Highlights From Kevin Convey’s Chat

Earlier today we told you about the online chat Kevin Convey, The Editor-in-Chief at The New York Daily News, was conducting. Now that it’s over we’ve pulled some of the better questions and answers for you to enjoy (or hate, whatever).

How long will print newspapers last? Forever? Will there always be some demand for them?

I think that there will always be newspapers in some form. But I also think the old model of advertisers fully subsidizing the paper for readers is severely broken, perhaps beyond repair. So readers in all likelihood will have to pay a larger share of costs in the future.

Do journalists of the ‘internet generation’ approach the idea of story differently than older journalists? Is there a difference in their ability or willingness to be patient?

I don’t think so. I think the beating heart of every journalist is about the same. The methods change, for sure. Look at this old dog tweeting and chatting, for example. But I don’t find much of a difference among younger journalists in the patience department. Journalists in general a re a pretty impatient lot. They want to change things.

How do you respond when people say the News is just a sensationalistic tabloid?

I don’t.

How and when is it decided what will go on the cover?

It actually happens in many different ways, but the bare bones of it is as follows: From our morning or afternoon news meeting, I get a sense of what stories are hot and what pictures are good. Then I and my team try to figure out what makes a good page one presentation. Often I am scribbling away at possible headlines from noon or 2 p.m. on. By 4 or 5, things are getting serious. We sit with a page one designer who helps translate our rude scribblings into something acceptable. By six or seven, if nothing is breaking, we usually have a page to look at. And then I keep thinking about it until I go to bed, all night while I sleep, and first thing in the morning when I see it. I don’t recommend this.

How does the News differ from the Post?

Any response I give to this hot potato is going to appear self-serving at best. Still, I’ll press on: I think we’re more dedicated to coverage of the outer boros and the real lives of working men and women than the Post is. That’s the beginning of an answer at least…

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