Info Highway No News Speedway

By: Howard I. Finberg It has always been difficult for journalists to balance time versus accuracy when it comes to breaking news. Lots of us say that we would rather be right than first. Accuracy, after all, is a hallmark of good journalism. But then there are those pesky deadlines that get in the way of our lofty ideals.

There are a lot of stories we rush to publish when we wish we had a little more time to contact one more source; time to confirm one more piece of information; time to do one more writethru. We all weigh the consequences of our coverage with the issues of the fluidity of breaking news.

The printing and distribution needs of newspapers cut into valuable time to get things right and keep them timely. Wire services and broadcasters juggle the challenges of reporting on the fly as events are in progress. And then there's the Internet.

Our publishing world has changed: Each newspaper with an online site has multiple missions. Sometimes, when big news breaks, the local newspaper site can provide the latest information. Recent events have seen the Web's big boys -- ABCNews.com, CNN.com, The New York Times on the Web -- slow down or clog up when too many visitors hit at the same time.

But many print journalists don't know what to make of online publishing. Its deadlines are neither fish nor fowl. Online publishing has broadcast's immediacy, but its words and pictures, like those in newspapers, can linger on PC screens long after a breaking story has been updated.

Online news is truly a new and evolving form of publishing. While we struggle to make our coverage both accurate and timely, our Internet customers are developing their own expectations of what they want from a publishing medium that offers "news on demand."

The Online News Association will soon be releasing its "Digital Journalism Credibility" study that asked the online public what it expects from digital news. When it comes to ranking the credibility of a Web news site, the online public said timely information was the most important factor. However, when it comes to rating the credibility of a Web news story, the online public ranked accuracy, completeness, and fairness as the most important factors. So, like the journalists, they want it both ways.

Many online editors are struggling with increased urgency to "publish now," especially in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the anthrax scare. According to the Pew Research Center for People and the Press (http://www.people-press.org), two-thirds of the public are now more generally interested in news than before the attacks. And 13% of them are using the Internet as their primary source for news about the war on terrorism.

What are the challenges then for newspaper companies publishing both in print and online? Probably the same three issues that have been bewitching publishers for decades:

* People. Do your reporters and editors understand the two media they work in and the customers they are serving?

* Process. When was the last time you looked at how news copy flowed? Or examined deadlines?

* Technology. Are you losing valuable time to get things right because your print publishing machines aren't linked to your online publishing systems?

Listen to the publishing roadblocks that one online editor related to me: "Our systems don't 'talk' to each other ... unless we develop our own Web-based tools to bridge the gap. We have to do lots of dual publishing, often entering the same text, photos, video, etc., multiple times. No one in our print or broadcast newsrooms can update online, so during off-hours, all-staff meetings, etc., we are only as fast as it takes to reach someone."

Still there are many online editors who are proud of the systems and methods they have developed to publish new content on their Web sites. But those efforts are more about the need to solve an online-technology problem than to create an integrated newsroom solution.

When publishing-system vendors introduced us to the concept of "author once, publish many places," the commonly held belief was that we did not need to worry about ways to break publishing speed barriers. Rather, we wanted tools that would organize the data. We were still focusing on the print-centric world.

Today we need systems that not only facilitate the "instant publishing" online sites demand but also manage the core economic engine -- the printed newspaper and all its ink-on-paper products. It will be interesting to see whether our suppliers understand the importance of this new facet of publishing and whether they will show us their solutions at next year's expos.

One problem, however, cannot be fixed with technology: changing the culture in the newsroom. Here's what one online editor told me: "The biggest challenge is convincing the reporters that breaking news takes a higher priority than lunch with a friend or a workout at the gym. The around-the-clock publishing cycle still is a difficult concept to communicate and enforce." Amen.