Fiona Spruill, editor of the Web newsroom for The New York Times shares a bit about their integrated newsroom, and what they look for in new hires:
“Our Web newsroom is closely integrated with the print newsroom, so I am looking for people who can flourish in both worlds and who I could see fitting into many different jobs at The Times. Among other things, producers are responsible for packaging the news online and for creating original multimedia. As a result, they need to have solid journalism credentials and strong technical skills.
“On the technical side, we want people to walk in the door with a proficiency in Photoshop, HTML and blogging software, and an understanding of Web publishing systems. Experience in the production of multimedia — including the use of audio and video editing tools — is strongly desirable. For our more specialized multimedia positions, we expect to see an extensive knowledge of Flash and an understanding of how to integrate databases into multimedia presentations.”
“…Web producers sit near print reporters and editors in our new building. They attend meetings together and they brainstorm about potential multimedia features for upcoming stories. They conceive of and execute Web-only projects together. It is a collaborative process, but the collaboration can take shape in different ways.”
“Frequently, reporters and photographers gather audio or video in the course of their reporting, which they then hand over to producers to edit. The reporters are also involved in crafting scripts and recording voiceovers for multimedia features… Sometimes Web producers gather and edit the audio on their own. And occasionally reporters and photographers do the gathering and the editing.”