The Expanding Role of the Journalist Proposal

Paper instructions:
The Expanding Role of the Journalist Proposal

Scenario: Initially created with little to differentiate it from its print counterpart, the website for The Jamesville Times remains tied to a standard-delivery template lacking integration of social media and new technology tools. As a new journalist at The Jamesville Times, you are drafting a proposal to the editor-in-chief to renovate the newspaper’s web presence that includes staff use of social media tools.

Write a 700- to 1,050-word proposal to the editor-in-chief that calls for renovating The Jamesville Times’ web presence in the context of building and promoting readership.

Include the following:

•    An introduction discussing how notable practitioners in the field have approached and changed the roles of the journalist, resulting in improved journalism

•    A discussion of what aspects of the traditional roles of writers and reporters that staff are doing should remain unchanged

•    An overview of the role social media and new technology tools should now play in The Jamesville Times, and why a renovation should be implemented

•    How the use of these tools expands on the traditional roles of the journalist

•    New skills all staff journalists should now acquire, and why

•    How the renovation will build readership