Remember the dreaded Gannett MOJOs? You know the mobile journalists who work in their cars and write several stories a day that are read mainly by the people named in them?
Well, the Sun-Sentinel-owned Forum Publishing Group has jumped on board and put Jason Parsley, a promising journalism prospect who edited the FAU newspaper and was named Florida College Journalist of the Year, on the beat. Michael Koretzky interviews Parsley here. After first hating it, Parsley has come around. "Readers want more local news," he tells Koretzky. "Readers want shorter stories. Mojos are meant to give the readers what they want. The job description and title may change, but the idea won't. It's here to stay."
I'm not so sure. Do readers really want stories about "nature center lectures, construction projects, gas stations that closed, the reopening of a golf course, [and] the opening of a county bus station"? We'll see how long the experiment lasts and what form it takes next.
