Around the Wire: NYT Restructures Masthead, Pinterest Partners with Pubs & More Media News
Welcome to the latest installment of Around the Wire, PR Newswire’s round up of journalism, blogging, and freelancing stories from the past week.
1. Publications See Pinterest as Key Ally (New York Times)
For years, magazine editors have tapped colleagues, outside experts, and what they see on the street to inform the trends they cover. Now, many editors are adding Pinterest to their list of sources.
Publications like Better Homes and Gardens are watching the food, clothing, and even colors their readers are pinning to develop story and layout ideas for magazines. Other news organizations are finding success by using Pinterest to drive traffic back to their sites.
As Pinterest sees this opportunity, the New York Times reports, it’s beginning to increase its efforts on building these relationships with publishers.
2. New York Times Editor Announces Huge Staff Changes (HuffPost Media)
New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet completely remodeled the paper’s traditional masthead structure on Wednesday. In addition to eliminating the managing editor position, he promoted four senior editors to the joint role of deputy executive editor. According to Baquet’s memo, more changes to the digital operations should be expected very soon.
3. Storyful Founder: ‘This is the Golden Age of Storytelling’ (PBS MediaShift)
Storyful founder Mark Little recently spent two days speaking at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications’ Innovators Series about the power of great storytelling. But what is considered great storytelling is changing. Authenticity is becoming more important than authority, and an indepth article that provides context is valued more than a short piece that breaks the news first. PBS MediaShift recaps some of the storytelling themes Little highlighted.
4. Better Together: How Two St. Louis Nonprofit Newsrooms Are Learning to Thrive as One Outlet (Nieman Journalism Lab)
At the end of 2013, St. Louis Public Radio merged with the St. Louis Beacon. The combining of these two nonprofit news organizations has enabled them to cover certain news stories in ways that previously wouldn’t have been possible. This was best demonstrated by their summer-long coverage of the protests in Ferguson.
Nieman Journalism Labs spoke with reporters and editors in this St. Louis newsroom to find out how they made the merger work.
5. Words Journalists Write That No One Ever Says (Poynter)
Among the 9 tips for headline writing we shared last week, No. 7 was to avoid ‘headlinese’ and other jargon. Although that post was referring only to headlines, it’s a rule that should be applied to your entire news report. Instead of jargon, you should use language that’s used in ordinary conversation.
The Poynter Institute shares a number of words that journalists commonly write but no one ever says. Check it out and then take their poll to tell them which words you think we should stop writing.
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Amanda Hicken is a media relations manager with PR Newswire for Journalists. Follow her at @ADHicken for tweets about the media, comic books, and her love of Cleveland.
