How today’s newsroom operates differently

Lewis Dvorkin, the chief product officer at Forbes, writes Tuesday about how its newsroom operates much differently than newsrooms of the past by using data and software to influence its coverage decisions.

Dvorkin writes, “Our dramatic newsroom transformation began nearly two years ago. To start, we changed roles and responsibilities for nearly everyone. Next, we added producer and audience development teams. After that, we inserted a layer of real-time data analytics into nearly everything we do. We even took the heretical step of moving a representative from the Digital Ad Products group into the heart of The News Newsroom. In our latest move, we once and for all put an end to the journalistic caste system by deploying a piece of community software. Now, the morning news meeting never really starts or ends because it’s ongoing. Nearly every staffer can dive in at will with ideas and thoughts at any time. We’ve even started to put the newsroom software in the hands of non-staff contributors to access. After all, they’ve got ideas, too.

“Here are the five real-time newsroom screens that have become critical to The New Real-Time Newsroom.

“1) Making the newsroom social. News today is about voices — we have 1,000 of them publishing on our platform. Why shouldn’t the newsroom discussion be filled with voices, too? Now, our editors, reporters and contributors can join the newsroom debate through Campfire, a real-time tool that fosters team collaboration. In what amounts to continuous group chat, skilled journalists and topic experts can trade story ideas with one another; upload links and documents; suggest, hand out and discuss story assignments; and be part of the general news flow. The discussion has a realness to it, much like the late-night bar room chats journalists use to debate stories and prepare for the next day.”