We've also begun to ensure that when people are hired, it's made clear, absolutely clear to them right from the start, that new media is part of their job as a journalist. Uphill Battle Phil Semas, associate editor of new media at The Chronicle of Higher Education , a weekly higher education print publication, said that getting the print side to cooperate with the Web site called Academe Today, was an uphill battle. He said that when the Web site debuted in 1993, there was no cooperation from the print side of the newsroom. We got little contribution from the print newsroom. But the situation has improved from that low point, said Semas.
Today there is a good deal of cooperation from the print side staff.
The print reporters contribute routinely to the Web site. He said since the print side is a weekly, finding out some breaking or interesting news and having to wait a week always meant that it was possible to get scooped by a daily newspaper. But with the Web, that is no longer a concern. Semas said that print side reporters even offer to write stories for the Web site or develop audio and video enhancements for stories. But David Zeeck, executive editor of the News Tribune in Tacoma, a McClatchy newspaper, is not sold on integrating the online and print operations, since there are differences between the two units.