Online journalism strategy: Treat the entire Web as a creative canvas

Recently the Washington Post and the BBC have both drafted principles for Web journalism intended for their reporters and editors. They have been written some 5 months apart, they feel some 5 year apart. The major point in the WP's 10 principles (full list below), issued in July, is

3. We will publish most scoops and other exclusives when they are ready, which often will be online.

which suggests that somehow at the WP they are still discussing whether it's OK to break news online first. (No mention of conversation, of linking to other sources, of findability, etc)

The BBC's principles, published last February sound rather different. Consider just number 5:

5. Treat the entire web as a creative canvas: don’t restrict your creativity to your own site.

Or: use your site AND blogs, video-sharing and photo-sharing sites (YouTube and Flickr but not only), social networks (Facebook widgets etc), info channels (RSS, Twitter), etc (plus of course the traditional channels -- television broadcast in the BBC case) to spread your journalism and connect to and engage audiences, with an "s". This is probably the most aggressive, forward-looking, and correct online strategy by any media outlet I know of.

So here the full lists:

Ten Principles for Washington Post Journalism on the Web:

1. The Washington Post is an online source of local, national and international news and information. We serve local, national and international audiences on the Web.
2. We will be prepared to publish Washington Post journalism online 24/7. Web users expect to see news as it happens. If they do not find it on our site they will go elsewhere.
3. We will publish most scoops and other exclusives when they are ready, which often will be online.
4. The originality and added value of Post journalism distinguishes us on the Web. We will emphasize enterprise, analysis, criticism and investigations in our online journalism.
5. Post journalism published online has the same value as journalism published in the newspaper. We embrace chats, blogs and multimedia presentations as contributions to our journalism.
6. Accuracy, fairness and transparency are as important online as on the printed page. Post journalism in either medium should meet those standards.
7. We recognize and support the central role of opinion, personality and reader-generated content on the Web. But reporters and editors should not express personal opinions unless they would be allowed in the newspaper, such as in criticism or columns.
8. The newsroom will respond to the rhythms of the Web as ably and responsibly as we do to the rhythms of the printed newspaper. Our deadline schedules, newsroom structures and forms of journalism will evolve to meet the possibilities of the Web.
9. Newsroom employees will receive training appropriate to their roles in producing online journalism.
10. Publishing our journalism on the Web should make us more open to change what we publish in the printed newspaper. There is no meaningful division at The Post between “old media” and “new media.”

The BBC's Fifteen Web Principles:

1. Build web products that meet audience needs: anticipate needs not yet fully articulated by audiences, then meet them with products that set new standards.
2. The very best websites do one thing really, really well: do less, but execute perfectly.
3. Do not attempt to do everything yourselves: link to other high-quality sites instead. Your users will thank you. Use other people’s content and tools to enhance your site, and vice versa.
4. Fall forward, fast: make many small bets, iterate wildly, back successes, kill failures, fast.
5. Treat the entire web as a creative canvas: don’t restrict your creativity to your own site.
6. The web is a conversation. Join in: Adopt a relaxed, conversational tone. Admit your mistakes.
7. Any website is only as good as its worst page: Ensure best practice editorial processes are adopted and adhered to.
8. Make sure all your content can be linked to, forever.
9. Remember your granny won’t ever use “Second Life”: She may come online soon, with very different needs from early-adopters.
10. Maximise routes to content: Develop as many aggregations of content about people, places, topics, channels, networks & time as possible. Optimise your site to rank high in Google.
11. Consistent design and navigation needn’t mean one-size-fits-all: Users should always know they’re on one of your websites, even if they all look very different. Most importantly of all, they know they won’t ever get lost.
12. Accessibility is not an optional extra: Sites designed that way from the ground up work better for all users
13. Let people paste your content on the walls of their virtual homes: Encourage users to take nuggets of content away with them, with links back to your site
14. Link to discussions on the web, don’t host them: Only host web-based discussions where there is a clear rationale
15. Personalisation should be unobtrusive, elegant and transparent: After all, it’s your users’ data. Best respect it.

Comments

[daniel]

hi, Bruno, how are you?

I think the BBC's principles are fantastic & I'd like to see them follow them much more closely! They are streets ahead of some in thinking, but it feels like they're not so far forward in execution.

It's interesting that a couple of their principles are "nicked from Google", as Google seems to be creeping ahead in its thinking. For example the new Google News "comment on news that mentions you" strategy is really interesting. The BBC's principle says "The Web is a conversation. Join in." whereas the Google strategy gets closer to "The Web is a conversation. Let the subjects of the conversation join in."

There's a nice opportunity out there for to magazines/publishers to become "the people's news hubs" - places where news is shared, not just to read it. Places where the writers are participants & onlookers, rather than just 'reporters'.

Or is that just topical forums?

Interesting to see where all of this is going, and whether the BBC can fulfill its potential!

Thanks for the thought-provoking post,

daniel

[Marc Duchesne]

There we see the difference between a traditional media in an industry that works on fixed schedules - the Washington Post & the news papers/magazines - and a media used to constant innovation to keep its audience up.
Plus, the Brits are well known for creativity, when it's about finding ways to dominate a new market ;-)