With laptops and WiFi, is there any reason for newspaper reporters to file from the newsroom — or even work out of a newsroom at all? “With most editing, ad placement, layout, and design done on computers anyway, it’s conceivable that the newsroom as it exists today could be eliminated, with folks working from home, their car, or even the local Starbucks,” writes Joe Strupp in Editor & Publisher. But some worry that reporters will lose the valuable exchange of ideas that comes from working in a newsroom.
Personally, I don’t understand why newspapers haven’t split off half their reporters to neighborhoods (requiring them to live there) and launching a network of hyperlocal news sites that all seamlessly feed back to their core site with an integrated CMS. (Beat reporters, meanwhile, would categorize their stories across relevant neighborhoods.) Having a neighborhood reporter is a powerful idea, especially when that reporter covers the small stuff in short form. This forms a relationship and an online community that generates more tips and a larger aggregate audience. But that’s just me. Culture, my friends, is the highest of all barriers.
