Rebecca Delaney's Journal, Week of 1/25

Until recently, I rolled my eyes every time I heard a journalism professor make reference to the dawn of the web age in journalism. So far as I was concerned, I came to Mizzou to be a newspaper reporter…not a webmaster. The doomsday-esque warnings about how j-students need to be web savvy and highly converged were annoying at best and nerve-wracking at worst.
Since my first semester at the Missourian, I’ve realized my attitude toward the web was grossly misguided. That’s why Tom Warhover’s comment—that one of the Missourian’s new web-related goals, fostering communication, involves a certain degree of journalistic humility—struck a chord with me. I realized I’d fallen victim to reporter’s egomania.
Since the era of muckrakers and even before, I think it’s been easy for journalists to get sucked into the idea that they’re somehow “above” their readers, dishing out the news from some sort of reporter’s pedestal…that because we’re rooting around and getting our hands dirty with the news, we’re like a higher power with the sole authority to tell readers “this is how things are.” By going web-centric, the Missourian removes the ego from the news.When we perform immediate web updates on breaking news, we’re humbling ourselves. The bylines often include five, six or seven reporters. And I think it’s in these cases — when several reporters come together and forget the thirst for personal byline glory in favor delivering a story as quickly as possible — that we’re providing the greatest service to readers. We deliver the story instead of "my" story.
On that same note, I love the way we’ve been posting simple, factual information on the web. (IE: the text of Matt Blunt’s speech announcing he won’t be up for re-election or sketches of the new high school.) This kind of information lets readers be their own reporters. They can see the same facts from which a reporter compiles a story, but they have the freedom to synthesize the information provided in a way that makes sense to them. We just make it a little easier to find that information. To me, posting the text of speeches or relevant political documents truly facilitates reader participation and, hopefully, reader conversation.
That’s not to say reporters’ stories aren’t as valuable as ever. Even as we make news faster and more accessible on the web, It’s every bit as critical as it’s always been to make sure skilled journalists report the news with an entrepreneurial spirit and a desire to cut through spin Without solid reporters, much of the “news” would be nothing but an ocean of out-of-context, incoherent and often biased information.

This week’s progress report:
I feel like I’m already behind. Two days in and I haven’t done a single interview. I have, however, done a great deal of research on the Missouri Theatre and am ready to push this story forward. We haven’t written anything on the renovations in months, and the Tribune’s kicking our, well, you get the idea. I want to step our Missouri Theatre coverage up in a big way. I’ve also pitched a story idea for MU’s upcoming Art & Archaeology Museum exhibit, “Before Columbus.” The exhibit will showcase pre-Columbian artifacts from North America. I want to preview the exhibit, but I also want to explore connections to local historical sites and potentially run down a (brief) history of pre-Columbian Missouri. I think a story like this will appeal to a wider audience by attracting art buffs, history fans and curious readers alike. In terms of ideas and stories simmering in my head, I’m pretty pleased with my progress. I’m worried, however, that with a hectic schedule, I’m going to fall flat on story delivery. It’s going to take a lot of sleepless nights to rock the Muse beat like I hope I can.