@perreaux Jumping in at the risk of stirring the embers with @MarkBourrie.
There aren’t many people in MSM city newsrooms any more who walked in with no skills & were paid to learn on the job. J-schools and campus papers have provided the basics for 50 years or more. 1/
There aren’t many people in MSM city newsrooms any more who walked in with no skills & were paid to learn on the job. J-schools and campus papers have provided the basics for 50 years or more. 1/
@perreaux @MarkBourrie The basics have changed. A much graater proportion of what young journalists bring to the table is technical. Using apps, search, social, analytics, design, graphics, complex WP, programming, database building, data analysis - some or all of the foregoing ... 2/x
@perreaux @MarkBourrie ... all before we even get to inverted-pyramid structure vs narrative, dangling modifiers, adjectives, diverse sources, attribution, verification, interpretation, verisimilitude, solutions, good news, bad news, responsibility, FOI, legal, general knowledge ... (Heds - DGMS.) 3/x
@perreaux @MarkBourrie There was less job definition 30 years ago because less of the job depended on rapidly acquired mastery of arrays of tech. 50 years ago, still less. A reporter was a brain, a pen, a notebook, dimes for the pay phone & modest typing skills. Time now spent on tech ... 4/x @EmmaMci
@perreaux @MarkBourrie @EmmaMci ... was available for vacuuming up general knowledge. Emma, Les & Mark are all correct. The range of skills now is much broader, but back then newsrooms probably had fewer knowledge siloes. It was more likely that a given person could do someone else’s job ... 5/x @rodmickleburgh
@perreaux @MarkBourrie @EmmaMci @rodmickleburgh ... and because fewer skills were in the mix it was easier to go deep into subject areas, writing forms, language and style, source cultivating or knowledge institutions. The importance of these differences is magnified by dramatic reductions in news & information staffing. 6/x
@perreaux @MarkBourrie @EmmaMci @rodmickleburgh And the always-on condition. As a CBC newsroom manual said, we’re all wire services now. There’s a deadline every munute if you want, and pressure to be first with a story up is intense. Unavoidably, given all that’s happened, many news stories are pushed out the door ... 7/x
@perreaux @MarkBourrie @EmmaMci @rodmickleburgh ... with laces trailing and buttons missing. Hence Mark’s sense of mediocre quality. Stories with a single source, based on a dubious premise, not logically consistent, missing vital elements, suggesting that neither reporter nor editor really understood what occurred. 8/x
@perreaux @MarkBourrie @EmmaMci @rodmickleburgh It’s hard to describe the combination of shared news instinct, common vocabulary, understanding of practice, approach to interpretation, mastery of simple technology and internalization of routines that made up a newsroom back in the day. 9/x
@perreaux @MarkBourrie @EmmaMci @rodmickleburgh That’s all being reformulated now under really trying conditions, with sone continuity and a lot of innovation. And although I’m often dissatisfied with what I see and read, I also see reporting that impresses me with its technique and persistence. 10/x
@perreaux @MarkBourrie @EmmaMci @rodmickleburgh I actually think this is an amazing time for news reporting, not just because the news is riveting. The batons are being passed successfully. People like Emma fully understand the point of the whole enterprise, and their commitment in the face of setbacks is awe-inspiring. 11/x
@perreaux @MarkBourrie @EmmaMci @rodmickleburgh With an XXL stake in the way COVID19, turns out, I don’t feel I’m being poorly served by the coverage that’s available to me. You never know how much you don’t know, but a virus outbreak can be well understood without travelling halfway around the world with body armour. 12/x
@perreaux @MarkBourrie @EmmaMci @rodmickleburgh The main protagonist can be observed under a microscope. Civilians head up the pandemic response. It’s never been easier to discover new information & perspectives. The big story being so all-consuming, I don’t miss the chance encounters with the unexpected that Rod cites. 13/x
@perreaux @MarkBourrie @EmmaMci @rodmickleburgh I’ve seen great COVID coverage from people I worked alongside and also from people I taught. I sure don’t miss the debates about whether news, journalism, newspapers, print, text or reporting are dying, dead, oppressive, heroic, worth supporting or incapable of changs. 14/x
@perreaux @MarkBourrie @EmmaMci @rodmickleburgh What was essential in analog days is alive, understood and embraced. What’s essential for digital times is in wise, talented and trustworthy hands. They’ll use the best available tools to develop new forms for new audiences. They’ll achieve the extraordinary along the way. 15/15
