Is it Journalism if all that counts is speed to publication?

Here I thought that my employer (Babylon Media) was pushing the envelope when they required us beat reporters to post to the Tribune's official reporter blog page three times a week. Turns out, there are other media companies (can't call them newspaper companies anymore) that have even more draconian rules in place for reporters.

Consider Advance Publications, which runs the Oregonian out on the West Coast (and coincidentally also owns the Patriot News and Pennlive.com). Word has leaked out that now their reporters' evaluations will be measured largely by how much of their work is online as opposed to print, and  according to the leaked PowerPoint slides, 75% of a reporter's evaluation is based on online work.

Willamette Week, an alternative weekly, broke the story, writing that:

"The new policy, shown to the editorial staff in a PowerPoint presentation in late February, provides that as much as 75 percent of reporters’ job performance will be based on measurable web-based metrics, including how often they post to Oregonlive.com.

Beat reporters will be expected to post at least three times a day, and all reporters are expected to increase their average number of posts by 40 percent over the next year."

Did you get that, my friends? And it gets better. Again, according to the paper that broke the story, it gets worse. Reporters aren't just supposed to report the news and get it online, but they are supposed to badger their readers into making comments in the commentary sections. As in "“On any post of substance, reporter will post the first comment,” the policy says. “Beat reporters [are to] solicit ideas and feedback through posts, polls and comments on a daily basis.”

Oh, and reported will earn bonuses for meeting these new metrics. 

Reporters are no longer reporting the news, they are instigating it, commenting on it and pushing readers to comment. This won't end well. 

Want more? Email me and I will send you the Power Points describing this brave new world of journalism. Meanwhile, below is a sample of the kind of engagement they expect from their reporters. Now, I'd better go post some tripe on my official blog. On second thought, it's Shady McGrady time.