Presentation I gave at Poynter in June 2010 on the 10 things newsrooms need to do to succeed in our digital future.

1. The Ten
.comMandments
Jim Brady
Poynter Institute
June 6, 2011

2. The Ten
.comMandments
1. You shall not whine
– The old business model is dying.
– Resistance is futile. And not
smart.
– Your future readers/viewers
have grown up in a totally
different media environment.
– We need to figure out how to
survive in a disaggregated, open
media ecosystem.

3. The Ten
.comMandments
2. You shall be OF the web,
not just on the web
– Taking your publication and
plopping it on the web is not a
strategy.
– Be educated on how the web is
different
– Add new sources to your media
diet, i.e. mashable, PaidContent,
Poynter, etc.

4. The Ten
.comMandments
3. You shall take risks
– What bigger risk is there right
now than doing nothing?
– Try new things & understand
going in some will fail. Many
others will not.
– Being a fast follower is a
losing strategy in digital.

5. The Ten
.comMandments
4. You shall not be
‘platform-agnostic’
– All platforms are not created
equal.
– Do you want the same
information on your desktop,
iphone & Ipad?
– Create original content that
speaks to that platform.
– But it’s not all about creating
platform-specific content: it’s
more about how info is
assembled.

6. The Ten
.comMandments
5. You shall embrace new
tools
– tools themselves are not good
or bad. It’s what you make of
them.
– Stop thinking of them as
technical tools. They’re
journalistic tools.
– Think not just of tool, but why
it’s successful, and emulate
those characteristics.
– Examples: Social Media,
Location-based services,

7. The Ten
.comMandments
6. You shall understand the
business side
– This doesn’t mean doing business
work, just merely
understanding what your
challenges are.
– It means open communication.
Sales teams can’t sell what
they don’t know about.
– Don’t say ‘It’s not my problem.’
It’s everybody’s problem.
Pulitzer Prizes are not
accepted in place of rent.

8. The Ten
.comMandments
7. You shall have tangible
goals
– Decide what metrics are
important.
– Communicate them widely and
frequently.
– Have plans in place for when
goals are met -- or not met.
– So much of the new world is
unsettled. Good metrics are a
nice stabilizing force.

9. The Ten
.comMandments
8. You shall pick your spots
– The Web is niche. Most
newspapers and TV stations are
not good at niche.
– Decide what you want to win at,
and put the bulk of your
resources behind those things.
– Being mediocre at most things is
not a good journalism or business
model.

10. The Ten
.comMandments
9. You shall embrace your
community
• Engagement As viewed by many news orgs:

11. The Ten
.comMandments…
9. You shall embrace your
community
• Engagement As it should be viewed by all news
organizations.

12. The Ten
.comMandments
9. You shall embrace your
community
– Journalism companies need more
than readers. They need engaged
participants.
– Involve the community in real
journalism – not just pet photos
and message boards.
– Meet them – in person.
– Convince them that your success
is their success

13. The Ten
.comMandments
10. You shall link to other
sites
– Don’t rely on traffic cops to
deliver you new readers. Become a
traffic cop.
– Become the news hub for the
subjects you cover.
– Don’t fall into the ‘why would we
send readers off our site?’ trap.
They’re going to leave your site
anyway.
– Make your consumers happy, not
your newsroom.

14. Thanks!
Questions
?