AJC's revamp results

[SixToe]

In the Tampa thread intern blog the AJC was mentioned, maybe in the comment section, specifically about how they have returned to a beat system instead of the everyone-going-anywhere system.

I believe Julia Wallace's intent with the reorg was to make the newsroom all-encompassing instead of people having specific beats.

Can anyone address how this is going?

Thanks.

 

[MMatt60]

Didn't the AJC initially kill the sports editor's position and then say, oops, we actually need a sports editor?

 

[ateri]

Nope on sports editor. They still have four of them - one for news and info, print, enterprise and online. Kevin wheley is print. Ronnie Ramos is news. I don't know the other two but they are all equal. Guy who left used to be the sports ed in news and info.

 

[MMatt60]

Well, if they have four they have none.

Ramos used to be THE sports editor, so you knew who the heck was in charge.

 

[Ronnie Ramos]

Let's try to clarify this. The AJC reorg has always had reporters on beats. That never changed. What changed was the overall structure of the newsroom into four departments: News & information, Enterprise, Digital and Print. N&I has all the beat reporters and editors; Enterprise has the investigations and other takeout reporters; digital is the online production department and print is the newspaper production department. I supervise all N&I sports and features reporters and line editors. There is a line editor in print who oversees the printed sports section. He has an equivalent in digital who manages the online sports channel. Hope that helps.

 

[SockPuppet]

Hope that helps.

Helps us understand, yes.
Helps the AJC have more chiefs and fewer Indians, yes.
Helps AJC be a better product, doubtful.

 

[steveu]

I apologize for not PM'ing this -- and Ronnie may or may not be around to respond -- but AJC was supposed to have both a redesign and an e-edition. When do both of those become active?

 

[Ronnie Ramos]

Actually, the number of editors was drastically cut during the redesign. There are fewer editors now than before.

 

[SixToe]

Thanks, Ronnie.

I was just curious how things are going. This concept appears to be on the minds of many managers for their newsrooms.

 

[deskslave]

Thanks, Ronnie.

I was just curious how things are going. This concept appears to be on the minds of many managers for their newsrooms.

Mine included.

The beat reporters/investigations separation is irritating to me, though, because to me, good investigative/enterprise journalism comes from covering a beat correctly. You go to umpteen council meetings not because something interesting will happen every time, but because that's how you build up sources and get a feel for what's going on. It defeats the purpose to have the beat reporter pass those stories off to some investigative reporter who doesn't have that working relationship with the source -- particularly if the source knows that reporter is on the investigations team.

 

[SixToe]

It defeats the purpose to have the beat reporter pass those stories off to some investigative reporter who doesn't have that working relationship with the source -- particularly if the source knows that reporter is on the investigations team.

It could be that way, certainly.

To me, that's when the beat and investigative guys work together, and a good editor has someone else in the newsroom able to write outside of their comfort zone. City council beat reporter has a corruption angle? Team him up with the investigative team and go to it while another capable reporter covers the nuts and bolts of the council meetings, appointments or whatever.

That isn't always foolproof. But it keeps your main beat guy in tune with his sources, may result in the investigative team having their own sources and the crew works together.

With all of today's layoffs of experienced reporters, though, newsrooms are losing much of their ability to bank on solid information from longtime, trustworthy sources.

 

[samhuff]

Now to clarify things again: The best sports writers at the AJ-C who don't write columns -- Steve Hummer (who should), Thomas Stinson (I worked in Atlanta when he was the baseball beat guy, and a good one), Michelle Hiskey, Tim Tucker -- don't report to Ramos, nor do the line editors who supervise them.

It's not at all like being a traditional sports editor, not even close. The print sports editor, Kevin, has the power if newspapers are your thing. He is the guy who decides what gets played on the front.

And investigative? Give me a break. They haven't investigated anything in sports since another former co-worker treated wrong, Mike Fish, was on the staff. I'm not including little stuff like the BCS/coaches poll series they did, which didn't really expose much of anything.

"Investigations team." That made me chuckle.

 

[Rockbottom]

FWIW, I think they have done a good job on the post-Chris Benoit stuff. Might not be Ramos' turf, but still ...

rb

 

[SCEditor]

Steve Hummer doesn't write a column anymore? I haven't looked at the AJC in a while, but he was always my favorite read.

 

[MMatt60]

Also, to clarify: My original point was at the beginning of the re-org, the AJC said there would be no traditional sports editor, and I believe that young Ramos was given a non-sports job, some kind of administrative gig. Then he moved back to sports and apparently added features to his portfolio.

 

[Appgrad05]

RE: Investigations

You're right, because that Michael Vick thing — the Falcons were just releasing it, right?

 

[samhuff]

ESPN and the Virginia papers and TV stations dominated Vick.

And Benoit was done by a former sports staffer but not a current one.

 

[SixToe]

samhuff, I wasn't specifically referring to the AJC and an investigative team.

I have no clue if it has one or not. My reference was about papers in general.