This is what my notes look like: New Models for Online Journalism edition.

[This is how I develop ideas - piles of vaguely sentence structured notes, that are thrown into a folder, and revisited when time allows.  I’m posting this in part to get input from the handful of people who read this, and in part because I’d like to see if anyone can add that extra x factor.]

5 person teams: editor / writer (2), developer, videographer / editor, designer. Publishing on a dual schedule: ongoing socmed updates from dedicated accounts, and weekly complete, collaborative stories.

Each complete story will include text / article, research / background, infographics, interactive elements, and video. All presented as part of the whole, focused on opinion / interpretation as well as vanilla reporting.

Not paginated, organized in an online intuitive manner. Scroll down, expanding images / sections (not pop ups or diff windows). Offered in several formats, including mobile / as part of an app. Yes, will require a custom CMS. Also, offer video / print optimized versions. Not a full experience, but allows printing / podcasting as promo tools.

Redesign and publish a monthly or quarterly print version with DVD extras / video as a prestige option.

Go deep. Analysis of a story, rather than ‘just the facts”. Pure facts are important, but analysis has value. Explanation has value. Presentation has value.

Interest / Audience maintained between releases (stories) by including them in the process. Tweet / tumble updates, new info, schedule, teasers. Don’t let the scoop mentality keep you silent, if value is in the analysis, then breaking it in a tweet is still breaking it.

Scalable: 5 person teams can be added as audience / revenue grows. Stagger releases, or segment by content.

The key is multimedia content as a starting point. Defined by the online medium, rather than letting the content treat the web as a newspaper replacement or a tv replacement.

Massively collaborative: nothing is an addition. Design and video are as key as the written article. Building to the whole. Does this require tandem videojournos, designjournos, devjournos, etc? Probably. Welcome to 2K9, media is inherently multidisciplinary.

Fragmentable, sharable, remixable. Possible to open every segment in a copyable, accessible way (presuming CC licensing) let it act as promotion for saleable elements (mobile app, print collections, expanded behind the scenes access, archive access).

Create extra content, behind the scenes footage, expanded versions, edit history on articles for subscribers. This is the hard part: journos do not like being questioned, but web authority is more like scientific authority. It’s based on being able to withstand scrutiny, not a license to avoid it.

Model could work for hard or soft news. Imagine applied to TMZ ouvre, investigative, driven celeb content with background like recent film gross, media penetration, arrest history, relevance by google searches, etc.

All very raw, but definite value here.

Too Slow To Sell.

We’re reaching the point where traditional media is too slow to function as a marketing / communications channel for some creative products.

The mechanics of new media, and new modes of distribution, don’t sync with old media production schedules.  A notable portion of the entertainment value, and therefore monetary value, of old media products, is in their function as a mechanism of review and cultural arbitration.

But the production cycle for new creative products is rapidly outpacing the traditional production cycle of media.

This is already becoming a problem for Advertising and PR.  Consumers know about products, and desire them, long before the legal release date.  As such, business is lost to leaks, pirated versions, etc.  Part of what forces the early release of information is the old media production cycle - everything needs to be planned far enough in advance that magazines, TV specials, media buys, and other reviews can be placed.  The end result is an informed customer with unfulfilled desires.

Don’t be worried about people not wanting to buy newspapers, or magazines, or watch TV via traditional cable.  Worry about when Advertising, PR, and Marketing realize old media is ruining their ability to satisfy customers, and plan a mass exodus for media with a shorter production cycle.

Working strictly through blogs, podcast, online advertising and traditional short lead publication, the idea of waiting six months to buy something you know you want seems archaic.

Consumers are already voting for speed, and near-instant gratification with their attention and their media purchases.  Once the promotional engine follows them, and takes the sponsorship, content, and interest with them, the real trouble starts.

Culture is faster than old media, now.  It’s just a matter of people getting comfortable enough with the idea to let the realities of the new attention cycle dictate where they try to build buzz.

Print Media and Online Content.

Newspapers are in trouble, in part, because they have devalued their own content.

If you sell short snippets of text, explaining the real world, putting that online seems like a no-brainer.  Especially if the hardcopy offers a greater experience.  But the issue is this: the experience isn’t so blatantly superior that the reader doesn’t think “you know, this is free online.”

At the same time, you need to put something online, or you deny the value of print journalism, which is to add authority to conversation.  As I mentioned to someone today, you don’t just read the Economist to be informed.  You read it to be able to speak with authority in conversation with others.  Conversations are now online, so authoritative sources (journalism) needs to be as well.

The problem is in offering the same damn thing, for free, that you are selling to survive.  The problem is in the assumption that people are looking for an excuse to pay, rather than an excuse not to pay.

Your online content should expand the world of your product, but not replace it.  If you sell a comprehensive, varied print news source, you should load your website with research, background, audio, video, etc.  If you see value in duplicating your print product, leave that value for the paying customer - let a physical purchase allow access to optimized versions of the print product, searchable, remix and sharing friendly.  For those who just want to see what you have on offer, show them what ADDS to the value of what you sell, rather than offering them the same thing, for free.