Blade editor discusses media convergence

With the constant emergence of new technology, some experts in the communication field feel Twitter, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are the future of media coverage.

According to Paul Hem, web editor and system analyst for the Toledo Blade, newspapers are now utilizing tools such as Facebook and Twitter to help reach a broader audience.

During the University of Toledo Media Convergence Day on Thursday, Hem said the newsroom is transforming from a media outlet meant to inform, to an outlet that engages with its audience to discuss issues in the news.

Several professors and communication students gathered in a classroom on University Hall’s fourth floor to discuss how the media is changing to accommodate new technology.

Hem urged students to realize the changes the media is facing are both inevitable and for the better.

“This is what it’s all about,” Hem said. “We are getting people involved in the conversation. They don’t want a broadcast, they want a conversation.”

According to Jaime Lattin, a senior majoring in communication, new forms of media coverage are more accessible to the younger generations that grew up with the Internet.

“I think it’s good for my generation, people under 30 who commonly use these Web sites,” Lattin said. “It’s great for our lifestyle. I get all of my media news from some form of an internet outlet. I have for the last two years or so.”

Dee Drummond, a lecturer in the communication department, said she incorporates Web sites, such as Twitter, into her Media Convergence class.

“I started last semester having my news writing class follow Twitter,” Drummond said. “It’s important to stay proactive.”

According to Drummond, it is important for journalism students to realize that news gathering organizations want employees who are capable of mastering more than one aspect of journalism.

“If you’re a writer, you better be able to shoot too,” Drummond said. “If you want to be a videographer, you should be able to write as well. I call it cross-training; and everyone at UT is working to prepare students for this.”

Hem said students need to be “news hounds.”

“Learn your basic writing skills, know the legal boundaries involved in media; and be aware of everything that’s around you in the news world,” he said.

According to Hem, Twitter is his most important tool in the newsroom.

He explained, if he posts something to Twitter with a link to the Toledo Blade about 3,700 followers would see the post and send the link to numerous others.

“That’s how things can go viral,” Hem said. “We’re simply trying to find where you are.”

According to Hem, the media hopes to one day be able to broadcast on game consoles such as PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

“We’d like you to be on your Xbox 360 so when you’re taking a break from [Call of Duty] you can read the news,” Hem said. “It would be right there, and it would be short and concise.”

Hem said his job consists of checking Twitter and Facebook throughout the day to see what news stories people are following and check for any questions he can answer for readers.

“I want people to know there is a person involved in this, that they aren’t talking to a computer,” Hem said. “People are shocked when all of a sudden the newspaper starts talking back at them.”

Hem said Twitter is an “information river.”

Twitter acts as a two-way street of information, Hem said, where followers can read current articles and can tell the newspaper what they don’t like, what they don’t agree with, and even if they think the paper didn’t cover a side of the story.

“When we get responses from people about something they don’t like or something they want to know more about; we can then turn that over to our staff and have them send out follow-up stories, or make corrections,” he said.

Hem said tools such as Twitter will be involved in news coverage forever, which is for the better.

“We shouldn’t be telling you anything,” Hem said. “We should be conversing.”