USA Today To Merge Print, Online Newsrooms

Gannett flagship USA Today will start merging online and print editorial operations with the goal of creating one newsroom. The announcement was made jointly by Craig Moon, president and publisher of USA Today, and Jeff Webber, SVP and publisher of usatoday.com. Webber will continue to run the site’s business side. Moon told the staff in a late afternoon meeting: “What I’m basically here to tell you today is there no longer is going to be a dot-com newsroom. There no longer is going to be a print newsroom. There is one newsroom. I think it’s a positive for the brand. I think it’s a positive for all of you to be under an umbrella newsroom.”
As part of the shift, Kinsey Wilson has been promoted from USAToday.com VP and editor-in-chief to the masthead position of executive editor, joining current executive editor John Hillkirk. The two will report directly to Editor Ken Paulsen. The integration won’t take place overnight; they’ll start with current collaborative areas like breaking news, travel and entertainment. As Wilson told his colleagues, “At the end of the day, we’ll be looking to you to tell us what works and what doesn’t.”
The way the announcement was handled suggests that senior management is taking great care not to make this a case of print swallowing the online operations. Unlike USA Today, the New York Times is merging business operations at the same time as it combines the newsrooms. Press release.

USA Today’s actions come just after new Washington Post ombudsman Deborah Howell addressed the idea in her Sunday column, “The Two Washington Posts”, listing complaints from the print newsroom including story play, links to blogs criticizing stories and the name of a web column. Asked about integration, Washington Post Chairman Don Graham told Howell: “Putting out the newspaper is a demanding, more-than-full-time job. … The Web site has an equally demanding challenge, having to make its way against brilliant competitors who are constantly unrolling new products. The Post and WPNI must cooperate but must also find a way to do quite different jobs.”

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