questions should be sent to convergence-editor@mailbox.sc.edu.

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