Based on this memo, Miami Herald editor Tom Fieldler understands it is nut-cutting time in the news business:

“We are beyond being satisfied with incremental change and giving polite head nods toward other media platforms. We are going to execute fundamental restructuring to support that pledge. Every job in the newsroom — EVERY JOB — is going to be redefined to include a web responsibility and, if appropriate, radio. For news gatherers, this means posting everything we can as soon as we can. It means using the web site to its fullest potential for text, audio and video. We’ll come to appreciate that MiamiHerald.com is not an appendage of the newsroom; it’s a fundamental product of the newsroom. No more will some people be strictly newspaper staff and others will be strictly on-line or multi-media staff. If you produce news, you’ll be expected to produce it as effectively for the electronic reader or listener as you would for the newspaper reader. If you edit or design for the newspaper, you’ll learn to edit and design for the web site.”

Looking (from the outside) at our newsrooms in this regard, I would rank us at 5 or maybe 6 (out of 10). No higher. Reading Fiedler’s memo, it sounds like he sees no reason the Miami Herald can’t do “radio.” For us to ignore that challenge, we have to believe there is something so magical about what we do, that nobody else can do it as well. I don’t know. [Via BuzzMachine via Onsquared]