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Jennifer Montgomery
Online producer
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chron.com -- the Houston Chronicle's Web site
Jennifer Montgomery
jennifer montgomery
Jennifer
Montgomery
local news editor
Houston
Chronicle
What
inspired you to become a journalist?
When I was in the eighth grade, my parents got it into their heads I needed
to be more well-rounded and made me sign up for a class I wasn't interested
in: journalism.
How did
you train for your current job?
I went in not knowing the difference between HTML and TWA, and I spent the first
two weeks nodding blankly. Then one of the editors went on vacation, and I had
to fill in. I learned almost everything I know in the 140 hours I worked during
those second two weeks. I'm just faster at it now.
What
are the most popular things on the Chronicle's site?
Classified ads, then comics, then the home page, which is updated throughout
the day and often looks very different than the front page of the print edition.
One of my personal favorites, though, is the http://www.chron.com/bizarre
page, a repository for all the weird stories we run across. Most never make
it into print.
How closely
do you work with the reporters and editors of the Houston Chronicle's print
edition?
We are all newsroom employees, and they feed stories to the Web site all day
long, much as they did a couple decades ago when the Houston Chronicle published
five print editions a day. I have a go-to person I talk to throughout the day
in each news department. Usually it's an assistant editor who prods reporters
to write bare-bones versions of their stories to go online as early as possible,
if it's possible, then flesh out for the next morning's print edition. I may
pester for a specific story, but some editors and reporters anticipate very
well. Occasionally when reporters are scarce in the newsroom I'll write a story
myself, and sometimes when editors are scarce a reporter will file a story directly
to me instead of to his or her editor.
Working
on a Web site means a heavy cycle of deadlines. How do you handle the pressure?
I talk to myself. Fortunately, so does the co-worker who sits next to me.
Do you
think there will always be print newspapers or will people prefer to get news
online?
For me, a cup of coffee at my computer desk in the morning just doesn't cut
it. To start elbowing aside print newspapers, online sites will have to find
ways to deliver their news to some sort of device that's as portable and readable
as a newspaper. That could be some sort of mini-notebook or souped-up Personal
Digital Assistant or a big electronic slate that you can roll up and stick under
your arm as you head for the bus stop. The wireless technology is already there
really – we can already send to a Palm Pilot – but it would have to become more
mainstream and cheaper. Still, even if print newspapers stick around for a long,
long time, they will change. As readers look online for news that's always up
to date, print newspapers may try to keep readers by becoming more like magazines,
concentrating on news with a longer shelf-life and providing more in-depth coverage,
analysis and background.
Do you
work a lot of nights and weekends?
No. After being a slave to the news cycle of the midnight press run for nearly
15 years, I think round-the-clock news is great. It means somebody has
to work civilized hours around here. Of course, somebody else has to work all
night and all weekend. I am fortunate.
What
advice do you have for aspiring journalists who want to work online?
Read a lot of good journalism, every day, in newspapers, magazines and online.
If that sounds boring, then journalism may not be for you. It's more important
to learn how to write a solid story than to write computer code. But of course
it doesn't hurt to learn how to edit photos, audio and video, and put together
your own Web page...