Making time to talk about journalism

So I met with the Society for News Design crew tonight for our first meeting of the fall semester. There were a handful of excited first-timers at the meeting and some familiar faces, too. There was also a number of no-shows. I started to think about how more and more people are too busy these days to be a part of any club or an organization of some kind -- especially one dealing with journalism. This depressing truth reminded me of why I chose to go to graduate school in January 2001.

And so my story goes.

I was working in sports as a copy editor / designer in 2000 in South Florida. One afternoon, I sat in my sports editor's office for an hour talking about the future of newspapers, in particular sports. Anyone who knows me well, knows I enjoy these types of conversations immensely. I asked him why we still run game stories in the paper. Don't sports fans already know who won by the time they get their paper? I asked, then answered my own question. They will have 1. watched the game. 2. Watched Sports Center. Or 3. Read it online. And if they really want to know the play by play, they can get it from the agate. Why don't we run features or sidebars from the game, something that's exclusive to us? I asked. The sports editor nodded and entertained my thoughts, shared his opinions, and the conversation felt like one of those brainstorming sessions where any idea is possible. It was quite the rush for me for I had the attention of someone who could make change happen. Then, after an hour or so, he looked at his watch and said, and I quote, "Amy, this is all well and good but we have to get out a newspaper. Let's talk about this at a later time." There was no later time. Like any news organization, we were busy getting out that day's news. No time to talk about the future of journalism.

A few months later, I left - so that I could think about the future of journalism as a full-time job, in graduate school.

This year, in 2008, my old paper has changed the way it covers sports. Now it doesn't run game stories in the paper but instead feature stories or siders from games. The game highlights run in a box, versus play-by-play stories. How do I feel about all of this? Well, I am happy to see my old paper experimenting with content. As for me, I can't help but smile because I feel like I'm ahead of my time.