Read a Q&A with Jim Roberts, the digital news editor of The New York Times.

The best of the best:

In the old days, reporters would spend the bulk of their days gathering information, doing research, interviewing sources and then in the mid-to-late-afternoon sit down and hammer out 900 words for the next day’s paper.

That is so 1996.

These days, reporters are often asked to file articles to the Web shortly after news events take place.

On some breaking stories, like an important vote in Congress, we strive for an extremely quick turnaround. In the competitive news environment, minutes often count.

And sometimes we rely on news agencies like The Associated Press to handle the first few minutes of response on a breaking news story.

But on big stories, we do expect our reporters to respond as well.

To help our reporters manage the demands, The Times has a small staff of reporters and editors dedicated to online news.

Known as the Continuous News Desk, these reporters and editors help update stories that have appeared in the print edition.

In many cases, they also do the initial reporting on breaking news and sometimes collaborate with beat reporters or national and foreign correspondents who are covering events in the field.