News Article

I wrote this story based on a presentation that Ed Semmler, a journalist at the South Bend Tribune, gave to my jounalism class. I had to write a news article based on his presentation in proper journalism format.

SOUTH BEND—Journalist and editor Ed Semmler from the South Bend Tribune spoke on Monday morning to a journalism class at IU South Bend. He discussed the importance of the internet in modern newspaper work. Semmler described challenges facing journalists who must adapt to the internet’s power.

Alert and engaging, the soft-spoken Semmler displayed enthusiasm for journalism. He expressed concern over the problems of adapting to the internet but as if they were interesting riddles. “It makes it stressful, but more fascinating than ever. It’s like a puzzle, trying to figure how things work.” He said that the newspaper tries different approaches with mixed success. With a twinkle in his eye, Semmler says, “Sometimes we’re just slapping our hands on water.”

Semmler said that the internet is viewed as a place where information is free, yet maintaining a website for a newspaper requires money. He explains that although the internet is enormously important to the newspaper industry, it is hard to gain revenue from. Internet users expect web content to be free. “The genie has been let out of the bottle, so now the question is, how do we get the genie back in the bottle?”

He outlined different newspapers’ tactics. “A lot newspapers do different things. Some do paywalls. The basic stuff is free, but if it’s an insider story, like the latest on recruiting, you have to do the paywall.” A paywall forces viewers to pay some money to either subscribe to the website or gain access to that particular story.

Although internet users tend to put electronic media first, according to Semmler, they are accustomed to getting their information for free. Then readers will try to avoid paywalls, usually by going to another website. One possibility, according to Semmler, is that readers with iPads and iPhones may be willing to pay to get customized newsfeeds on their devices.

Speed is crucial to internet news releases. Semmler says that “the internet is now first priority, with news going up 24/7 on the internet, Facebook, Twitter, different internet platforms all the time.” One shared aspect by the internet and traditional newspapers is the importance of being the first to break news. “You don’t get special points on Google for being the most correct. You get the points for being there first and getting the most hits.”

The drive to be the first to report has some downfalls according to Semmler. As soon as a news story is written up, it is posted on the Web. He says, “At the speed that we’re moving, we’re skipping steps we used to take.” He went so far as to describe reporters with iPhones as being “almost self-contained.”

Because he spends most of his time in the building, Semmler says he does not have an iPhone. He does, however, want field reporters to have one. “I want the prime reporter, the guy who’s out covering the fire, the sports reporter out on the field, I want him to have that stuff. It seems silly that a reporter should have my old phone.” Semmler says that he has to trust that reporters who must post quickly to the internet will not cause a lawsuit.

As a result of the rise of the internet, newspaper sizes, according to Semmler, have shrunk at least 10 pages. When editors try to adjust the papers’ content, sometimes they upset readers. Semmler’s particular pet peeve is the comics. “We pay a fortune for the comics. Some of them are not even funny anymore; they are just sad. The 85 year old man wants to kick my butt if we try to change anything. The comics are like their pacifier, their grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup.” Semmler says that a lot of new comics are fresh and funny, but readers reject them in favor of old-school comics. “If we try to change anything, we get creamed.”

It is balancing these changes along with the aspects of traditional journalism that keep Semmler engaged and enthused. “The fun is still being out in the field and being the first person to report something. Back in the day we would run to the phone to dictate to the boss. Now you do it on your iPhone.”