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Most news websites hold a morning news meeting when the prospects for the day are discussed. If the website is part of a larger news operation, the stories being covered for other outlets will be considered. The morning news meeting is of crucial important.
This is where the duty editor takes control of events, organises his or her resources, sets out what is required, gives a clear outline of what the site is going to look like as the day progresses, and listens to his or her team members.
Copies of the news diary will usually be available along with the forward planning prospects, the running orders of any TV or radio bulletin material, and a hand-over note from the outgoing duty editor. There should also be a pile of the daily newspapers and weekly magazines. A large white board is also useful.
If the site has sections, such as news, business, technology, environment, sport etc, the people responsible for those sections should also be present. They will have done their own reading-in, digging around, viewing, listening, and thinking.
The duty editor should give them a chance to express their take on the day and what is important in their particular areas of coverage. By bringing together these elements, the duty editor will have a better idea of the material that is likely to appear deeper in the site. She or he can then start to think about how this is displayed via the front page of the site.
Another crucial member of the morning meeting is a representative from the design team. Their job will be to create graphics to illustrate stories. These might be graphics to sit inside a story to illustrate a point, or they might be promotion graphics for the front page to draw attention to an issue being covered deeper in the site. Graphics need to be ordered as early as possible and they need to sit well alongside the other elements on the page. A representative from the design team needs to hear all the editorial discussion.
The handover notes, prospects, and planning notes will usually give the duty editor details of what resources are being committed to what issues. This will help set out what material will be available during the day for exploitation on the web.
A duty editor must ensure that those resources are tapped into rather than commit fresh resources to uncovering, checking, and delivering the same facts. There is no point committing valuable journalistic effort to repeat calls and carry out research already undertaken by another paid member of your news organisation’s staff.
The duty editor might give the journalist the task of adding to the information already gathered and presenting it in an online form, but she or he must never ignore the existing news-gathering efforts of the organisation and go alone. Doing so will lead to duplication, wasted effort and a lack of consistency in the presentation of the editorial message and news brand.
The interactive team has an important part to play in the morning meeting. They might choose to speak last, after they have heard all the ideas being floated around. It is important that the interactive teams only offer talking points, votes, and polls on issues being covered on the site. Usually this is a team decision.
It is in everybody’s interest to run interactive features that can feed off news items and which can cross-promote those items through the site and on other platforms.
Similarly, the multimedia team will have a representative at the news meeting. They need to hear what stories are being written and ensure that any audio and video illustrating those stories is made available. They will also have responsibility to listen to the tone of the news meeting and suggest what picture galleries might be appropriate.
Remember, the users of your news website might not use the other platforms your news organisation’s information is delivered on. They might not watch TV, listen to the radio, or buy the newspaper. Your presentation of their daily intake of news might be the only contact they have with your news brand. Don't assume they have already seen the news elsewhere. All your editorial choices for the news day need to be taken with that in mind.
Many will also expect you to filter through the hundreds of news stories being covered around the world, pick the most important 10-20 stories, and present them in a way that makes sense to their lives.
Next module: Setting news priorities
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