http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/mar/19/financial-times-reporters-subediting
Financial Times reporters to take on subediting duties Ben Dowell guardian.co.uk, Friday 20 March 2009 08.42 GMT Financial Times reporters will have to subedit parts of their own stories, including writing draft headlines as the paper launches the next phase of its digital integration. Editor Lionel Barber outlined the changes to staff yesterday as part of a plan to boost production skills among the paper's reporters and editors called Newsroom 2009, MediaGuardian.co.uk can reveal. However, an FT spokeswoman confirmed that as part of today's announcement the paper has no immediate plans for any future redundancies, whether compulsory or voluntary. In January the FT announced 80 job cuts across the company, including 20 in editorial. After negotiations, no journalists' jobs were made compulsorily redundant after 17 voluntary redundancies were made and costs were reduced in unpaid leave, reduced hours and redeployment. In a briefing note, reporters were told that they must "take responsibility" for adding hyperlinks to their stories, run their own spell and style checks and write draft headlines. When stories are to appear in the newspaper, they must check for length. After reporters file their stories, desks check their links and metadata, refine headlines and add pictures, graphics and video. Another desk then subs and revises content for print and online before the story is proofread and published. In his address, Barber said: "Newsroom 2009 does not alter our proven approach to news-gathering or news priorities: our philosophy remains to deliver a snapshot of relevant business and financial news, analysis and commentary to a global audience around the clock. "We are not a news agency, we are not a general newspaper, we are the FT – and we intend to be a 21st-century news organisation. "The evolutionary changes which we propose now, taken together with what we have achieved to date, will ensure that the FT remains on a sustainable footing, to continue to be a leading force in the world of business journalism." Barber said that the paper's "editorial and commercial strategy is working", adding: "While many of our rivals are slipping or simply going under, the Financial Times is on the front foot. We have won awards and accolades and picked up quality readers around the world. "Our coverage of the global financial crisis has been unrivalled. Our success comes down to a team effort: reporters, editors, production and our colleagues in commercial. It's been hard work and it has involved sacrifice – but as one FT journalist in the front-line said to me the other day: 'Yeah, but it's been a lot of fun'." The changes in editorial production are part of a long-term process at the FT, first begun in 2006 when Barber began what he called "a seamless integration of print and online for reporters and editors". The spokeswoman also said that the changes would not necessarily mean earlier deadlines but that they would "take the newsroom to the next level of integration". ------------------------------------ -- INFORMATION OVERLOAD? Get all ZESTMedia mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to [email protected], OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/ PARTICIPATE Share media news, discuss journalism issues and network with media professionals across South Asia on this mailing list. Just write to [email protected] TELL FRIENDS TO SIGN UP If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTMedia by sending a blank mail to [email protected] OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/ Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTCaste: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[email protected] mailto:[email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
