Not everyone is an enthusiast of journalists delivering their content to multiple media platforms.  One of Britain’s most respected print editors and journalists, Sir Max Hastings, likened the multiskilling reporter to a chef taking the order, cooking the meal and waiting on tables, reports former Press Gazette deputy editor Jon Slattery in his new journalism blog.

Hastings was delivering the James Cameron memorial lecture at City University. “If newspaper reporters and, worse still, specialist writers are … chained to a 24-hour, seven-day treadmill, servicing their organisation’s customers by land sea and air, or rather by print and blog and broadcast, devoting hours of each day to technical delivery functions, it seems as if they were being required to cook dinner in a restaurant’s kitchens, then hasten out in waiter’s aprons to serve it at table,” he said.

He’s right to a degree - there’s certainly a danger of proprietors and publishers expecting far too much of their staff, but that’s always been the case. What I’d respecfully point out is that the chef now has far more ingredients in his cupboard, allowing him (or her) to serve up tastier recipes and change the menu more often.

The key is in ensuring that the technology becomes an aid to telling the story rather than a barrier. How many chefs would want to do without their electric blender?

There’s a fuller report of Hastings’ speech here.