ABSTRACT
A decade ago, most U.S. journalists were following what they believed would be safe, predictable career paths at newspapers, magazines, TV stations, and radio stations. Their employers were among the most reliable of moneymakers. The techniques they used to tell stories were well established and well understood. Today, economics and technology are conspiring to reshape the environment in which journalists make news. Red ink has replaced black ink on the balance sheets of journalists’ employers (Mutter, 2009). News staffs have been slashed (Project for Excellence in Journalism, 2010). Traditional mass media such as newspapers and broadcast TV stations are transforming themselves into “platform-agnostic news organizations” that want their journalists to understand how to communicate with print, audio, video, photography, and animation—often in the same story (Wilson, 2008).
