From New York to L.A… by way of Paris

February 20, 2007 by

When Meredith Artley started her journalism career as a producer for NYTimes.com in 1996, there was a distinct power structure in the online newsroom of the Times. The editors mostly came to the website after decades of experience at the paper while the producers were fresh to journalism–with more experience with HTML than reporting and writing. That was the case at most newspaper websites.

Earlier this month, that distinction was laid to rest when Artley was tapped by the Los Angeles Times to become one of the first of the digital generation to assume the leadership of a major newspaper website. Despite cost cutting at the Tribune Company, the news organization has big expectations of Artley as the executive editor of the LATimes.com. She is charged with overseeing an expansion of the online staff, a redesign of the site, the launch of new projects and integrating the print and online newsrooms.

Artley spoke to OJR from Paris, France where she is wrapping up her work as at the digital development director at the International Herald Tribune website. During the interview, she gave advice on how smaller news organizations can integrate their print and online operations, how to produce high-quality digital journalism on a limited budget and setting up lucrative tie-ups between news organizations.

The complete interview. Speaker [17.75 MB]

Click on each speaker symbol below to hear Artley’s thoughts on specific topics (all links are mp3 format):

Speaker Introduction and Artley’s goals during the first year at the LATimes.com. [1.8 MB]

SpeakerChallenges facing regional news websites. [1.8 MB]

SpeakerCommon problems faced at the NYTimes.com, IHT.com and likely to face at LATimes.com. [2.8 MB]

SpeakerProblems integrating print and online news divisions early in the industry. [1.1 MB]

SpeakerHow is it likely to be different today? [1.9 MB]

SpeakerWhat resistance do online divisions face today? [1.4 MB]

SpeakerHow will you deal with all the expectations at LATimes.com with all the cost cutting? [2.1 MB]

SpeakerAdvice for smaller news organizations for creating a strong web presence despite smaller budgets. [3.1 MB]

SpeakerSetting up tie-ups between larger and smaller news organizations and blogs. [1.8 MB]

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About Sandeep Junnarkar

SANDEEP JUNNARKAR is an associate professor at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism (The City University of New York). He entered the online journalism world at its infancy in 1994 as part of a team gathered to present The New York Times on America Online, a service called @times. He later became a breaking news editor, writer and Web producer when the paper went live on the Internet as The New York Times on the Web. He served as a reporter and New York Bureau chief for News.com from 1998 to 2003.He received a Masters in Journalism from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia in 1994. He completed his undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley.