News industry watchers mourned the announcement that the Seattle P-I was closing and becoming an internet only newspaper. Today the Executive Producer of the new site, Michelle Nicolosi, makes an upbeat debut in whcih she says that b ecoming a standalone digital news and information business gives them an opportunity to try out the theories of internet gurus like Jeff Jarvis.
Is it possible to run an online-only local news site that serves a city’s readers well while turning a profit? Is a digital news product a viable solution for cities whose papers can no longer afford to operate? We think so.
We’re going to break a lot of rules that newspaper Web sites stick to, and we are looking everywhere for efficiencies. We don’t feel like we have to cover everything ourselves. We’ll partner for some content; we won’t duplicate what the wire is reporting unless we have something unique to offer; we’ll continue to showcase the great content from our 150 or so reader bloggers and we’ll link offsite to content partners and competitors to create the best mix of news on our front page.
We don’t have reporters, editors or producers—everyone will do and be everything. Everyone will write, edit, take photos and shoot video, produce multimedia and curate the home page. That’ll be a training challenge for everyone, but we’re all up for the challenge and totally ready to pick up all these skills.
This will be one to watch – for all of us.
