We Want Media

AM New York online editor Diane Goldie is gutting the paper's website, merging it with print content, and making every editor responsible for managing web material. Her goal: "Make it seamless. We want to push people back and forth from the web to the paper."

While we've heard bemoaning and uncertainty coming from the web/print divide, Goldie was perky and upbeat about the changes in the field while speaking to our reporting class this morning. "Smart people see that if you don't work on the web, you're not going to work in journalism," she says.

Instead of freaking over how web and print are different, AM New York, the most widely distributed free paper in Manhattan, is trying to integrate its online and print portions. Goldie now requires that each section's editor manages the web portion of their beat as well. "Everyone's getting a hand in everything," she says. "It makes the job more interesting for everyone."

Goldie believes that "eventually, online [journalism] will surpass print." Furthermore, does she see a future for purely print material? "Probably not... information is information, it doesn't matter how you get it," she says.

Cross-media skills are a must for a new hire. Goldie looks for resume gems such as Photoshop skills, ability to shoot and edit video, publish blog entries, and perform all kinds of digital "housekeeping."

"We need people that are trained to do this," she says, and assures that there will be many jobs available to those that can multi-task in the digital world.

"Every still photographer will have a video camera by the end of June," she explains, yet another move to diversify her staff's skill sets.

What did we learn today? Web skills pay the bills, editors look for diverse abilities in all areas. The more you can do, the more you're going to be worth.

Need more incentive? Verizon is poised to close a $1 million+ ad deal with AM's site, Goldie says. Large money is heading online, and I'm sure their bloggers are going to be happy come then.