What newspapers and journalists need to do to survive [MASHABLE]

MASHABLE: Reporters need to focus on primarily gathering information and how to present that information in multiple formats: websites, mobile platforms, social networks and finally print.

The reason? Technology is changing the way people consume news, and though many are still getting their news through traditional print outlets, many others are shifting to get their news through various media, such as television, mobile phones, and the web. Ryan Sholin, director of news innovation at Publish2, a company that specializes in link journalism, said journalists now have to be ready to produce journalism on multiple platforms, whether that is tweeting a headline, uploading a video through their iPhone or something else – journalism comes in all shapes and sizes.

Bradshaw said that individuals, not institutions, most effectively use social media, and so the role of the journalist in distribution becomes more important. He said eventually journalists will be expected to engage readers through comments, blogs, Twitter, etc., or it will be done by dedicated community managers.

“The one thing most likely to make the public value newspapers is newspapers valuing the public,” Bradshaw said.

SHOOT: Some interesting ideas here. One thing that happens a lot - print is shovelled online. Which makes either resource substituable/expendable.

MASHABLE: Bradshaw’s point speaks to the idea that newspapers need to stop treating their websites as a dumping ground for print stories and treat each somewhat independently, carefully selecting the stories better suited for each media.

clipped from mashable.com 1. Putting web first and reporting from multiple platforms That might seem like a no-brainer, but this fact is a double-edged sword. Newspapers are often still treating their websites as an afterthought because their advertising revenue is largely still coming from print. At the same time, the shift to getting more revenue from websites won’t happen until the websites are the first priority. Jay Rosen, a journalism professor at New York University, said one of the issues is that reporters have been given a job description that revolves around a single platform (i.e. print journalist), when really journalists need to conceive of the editorial act apart from questions of platforms. Ultimately, the word “print” needs to be removed from the role of print journalists, said Kevin Sablan, leader of the Orange County Register’s web task force.