Newsrooms had changed when I went back, in some ways for the worse. But for all I disliked about internet journalism, I learned rapidly.
The internet gives instant feedback. That’s good for every writer. It can deflate and shame you, and it can teach you to reach people more effectively. It’s a harsh and effective teacher.
Newsroom competition had changed. Everyone knew who was winning, moment to moment. In our internet newsroom, big screens hung above desks like a leader board, showing exactly how many people were reading each of our articles and columns at each moment.
Newsrooms used to be noisy with voices, mostly from people talking into telephones, or talking across desks, or shouting across the room. Modern newsrooms are silent, as young reporters prefer to work online, with earbuds, or at home. You hear only clicking keys.
The jostling energy shown in old newspaper movies was real—His Girl Friday and The Paper are two of my favorites. News writing was physical, fun, and a team sport. You shot for the top of the front page like a soccer player going for a goal—for personal and team glory.
Today’s dailies don’t go out in a physical package. Now every article competes for eyes on its own. Most readers come via links on social media or other pages; even those coming from a paper’s own site are often served a customized mix based on past clicks.
That means the competition is solo. Everyone knows whose work is getting clicks and whose is dropping. Publishers have complex metrics to evaluate reporters. Those numbers help decide who gets promoted and who is laid off.
The internet decides quickly if your piece takes off or flops. That feedback has changed writing, and in some positive ways. Interesting writing is better, and interesting works online.
Take headlines.
Clicky headlines make a promise. They begin with ‘how’ or ‘why’ or a similar word that tells you what you will learn by reading the piece. Or they begin with a character and suggest a story, which is another form of promise.
Clicky headlines are direct and have conviction. That suggests the piece has something to say, which is the key to good writing.
Clicky headlines carry irony or a moral judgment. Or they promise a personal disclosure. Those qualities pull heads into conversations to learn more.
The internet quickly taught me to write better headlines. And metrics beyond clicks taught more—including pacing disclosures to hold the reader to the end (publishers know when readers quit articles).
I didn’t enjoy the internet newsroom as much, but during those years as a metro columnist I developed as a writer. The competition and the instant feedback—and the rush of going viral and reaching huge audiences—made me more conscious of readers.
In the days of print, we were writing for ourselves, our editors, and our communities as a whole, which consumed the newspaper as a single product. Now it’s one on one, and good writers psych individual readers to click.
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