New York Times Foreign Editor Greg Winter Discusses the New York Times and International News in the Digital Age

Gregory Winter, MJ '00, editor on the Foreign Desk of the New York Times.

Presented by The Graduate School of Journalism

Have newspapers lost their way in the rush of information charging onto the Internet, or have they become faster, more nimble and more relevant?

At big news organizations like the New York Times, the Web has completely changed the way we operate. Only a few years ago, we would have all day to pull a story together, making it as close to perfect as possible before presenting it to our readers. 

Now, with the instant dissemination of news via the Internet, we frequently produce three or four versions of the same story before the day is done. On some big, rolling stories, we will have dozens upon dozens of updates and changes throughout the day, if not total rewrites, almost as if the story is a living organism that evolves in front of readers' eyes.   

In essence, we now find ourselves in a head-to-head competition with the wires, and are expected not only to beat them at their game (speed) but also at ours (comprehensiveness and analysis).

Is it possible to do both without sacrificing the essentials, like accuracy and insight. Are newspapers simply too slow to function like wire services, and even if they can replicate that function, should they? To what extent are outside considerations, like readers' insatiable thirst for newness, driving decisions? And where does that leave journalism?

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