When Joel Sucherman, graduated from Illinois in 1986 he probably didn’t think he would be the Director of Product Innovation for one of the highest circulated newspapers in America.

            On Feb, 26, 2008 he left his USA Today office and came to share some insights with George Mason University communication students.

            Sucherman mentioned the undeniable shift in the way people are consuming news, and the way that news is being offered.

            He realizes modern audiences “want to consume news in an interactive way.” And that news is “no longer a monolithic news organization” that dictates to audiences what news is, but rather an interactive platform which helps journalists because they can hear what their audience thinks and adapt their news to them easier.

            Sucherman also mentioned that this is the most “exciting time to be in journalism” and although the field is dramatically changing platforms it is still about story telling.

            “Your tools change but the core journalism is still the same,” he said. Talking about the change in journalism he said, “it hasn’t changed much, its just its representation in 2008.”

            Ronnel Cristobel, a George Mason student asked a very important question.

            “Do you think that USA Today makes up for its print losses through online advertising?” Cristobel asked.

            Sucherman labeled that the million dollar question before answering it saying that “revenue online is no where near print losses.”

            Sucherman said that his newspaper is not afraid of putting “Britney Spears on the front page” because it’s all about “advertising” and with any business it’s “all financial.