An example of newsroom convergence

From what I've seen and heard, these days newspaper offices are concentrating on satisfying one concept: convergence. I really didn't know what this meant until I interned at USA Today this past summer. At the first staff meeting I sat in the person leading it kept mentioning the "convergence" the newspaper was trying to undergo (it had moved the offices of the .com section of the paper to the third floor with the rest of editorial). I found it interesting that before that, the Internet division and the print division of the paper were run so separately - I thought they were one in the same. But editors made it clear that this was an ongoing effort and a hard one at that, which sparked my interest because everyone keeps telling me that the future of journalism is online, and I hope to be a part of the future of journalism.

This past week at my internship at washingtonpost.com I've been reading a new feature that really hits the convergence concept on the head. I work in the politics section and since the midterm elections are right around the corner editors at both the print and online components of The Post are trying to find innovative ways to get as much information to readers as possible.

Last week the politics section launched the Ohio River Ramble, a new interactive feature where one reporter from the .com half of The Post - Chris Cillizza who blogs constantly about politics on the Web site - and one reporter from the print side - national political reporter Jim Vandehei - hit the road together to report on nine congressional districts in the Midwest in nine days. deputy multimedia editor Chet Rhodes is also thrown into this mix, making this project truly unique and interactive.

The way it works is that both of the reporters on the campaign trail drop their traditional roles and work together to produce a convergent product. Cillizza is writing stories for print in The Post, while Vandehei is blogging away on the Web site all over Cillizza's typical domain and Rhodes shoots video to enhance the multimedia effect of the project. To me, this is a great example for the online journalism world to take note because I haven't seen much of this before.

And, I find it particularly fascinating because the .com newsroom for The Post isn't just on a separate floor like it was for USA Today - it's in a different city. The print component of The Post is located in downtown D.C. while the .com offices are in Arlington. So you can see how it is interesting these two entirely separate entities were able to produce this product. It also excites me because I see it as a glimpse into what my future could be like as a reporter. I won't only be responsible for writing good copy, I will need to take into consideration the blogging factor for the story, the video and anything else to take my stories to the multimedia extreme. Maybe I'm just an online news virgin and don't know enough about it, but I was impressed...what do you think?