Guest Speaker: Marianne Giordano

October 19, 2009

Marianne Giordano is a 1977 UF graduate who is the current editor the New York Times' "The Local" blog, an experimental media outlet that focuses on intense news coverage of a small region, namely the suburbs. Before her current position, Giordano worked for several different newspaper outlets. Her first job was as a writer for the Miami Herald. She then moved to New Jersey, where she worked on and off for the New York Daily News for seven years. There, she covered all kinds of stories, from murders to the New York drug trade. She was the first woman to earn the position of bureau chief. She then gained a prominent position at Columbia University, where she not only taught, but wrote for Columbia Journal News. After Columbia, Giordano was offered an editing job for the New York Times, something she was always wary of because she had always loved being active in the field. After a short tenure as editor there, Giordano left to work for the New York Observer in the late 90s; but following the 9/11 attacks, Giordano realized she had real interest in what got covered in the news and how. She took the position and was assigned to the National Politics desk during the 2008 election. Since the last time she had been editor, the newspaper became a lot more interested in integrating their printed news with the web, so she was also put in charge of editing the NY Times' National Politics blogs. She, in turn, became very interested in this revolutionary way to present news and went into blogging full force, updating on a regular basis with election news. At one point, she had edited for a live blog that updated continually during events such as debates or caucuses. At the end of these informal articles, she would create a report summarizing the entire evolution of the event and send it off simultaneously to print and the web. Her intrigue in finding new ways to present news led up to her participation in "The Local". The paper incorporates user generated content, since citizens are encouraged to get involved in contributing news for the blog to post. The most revolutionary aspect of this type of coverage is the informal, conversational, and truthful tone that blogs are capable of conveying. People are able to comment, supplying corrections or asking for clarifications. The future of news, as Giordano sees it, is a new, more interactive journalism combining contemporary social media with old media. The purpose of "The Local" was to see if the NY Times could become more interactive with their readers, and if the paper could make a little money from selling advertisements at the same time. As of now, these local blogs are not so profitable as they are popular.