This is the last in a series of seven blog posts about the Berkshire Eagle Unbolt Master Plan (which I explained in the first post). A staff committee developed the plan in response to my call for newsrooms to free themselves from print culture and workflow in six primary areas. This is the plan to unbolt the newsroom from the processes and workflow of print. Most of this post will be the Eagle’s plan lightly edited, with my comments in italics.
What are workflow and processes?
Currently our workflow happens in a variety of ways:
- Digital journalists file stories. Filed copy is read and edited and sent to the web. Stories are then put in system for print.
- Digital journalists (early and late shifts) write breaking stories that are sent to the web. Stories are then put in system for print.
- In the sports department, the workflow process has been reprioritized to so that all stories have hit the web before the last page has been sent. Priority is given to game stories, which hit the website first, followed by daily roundups (as scores are called in later).
The Buttry Diary 