Interactive Journalism by Nikki Usher

Author:Nikki Usher [Usher, Nikki]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, General, Media Studies, Language Arts & Disciplines, Journalism, Business & Economics, Industries, Computers & Information Technology
ISBN: 9780252098956
Google: B6hSDQAAQBAJ
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 29872955
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Published: 2016-10-13T00:00:00+00:00

“N.F.L. Draft: How Good Are Teams at Picking the Best?” The New York Times

“How Y'all, Youse and You Guys Talk,” The New York Times

When I visited, it was clear just how essential the team was to the core mission of Times journalism. Pilhofer spoke of the importance of being ready to help meet the needs of the newsroom's short- and long-term projects: “The newspaper is a daily miracle for a reason. It is harder to do long-term planning as a rule.” To cope with the crush, the team has built a variety of tools that can be repurposed and updated, but there are always new tweaks, always new content, and this must be done on a quick turnaround. Eric Buth, a programmer journalist on the team, explained the flexibility required: “We can [make new products] fast. We can chase the speed. We can do small and long things.” Journalist Mark Lavallee, the deputy on the desk, offered a recent example. As the crisis in Syria had expanded day by day, the staff worked closely with the foreign desk. The evolving relationship led to quick turnaround interactives. “We put together a map with something about all four directions Obama could go and it was ready—we can prove that we can deliver.”

Interestingly, Pilhofer asserted that his team had been unable to have many standalone successes, suggesting the importance at The Times of being integrated into larger newsroom goals. Unlike Keegan's team at The Journal, Pilhofer's few standalone projects had “bombed.” He gave the example of one particular interactive, an NFL Playbook. “It was thoroughly researched. It was about all the playoff teams and had experts and extensive reporting and videos of 3D animations. You could see the plays unfold in different perspectives: quarterbacks, wide receivers….” And then he shrugged his shoulders, noting that it had only garnered a few thousand page views. “The journalism needs to inform the destination. You have to be going with the grain of the newsroom.”

But this integration in the newsroom also means that interactives may get lost online rather than having special attention as major projects. In my book, Making News at The New York Times, I explained how an interactive that took three months was on the home page for a few hours. The crush of more and more content on the Web site buries interactives as more fresh work comes on to the home page and section pages throughout the day. Being part of the news cycle and attached to stories means that interactives become hard to find—even if they are these long projects. Ben Koski shared these thoughts with a colleague and me: “If something has been gone for two days you can't search for it—I saw it in the morning with the dining interactive…” and then, he added, that the item had essentially vanished. However, Pilhofer contended that this was simply what happened to any news story and wasn't peculiar to interactive journalism: it's just the news cycle.

For more in-depth feature stories, the interactive team works closely with individual reporters and editors on a regular basis.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.