Vol. 5, No. 10, October 1994

Basic publishing

The new fundamentals: programming, pagination, software, seminars

DT Page Speed: A screen shot of the front page of the business section at the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Recent message traffic on the 'Net (only those with more than 20 minutes' experience may use the diminutive) has brought up the issue of the basic skills necessary to be a journalist today.

The argument is that 20 years ago, a reporter or editor needed only to be able to dial a phone, type with two fingers and display a rudimentary knowledge of grammar.

Today, apparently, the skill set includes much more -- from a thorough knowledge of Quark XPress to how to field-strip a telephone to attach a modem line.

This Internet discussion caused me to realize (once again) that we must fundamentally change the way we think about technology, journalism and publishing. What were once thought of as exotic skills must now be considered basic.

Witness:

At the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nevada’s largest-circulation daily, editors are having to learn as much as they possibly can about Digital Technology International’s front-end and pagination system -- for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that DT is just venturing into the large-newspaper market. R-J editors told Senior Editor Pete Wetmore that they're teaching DT about the needs of larger dailies even as DT is teaching them about the system.

Inside, Wetmore takes a long, hard look at the Macintosh-based DT system and the installation progress at the R-J, the flagship paper in the Donrey chain.

At the Waterbury Republican-American in Connecticut, reporters and editors are writing their own programs in Microsoft’s Visual Basic. Frequent contributor Christopher J. Feola, an editor at the paper, gives us a rundown on how complex tasks can be simplified with the power of Visual Basic’s programming language.

Simplified tasks, of course, mean better newsroom productivity, which translates to more and better news stories.

At the Associated Press, Knight-Ridder/Tribune and other graphics suppliers, art and computer executives are making a difficult decision: whether to migrate to the next generation of FreeHand, the ubiquitous drawing software, or to move to its largest competitor, Adobe Illustrator.

Complicating the process is the fact that FreeHand, previously marketed by desktop publishing pioneer Aldus (which last month merged with Adobe), will now revert to being sold and supported by its creator, Altsys Corp.

Inside, Val Cohen of the Orange County Register in Southern California details both the technical and business issues involved, and neatly outlines the shortcomings of the newest version of FreeHand. He also discusses the changes Altsys plans to make in the face of complaints from the publishing industry.

At every paper in the country, a decision has to be made about what resources should be expended to attend seminars and trade shows. Wandering the trade show floor of Seybold San Francisco, I encountered dozens -- if not hundreds -- of newspaper executives who were soaking up the information the 250 exhibiting suppliers were providing.

Inside, Correspondent George Powell of the San Francisco Examiner gives us the highlights of the trade show along with his observations that stem from a Seybold session on the integration issues of Quark Publishing System.

Yes, the basics of publishing have changed. But to remain a healthy industry well into the 21st century, change is mandatory.

Too bad ours is an industry long steeped in just perking along with the status quo.

-- David M. Cole

Also inside:Hellbox

Basic publishing

The new fundamentals: programming, pagination, software, seminars

From THE COLE PAPERS, October 1994, Copyright (c) 1994, All Rights Reserved.