A senior editor at the Austin Chronicle spoke to a group of St. Edward’s University students regarding the alternative news business as it adapts to the online medium, and his experiences in it on Thursday.
Michael King joined the Austin Chronicle in 2000 after leaving Texas Monthly. He spoke of the challenges and opportunities arising with the transition to the Internet, both at the Chronicle and in journalism more broadly.
“The difference in the last ten years is the explosion of online journalism,” King said.
The problem is figuring out how to make money off of online journalism. With print readerships dropping, everyone is trying to be a part of the new platform for journalism.
“Like everybody, I’m wondering what is going to happen,” King said. “Can you make a living doing it, I don’t know.”
King described the effects a struggling economy and the rise of the Internet are having on journalism and the Chronicle.
“I haven’t had a freelance budget at all in over a year because revenue’s go down and expenses go up,” King said.
Certain things are simply not possible anymore with the changing landscape. He explained that he has to prioritize coverage based on his staff and available funds. Blogging is an example of the situation, he said, as it basically forgoes any real reporting because it costs money and offers mostly just opinion.
“My mandate is to do the best I can, covering the whole city with seven writers,” King said.
At the Chronicle, the online version offers breaking news and the majority of the sports coverage, because there isn’t the money or the staff to cover it in print.
“More and more there is the expectation of new stuff all the time,” King said.
He described the online version of the Chronicle, and online journalism in general, as fast, disappearing, and not financially self-sufficient. He sees it as a vortex of information that nobody comprehends.
“The online coverage is more freewheeling, less edited and more off the cuff,” King said. “Online coverage is more insider oriented.”
While the online version offers more freedom in reporting and writing, King is a traditionalist.
“I’m old school,” King said. “I’d much rather get it right than get it fast. You take risks online that you wouldn’t take in print. It’s part of an attempt to do things on the edge.”
While King portrays a somewhat pessimistic and resistant view of the evolution to online, he remains confident in journalism more generally.
“Journalism will survive whether the objects from which we read it survive,” King said.
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