Austin-American Statesman/Austin 8 News Tours

First of all I would like to extend my gratitude to Mr. Carl Settles and the people behind the scenes who put these tours together for journalism students like me.

Each of the tours I attended gave me new insight into the journalism field but The Austin American Statesman tour in particular gave me a sense of joy as I got to see professionals of my craft interact in their own spheres of existence.

I found that many of the tools they used to create The Statesman were the very same ones we use on our school paper.

A similarity that I found on both tours was the degree of flexibility and versatility of the two media outlets. They've progressed to a point where they realize they can't specialize in simply the television or the newspaper and expect to stay afloat, but they must diversify because of the availability of information due to technological advancements.

There is a new breed of journalism on the rise. For example news stations like Austin 8 news have reporters who are jacks of all trades they find, film, and edit their own stories in some situations.

Papers like the Statesman are embracing the web and integrating it along with their publication in order to stay relevant.

In conclusion I find all these developments quite interesting and I'm curious to see what is next to come.