THIS just in, hot off the presses of Presstime, the magazine of the Newspaper Association of America:
"Traditionalist, don't read this. You won't get it.
"Calling a managing editor a news leader and the newsroom the Reader Customer Unit? What next? The electronic newspaper?
"Get over it, says Pam Fine, news leader at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. 'When I first heard [the name], I thought, "Here's a place that thinks names are important to creating a new culture." "Fine. . . took the No. 2 editorial job at the Star Tribune last April. Her objective: 'to help reinvent the newsroom and become an industry leader in thinking [about] how a newspaper can orient itself to readers and take advantage of new technology.'
"Not everyone embraces such changes. Under the new structure, the Reader Customer Unit consolidates news; reader sales and service; reader promotion and marketing; and new businesses serving readers. It's headed by Editor Tim J. McGuire, Fine's boss, who is now called the general manager.
"But Fine says, 'We've put out the newspaper in a foundry system for decades. The newsroom is the information hub, and we must provide information in a variety of ways.'
"To those who scoff at her title, she counters, 'If you rename the police beat "home security," you'll get a different orientation than just calling it "cops."
"By renaming newsroom roles, [managers] signal what's important."
This excerpt was contributed by a Reader Customer Unit Associate.