If news breaks, how do we fix it?

The continuing conversation about the role of online news in The Pilot newsroom has reached a new level. In response to questions raised last week at the 10 a.m. budget meeting about the story concerning the nTelos Pavilion concert season, a task force has been convened to look at some key issues:

• When do we report a story online?
  
• How does an online story differ from a print story?
  
• When do we withhold a story from online and wait for the printing cycle?
  
• How much consideration should be given to competitive media?
  
• How much does online publication affect, if at all, print readership?
  

These and other weighty questions will be considered starting today by a group headed up by Jane Elizebeth. They'd very much like to hear your viewpoints.

Denis Finley addressed the issue in his staff e-mail this week. The money quote:

The other thing that came up earlier this week was our online strategy. What exactly is it? When do we break news online? What's the difference between an online story and a print story? After talking for awhile, we realized that we really have been flying by the seat of our pants for too long. So, a small committee is meeting to hammer out some guidelines to help the staff better understand our online strategy and where we want to go with it. The basic message is "we need to do it, do it often and do it well." Online is not going away, it's getting bigger and bigger. We need to wrap our brains around it and get comfortable with accepting it as just another part of what we do. Yes, I know the operations are separate, and sometimes we don't seem to share the same goals, but we will get better. The committee should help clarify a lot. Stay tuned.