An Interview with Gannett’s Jennifer Carroll
One of the most talked about transformations in journalism over the past year has been the introduction of Gannett’s “Information Center” concept. The country’s largest newspaper company began radically rethinking its approach to news and information two years ago. And after a couple of pilot projects at its newspapers, it overhauled all the newsrooms over the past year. Among the key features, the move from traditional newsrooms to information centers includes an embracing of community journalism, data-driven reporting, and an expansion of watchdog journalism. In the process, Gannett is getting credit for leading a struggling industry in innovation.
One of the leaders of this effort has been Jennifer Caroll, vice president of New Media Content at the Newspaper Division of Gannett. She talked with us about the concept, why Gannett has done this, and the impact it has had.
To understand how fundamentally Gannett is changing its newsrooms, Caroll described the overhaul that took place at Florida Today in Brevard.
The newspaper reconfigured its newsrooms to place its Internet operations at the center. They put large screens in the middle of the newsrooms that give detailed breakdowns of the newspaper’s web traffic so that everyone can see what people are reading and viewing. There are constant news meetings to evaluate that information which is then used to adjust coverage and reporting throughout the day based on what the community is following. The site is also used to solicit tips and suggestions from readers about coverage. The idea is that coverage is seen as part of a constant conversation with the community.
“The energy is palatable,” Caroll said. “I love the rush of energy. It used to be evident in a lot of our newsrooms, and we lost that years ago.”
At other papers, there’s also been a vast expansion of community-driven sites and products. The Cincinnati Enquirer has perhaps gone the furthest in this direction. Wired magazine did a long profile of their efforts that’s worth reading. While there are many examples of these efforts, CincyMoms is perhaps the most notable. The site caters to the needs of busy moms by offering a range of practical information, but they’re largely operated and driven by community members.
The community sites come with tools for residents to upload photos and videos, create blogs, and connect with other members. Other community sites are built around local sports like little league.
Another notable feature of the information center is the creation online of data centers. Many of the Gannett sites now feature data centers that contain all kinds of databases that users can search and sort. Some are custom built, and others are simply accessing government databases. But the data centers have prompted surges of traffic to many Gannett sites and have proved extremely popular with readers, Carroll said.
Taking the next step, Gannett has been involving readers in their investigations. Many of the sites have created watchdog sections that not only allow readers to submit tips, but to actively participate in the process. For instance, a reporter or editor might post about a topic or issue and then ask readers to help them investigate or find out what’s been going on. This feature has also been a big draw among readers.
All of these efforts are in a relatively early stage. As I noted before, in many cases, they’ve just been in place for about a year or so. But getting there has taken several years of thinking, planning, experimenting and investing.
Several years ago, Gannett recognized that it needed to expand its newsrooms so that they operated across a number of platforms, including the Web, mobile, TV, and radio. And they had to figure out how to do that at a time of enormous financial pressure for the whole industry.
As that process continued, Carroll said the company wanted to challenge every assumption it had about the way its newsroom operated. There were several key concepts that emerged along the way. A couple worth mentioning here: The company wanted every newspaper to have a stronger watchdog function. And they wanted every newspaper to build a vital, local effort to connect with its community.
Gannett didn’t fill in the details. Rather, they distributed the list of concepts and told each newsroom to develop its own plan for how it would meet those new goals. That means the approach varies in every newsroom. But there are some general patterns.
“There’s been a restructuring of job descriptions, schedules and as far as physical layout, there’s been a lot of that,” she said. “We tried to make this a bottom up initiative.”
For instance, that are a lot more staffers coming in at 6 a.m. There are people working over night. Editors talked to reporters about how they wanted their jobs to change. There are a lot more reporters blogging. And because there is a bigger focus on data, the newsrooms have also added programmers and data clerks. There’s also been a lot of training for shooting and editing video, and how to be truly mobile journalists and transmit information from any location.
What’s most important in all of this, though, is that Carroll firmly believes that the newspapers are doing better journalism than ever before.
“We feel we’re doing better public service than we’ve every done before,” she said.
“We have not even begun to understand our true capacity. And by pushing ourselves and experimenting, we continue to improve. We can all be reinvigorated. We’re seeing such strong engagement from our readers. It’s encouraging us to continue thinking innovatively while also staying true to the core reasons we got into the business in the first place.”
So what lessons are there for college journalists who are thinking about journalism as a career? Carroll said it’s less about particular skills and more about having the right mindset.
“We need curious thinkers, people who think critically, and have a love of the business,” Caroll said. “My view is that we can teach the tools, but we need innovative minds who are passionate.”
