We rejoiced three weeks ago, when Dean Baquet, executive editor of The New York Times, informed staff that the Times would no longer take enterprise pitches for Page 1 of the print edition. Instead, editors from the various news desks would pitch their best enterprise pieces for digital slots on what would be called “Dean’s List.”
Last week, Los Angeles Times' editor-in-chief Davan Maharaj joined those who favor that List. Maharaj has declared that the morning editorial meeting—that one most ritualistic and archaic of newsroom practices— “is no longer an A1 meeting.” Instead, he wrote, that meeting will be “…a coverage meeting, with an emphasis on what we can deliver for readers in the coming minutes and hours.”
I hope that editors everywhere are taking notice. This is not just good, common sense for the major players but for every newspaper. Emphasize now, and consider what can be expanded and enhanced for later.
Let the two tempos guide the process, with updating as the newsroom’s most important function. Navigating the two tempos with expertise will separate those news brands that will succeed from those who will continue to lament their luck.
