IS JOURNALISM DEAD? HARDLY. BUT IT’S DIFFERENT.
TODAY’S REPORTERS MUST MASTER A VARIETY OF NEW SKILLS TO CONNECT WITH READERS IN THE ONLINE UNIVERSE
BY GEOFF LARCOM T
he March 23 Facebook post captured the moment for Nathan Bomey (BS06), a business reporter for USA TODAY.
“Going with the solid M&M lunch here
at the New York Auto Show, because so far today I’ve tweeted, snapped, Facebooked, Periscoped, Instagrammed, written stories, taken photos and conducted interviews,” Bomey informed his friends and followers on the social media network. “And, well, now you support my M&M indulgence, don’t you?!” Bomey’s candy-coated snapshot spotlights
the new, 24/7, multitasking reality of journalism today for him and other reporters as they confront the intense pressure to reach their readers in the online world. It’s a trend many veteran journalists
lament. Yet Bomey, who graduated from Eastern Michigan University in 2006, echoes several other EMU alumni working in the
fi eld now—Justin Rogers, Kim Kozlowski and Katrease Staff ord—in saying that journalism isn’t dead, it’s (most days) just excitingly diff erent. “You have to be all things to all people
now,” Bomey says. “T e tools through which you do good journalism have dramatically changed. It’s extremely engaging to be able to get instant feedback on your work through social media. Journalism is always alive today, the story is never static, and you do a better job because of it.” Bomey’s had a front row seat on such
change since enrolling at EMU in 2002 and working all four of his college years for T e Eastern Echo, including a stint as a top editor. Aſt er graduating from Eastern in 2006, he enjoyed three-year runs at the Ann Arbor Business Review,
AnnArbor.com (the online successor to T e Ann Arbor News), and T e Detroit Free Press before ending up at USA TODAY last spring.
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