Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
The world of online journalism seems to have a buzzword for everything, and I must admit that even I have trouble keeping up with all of them. Today I learned a new one that really threw me for a loop.
It turns out that the title I have held for nearly two years — “Managing Editor” — is obsolete. “Editors” only work for newspapers. Once you’ve embarked on your journey through the Wild West of online journalism, it seems, you deserve a newer, more ridiculous title.
Steve Buttry, formerly known as “Editor” of The Cedar Rapids Gazette, must be making the journey by train. Today, he proclaimed himself “Information Content Conductor” of the Gazette.
No word yet on whether Buttry’s new designation comes with a funny hat, but it does come with a somewhat strained atomistic justification:
Information. We will continue providing factual, independent news and information for the community. While the tasks, presentation and means of delivery will change, integrity and truth will remain the core of everything we do.
Content. The kind of content we provided in the newspaper was pretty simple when I started my journalism career in 1971: stories, columns, editorials, lists and photographs. Graphics became a big deal in the 1980s. The future of content is far more diverse: all that as well as databases, videos, audio, slideshows, text messages, blogs, tweets, interactive multimedia, comments, questions, live chats, interactive maps and more that we can’t yet imagine.
Conductor. As much as I have loved the title editor, it doesn’t describe what I will be doing. Maybe the title will change someday, because I know the work will change as this organization and my job evolve. But for now, conductor seems the most accurate term. As a musical conductor does, I will be orchestrating the work of creative people. As a railroad conductor does, I will interact with the public to provide an orderly, satisfying experience. As an electrical conductor does, I need to carry energy in the staff and the community.
Yes, the three words “information,” “content,” and “conductor” all describe parts of what Buttry does every day. But so does the word “editor,” and it requires far fewer characters to type.
I know that adjusting a newsroom from a print-only model to a print-and-online model can be difficult, but handing out titles that sound alien to most journalists and readers can only make matters worse. It’s the kind of thinking that can manifest itself in gimmickry and shortsighted planning.
Journalists who achieve success online realize quickly that once you get used to the shiny new tools required to do your job, the nuts and bolts of producing excellent news copy aren’t actually so different.
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