1. ONLINE JOURNALISM 101
Starting off on the right foot

2. WHY SHOULD I TAKE
MY PAPER ONLINE?

3. Reasons for a Online-First Publication
Breaking News
Endless Space
Vibrant Color
Constant
Workflow
Innovative
Technology
Social Media
Affordable
Inclusive
Scooping the
Competition
The Future of
Journalism

4. Take a Look at the Facts from 2012
~ 93% of teens 12-17 either have a computer or have access to one.
~95% of teens use the internet.
~78% of teens have a cell phone. 47% of those have a smartphone.
~ 74% of teens describe themselves as mobile internet users.
~ 23% of people surveyed (all ages) stated they read a print newspaper
yesterday. In 2002, it was 41%.
~ 55% of New York Times readers use the online site instead of print.
48% of USA Today readers use the online version.
~ In the 18-24 age bracket, 41% of respondents stated they saw news on a
social network. In 2010, it was 14%.
Data from: Teens and Technology 2013 Mar 13, 2013
by Mary Madden, Amanda Lenhart, Maeve Duggan, Sandra Cortesi, Urs Gasser
In Changing News Landscape, Even Television is Vulnerable
Trends in News Consumption: 1991-2012

5. What this Means for our Publications
Our students are online.
They come to school
with mobile devices in
hand.
The are avid consumers
of social media and the
internet and use it to get
their news.
Social networks and
online news sites are the
places to go to reach
young readers.

6. HOW DO I MOVE MY PAPER ONLINE?

7. Know your Online Rights
Identifying Minors Online: “There are no federal laws that require school officials to prohibit
or restrict student journalists from publishing the names or photos of students in their online
publications when that information is lawfully obtained, accurate and newsworthy.” ~ Naming
Names: Identifying Minors A discussion of the legal and ethical issues concerning publishing
minor names and photos in student media © 2011 Student Press Law Center
FERPA: “FERPA penalizes schools that indiscriminately release certain student "education
records" to third parties.Where the policies directed at student media miss the mark is that
FERPA only restricts the release of information by school officials or those acting for them.
Outside parties — including student reporters, who are neither state actors, employees nor
agents of the school— are not restricted by the law.” ~ Naming Names: Identifying Minors A
discussion of the legal and ethical issues concerning publishing minor names and photos in
student media © 2011 Student Press Law Center
Open Forum: “Where a public high school has established a ‘policy or practice’ of allowing a
publication to operate as a ‘public forum’ where students express themselves freely, the
administration's ability to censor student speech is more limited.There is no reason that the same
rules would not apply to the online context.” ~ Student Media Guide to Internet Law Part One of
a two-part update on the answers to the most common Internet legal questions © 2004 Student
Press Law Center

8. Get Administration On Board

9. Pick a Platform
Wordpress: Bryan Murley from College Media Innovation and Aaron Manfull
from JEA Digital Media analyzed the platforms from the 2013 Online Pacemaker
sites and found that 70.4% and 94% respectively use Wordpress.
Started out for bloggers but now is versatile and intuitive. Needs very little
technical expertise.
Has a wide range of plugins and themes that are easily adaptable. Tons of free
theme options.
Joomla:
More complex than Wordpress but fairly intuitive after some reading.
Allows more flexibility than Wordpress. Users can change almost everything.
Also has an extensive theme and plugin selection.
When selecting a platform pick one that both you and your students can
use. As the adviser, you need to understand the site after they are gone.

10. Pick a Platform
Drupal:
Requires the most technical understanding but produces very advanced
sites. You will need to learn the software.
Most challenging to set up.
Strongly integrated social networking features
Dreamweaver:
You really need to know what you’re doing with html coding
Just reading the descriptions made my head spin and my husband is a
coder.
When selecting a platform pick one that both you and your students can
use. As the adviser, you need to understand the site after they are gone.

11. Set Up your Newsroom
Your online editorial staff should work solely on the website.
Split Staffs
Creates a focused, specialized
team.
Can create rivalry in the
classroom.
Both staffs in the same class.....
Combined Staff
Team is less specialized which can
slows down all productions.
Classroom is much more team-
oriented and learns all aspects of
your journalism class.
Separate classes for print and online.....
Team is specialized and focused on the one publication being produced.
Rivalry will exist, but not with students in the same period.
Depending on your school, could require a lot of students to fill both classes.

12. Invest in Quality
Equipment
DSLR camera
with video
Audio recorder
Microphones
Video editing
program

13. Make Online Unique from Print
Use multiple story forms
Use tools on the web to tell stories visually as well as
through words. Don’t be afraid to chunk information,
post an entire story in photos, use sound and video
exclusively or post infographics.
Use your site to break the news happening at your school.
Stories don’t need to be complete- if it’s breaking news
get it posted as it’s happening as long as it’s accurate. Post
brief stories and update when more information is
available.

14. Make Online Unique from Print
Content should be constant. Don’t have “dump days.”
Try to upload a few stories every few days. Every day is ideal.
Avoid repeating your print stories on your website.
Print and online can and should work in tandem to present
different angles of the same story.
Don’t write stories that can be found other places on the web.
Why would a reader come to your site to read a review when
he/she can go to the NYT?

15. Package your Stories
Every story should have:
Copy with multiple sources. Aim for shorter stories.
One or more visuals- try to avoid publishing without a visual.
Hyperlinks
Begin with the end in mind. Decide on story packages before the
process begins. You need to make sure that you are using the right
media to tell your story.
Great stories use additional media including videos, podcasts,
slideshows, soundslides, infographics, pull quotes, etc. Be sure to
provide points of entry.

16. Go Beyond Merely Posting Stories
Great sites become the hub of information for a school. Try to find ways to include:
Sports scores and events
Vital information (school closures, testing days, schedule changes)
School activities
Polls
To-do reminders- especially for those seniors
Student-created blogs
Reader generated content
Links to other organizations and advertisers

17. Important Dos
Monitor the homepage every time you post and check for unplanned
white space or awkward column jumps.
Pick one category for each post. A story shouldn’t be in news and
features. It also shouldn’t be on your homepage more than once.
Include features to guide readers to new or important content on
your site. The most important category, probably the news, should
have prominence. Also consider providing areas for most recent
posts and/or most visited or popular posts.
Create publication standards and teach your editors how to enforce
them. Stories don’t get posted unless they meet all the standards
Select EICs that you trust and let them run their publication.

18. Important Don’ts
Avoid adding features that merely take up space- weather,
Twitter feed, etc.
Don’t use vertical pictures on your homepage as the featured
image. Vertical pictures lead to unfortunate decapitations or
awkward spacing on your homepage.
Don’t embed your print paper on your website. If you have an
account such as Issuu, put the link to your paper on your
navigation bar with Twitter, Instagram, etc.
Don’t put your Twitter feed on your homepage. Twitter usually
drives traffic to your site… not the other way around.

19. Integrate Social Media

20. The Grading
Monster
I find this one of the harder parts
of my job as an adviser.
My online students are graded on
the amount of work they publish
on the website.
Every grading period they have to
earn a certain number of points to
receive an A.
My editors will be sure that
nothing is published if it doesn’t
meet our journalistic standards.
If it isn’t published, they don’t get
points.

21. QUESTIONS?

22. DANIELLE RYAN, MJE
Journalism Adviser
Email: danielleryan15@gmail.com
Twitter: CbadNewsTeacher
Website: www.thelancerlink.com
Slideshare:
http:www.slideshare.net/danielleryan15