March 17th, 2009
The big question really facing newspapers
It’s no longer a question of print or online.
It’s what you’re about online.
In answering that question the choice of a Content Management System becomes critical.
The capabilities of your CMS will determine what you can offer people. Its ease-of-use will determine how quickly you can implement new features.
This is an area where open source really shines. The CMS Matrix counts dozens-and-dozens of options including some, like CampSite, that were built from the ground-up for use by online newspapers.
Personally, when it comes to this life-or-death technology decision, I would look closely at Drupal. Or more precisely at its commercial equivalent, Acquia.
The combination of Drupal and Acquia gives newspapers the best of both worlds — a vibrant community to drive the software forward, and serious professional help to make sure you get things right.
Newspapers should feel fortunate, in a way, because some of the shaking out has already happened in this space. Back when I first started poking around here, in 2003, there was far less available. Most of it was almost entirely text-based, if you wanted to scale. Newspapers must scale quickly to survive.
Now you can support all types of files, and the features of most popular social networks. It all goes into a database, to which Acquia has recently added better search capability. Not that there’s anything wrong with Google, and integrating with Google features like maps, as well as Google search, is a great way to look big before you get big.
As to all those who are complaining that we “have” to pay you for doing the same bad job you’ve been doing for years, forget it. Journalists are not doctors, we’re cooks, and no one is going to subsidize a failing restaurant. (If you’re lucky we’ll put Gordon Ramsey on your case — but that’s it.)
The point is that the newspaper business may be dying, but that’s like saying the buggy whip business is dying. The opportunity to organize and advocate a place, industry or lifestyle is not going away.
In fact it’s getting better. Now that you’re magnetic ink the sky is the limit.
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for 30 years, a tech freelancer since 1983. You can follow Dana on Twitter. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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