Ryan Thornburg, who teaches online journalism at the University of North Carolina’s school of journalism, recently conducted a survey of online journalists in North Carolina newspapers. The goal? To see how their thinking matched up with traditional journalistic concepts.
Surprisingly, the results show an overwhelming resistance to new technologies, community management, and web usability.
This is especially interesting after hearing Edward Roussel talk about how important it is for newspapers to find and hire people who can work a story through multiple media formats.
The online department in any newspaper ought to be growing right now. The people you hire need to be enthusiastic about the internet and the opportunities it presents.
They need to be willing to try new things. They need to be well paid, because you are competing with the tech sector for their employment. They need to be early adopters, not luddites. They need to inspire the rest of your staff to be excited about what can be done online.
Working at a newspaper right now is hard work, but over the next five or ten years those who stick with it will find it very rewarding. Newspapers are in startup territory now. Take risks. Invest. Invent.
Who’s in your newsroom?
Eat Sleep Publish is a Seattle-based blog that explores the difficulties and opportunities currently facing the publishing industry. 
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