Newsroom Innovation

A multimedia report from the Nieman Journalism Labs offers an inside look at five innovative newsrooms, all experimenting with novel approaches to getting the news out.

* Two are associated with traditional newspapers, one national and one regional: the Daily Telegraph and the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington.

* Two are new media enterprises: Talking Points Memo, a souped-up blog that recently won a prestigious award for investigative reporting, and the edgy, gossipy New York City-based Gawker. Both these newsrooms feature an open layout with reporters working at long tables.

* The last is the brand new Valley Independent Sentinel, a hyperlocal, online-only news startup in Connecticut launched just this month with funds from the Knight Foundation.

Other ideas can be found at the Next Newsroom Project's website, a place for sharing information and ideas about "building the ideal newsroom for the next 50 years."