There’s plenty of work to be done on the local web. There’s a lot of potential in local / hyperlocal news. What’s the lowest-hanging fruit on the local news site? (Sure, this depends on the situation / market / tv-radio-newspaper angle, but there are plenty that are way too applicable to all)
Here’s one I see…
- Kill the cut-and-paste, and make plans to put away the shovel. Fixing workflow on the shovelware parts of news production will save hours every week — hours that could be spent synthesizing and organizing your information better. Coming up with a plan to publish the newspaper content in a non-article manner will get your newsroom thinking about ways the internet is different than the printed page.
p.s. This is the second “Question of the Quarter” here — you can read / respond to the first one, What do you wish your local online news source provided?, here.
Popularity: 39% [?]
Can I get an amen? I think that is the lowest hanging fruit indeed – but unfortunately, one of the most vested and complicated mechanisms in a newsroom. Think of the machine – geared to produce copy for the front-end publishing system, a series of steps involving print editors and proofreaders – the layout and pagination process, and the final edits.
Ah, clumsy.
Instead of advocating the improvement of the Print > Online production mechanisms, how about changing the entire production process entirely?
How about Content ___ Online
___ Print
___ SMS
___ RSS
___ Future Distribution Methods
v.s.
Content > Print Production > Magic > Online Production
Hi Laura — that’s a fine question that points at the “baby steps” vs. “overhaul it” debate, which comes down to the challenge of getting the right person / people to say “overhaul it” … and if the folk in management don’t know why RSS matters, or why what passes for newspaper web sites is not adequate…heck, then somebody oughta show ‘em.
… and you’re right about the distance that workflow fruit hangs off the ground, I put it in there because it’s got a huge n’ obvious payoff.