March 23, 2009
Coming soon: Online Only Newspapers
Two years ago I proclaimed to a skeptical newsroom that within five years, the main source of news to our readers would be the web, not the newspaper. Not surprisingly, most of the newsroom thought I was crazy.
Fast forward two years. Last week the Seattle Post Intelligencer printed its last paper and became the first major metro daily to switch to online only.
The Rocky Mountain News shut down, and has announced if they can get enough subscribers for an online only newspaper, they will produce one.
And just today, the Ann Arbor News announced it will become online only in July.
I've had several people who were present two years ago remind me of my comments, and said they didn't believe me at the time, but now it looks like I was only off on my timing.
It won't be long before we all get the majority of our news from the web, and if there is a newspaper printed, it will be very small and its purpose will be to advertise the paper's web content.
Also coming soon- the end of free news online. Some parts will be free, but you will have to pay to access most of the site.
There was a time when getting your money out of ATMs was free, but no longer.
And to all the people who say they will just get their news elsewhere? Try finding an ATM that doesn't charge a fee.
Where will Google get all their news stories if they can't get stories from newspapers?
Just something to think about, and remember, you heard it here first.
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March 22, 2008
Online ordering of photo reprints
See a photo in the Connecticut Post or ConnPost.com that you would like to get a copy of?
We now have online ordering of all the photos- just click the photo link- (Photo Gallery).
Download file
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March 8, 2008
Post your events in our online calendar
Did you know that we now have a calendar where you can submit your events to be published on our web site for everyone to see?
You can post events, search for everything that is happening in the area, get maps to locations, and even post reviews of events that you have attended.
Just click the add event link, and fill out all the fields and get your events listed. No event is too minor, and there is no fee.
So start posting.
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February 23, 2008
The value of anonymous posts
We had a spirited meeting in the last week about our policy of allowing anonymous posts to articles on ConnPost.com.
Do we value anonymous posts? Would requiring people to register stop some of the venomous posts that some people continue to leave on our site? Will some of our readers become so disgusted with some of the comments being left they will stop reading the Connecticut Post altogether? Should comments be reviewed before they are posted?
These were some of the questions being debated.
Traditionally, newspapers do not value anonymous comments. If you aren't willing to attach your name to a statement, that statement doesn't have any credibility. Generally, readers don't like to see stories with information from anonymous sources, so what has changed where we would allow anonymous comments on ConnPost.com?
The web has changed everything.
Not long ago, when I wanted to trade in a camera for a new model, I would take it to my local camera shop where they would offer me practically nothing. Since it was better than nothing at all, and let's face it, I didn't have any other choice, I would be forced to accept their offer.
Fast forward to the internet age, and the birth of Ebay. Now, I can sell it on Ebay and get market prices for it. No longer do I have to own a camera shop to be able to sell my equipment.
Years ago, if I wanted to find out what was going on with my local high school football team, I had to buy the local paper, and hope they covered my school, since they were the only game in town.
Fast forward to today, if the local paper doesn't cover my team, I can probably find a local blog that covers them, (like the FCIAC blog, or Birdseye Sports here in Fairfield County), or you might even get all the information you need from the students themselves on their own blog. My point is the newspaper is no longer the only game in town.
The time when the owner of the printing press gets to decide what the community is told is over. The web allows everyone to create their own virtual printing press.
No longer do you have to send your letter to the editor to the local paper and hope the editor who received it values your opinion enough to put it in the paper. If the paper doesn't want to print your letter, you can post it on one of thousands of web sites that want to hear what you have to say or you can create your own blog and start your own discussion.
The rules have changed, thanks to the technology. Clearly, you want to express your opinion, unfiltered by us. So do we allow you to comment? Or do we tell you we don't value anonymous comments and send you elsewhere.
We do have the ability to prevent you from commenting on our stories, but should we? Are we telling our readers we don't want to hear what you have to say, we only want you to read what we decide is relevant?
Many newspapers ignored the web for many years, and are now scrambling to catch up. I sure hope we don't make more mistakes by telling readers we don't value their opinions and we end up sending them to sites that do want to hear what you have to say.
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September 24, 2007
Let them speak!
What single issue brings the most problems for newspaper Web sites?
Commenting on articles.
There is a lot of debate on whether it is appropriate to let the public post their comments on articles.
As you might expect, the overwhelming majority of the time, the comments are negative. People like to write about their outrage over just about everything, and then we start getting emails from people saying we need to remove lots of comments or turn them off altogether.
For the record, we remove a tiny fraction of posted comments.
The controversy over the Iranian President Ahmadinejad speaking at Columbia University points out again, there are a lot of people that want to silence those who have different views than their own.
Whether you agree with Ahmadinejad's views or not, he is the leader of Iran and we should be engaged in a dialog with him, not trying to silence him.
How can we deal with people if we don't understand their views? and how can we understand where they are coming from if we never let them speak?
If you don't agree with what someone has to say, engage them... post your own comment showing how wrong they are, or what a ridiculous argument they are making, but don't argue they shouldn't be able to express their views.
It seems to me, silencing people is never the proper approach.
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September 22, 2007
Newspapers now adding video
The web has given newspapers the ability to provide video reports that until recently, were offered by TV.
The problem- we don't know how to do it yet!
Shooting video is a whole new experience, one we haven't learned yet. We know how to write, we know how to edit, we know how to photograph events, we know how to gather information, but we don't know how to provide video.
Who do we assign video assignments to? our photographers? our reporters? This is the latest issue we are struggling with.
Then, once the video is shot, who will edit it? Most of the time, so far, when someone comes back from shooting video at an assignment, they come over and hand me the video camera and say "Here is the video from ...", and someone must edit it and then get it onto our site.
We now have tools at our disposal we never had before. They offer exciting possibilities, but there is a learning curve that we have just started to climb.
For now, you can see the videos we have so far in our new video player. I suspect when we look back at some of these early videos, we will be surprised at how primitive they were.
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September 13, 2007
Busy week
Wow. It's been quite a week. I finally feel like I am caught up for a while.
We had re-create our election page for the primary election on Tuesday, we launched a brand new page devoted to all things Fairfield, set up the football page with the new stuff for the '07 season, and added a brand new video player to the site.
We also set up new blogs for some of our sports reporters: Sports of all Sorts, UConn, (for football and men's basketball) and UConn women basketball.
Tomorrow, (Friday), kicks off the 07 football season, so we got everything done just in time. Football season keeps us very busy, so hope you will visit our football page and tell us what you think. And don't forget to check out Sean Patrick Bowley's podcast, which returns. By the way, his podcast is now available on iTunes, so sign up to subscribe so you won't miss an edition!
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September 1, 2007
End of year 1
I became Online Editor at the Connecticut Post a little over 1 year ago.
We have made many changes during the past year and the numbers are in- the number of people coming to our site has doubled. I hope that means you like the changes that we have been making.
Rest assured, we aren't done. This web site is a work in progress. We continue to look at ways of improving how we manage the site, and features that will improve your experience when you do visit.
Suggestions are welcome. Tell us what you think we should do to make ConnPost.com better and you just might see it in the future. We are just an email away.
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Are you ready for some football?
Football season is right around the corner.
Friday night football games begin in 2 weeks. Our crack football reporter Sean Patrick Bowley is already hitting the sidelines and checking in with all the different schools as he does his homework for the 2007 season.
We sent him out with a little video camera and he has been posting some interviews on the High School Sports blog. You should check them out and leave him your own thoughts on the new season.
He assures me he is gathering the info he needs for the return of his podcast, which by the way, is now available on Apples iTunes. Just search for Sean Patrick Bowley and subscribe to his podcast so you don't miss any of them.
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August 27, 2007
How do I.....?
You wouldn't believe how many times a day I am asked "How do I...?"
Well, Tomorrow, (and every Tuesday afternoon for the foreseeable future), I am going to try and provide the answers as I start weekly web training sessions.
No questions will be turned away.
The questions I expect to get tomorrow are, "How do I post a story on the web site?, and How do I get a photo on the site?". I could get some questions about how to edit a story, how to delete an inappropriate comment, how to set up a blog, or maybe how to get a story onto another page?
Well, it should be interesting.
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