Sharif Durhams of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, visited my sportswriting class last Thursday and shared his experiences as a journalist covering sports, being part of a breaking news team, and serving as the social media editor for one of Wisconsin's better known media outlets. With newspaper coverage evolving, he is one of the members of the Journal-Sentinel staff that has to keep up with the changes in how people receive the news.
The way that newspaper companies make revenue is one of the biggest changes and that is where paywalls come in. Although people may not like seeing a subscription ad across their screen, readers often forget news reporting is a business as well. One fun fact that Durhams shared was that the sports department at the Journal-Sentinel found out that the difference in revenue in winning and losing a Super Bowl is one million dollars.
Sports is one of the driving forces behind the traffic on the Journal-Sentinel site. Hundreds of people will visit it when breaking news is announced via Twitter, but no article has been posted just yet. The news is out there and now they just have to wait for the article about it and that's followed up by analysis. One story can be taken from different angles and result in a lot readers.
Although I used to write for Bleacher Report, I am not a fan of the content on their site simply because of how a lot of the people that write on the site have no objectivity and very little backing to what they say. I no longer write for them and find it crazy that Tuner Sports paid so much for the site. All throughout the Major League Baseball playoffs, Bleacher Report was advertised and it was at that moment when I realized how bad things are getting for real newspapers to be competing against such low quality sites like Bleacher Report.
The Journal-Sentinel has the right idea with it's writers moving into the new era of reporting with a lot more interaction on their website. Tools like ScribbleLive help Packer Beat writers have live chats during the games. Interactive maps are something that can't be created by the users on Bleacher Report. These are the professionals with experience and they have started to get creative for the better of the paper's future.
Durhams was very down-to-earth as a speaker for #LoweClass and brings that new era presence to the Journal-Sentinel staff that sometimes tries to stay old school. I am intrigued to see what the Journal-Sentinel has up its sleeves to move forward in the evolution of news.
The way that newspaper companies make revenue is one of the biggest changes and that is where paywalls come in. Although people may not like seeing a subscription ad across their screen, readers often forget news reporting is a business as well. One fun fact that Durhams shared was that the sports department at the Journal-Sentinel found out that the difference in revenue in winning and losing a Super Bowl is one million dollars.
Sports is one of the driving forces behind the traffic on the Journal-Sentinel site. Hundreds of people will visit it when breaking news is announced via Twitter, but no article has been posted just yet. The news is out there and now they just have to wait for the article about it and that's followed up by analysis. One story can be taken from different angles and result in a lot readers.
Although I used to write for Bleacher Report, I am not a fan of the content on their site simply because of how a lot of the people that write on the site have no objectivity and very little backing to what they say. I no longer write for them and find it crazy that Tuner Sports paid so much for the site. All throughout the Major League Baseball playoffs, Bleacher Report was advertised and it was at that moment when I realized how bad things are getting for real newspapers to be competing against such low quality sites like Bleacher Report.
The Journal-Sentinel has the right idea with it's writers moving into the new era of reporting with a lot more interaction on their website. Tools like ScribbleLive help Packer Beat writers have live chats during the games. Interactive maps are something that can't be created by the users on Bleacher Report. These are the professionals with experience and they have started to get creative for the better of the paper's future.
Durhams was very down-to-earth as a speaker for #LoweClass and brings that new era presence to the Journal-Sentinel staff that sometimes tries to stay old school. I am intrigued to see what the Journal-Sentinel has up its sleeves to move forward in the evolution of news.