When Newsrooms Move Newsrooms, is it About Decline or About Digital?

By: Nikki Usher | Nieman Journalism Lab

Newspapers quite literally used to create cities and their surrounding environment. For generations, most American downtowns featured an imposing edifice that housed the local daily — its newsroom and often its printing plant.

But with the decline of newspaper fortunes, newspapers are increasingly moving from their old homes — out of spaces organized for physical, industrial labor, and into smaller spaces designed specifically to create a digital-first workflow.