Sunday, February 8th, 2009...10:40 pm

Part One: What’s an online-first newsroom?

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I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about exactly what an online-first newsroom is. And I’ve come up with six points, although I don’t think that tells the whole story. So I sense another series coming on.

In today’s post, I’ll discuss six attributes that form the foundation of an online-first newsroom.  Next post, I’ll get more detailed about the specifics.

And I’ll warn you that my sense of an online-first newsroom is evolving. This post is what I think at this very instant. Next week, next month, next year, my sense of an online-first newsroom likely will be different.

That’s not flip-flopping; that’s learning. I think we need to keep an open mind as newspapers reinvent themselves. So please share your ideas and help me evolve.

Six attributes of an online-first newsroom:

Immediate: Newspapers have struggled for decades with the idea that they have the story, but they can’t tell it until the next morning (or afternoon.) So now we have the Web. Use it. Don’t wait. Don’t post on your blog “after you write your story.” Don’t drive back to the newsroom even. Use Twitter to break news as it happens and follow up with an immediate blog post, streaming live video or audio.

On multiple platforms: Don’t have most of your staff just writing for print  and a small pool of crazies blogging, social networking and using multi-media. Jackie Hai at Convergence Commons has a great list of what journalists-in-training need to know to be prepared for the job market. Do existing journalists need to know all of these, including how to podcast and edit a video and create a slide show. Someone or several people at the paper need to know, and eventually, perhaps, everyone. But don’t wait to use tools until everyone is trained. Start using them with the early innovators. Let them experiment and bring back what they learn to the rest.

Connected: Readers can’t be those annoying people who call us with dumb story ideas or to complain that they were misquoted. We need to adjust our attitude and see them not just as the customer, but as the keepers of the network we want to be part of. Instead of selling them a product, we should be selling relationships. Mikael Zackrisson at Natet puts it very well: “The readers want to be part of the meeting place we create for them under our brand, no matter if it´s in print, on the web or in a physical meeting. The advertisers want to be part of that relationship; they want a place by the fireside where the interesting stories get told.”

Interactive: Every print story should have a Web element that’s meaningful, not just thrown in because, “you, know, we need that Web thing.” Every reporter should be blogging, responding to comments on their blogs and commenting on other blogs in their niche. Every reporter should be engaged in social networking, sites such as Facebook. Every reporter should be tweeting. Journalists should be connecting with readers in every way they can think of, including e-newsletters, face-to-face chats, guest posts.

Curatorial: Our job is no longer reporting the news. It  becomes aggregating, making meaningful, providing context, explaining, grouping together, updating, all the type of things that a museum curator does as Mindy McAdams explains on Teaching Online Journalism. Or, if you prefer, think of our job as a DJ, who selects from millions of tunes which ones to spin to keep the party-goers dancing. Jeff Jarvis at BuzzMachine used that term in a post last year, citing a French blogger’s idea.

Crowdsourced: What’s that? The Knight Digital Media Center defines it as the “use of a large group of readers to report a news story.” The center’s blog offers some informative examples, such as allowing a reader-driven database of theme park accidents people had witnessed. I’d extend the definition beyond that to include letting readers blog on newspaper Web sites and letting those bloggers cover certain types of stories.  I also think crowdsourcing includes reporters culling tips from blog comments and following up on them. The concept of crowdsourcing rankles many a traditional journalist because “Oh, my, how will we know if it’s true?” Well, the way I see it, you use citizen journalists for projects that make sense, you train them and you present the story or compilation for what it is, culled by readers.  Then you relax and realize that journalism really isn’t rocket science after all. Daniel Victor offers an insightful defense of crowdsourcing that includes noting that it saves reporters’ time, engages readers and creates a better product. Who can argue with that?

– Gina

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