CNN: We're Staffing Up; Call Goes Out For 'All-Platform Journalists'
This story was written by David Kaplan.
While most media job news stories tend to be about newspaper layoffs these days, CNN has something positive to announce for a change. The Time Inc. unit plans to increase the number of regions from which its news-gathering staffs operate to 20 from its current 10, Reuters reports. While only a handful of new staffers will be hired to man the new operations, a number of current employees will be reassigned. New operations will be set up in Columbus, Ohio; Denver; Houston; Las Vegas; Minneapolis; Orlando, Florida; Philadelphia; Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; and Seattle. The domestic additions comes after CNN's recent international bureau expansion.
-- 'Everyone's a reporter': The new operations will house a mix of traditional correspondents and what the cable news net calls "all-platform journalists." The APJs will be equipped with small kits that include laptops, cameras and online editing tools as well as on-air programming in all 20 cities. At least for now, the role of APJs is intended to complement, not supplant, traditional TV correspondents. Perhaps referencing CNN's citizen-j site, iReport, Nancy Lane, CNN's SVP of newsgathering for CNN/U.S., summed up the current face of journalism: "Everyone's a reporter now. Even our viewers."
By David Kaplan