At a small daily newspaper where I once worked, a guy with a black briefcase took care of the “information system.”

When we couldn’t get the wire queue to work or file stories to the proper electronic desk or fire up the video display terminal — then we would call in “black briefcase guy.” He would arrive, open the case, fiddle around a few minutes and sometimes fix our problem.

Nobody really knew what was in that black briefcase or in the guy’s head or really even what the guy did. All of us knew, however, not to mess with “black briefcase guy,” or even to question him too closely. He had developed his own brand of job security.

Secrecy sometimes rules

Unfortunately, at some newspapers, variants of the same information technology model still hold today. Secrecy, unwillingness to share information, reluctance to teach others how to operate hardware and software and general neglect of technology education damage not only the “information system,” but the overall health of the organization as well.

Information, communication, conversation — isn’t some of that stuff in the mission statement? The bulk of what we do here should never fall into a need-to-know basis.

The Society of Professional Journalists’ code of ethics says “that public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy.”

So how about policy and practice at newspapers that encourage and promote enlightenment as it pertains to learning how to use the equipment? Some of that policy and practice will have to be enforced by the leadership.

The goofus syndrome

There is always some goofus out there with the “I know something that you don’t and I’m not telling” attitude that will need adjustment.

Always you will have abuse of universal Web access, e-mail and other company applications and hardware. But limits and restrictions stifle productivity far more than they prevent those abuses. There will always be folks out there with the desire to protect us from our own devices.

This well-meaning but misguided approach to technology implementation doesn’t make any sense any more, if it ever did.

The technology is easier, better, more standardized and less arcane. The knowledge base required to do the work of newspapering is mainstream.

The tools to do that work should be as well.

To encourage that, leadership must push to eliminate seams. Instead of information fragmentation, look to integration.

Guilty as charged

I am guilty as the next guy in failing to push for that integration. I have operated in environments in which we have used a different system for almost everything. We may use PCs on the business side, Macs for production, circulation managed by one application, classifieds by another, retail advertising still another.

In itself, the difference in vendors and products is not the problem. But seamless operation mandates the ability to put all those parts and pieces together.

For classified software programs, input should be as automatic as picking up the phone. Laying out the editorial product should be as intuitive as point, click and drag. Accounting should start with the account reps and travel through the building to sales management, ad dummying, billing, accounts receivable, general ledger, marketing and beyond.

For management the culprits are easily identified: duplication of effort, snags in the education process, secret practices, restrictive policies and over-complicated applications.

Once and for all, you are going to have to take out the “black briefcase guy.”

Rob Carrigan specializes in prepress systems for weekly newspapers. He is the publisher of the Ute Pass Courier in Woodland Park, the Gold Rush in Cripple Creek and the Extra in Teller County, all ASP Westward LP weeklies in Colorado. He can be reached by e-mail at RCarrigan@aol.com or rcarrigan@ccnewspapers.com.