(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Fazeena Saleem |The Peninsula
Las Vegas/Columbus: Shrinking newsrooms are a worldwide reality. The“fourth estate” of democracy is facing challenges due to lower revenues and rising variable costs - a situation worsened by the audience's increasing dependence on social media platforms.
Newspapers have fewer pages, editions, and less space devoted to specialised subjects. The newsroom staff is now smaller, tech-savvy, and adept at catering to both print and web demands. However, printed newspapers are providing the highest profit to media organisations.
A group of 20 journalists from around the world including Qatar's international reporting tour 'Democracy is More Than Election Day' organised by the US Department of State through its Foreign Press Center had the opportunity to learn what US media organisations doing to adapt to the changing environment. This journalist was nominated by the US embassy in Doha for the programme.
In Las Vegas, Heidi Kyser the managing editor of Nevada Public Radio said that shrinking newsroom culture is“extremely challenging.”
“It is something that all newsrooms in the US are facing,” she said.
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Kyser said that her organisation has a little bit of an advantage as they started with a print magazine, which is bimonthly, and then the daily news and the talk show.
Nevada Public Radio combined its newsroom about six months ago, but is still in the process of becoming proficient at it, according to Kyser.
“We perhaps have more resources internally, but our staff has shrunk. However, we were able to adapt by thinking in more multimedia ways, which has been one of our coping strategies for the reduction in staff,” she said.
“So, we have to consider how we can continue doing the things that we do well, such as the magazine, the talk show, and the daily reporting, but make more of that work available across the three different platforms,” added Kyser.
Kyser speaking of a long-term solution for the shrinking newsrooms emphasised the importance for news consumers to understand the role media industry and pay for subscriptions and insisted the government should also play a role in helping the industry.
“As a news industry, we need to educate the public on the importance of what we do. We need leaders in the industry to educate the public in news literacy, the importance of the news media, and not just during the election cycle but all the time,” she said.
“We need well-informed news consumers to understand the value of paying for the products that they consume and share, and we need government, in my opinion, legislation and control over the sharing process. We have to do what we can with what we have,” she added.
Nevada Public Radio is an independent, non-profit news organisation and public radio stations are viewed as valid sources of information on a variety of topics due to their public funding structure in the US.
In the US some of the nonprofit news organisations are supported by grants and donors such as States Newsroom. Funding for States Newsroom comes from individual contributions and institutional grants. Their generosity allows providing high-quality; nonpartisan reporting that connects people to state leaders and policies that affect their lives. Most importantly, donations to States Newsroom affiliates support our journalistic mission but do not influence editorial direction.
The Ohio Capital Journal is one of the media organisations which gets grants from the States Newsroom. Susan Tebben, an award-winning journalist with a decade of experience covering Ohio news said that The Ohio Capital Journal is an independent, nonprofit news organisation dedicated to connecting residents of Ohio to their state government and its impact on their lives.
The Lantern Public Radio office
“We have two CEOs and national editors, who will come and check in on just how we are doing. We have national editors who come every once in a while,” Tebben said.
“As far as editorial things they don't interfere in terms of editorial freedom,” Tebben added.
While The Lantern an independent daily newspaper published by students at Ohio State University – which shapes the future journalists of the state has started to adapt new avenues in line with the changing developments in journalism.
Chartered in 1881, it is one of the oldest and largest campus newspapers in the United States. It is editorially independent of the university, with funding coming from advertisements and endowments, with minimal university support funding video production.
With a team of 23 editors and 40 reporters, it has been on the front lines of breaking news, delivering thoughtful journalism to the greater Ohio State University community, according to Spencer Hunt, director student media for The Lantern and lecturer at the school of communication at Ohio State University.
Sharing how the newsroom at The Lantern has changed to meet the changing developments, Hunt said,“A studio was put in to fully articulate broadcast besides the newspaper. We are producing videos and putting them together with our stories and through our media channels. We have around 50,000 followers on X platform and a similar on Facebook and Instagram.”
Hunt said that newspaper circulation has fallen drastically, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic and digital subscriptions are rising. However, he said, the newspaper is providing the highest income.
“To monetise digital news is yet a challenge,” he said.
The Lantern has reduced its printing from 25,000 copies five days a week to 7,000 copies weekly. Online pages have 3-4 million page views.
Hunt emphasised that to become a more competitive journalist, a student is encouraged to have all basic ground skills.“We have to be journalists in a very storytelling sense – you have to be a good writer and storyteller and you also have to be comfortable in taking photos, showing people the news through a video and analysing data.”
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