Newsroom changes
| 09:50 UK time, Tuesday, 17 June 2008
Readers of this website will not, I hope, have noticed any seismic changes over the past couple of days in the way it looks and behaves.
Behind the scenes, though, we've been moving all the journalists who work on the main online newsdesk from their traditional home on the 7th floor of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ TV Centre in west London down to the main newsroom on the 1st and 2nd floors.
So the online news teams have now taken up residence in the newly configured ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Multimedia Newsroom, next to their TV and radio counterparts, and the newsgathering teams who deploy the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s news reporters.
The aim is to enable a better focus on telling stories well in video, audio, stills, graphics and text, and getting the right mix of each for any given story on any platform - whether TV, radio, web, mobiles, interactive TV or digital text.
We're not the only news organisation working out how to respond to the rapid changes taking place in technology and the ways audiences look for their news - as have .
And every organisation doubtless faces slightly different challenges as it changes. For us one of these has been the practical difficulty of moving 100 or so journalists and all their equipment from one working newsroom to another whilst simultaneously maintaining a continuous 24-hour online news service.
It hasn't been that simple to do, so I am rather relieved it has happened. For the journalists working on the website, it feels like a big change, a bit like the start of a new era and a graduation from the online-only newsroom where ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News Online started in 1997.
Looking ahead, what difference will it make to users of the site? It should mean that you see us becoming an even better showcase for all the best of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s journalism - in video, audio and text; local, national and international.
PS. Here's another change we've made. As of this week, all our blogs will have full RSS feeds, meaning it's much easier to read them in places like Google Reader. My colleague Jem Stone has written more about it on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Internet blog.
Comment number 1.
At 17th Jun 2008, flouncey wrote:They all look like rejected models from the Marks and Spencers catalogue.
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Comment number 2.
At 17th Jun 2008, Briantist wrote:Jeff Jarvis wrote an interesting article about this yesterday.
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Comment number 3.
At 17th Jun 2008, Briantist wrote:"Old ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News website room stands empty"
The image /staticarchive/339f460c50491f38b7ea0fd36b4e787ff5b18c02.jpg - is 404!
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Comment number 4.
At 17th Jun 2008, Steve Herrmann (³ÉÈËÂÛ̳) wrote:Comment 1. A damning, and surprisingly quick, verdict on our sartorial skills. Maybe we'll get smarter now we are sitting alongside TV colleagues. But I doubt it.
Comment 2. I linked to it above - he makes a good point about the case for further integrating our "ugc" user generated content desk.
Comment 3. Sorry, fixed.
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Comment number 5.
At 17th Jun 2008, dennisjunior1 wrote:I hope that you all enjoy your new "newsroom"...
It didn't affect the coverage of the network.
:)
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Comment number 6.
At 17th Jun 2008, s_slatt wrote:Hi Steve,
Sorry to hijack this blog slightly, but I noticed there has been a bit more fiddling with the website as well.
I was wonderong where the "your money" section of the Business bit has gone, that was the only section i used to use, and it seems to have gone the way of the dodo!
Other than that all I can say is you could have at least used the same furniture throughout your floorplan..... or are the nasty white ones just to differentiate between the bigwigs and the minions ;o)
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Comment number 7.
At 17th Jun 2008, Stephen-Webber wrote:Re: comment 4. What sartorial skills?!
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Comment number 8.
At 17th Jun 2008, dennisjunior1 wrote:revised to my earlier comments:
the new "newsroom" looks perfect....your have the right to enjoy your accomplishment.
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Comment number 9.
At 18th Jun 2008, camellac wrote:well done and keep up the good work. Best of luck in your new abode
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Comment number 10.
At 18th Jun 2008, Gulfwarloser wrote:It is nice to see that internet media is finally getting some respect. It seems as though the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ has missed a golden opportunity to evolve the workplace into truly forward thinking and earth friendly place. With wireless technology the world can be our workplace. Its seems logical that in a slumping global economy we should be doing everything we can to cut commuting and consumption. It is my opinion that we use technology as an add-on to the old idea of every one being sectioned off into boxes and looking over their shoulder at the other guy in his box. We need to come out our boxes and meet in the streets of the world to solve our global mess before it is too late. Perhaps a true wireless revolution could be a small start in this direction.
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Comment number 11.
At 19th Jun 2008, Steve Herrmann (³ÉÈËÂÛ̳) wrote:To S_slatt: It sounds like you have switched to the international edition of our website (see the "site version" button on the left hand side of the page under the section headings) which does not feature the Your Money index, because the stories there are prediominantly UK focused and apply to personal finance issues in the UK. If you select the UK edition, you should have Your Money back, so to speak. In the meantime - here is the .
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Comment number 12.
At 21st Jun 2008, MarcusAureliusII wrote:So this is how ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ thinks it will improve its news reporting, by moving from the seventh floor in a building to the first and second. Well it's a start, they're closer to the exit door. BTW, ever hear of the saying "a new broom sweeps clean?" The only way I am going to believe anything I read, see, or hear from ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ is after there is an entire change of personnel right from the top to the bottom. I don't suppose anyone in ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ facilities planning ever heard of....office partitions. But even if they had, there is probably no money in the budget for it. Everything they had was spent sending WHYS entire kit and kaboodle around the world on one junket after another. I wonder how many of them were shopping for new jobs...especially in the US. Did Anna Stewart ever find her way home after her trip to the Pacific coast of America...in Phoenix Arizona? Last I heard was a rumor she'd made a wrong turn trying to find the beach one afternoon after work and was headed in the general direction of Las Vegas.
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