All week through Friday, Fiona Spruill, editor of the New York Times’ Web newsroom since July of 2006, is answering reader questions as part of the excellent Ask the Editors series.
Spruill manages 60 producers and editors who are responsible for publishing NYTimes.com 24/7. Spruill is a graduate of Duke and joined NYTimes.com in 1999 as an intern. She has served as a business and international news producer; a night editor; an editor of the site’s home page (most notably on Sept. 11, 2001); associate editor; and deputy editor in charge of the features sections.
A self-described young journalist working in the print medium at a mid-sized daily asked Spruill what it takes to work for a large national paper on the Web desk.
“What skills should I acquire or work toward acquiring to make myself more marketable for a Web position? How did you start out in the industry?”
The question itself speaks to the vertical mindset that is still all too prevalent among journalists, young and older. I wish Spruill had pointed that out, especially since the Times has supposedly combined its print and online newsroom operation.
Among Spruill’s very good pieces of advice:
“I ended up in this industry by accident. I studied public policy in college and particularly loved my classes relating to the media and journalism. During the summers, I worked as a writer and producer at the Web site for the Wimbledon tennis championships, where I picked up a basic understanding of how a Web site comes together.
“…I am looking for people who can flourish in both worlds and who I could see fitting into many different jobs at The Times. Among other things, producers are responsible for packaging the news online and for creating original multimedia. As a result, they need to have solid journalism credentials and strong technical skills.
“…On the technical side, we want people to walk in the door with a proficiency in Photoshop, HTML and blogging software, and an understanding of Web publishing systems. Experience in the production of multimedia — including the use of audio and video editing tools — is strongly desirable. For our more specialized multimedia positions, we expect to see an extensive knowledge of Flash and an understanding of how to integrate databases into multimedia presentations.”
