March 15, 2000
Reporters Try on Many Hats in Chicago News Experiment
By DAVID BARBOZA

Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company

CHICAGO, March 14 -- Dean Richards, a weekend radio personality at WGN radio, wears many hats these days.
This afternoon, he dashed out of a staff meeting and took the elevator to the fourth floor of The Chicago Tribune. There, in the middle of the newsroom, wedged between the picture desk and the sports department, sits a 26-foot by 24-foot television studio. Mr. Richards sat down, pinned on a microphone and broadcast a live report about the Chicago Film Critics Awards on the 12 o'clock news of WGN Television.
Later this week, Mr. Richards will write an article for the weekend section of The Chicago Tribune; he is giving his picks for the Academy Awards. Oh, and by the way, he also appears on WGN Television once a week to announce the winning numbers of the daily lottery.
Mr. Richards does not actually have so many jobs. He has one: he is what executives call a "content provider" for the Tribune Company, the giant media conglomerate that is experimenting with turning newspaper reporters into "multimedia journalists" and merging Chicago media properties into one large newsgathering source.
The experiment, which has been under way for several years, offers what may be a glimpse into the newsroom of the future, say Tribune executives who expect to introduce the approach into other cities.
That could happen soon because on Monday, the Tribune Company said it would acquire the Times-Mirror Company for $6.45 billion, creating a coast-to-coast media giant with 22 television stations, four radio stations, a host of Internet properties and now, along with The Chicago Tribune, three of the nation's best-known newspapers, The Los Angeles Times, The Baltimore Sun and Newsday in New York.
Newspapers around the country, including The New York Times, have been moving toward the Web and have encouraged reporters to contribute in other mediums, such as cable and network television.
But at the Tribune Company, the experiment is going full throttle, and nowhere has this form of multimedia journalism been so deeply melded into a newspaper culture. Here at the Tribune Tower, a new breed of supervisors, "intergroup" managers, are encouraging the various media properties to work together.
The company is breaking down the walls between television, newspapers, radio and the Internet, trying to teach reporters how to contribute to the various on outlets while also promoting other Tribune properties.
"They're the ones leading the pack in multimedia journalism," said Tom Goldstein, dean of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. "Journalists of the future are going to have to know a lot of things, and I think the Tribune Company is ahead in that way."
Tribune executives say they expect the "synergies" between television and newspapers to reach their new properties in New York and Los Angeles. Indeed, the company said, a driving factor behind the acquisition of the Times-Mirror Company was that the Tribune Company had television stations in Los Angeles and New York that could be integrated into the operations of The Los Angeles Times and Newsday.
Tribune executives have already suggested that KTLA, their television station in Los Angeles, look into renovating the newsroom of The Los Angeles Times to see whether it can find a home there. And Raymond Jansen, the publisher of Newsday, said today in the newspaper that the Tribune Company's WPIX television station in New York may develop ties with Newsday.
One of the benefits of the new approach is significant cost saving, the company said, because it allows television stations, for example, to use Tribute reporters on the air, reducing their costs. Internet sites are also able to keep their cost down by using the reporters rather than hiring a separate staff.
At The Chicago Tribune newsroom, right in front of the editor's office, is a television studio, a short walk for reporters who need to update their latest story. Cameras link to WGN television and CLTV, the company's 24-hour cable station in Chicago.
Other Tribune newspapers, such as The Orlando Sentinel in Florida, are also equipped with television, video and Internet equipment.
And the mantra here, among editors and executives alike, is synergy. It comes when Skip Bayless, a Tribune sports columnist, does weekly commentary on CLTV. Or when a newspaper reporter gives a story to WGN Television, or when the WGN TV helicopter offers to fly a Tribune photographer to a crash site, or when movie reviews are repackaged on a company Web site called Metromix.com, or when the "Good Eating" section of the Tribune turns into an award-winning food show on CLTV.
Tribune executives say the idea is to get the story out in every medium and reach as many people as possible, strengthening the Tribune franchise.
"The newspaper is the last great mass medium," said David Underhill, a vice president at the Tribune Company. "But we need new ways to reach light readers, nonreaders, people who don't buy newspapers at all, and we need to find ways to reach people several times a day."
Some critics, worry that multimedia journalism could water down daily reporting, spreading reporters too thin; or that the new journalism is really a cover for journalism that surrenders to the bottom line. They complain about bureau closings and resources being shifted away from the newspaper.
There are also worries that the Tribune Company, an early investor in America Online and part owners of the WB Network and the Food Network, is shifting its priorities into entertainment and business. And that breaking the walls down among media is going hand in hand with breaking the walls down between, say, the advertising side and the news side.
"The problem I have with this new journalism is that once they change the culture, to be more team oriented and to think in business concerns, you get into problems," said Ken Auletta, who wrote about the Tribune Company a few years ago in the American Journalism Review. "They also see using each division as a trampoline to promote each other division. That's not journalism."
In Chicago, Tribune reporters appear throughout the day on CLTV; they appear on WGN and on the Web site. And often, they ask viewers to look up their Web site or their radio show.
Mr. Richards, after describing the Chicago Film Critics Awards dinner on WGN this afternoon, invited viewers to listen into his radio program this weekend, where they could hear the full audio from his interviews.
"See he got his plug in for his radio show; it's all playback," said Tom Garritano, who acts as a liaison between the Tribune's different properties.
Several Tribune journalists said they were troubled by aspects of the format. For instance, they do not receive extra pay and they are often asked to share information. They also said company seemed more profit driven.
But Tribune executives emphasized that the company remains committed to excellence, and continues to win major awards, like the Pulitzer Prize. Besides, they say, some journalists love the added exposure.
Peter Kendall, who covers the environment at The Tribune, said the format offers more opportunities to get ahead.
"When you get a story and you believe in it, you want to get it to as many venues as you can," he said. "I think at the beginning people did grouse a bit because they saw it as extra work. But now I think they pretty much understand it's all part of the same company. And once you break a story I don't know why it wouldn't be everyone's impulse to broadcast it over as many media as possible.
Company executives say no one is forced to participate, but are encouraged and even expected to make some contribution. The multimedia aspects come up in performance reviews. In the end, those who contribute the most will be rewarded.
"It's a funny way to pay by piecework, especially if you're in journalism," said Jack Fuller, the president of Tribune Publishing. "If they're more valuable people, they'll get paid better."
Indeed, even the critics of The Tribune's approach acknowledge that newspapers need to branch out.
"If you just think you're in the journalism business, you'll be making the same mistake the railroad companies made. They thought they were in the railroad business when they were in the transportation business," Mr. Auletta said. "So it's a good thing trying to explore online ventures; that's the right way to go."