Otterblog

A few days ago, we created a new position in our newsroom: a multimedia editor. Our state editor, Michelle Johnson, will be that editor. She will work closely with JournalNow (host of the Otterblog) as we move positively and correctly to a place that respects the heritage and legacy and clout of our print paper, but also understands the digital future. Michelle has a broadcast background from years in radio, and she is the right person for the job.

Newsrooms of all sizes are still trying to figure out multimedia and digital news and how to do print and online in a era of budget constraints. There’s no set model that you can just plug in. Though I am reminded of the words of encouragement/admonishment that a former editor once said to me when I asked him what he wanted. The response: More, better, faster.

I’ll add a fourth. Now, more than ever.

To see the fruits of our multimedia efforts on a small—but entertaining—scale, click here to watch reporter Patrick Wilson’s video escapade of the great goose roundup in Winston-Salem this weekend.

There was an interesting remembrance of columnist Molly Ivins in the Washington Post the other day by Maya Angelou. Not everybody is a huge fan of her or her work. The criticism is that her diction and theatrical bearing can appear phony or arrogant. But I’ve come to like her work, and I think she is true to who she is. Never met her, but we are a better nation for having larger-than-life poets.