by JESSEKA KADYLAK

While print publications are transitioning to the Web and making cutbacks, one may wonder where a young journalist fits into the journalism industry.

“There’s no way to get a job without technology skills,” Rachel O’Hara, 19, said. O’Hara is a sophomore photojournalism major at Ohio University and was an editorial intern at cleveland.com during the summer.

Photo provided by Rachel O’Hara.
Rachel O’Hara, 19, is a photojournalism student at Ohio University. She interned at cleveland.com during the summer.

The site reaches 1.1 million unique users per month and is always trying to reach a younger audience and make it part of their daily life, according to Denise Polverine, cleveland.com’s editor-in-chief. She said out of the 11 editors — nine of whom are full time — five are under the age of 30.

“Young journalists bring perspective to our team,” Polverine, 39, said. “They’re in touch with the audience.”

Polverine began working for the site shortly after its launch in 1996 and became editor-in-chief in 1998. She said O’Hara was one of the best interns because of her enthusiasm and willingness to share ideas.

O’Hara had many responsibilities at cleveland.com ranging from database entry to updating city guide information. While updating the guide, she thought it would be a good idea to write about the places. After suggesting it, she began authoring her own blog, where she also posted her photos.

“I didn’t feel like they thought of me as a little kid,” she said. “I was the youngest person there, but treated as another co-worker.”

O’Hara said she chose to work with the site because it works hand-in-hand with the paper, The Plain Dealer, and because her professors have mentioned that the industry is moving toward the Web.

“We hear it a lot: ‘There are some jobs, but you better start looking online because that’s where it’s headed,’ ” she said.

Ohio University now requires students to take classes that will prepare them for the changing industry, according to O’Hara.

“We need to brush up on our video skills and brush up on our writing skills,” she said. “And prepare for rejection. The more skills you go in with, the more chance you have at getting a job.”

Polverine plans on hiring two more producers in the new year. When looking for new employees, Polverine said she looks for someone who is stronger editorially because tech skills can be taught.

“My gut is to go with the journalist,” Polverine said. “But the tech skills are a bonus. News judgment and writing are harder to teach than tech skills.”

Polverine also added that technology is key to any job now, and that no matter what media a young journalist is looking to become involved in, technical skills are valuable.

At cleveland.com’s print counterpart, The Plain Dealer, fewer than 10 percent of the 305 editorial staff members are under 30, according to Jean Dubail, the assistant managing editor/online. He said The Plain Dealer had approximately 380 people on the editorial team before the buyouts that occurred last year.

“Cleveland.com’s staff is younger,” Dubail, 51, said. “The staff here probably has a different background and education and probably grew up with a strong newspaper reading habit.”

Like the staff, The Plain Dealer’s target audience is also older. Dubail did not have the exact figures, but said that the paper’s audience is older than the average for newspapers. The Plain Dealer’s daily circulation is about 360,000, and on Sunday is 400,000, said Dubail. He said that The Plain Dealer has one of the highest market penetration rates, which is the number of households that receive the paper daily.

Dubail started working closer with the Web about a year ago. He said the paper has been gradually ramping up more to the Web.

“Personally, I’m glad,” he said. “It’s nice to be a part of the business that is growing, not shrinking.”

He explained that while he may be ahead of some of The Plain Dealer staff, he is still “fairly ignorant to the Internet.”

“Up until maybe two years ago, I didn’t know much more about the Net than surfing it,” Dubail said.

He said that the technology evolves so rapidly that he has a hard time keeping up. For example, two cleveland.com staff members, Joey Morona and Colin Toke, went to The Plain Dealer offices to explain how to upload videos to blogs.

“Ninety percent of what they said was completely unknown to me,” Dubail said. “I’m in a limbo between the two worlds. I’m behind the dot com people, but way ahead of the people at the PD.”

Dubail said that print is a harder world to break into for a young journalist. He said to be considered for a position at the paper, journalists must have five years of experience at papers of different sizes.

“When I was hired, I had 10 years experience,” he said. Dubail has been at The Plain Dealer for almost 16 years.

Photo provided by Alana Munro.
Alana Munro, 23, is the associate interactive producer for cleveland.com.

If someone truly wants to be a journalist, but needs experience, he or she can always freelance or write a blog and work at a news Web site in the meantime, according to Alana Munro, cleveland.com’s associate interactive producer.

“No experience is bad experience,” Munro, 23, said. “If I didn’t have technological skills today, I’d be a couple steps behind.”

Munro said that because she is more Web-savvy, she is at an advantage in the industry, but if she worked at a newspaper the tables would be turned. She does not see The Plain Dealer’s older staff as a negative.

“Having a young edit team at cleveland.com balances the fact that The Plain Dealer is older,” Munro said. “Now we can target both a younger and older audience.”

Polverine said that young journalists bring different ideas to the table during editorial meetings. Young journalists are more involved in social networking sites and can offer useful suggestions because of that, she said.

“Alana is testing our facebook applications and is constantly coming up with new photos, blogs and interactive ideas,” Polverine said. “I let her act on all her ideas because she is really starting to know what is working, and it is how we will learn what works [or] what fails.”

People of all ages use the Internet, but according to Polverine, it might be easier for a young journalist to break into the Internet industry.

“I wouldn’t want to say that just young people are interested,” she said, “but I will say they don’t think twice about technology. They are used to it as consumers of news, and adapt easier to changes.”