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#4 – Steve Buttry, Digital First Media, Part 1

7September 13, 2012 by ItsAllJournalism
http://content.blubrry.com/itsalljournalism/IAJ-2012-09-13-007.mp3

When you talk about digital-first newsrooms, one of the first names that’ll come up is Steve Buttry’s.

Buttry is currently the director of community engagement and social media for Digital First Media newsroom at the Journal Register Company, which has daily and weekly newspapers in nearly 1,000 communities in 10 states.
Steve Buttry talks to It's All Journalism Producers Megan Cloherty and Michael O'Connell
“Clearly there’s a demand for a newspaper, but I don’t think there’s a demand for a company that’s focused on newspapers,” Buttry said, when asked about the future of journalism. “So we’re going to be a company focused on digital, and for the time being we’ll put out a newspaper too. That’s a complete change in your culture, your workflow, your thinking that we’re trying to bring about to our companies.”

That process is not without its challenges. Recently, Digital First Media’s CEO John Paton announced the Journal Register was filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy with the intent to seek a quick sale.

The announcement triggered a wave of “I-told-you-so’s” from digital doubters and concern from new media proponents.

Buttry remains upbeat about the future of Digital First Media.

“It doesn’t change the strategy and, in fact, I think we will see, after we come out of bankrupcy, that we’re very close to having the sort of operation we need to move forward,” he told It’s All Journalism. “It’s one of those ugly business necessities to get where we need to go.”

In response to the haters, Buttry added: “I hope that after we come out of the bankrupcy and have financial success that they’ll note that we were right and they were wrong.”

Buttry is also the former director of community engagement for TBD.com, a news site covering Washington, D.C. He’s been in the news business for about four decades.

He’s been a reporter, editor and writing coach for the Des Moines Register, Kansas City Star and Times, Minot Daily News and Omaha World-Herald. In 2010, Editor and Publisher magazine named him Editor of the Year for his work with the Cedar Rapids Gazette.

Buttry also blogs about media issues at The Buttry Diary.

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#5 – Steve Buttry, Digital First Media, Part 2

7 Comments (click here to leave a comment)

  1. Andrea Kenner

    September 14, 2012 at 11:21 pm

    Thought-provoking interview. I’m glad it ended on an optimistic note!

Trackbacks

  1. Podcast #5: Steve Buttry, Digital First Media, Part 2 | It's All Journalism says:
    September 21, 2012 at 8:09 pm

    […] Listen to the first part of the interview with Steve Buttry here. […]

  2. Taking Stock | It's All Journalism says:
    September 25, 2012 at 7:49 pm

    […] a couple names associated with American University in our first few podcasts. Amy Eisman and Steve Buttry were two of our instructors and Amy is the director of the IJ […]

  3. ONA’s Joshua Hatch knows how to use data visualizations and so should you | It's All Journalism says:
    January 19, 2013 at 11:48 am

    […] Steve Buttry, Digital First Media, Part 1 […]

  4. Social media expert Mandy Jenkins explains how to crowdsource breaking news | It's All Journalism says:
    February 16, 2013 at 8:06 am

    […] Steve Buttry, Digital First Media, Part 1 […]

  5. Free press shouldn’t be ‘free’ — Paid journalists are better for society | It's All Journalism - Podcast says:
    October 27, 2013 at 12:42 pm

    […] Podcast #4: Steve Buttry, Digital First Media, Part 1 […]

  6. Free press shouldn’t be ‘free’ — Paid journalists are better for society | It's All Journalism - Podcast says:
    October 27, 2013 at 7:19 pm

    […] Podcast #4: Steve Buttry, Digital First Media, Part 1 […]

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