No longer are there any comfort zones in the newsrooms

At the speed that innovations that transform the digital platform are all taking off, there simply can’t be any comfort zones in the integrated newsrooms anymore, just like it happened at the times when we only produced our printed editions.

Back then, our routines did manage to change radically, as is the case now, since work dynamics were limited to a pattern of hunting for news through official sources and some private entities, which involved assigning one journalist per source.

It was a must to be really creative to snoop those matters that public institutions would not officially inform, and the reporter who obtained access to this information was like the winner of the game compared to the rest of his companions.

Journalist had to return to the newsroom in the afternoon to write their notes and finish their work day. Reporters who didn’t have fixed sources or were in stand-by, were available for the coverage of any eventuality thus enjoyed a greater scope of movement through different streets and scenarios.

This work pattern doesn’t exist anymore. No longer are the editors aren’t tied to one or more fixed sources. They direct their investigations without relying on the official newsletters or press releases, because most informative goods now arrive by themselves to the newsrooms.

To some extent, this scheme represents an antidote against the official gazettes that, years ago, represented the greatest sources of contents of a newspaper.

With the dynamics of the digital sphere, the competition to be the first to present the news or to better monitor them and, in addition, to exploit the maximum possible angles of an episode, gets rid of any “comfort zones” that the invariable routines of each day allowed.

We live a more dynamic and versatile journalism because audio and visual resources, plus infographics, provide the space and conditions to monitor and follow up the stories exhaustively.

In addition, the editors are no longer “exclusive” to any source. They are here to address all tasks and work without the strict customary schedules of models of the past, and to present the news in any format or platform.

– Translated from Spanish by Randy Rodriguez.