Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Sweeping Changes
No wonder no one from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution came to our SoCon07 conference, they were reinventing journalism in their newsroom. They are also:
extending a voluntary separation program offer to about 80 employees who are 55 years of age or older and have 10 years of Cox pension vesting service.
In addition the AJC reports:
the paper will trim its circulation territory to 73 counties, centered on metro Atlanta. The pullback will take effect April 1 and means the print version of the AJC will no longer be available in Alabama, South Carolina, Florida and many parts of Georgia.
Here are the objectives as outlined by Julia Wallace, the editor, in a memo to the staff:
As we think about this future, we have four clear jobs:
Grow digital
Reinvent print
Create more regular local enterprise (distinctive content) that readers cannot get elsewhere
Improve our news and information gathering
She adds:
First, we’ll untangle the bureaucracy by moving from more than a dozen departments and desks to four main departments. We’ll also reduce the number of management layers.
The four new departments are:
News & Information
Enterprise
DigitalThe idea is to separate content from production. This is a new way of thinking for us, but I believe it is the best way forward.
Although the newsroom is going to be cut, this, at first glance, this does not seem to be dumbing down. As a former feature and magazine editor whose daughter is a long-form journalist, this part is good news and an example of smartening up:
The Enterprise department will generate distinctive local content. While it will produce special projects, this is more than a projects department. It will produce a steady stream of enterprise. Print will be its focus, but it also will take full advantage of the online platform. Success means stories that offer something truly distinctive for the newspaper, create emotional connections, make us think, teach us something and change our world. The hallmarks of this department’s work will include unrelenting watchdog coverage, deep reporting, great storytelling, interesting profiles and trend stories. The primary goal of the enterprise department is to build more loyalty among regular print readers by providing them a menu of first-rate enterprise every day.
Except for the layoffs, I like what I see here. However, instead of cutting all those old guys I would have looked for ways to embed them in the communities in which they live so they could save their working lives, create content and help reinvent journalism.
