At Journalism that Matters in St. Louis, Jim Shaffer led a discussion in which the group described the key elements of the old newsroom, and the key elements which likely need to be present in the “new news ecology.” Ecology because one premise is that the news organizations of the future may not have a physical newsroom—they will be in effect a “newsroom without walls” which are integrated into the community.
| OLD NEWSROOM | NEW NEWS ECOLOGY |
| Repository of knowledge | Many to many relationships |
| One to many deadlines | No fixed deadlines |
| Publisher owns and creates content | Public owns and creates content |
| Ad supported | Slightly ad supported |
| High cost of production and distribution | Low-cost distribution |
| Most of the cost is not journalism | Costs mostly journalism related |
| Medium specific | Multimedia |
| “Professional”, dispassionate | Passionate volunteers |
| profit driven | Mission drive |
| Editor leads | Facilitator/coordinator leads |