Traditional newspapers are not dying –– they are adapting. Frank Denton, editor of The Florida Times-Union and Jacksonville.com and Morris Communications vice president for journalism, spoke Monday to the Rotary Club of Jacksonville to describe industry trends.
He began his remarks by answering what he called two questions he was sure were on the minds of many people in the audience.
“The Times-Union and Jacksonville.com are not going out of business and we are profitable,” Denton said.
He qualified the latter remark by saying the newspaper is not as profitable today as it has been in the past in what he called the current environment of “radical transformation” in the daily newspaper business.
“The economy is gnawing at us like it is everyone else,” said Denton.
He said one of the major trends in his business is the explosion of media that is available to the public, particularly the proliferation of the Internet when it comes to gathering and distributing news.
“Today, almost everyone goes online for almost everything,” said Denton.
He gave as an example the recent deadly shooting spree in Colorado and how news of the crime went out on social media sites before news organizations could report the event.
Denton, a former editor at the Detroit Free Press and Tampa Tribune before coming to Jacksonville in 2008, said the role of the reporter also has changed with technology.
“Reporters are ‘content gatherers.’ They can take video on their cellphones,” he said.
Live blogging at news events is another major shift in coverage, Denton said. Last week, Jacksonville.com assigned a blogger to cover President Barack Obama’s campaign stop at the Osborn Center and had another blogger covering the town hall meeting at Florida State College at Jacksonville.
Americans are devoting more time to the various forms of new media, which means they have to “carve out time” to read a traditional newspaper, Denton said.
A trend Denton called a “true threat to our democracy” is the move toward being a fragmented, uninvolved public. He said people are moving away from news media in favor of entertainment media such as reality television shows and becoming less reliant on news and information.
Denton cited the nationwide trend to reduce or eliminate civics education in schools as another disturbing trend.
“Ask a young person about separation of powers and see what answer you get. I would argue it’s a responsibility of citizenship to stay informed,” Denton said.
Despite staff cutbacks in the Times-Union’s editorial department, Denton said the reporters remain committed to covering the news.
“There is no substitute for a smart, principled and determined reporter demanding the truth,” he said.
“People raise the specter of what Jacksonville would be like without the Jaguars. What would Jacksonville be like without good, responsible journalism?” Denton said.
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