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Sorting Out the Future of News

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Matt Thompson, deputy editor of StarTribune.com in Minneapolis, cautioned editors to think that "the basis of journalism is not the story," but the takeoff point to give readers more information. For instance, in a story about a house fire, he urged editors to explore the socioeconomic makeup of the neighborhood and firefighters' response times.

Nathan Stoll is the product manager for Google News, a Web page that links to news stories from around the world, something that makes newspaper editors uneasy. Google, he said, "is trying to help consumers get multiple perspectives" by offering them news from many venues. Stoll said Google doesn't "have a culture where you have to get permission to do something new. The pace of change won't slow down."

Adrian Holovaty, who lives in Chicago, said it took him about 40 hours to put together ChicagoCrime.org, an amazing Web site that tracks crime in Chicago, street by street.

Holovaty also telecommutes as editor of editorial innovations at washingtonpost.com; he put together the Web site's new congressional voting database, which should satisfy readers who complain that The Post doesn't publish the results of as many votes as they would like. The database, updated several times a day, is chock-full of ways to look at congressional votes, including by astrological sign. ("I don't know how I got by with that," Holovaty said.) Users can sign up to be notified every time a member of Congress takes a vote.

The good news: The young panelists agreed Internet users are "passionate readers of news," as Stoll said. They don't want just one story; they want 10, and they can find them easily.

Carroll spoke eloquently of the need "to save journalism. Newspapers dig up news. Others repackage it." But Jennifer Sizemore, managing editor of MSNBC.com, said: "The [Internet] user gets to drive their own experience."

How those two perspectives are reconciled will be the future of journalism.

Deborah Howell can be reached at 202-334-7582 or atombudsman@washpost.com.


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