Now that the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is taking the big plunge and going online only, it has stepped away from a peer group of newspapers that have just been dipping their toes online up to this point. Needless to say, the PI represents the great American journalism experiment on whether “traditional” news sources have a future in the new world. Unfortunately for the PI and hundreds of newspapers across the nation, they’re playing catch-up. So to help usher in this new era and make sure they do it right, here’s my list of the five highest priority items they must embrace immediately or regret they never did.
Loose the current site
Step one is the most dramatic of them all. Tuesday March 17th was the last print edition of the PI and their Web site still looked like this…
Hey this looks familiar. It's like a newspaper online. But I can't wrap things in it. What is this crazy thing?
Nothing shocking for a newspaper Web site, but that’s the problem. You’re not a newspaper anymore. The high, high, highest priority has to be to redo this site A.S.A.P. with a structure and look that more correctly resembles the current times and user standards. Now I’m not talking about Web standards, although that would be nice, I’m talking about what the rest of the Internet has whittled down to a mean, lean, form of informational sites. This means a front page that’s a fraction the size of the current. This means categories that are combined and rethought, as they are no longer dictated by a paper product. This means showcasing visual media every day, not just the exceptional news.
Date the Content
Gone are the nighttime press deadlines. Gone is the time of the night when the Web site rolls over to its new content. This is nothing short of insulting for a readership that has shouted loudly with each canceled subscription, that they will not wait for the news on your timeline. The overwhelming sense of static outdated content needs to be revised online. Currently the PI doesn’t date things very obviously. Most stories are lightly brushed with tiny timestamp on their page, nothing on the front page or sections headlines. This will not stand in an age when most of your site traffic will be coming from search results. “Timeless” content such as this just leaves users with confusion, or at the very least a sense of hesitation on the accuracy of the content.
Accurate and Current
Accurate and current should be the Seattle PI’s new mantra. For almost 150 years the PI was a paper of record, that time is over. Each “story” will never truly be done. Instead of the concept of single deadline at press time, there will now be the published date, the last edited date, and the time when it’s better to just start creating the next story. Writers can’t cringe when their story is marked with a “last edited” timestamp. They should be confidence that they are presenting the most up to date information, and embrace it with pride. Stories are to be updated as needed, and authors are to be clear to their readership when they do.
Remove the one way mirror
Loosing the megaphone that comes with a 115,000 copies of a daily newspaper is going to be a big pill to swallow for most at the PI. From publisher to advertising, all need to understand that the ivory tower is gone. But that doesn’t mean that the PI still can’t be an authority. What it means is that information is now a two way street. With new dynamic deadlines, the PI won’t always get the last word. In fact it never did. TV, the remaining newspapers, blogs, and Seattle coffee shop banter will always get the last word. However empowering the producers within your readership will strengthen your relationship and build reader loyalty. That means embracing the idea that your most prominent story at any given time of day, may not have been written by your own staff. That means, that your distribution isn’t going to be the result of the marketing department’s press releases. It means that you’ll have to exist in the world of the social web where many of your readership prefers to spend their time. This isn’t as simple as signing up for a Twitter account. The PI has to own the experience and become a part of the conversation. Anything short of genuine interaction will flag the PI as fake and phony to millions of potential readers worldwide.
Show that the machine has a soul
Allow you’re content producers to exhibit a soul. Don’t make them have personality, but let them demonstrate their own. Let them explore ideas in a human way. So many content producers in newspapers today are masked as a faceless machine that can only do wrong. Adding a human element will strengthen the readership and build loyalty. Then publish like the print you were 10 years ago – a time when print designers with less restrictions could be more creative photos and layout. Going online doesn’t mean that great design has to die with the print. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Multimedia, interactive and color everyday! Quite simply, exhibit energy.
Everyone’s watching
I’m sorry to see that so many people had to lose their job to make this transition possible, but at the same time I wanted the switch. Now up against the wall, the PI can do anything. I hope they do the right thing though. I hope they treat this as an opportunity, and not just a cost saving stop gap. They can really lead change for newspapers, publishers, readers and even advertisers.
It’s in everyone’s best interest to see the PI succeed. It’s success is vitally important. If the Seattle PI fails this little experiment under the largest microscope in the world, it will signal to the newspapers still printing that there in fact is no hope and that their days truly are numbered.
The best thing the PI can do now is shed its traditional ways and study the successes of current online ventures. In the meantime if any CEO of publisher utters the term “e-book”, I will claw up the building and rip out the globe with my bare hands. If any resemblance of the traditional print shines through, short of quality reporting, it will show, and the wolf in sheep’s clothing will be discovered.