Marly Falcon is a contributing blogger at Knight Foundation

Journalists are anxious to shift from print-only responsibilities in the newsroom to multimedia responsibilities, according to the survey' 'Life beyond print: Newspaper journalists' digital appetite'. The survey is part of a report issued by the Media Management Center.

Out of almost 3,800 journalists in print, online or hybrid jobs at 79 U.S. newspapers surveyed, most were found to be involved in digital activities within their personal lives and wanting the same digital involvement at the workplace.

The typical newspaper newsroom in 2009, according to Life beyond print, has six types of journalists ranging from the 'Digitals' who spend a great deal of time online, to the 'Turn Back the Clock' type, who wish print was still the ultimate ruler. As the chart'shows, there also'is the extreme 'Major Shift' group, which'would give five times its effort to online if it could. And the'"Moderately More" group, which would like its digital and print efforts to be equal within the newsroom.

 

I've written before about News21, the Knight-funded initiative pulling together students from university newsrooms all across the country to produce innovative multimedia journalism.

The project was intended partly to produce work that can be syndicated in other newsrooms, and it is. In fact, it's being syndicated to affiliates of one of the largest media organizations in the country, Gannett. From the News21 blog:

 

The first of our weekly packages has moved on the wires of the nation's largest media company, Gannett. Nineteen Gannett TV stations and more than 90 newspapers received a budget advisory on a package of education stories Friday. By mid-December, about a dozen News21 packages will be released to Gannett's ContentOne and members who subscribe to this wire service. Next up is a collection of immigration stories.

 

Also, the project won several awards in the National Press Photographers Association's monthly multimedia contest in September. Congrats to the News21 team!

This week, a new website launched to mark a collaboration between Knight Foundation, the Salzburg Global Seminar and the Global Forum for Media Development. The Strengthening Independent Media site will include insights and strategies from a team of global media development leaders.

From the President's letter:

Through the SIM initiative we will seek to bring influential investors and innovators in the field of media development together with others who have made significant breakthroughs in related fields to set a framework for the future and act to achieve specific goals. Through scenario building, examining innovative examples, and identifying key barriers and unfolding opportunities, we also hope to set an agenda for further investigation leading to recommendations for future investment. As we proceed, we believe we can also strengthen the case for why independent media matter fundamentally in the quest to achieve economic and social advancement.

 

At the site, you'll find posts like this conversation between Jeff Jarvis - a Knight grantee and director of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism's Interactive Journalism Program - and Christopher Callahan - dean of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University. You'll also find a number of other posts highlighting the myriad approaches to building a strong independent media ecosystem.

The site is a public counterpart to a series of six in-person meetings comprising a group of media investors and innovators. The initiative also involves convening twelve Knight Fellows, a group of leading journalists from around the world.

Take a look and add the site to your bookmarks.