Category Archives: Chicago Tribune

Nieman Reports: Digging Into Social Media to Build a Newspaper Audience

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Bill Adee explains how the Chicago Tribune participates in social media sites using its avatar Colonel Tribune: "Can a mainstream news site become part of the social media scene? Absolutely, yes. But be warned. To do this requires having the same kind of great team I had: Facebook-savvy youth, an innovative Web staff, and an extremely supportive newsroom."

FT.com: United shares plunge on old news story

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"A six-year-old Chicago Tribune story on United’s 2002 bankruptcy filing, spotted on a Google search on Monday morning by an investment newsletter, triggered a massive sell-off of the carrier’s shares until trading was halted. ... Google said a link to the story appeared on Sunday on a [South Florida Sun-Sentinel] web page listing the business section’s most viewed stories, but without any dateline referring to 2002. "

Newspapers’ ‘frenemy’ Google, the debate continues

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Google maybe making peace with the wires, but America’s latest newspaper mogul is not a fan. The new owner of Tribune newspapers, Chicago property magnate Sam Zell, reignited the old Google-as-kleptomaniac topos when he told students at Stanford University: “We have a situation today where effectively the content is being paid for by the newspapers [...]

Skillset of the journalist of the future

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The Chicago Tribune’s interactive division is hoping to hire a journalist specialising in interactive database production of the sort Adrian Holovaty has been advocating.

The requirements for the job are pretty demanding:

  • 2-5 years’ experience with databases, preferably in a newsroom
  • Bachelor’s degree in journalism, English or related discipline
  • Computer-assisted reporting background or similar
  • Demonstrated knowledge of statistics, statistical analysis, etc.
  • Strong oral and written communication skills
  • Experience in database content entry and management
  • Broad experience with data sources, data mining and database
    concepting
  • Familiarity with database interfaces and web presentation layers
  • Basic knowledge of HTML and Flash required; advanced skills
    desirable

A journalism or English graduate with quantitative and technical skills to go with a deep understanding of how the web works. There aren’t many people with that skillset.

What’s worse, I can’t imagine how anyone would obtain those skills through conventional journalism education.

I can’t think of any journalism course in Britain that prepares students for a career path that might eventually involve applying for a job like this — although I’d love to be corrected if I’m wrong.

Update 9/3: There has been a lot of activity on this topic since I posted this. Adrian Holovaty is hiring at WashingtonPost.com, while Matt Waite counsels newspapers stop looking for the next Holovaty and to concentrate on finding these skills among existing staff. Meanwhile, Mark Glaser of MediaShift has a great report on what various other US newspapers are doing in this area.