future-of-journalism

By James H. Smith, Editor
The Connecticut Post, Bridgeport, Conn.

Meet Keith Whamond online. He is our first full-time scribe at ConnPost.com. He's 24, been here a couple of years as a member of the editorial board, writing editorials and editing the letters to the editor. He was the managing editor of his college paper at Fairfield University.

He knows much more about cyberspace than most, but not all, of the editors at the Connecticut Post. We still love to write stories and put pictures on well-designed pages of the newspaper. But we also know people Keith's age and younger love computers, and cell phones and text messaging and streaming videos and IM and YouTube and Facebook and videogames and looking stuff up on the Internet before heading to the library.

Don't get us wrong -- Keith Whamond is a serious journalist. He wants to ferret out corruption, break news, write incisive prose and he wants to do that on our Web site. He starts today. He'll cover whatever moves him -- after all, it was E.B. White who said, "A writer should concern himself with whatever absorbs his fancy, stirs his heart and unlimbers his typewriter." We're not sure if Keith ever worked on a typewriter, but we know his heart stirs.

Last summer we announced that long-time photographer Jeff Bustraan was moving over to ConnPost.com as our first online editor; and that Assistant Managing Editor Todd Hollis will spend half his time at the paper and half his time at the Web site. And they've been putting up news 24/7 for months from our vast array of print reporters. They joined our original Web staff of Carol Dauber, Rene Morgan and Nick Smith. Now we also have Keith Whamond 40 hours a week producing his own blend of news coverage, feature writing, blogging about things local and things universal.

But I'm going to let Keith say a few words about his new job:

"Journalism won't ever go away. The only thing changing -- very rapidly, at the moment -- is the medium through which people get it. "Whether it be though a newspaper, through a Web site or through some gadget that hasn't even been invented yet, people will always want to know what's going on in the world around them.

"But as each medium changes, we as journalists get new ways to deliver that news and insight. The Web allows us to do things we could never do on a piece of paper -- video, audio, an endless supply of pictures and text. "That's what we're doing on ConnPost.com. And now we're going to be doing even more of it. "My role will be to deliver unique journalism to supplement content in the newspaper, whether it be a feature story with an audio slideshow, a quick blog posting about a breaking news event or a video profile with a local official.

"All of us in the newsroom are online reporters. I'm just going to be doing it full-time. We're all enthusiastic about this next phase of our craft. Over the next few weeks, you'll start seeing a new perspective of the same great journalism you already get in the Connecticut Post newspaper -- on our Web site. Once you do, I hope you'll read it and take part in the discussion."

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// posted by newshare @ 8:55 AM