Online news: Plan more, scramble less

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The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, brought out the best in online news sites: Immediate updates, interactivity and a wallop of multimedia.

But as online readers raced to our sites, many were bounced to error pages. Some sites hurriedly rebuilt homepages and story templates to shed non-essential graphics and ads, resulting in Spartan but fast sites. There was a scramble to post local updates and multimedia. Some sites performed admirably; others simply looked cobbled together.

This scramble is common in online workshops. It's an adrenaline-pumping, satisfying and almost completely avoidable waste of time.

Big news happens. Yet we consistently act surprised by it.

Breaking news by nature is unpredictable. But whether the crisis is a weather-related disaster, the outbreak of war or even a terrorist attack, online news departments can prepare in advance so that they spend less time scrambling and more practicing journalism.

Here’s where to start.

Low-graphics mode: Create a low-graphics version of your front page, pertinent section fronts and story templates. Right now. Have it on standby the way you keep a spare tire in the trunk. Consider headline organization, maximum graphic size, multimedia and interactivity integration, and "other news" presentation. Time you invest in building elegant and utilitarian pages now can be spent later focusing on content.

Staffing: Create emergency staffing plans. If you have only one online content editor, you need to plan contingencies for updating the site during a crisis, if only to get you through those first critical minutes of a breaking story.

Real-time local news: Review with your newsroom editor expectations and protocols for real-time local news on your site. International events are also local events – consider local closures, airport delays and evacuations. How can you get local news faster?

Wires: Review how your company – not just your newspaper – handles national and international news. Some companies centralize wire desks for their Web sites so local editors can focus on local coverage; an example is http://www.nando.net/, which supplies all McClatchy Web sites with breaking wire news. Other companies depend on site editors in every market to select, edit, package and post wire stories. Each has its strengths and weaknesses.

Multimedia: Review current agreements for the use of video on your site, whether from the Associated Press, MSNBC or local network affiliates. Review the multimedia you're currently offering and see how you could package it better.

Bandwidth: Develop an emergency plan for bandwidth needs. Many sites become overwhelmed when traffic surges, and the result is stalled browsers and frustrated online readers. Some sites, such as http://www.signonsandiego.com/, adjust burstable bandwidth from 10 megabits to 100 megabits during crises to make sure the site loads smoothly.

Interactivity: Online readers participate in breaking news: They want to talk about it – sometimes as catharsis and sometimes to tell loved ones they’re okay, as readers of NYPost.com did after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Analyze your interactivity software and how well you integrate it into your overall coverage.

Advertising: Many sites pull advertising banners during crises to streamline their sites. Internally, ad reps may not understand the logic for doing that. Prepare them by working with them on a document detailing how, when and why you will go ad-free.

Marketing: Meet with your marketing/promotions department to discuss how to better guide print readers to the site and how your site can help guide people to tomorrow's newspaper.

Readers: Constantly review feedback and server logs to determine what readers valued and what they didn’t. What could you do better next time? Your readers may have already told you.

rusty_coats@moriresearch.com