Don’t let your news website exist in the shadow of your print edition — the right staff and an online-first philosophy can transform and reinvigorate your coverage. We’ll cover managing workflow, collaboration, frequency of publication, responsibilities and, for advisers, tracking, grading and critiquing the work

1. BUILDING
a BETTER
ONLINE
NEWSROOM
Logan Aimone School Newspapers Online
@loganaimone
slideshare.net/snosites

2. State of many college news websites:
• They’re a repository for printed stories.
• They’re where the bad stories are published.
• They’re a storage place for print PDFs.
• They’re only occasionally thought about.
• Big stories are published only after the “big reveal” in print.
• They don’t live up to their potential.
MANAGING AN
ONLINE FIRST
NEWSROOM

3. MANAGING AN
ONLINE FIRST
NEWSROOM
What if it didn’t have to be that way?
• What if you didn’t have to wait until the next issue?
• What if you needed to reach your audience instantly,
no matter where they were?
• What if your audience wasn’t just your campus?
• What if you have real news to report?
It can be different.

4. Online publication gives you opportunities:
• Breaking news and emergencies
• Developing stories
• Sports game coverage
• Movie and music reviews
• Opinions
• Multimedia
• Social Media
MANAGING AN
ONLINE FIRST
NEWSROOM

5. In the same way you must
adapt the tools to work
on the Web, you must
adapt the newsroom.
MANAGING AN
ONLINE FIRST
NEWSROOM

6. Staff members will be in
different points of the
production schedule daily.
MANAGING AN
ONLINE FIRST
NEWSROOM
And that’s OK.

7. Rethink the story cycle
• Your job is to tell the story, not to make the paper.
• You can make every day a story idea day.
• You can make every day a publication day.
• A story might take three weeks or three hours to produce.
• Plan for when big news happens outside the print schedule.
MANAGING AN
ONLINE FIRST
NEWSROOM

8. MANAGING AN
ONLINE FIRST
NEWSROOM
Take advantage of what the Web offers
• Stories can be published when they are ready —
not when the print cycle dictates.
• Content can be the length that is appropriate —
not cut or expanded to fit space.
• Storage is not an issue — lots of photos or multimedia.
• Stories can be updated or corrected easily as new information
is gathered.
• A story can be a springboard for exploration with links to
additional content and related stories.

9. Build the audience
• Establish a reputation: Be the #1 news source on your campus.
• Deliver relevant content. Timeliness makes content relevant.
• Notify readers when you’ve posted a new story.
MANAGING AN
ONLINE FIRST
NEWSROOM
• Surface new content
• Email updates/RSS
• Social media

10. MANAGING AN
ONLINE FIRST
NEWSROOM
Engage with readers via social media
• Use the social media that your audience uses.
• Write posts specifically for each social media platform.
• Time your posts for when the audience is engaged.
• Get readers to share content they like or want to promote.
• Listen to your audience.
• Find sources and story ideas on social media.

11. MANAGING AN
ONLINE FIRST
NEWSROOM
Design with the readers’ needs in mind
• Help readers identify what’s new and important.
• The story page is often the reader’s landing page.
• Contextual linking
• Embeddable elements
• Multiple photos and video
• Design and structure can vary to fit the circumstances.

12. MANAGING AN
ONLINE FIRST
NEWSROOM
Revise your leadership structures
• Online Editor-in-Chief option. A student with a title and
responsibilities equal to the print editor.
• Expanded roles option. Assignment role for managing editor
and additional coordinating for photographers/photo editors
must be expanded.
• Social media coordinator. This person supervises adoption,
policies, training and voice via social media channels.

13. Decide how a story will be covered
• Determine the best platform. Some stories are told better in
print, while others are told better online (or will appear first
online).
• Post when it’s ready. Don’t just dump content on the website
every one or two weeks.
MANAGING AN
ONLINE FIRST
NEWSROOM

14. MANAGING AN
ONLINE FIRST
NEWSROOM
Use a planning process
• Which stories will appear in print? Online? Both?
• How can online and print combine to create multimedia
coverage?
• How can you tell advance and follow-up stories using both
platforms? Live coverage?

15. MANAGING AN
ONLINE FIRST
NEWSROOM
Use Web-specific elements on story pages
• What components does a Web story need to be effective
at telling the story:
• photos
• video
• audio
• poll
• hyperlinks
• infographic
• pull quote
• related stories

16. MANAGING AN
ONLINE FIRST
NEWSROOM
Establish timelines and deadlines
• Set up an editing process that allows for students to
finish and publish work at different times, not just the
general deadline for a print issue.
• What deadlines make sense?

17. MANAGING AN
ONLINE FIRST
NEWSROOM
Decide the best workflow
• You need a tool that allows you to collaborate in real
time (Camayak or Google Docs)
• Have reporters place story in draft mode, including
headline, contextual links and pull quote suggestions.
• Once a story is edited, it can be approved and published.

18. Revise your plan for compensation
• You will likely need to shift your paradigm for compensation.
• Assignments will have many forms. How do you
accommodate this in compensation?
• What happens when students slack off, flake out or just don’t
produce?
MANAGING AN
ONLINE FIRST
NEWSROOM

19. Enjoy it
• The production cycle doesn’t have the same ebb and flow as
each printed paper, so you will need to build in time to
celebrate, evaluate, bond and grow.
• Incorporate Web milestones (analytics, hits, likes, retweets)
into the celebration list.
• Celebrate recognition: contests, awards, critique ratings
MANAGING AN
ONLINE FIRST
NEWSROOM

20. Improving the online
newsroom takes some
work and an open mind.
MANAGING AN
ONLINE FIRST
NEWSROOM

21. MANAGING AN
ONLINE FIRST
NEWSROOM
The great journalism
you produce will
look different.

22. You’re using today’s
technology and laying a
foundation for the future.
MANAGING AN
ONLINE FIRST
NEWSROOM

23. MANAGING AN
ONLINE FIRST
NEWSROOM
You’ll teach your staff
to adapt to changing
circumstances.

24. QUESTIONS? Let’s hear ’em.
• Contact us at contact@snosites.com or @schoolnewspaper
?• School Newspapers Online
MANAGING AN
ONLINE FIRST
NEWSROOM