During a panel discussion at Poynter's 2002 Journalism & Business Values conference, three news leaders shared their views about how -- and whether -- print newsrooms should merge with other media.

CONVERGENCE BREEDS STRONGER JOURNALISM
Diane McFarlin, publisher, The Sarasota Herald-Tribune

"I think convergence is grossly misunderstood. We generalize a great deal about convergence, when there are many flavors of convergence."

"All three media (The Sarasota Herald-Tribune, SNN Channel 6, and Tribune.com) reside in our building with the same management -- not taking three separate media and bringing them together. It's an approach that I don't know could necessarily be emulated anywhere else."

"For a lot of you the best option is to partner. We just forged a partnership with the Media General properties in Tampa. As soon as we started talking we realized there were some interesting convergence possibilities in that because their model is different than ours. They have three separate entities that are going to work together. We could derive some new lessons from this."

"For me, convergence is not about doing more with less, but about doing more with more. Efficiencies? That's not why we're in it. We are losing money from convergence. Don't ever expect to make a lot of money from convergence."

"But what we are doing is reaching a larger percentage of our population. We decide what is best for our readers … what is the best combination of journalists to develop this story."

"There's a suspicion that there's a formula where we've figured out how to eliminate people. We have not cut; we have continued to add and grow. There's a momentum here that I think is great for the Herald-Tribune."

"The inherent value is that you do strengthen the individual parts. The newspaper is now focused on depth because we're not as focused on breaking news as we originally were."

NEWSPAPERS NEED TO BE DIFFERENT
Sandy Rowe, editor, The Oregonian

"We're privately held and my owner (Don Newhouse) said when he hired me ten years ago, 'You know, I believe that being editor of a great newspaper is plenty complicated enough -- and yes, we will do other things -- but I want you to concentrate on being editor of a newspaper.'"

"There are trade-offs no matter what we do. We do a lot of teaching and training in our newsroom, and I can do that because I'm not off being the business manager of another entity."

"We don't talk enough about the trade-off. We try to be different from television and that's one thing that would worry me about converging. There are going to be more competitors and that's one reason why it's important for the newspaper to be different than other media."

DIFFERENCES IN CRAFT COULD THREATEN QUALITY
Andy Barnes, president and CEO, The St. Petersburg Times

"I'm sure that readers are interested in getting information in different ways and that organizations need to match the interests and desires of readers to give them what they want. I'm sure that alliances and co-ownerships are useful for promotion -- and I believe in promotion and marketing."

I'm not sure that the craft and skills are enough alike between broadcast and newspaper writing … or between newspaper and online. I don't think you're going to get the best newspaper report if someone is, in the first hour after the event, filing for a different medium."