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The first module in this online journalism series , starting in online journalism, dealt with the basics of how to create news content for the Web. This module deals with how to manage that content online.
In this module we examine how a news website should be managed, how the front page should be built, how to keep control of the various subsections, how to update a site, the best use of links, the building of special sections, and the use of audio, video, and interactivity.
After completing this module, a senior online journalist will understand the basic skills needed to manage a news website. The basics  There is usually one person in each online newsroom with responsibility for managing the site.
This person controls what appears on the front page and how it is laid out. They decide what stories should be covered, what features should be written, what talking points and votes should be created, and what audio and video will be featured.
Depending on the content management system (CMS) being used by the news organisation, this person could also be responsible for selecting which images appear on the front page. The person responsible for the site’s editorial content has enormous responsibility. S/he decides what stories the users see.
The presentation of the stories they select carries with it the reputation of the news brand. A shabby, unfocused, mistake-strewn site will reflect badly on the news organisation.
Errors in presentation, ambiguous headlines, badly captioned images, the juxtaposition of conflicting messages can and will often be saved and stored as a record of major mistakes.
There is no use taking the view that you can always correct your errors. You can, but a damaging screen grab might already have been taken. You need to do your job aware that every word you write and every decision you make is reflected online forever.
In a small newsroom, this responsibility is sometimes shared between the journalists writing for the site. In a large news operation, there will often be one person, or shift of people, who perform this function.
Some of the titles used to describe this role include duty editor, day editor, and chief sub. For the sake of this module, let’s call this person the duty editor.
The duty editor’s job is to ensure that the news is covered properly, that it is delivered on time, and that it is created to the standards set out in the editorial guidelines of the news organisation. They also decide what the user will or will not see.  Think of it like a shop window.
The duty editor is like a shopkeeper who sets up a display in order to attract customers. If the items are hidden, or badly displayed, the customer might miss them. In a way, a news website is similar.
The duty editor, who acts like a shopkeeper of information, sets out the stall. If an item is not on display, or is displayed badly, the user has to ask if it is there by turning to the site’s search engine. Remember, users will be clicking on the website expecting to see what their trusted news organisation has to say on an issue.
The person who controls that information carries a huge responsibility, not only for representing the brand properly, but also in delivering what matters to the user. Unfinished business Like all 24-hour news products, online journalism has no beginning and no end. Newspapers and magazines have editions, traditional radio and TV stations have news bulletins and news programmes, but 24-hour news operations, be they on-air, or online, just keep rolling along.
If you work for a print operation with an online presence, you will need to understand that although the print version of your news is updated once a day, the website can be updated 24-hours a day, seven days a week.
It will be an editorial strategy decision, taken by senior managers, as to whether the news website follows the lead of the print run, or whether it has updates and sets its own deadlines more appropriate for the online audience.
Even if your organisation decides that you should not update as frequently as a broadcast organisation’s website, you will still need to take care in your use of times, dates, and references to ‘today’, ‘tomorrow’, and ‘next week’. It can confuse users if you use terms that work for your schedules, but are meaningless to theirs.
Taking the broadcasting model, a news website duty editor will never have to build a site from scratch. She or he will arrive for a shift with a site already built and with live, on-going stories being continually refreshed and updated.
Stories will have been commissioned, journalists will be working on features, interactive staff might be building components such as talking points, votes, and polls, and the multimedia staff might be cutting images, and encoding audio and video.
The duty editor inherits a product, and herein lies one of the first dangers. Unless the duty editor is absolutely clear about his or her motives, massive damage can be done to the news brand at this stage.
The duty editor’s role is to deliver content to the user in the most efficient, effective, and elegant manner. They are not there to play with content. Their role is not to change things for change sake. They are there to present the news properly.
There is real danger that a change in shift could lead to a change in the presentation of the news site before that change is really needed. There is also a danger that change for change sake could result in an inferior display of news compared to the version of the site left by the previous duty editor.
Most newsrooms allow a reading-in period when the incoming duty editor can catch up on what has been happening, what is likely to happen, and what is currently being created. It is also a good idea for the duty editor to keep readinig his or her own site.
There have been cases of stories (already written and published online), being updated again by a new shift, simply because the duty editor was not fully aware of all the stories on the site.
It is also important for the duty editor to read the sites of the opposition news organisations. They should also watch TV and listen to the radio of both their own news operation and any opposition broadcasters. The duty editor needs to know what is happening, what has happened, what has been covered, and what still needs to be covered.
Remember, the user should never notice there has been a change of shift. The user should only feel better informed as the day goes on. Managing the front page As explained earlier, the duty editor will never inherit an empty site. The previous duty editor will have left all the sections and the front page populated with news. The duty editor taking over responsibility for the site needs to decide when it needs updating.
There will usually be a handover when you will be informed about the stories being worked on and what can be expected over the first few hours of your shift.
Knowing your audience, and what the site statistics say about the users’ visiting habits, will help inform your decisions about when to update and when not to update. If, for example, the peak viewing periods are 11:30 to 14:00, and 18:00 to 20:00, you might want to aim for a major update of the site for 11:00 and 17:00.
You might want to make smaller changes between those times, but it is worth focusing your efforts on the times when you have the biggest audience. You certainly shouldn’t work for a major update of the site when all the users have logged off.
However, at the same time, you cannot and should not hold back the flow of news. Breaking news and updates will happen 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Knowing your audiences’ viewing habits can help you decide where best to focus your editorial efforts.
Updates are important. They need to show that something significant has happened. There is no point in changing the look of a site if there have been no meaningful developments. You can make small changes to the appearance of the site, but you must not pretend that the content has changed by making cosmetic alterations. If a user is attracted by a new headline and image but finds that the main substance of the story has not changed, they might feel let down. You have misled them into thinking the story has moved on; when in fact you have cheated them into clicking on something they have already read.
Think carefully before you drop a story featured on the front page or a section index page. These are the most visible areas of your site’s editorial real estate. If the story is not featured here, the chances are it won’t attract the views it would otherwise. Story shelf life Consider how much a story costs in terms of time, effort, and resources before deciding to relegate it to a headline link in the ‘other news’ section. Your job is to manage the content intelligently, both in terms of its editorial impact, and also in terms of its cost and benefit to your news organisation.
Similarly, it will be your call what stories your team of journalists will be investing their time and effort producing. When making this decision, you need to bear in mind the audience profile, the news operation’s core news strengths, and the story’s shelf life.
You will also be responsible for deciding when a story is rewritten, updated, and archived. As explained in an earlier module, starting in online journalism, a decision has to be made with all breaking news stories as to when to save a version as a milestone in history.
This will often be the duty editor’s responsibility. Several journalists might be contributing to one story. None of them is likely to have the overview you have. They will continue to offer fresh content and update the story until they are told to stop. Knowing when to save a story as a complete version of events and start a new story is a key skill of the duty editor.
By evaluating the shelf-life of a story you will also be deciding on how much effort to put into it. If it is a breaking news story that is unlikely to be used again, or unlikely to be linked to very often, you might feel that a straight 300-word write-though is all that is needed.
Often, investing time and effort looking into the issues surrounding a news story is of more long-term value than spending too much time on the story itself. Next module: Running a news meeting
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