Reflections on Reflections of a Newsosaur

There's a great little piece by Priya Kumar in the latest American Journalism Review about the author of the popular journalism blog Reflections of a Newsosaur, Alan Mutter.

There was one "turning point" moment for Mutter in the story that struck me as curious. It goes like this:

The San Francisco Chronicle then hired Mutter to infuse the competitive spirit into a sleepy newsroom that some compared to a cruise ship. Mutter emphasized local news and investigative work.

The staff was talented and capable, Mutter says, but their chops had been dulled. He recalls asking one reporter to turn in a story by 5 that afternoon. Taken aback, the reporter said he had never reported and written a story in the same day.

"Well, today you will," Mutter replied.

Judging by the narrative, that was in the late 1980s. Reading this, though, I thought to myself: I don't know a single young journalist right now that can't turn in a story in a day.

In fact, perhaps even more than one story in a day.

Want to be taken aback in a post-blog world? Assign a story and ask a reporter to turn it in in a month -- or two, or three.

Now that's shocking.

(I strongly recommend regularly reading Alan's blog. He is, in many ways, the Seth Godin of the journalism world.)