Something has to give to innovate on the Web

A lot of journalists are being asked to do more in the same amount of time.

More stories, more blogging, more social networking, more video, etc. Brianne Pruitt posted on Wired Journalists about her paper’s blogging and innovation woes:

Our bloggers are still expected to create the same amount of content for "the paper" … but also fit in a vibrant, often-updated blog. It’s just not working. Some bloggers rarely update, while others are killing themselves to "make it work."

Something has to give to innovate on the Web. That might mean less print work. It might mean hiring online-only employees.

But what Pruitt describes does not work. When I talk to the best beat bloggers, they all tell me they had to give up parts of their job.

That was the only way for them to become successful on the Web. Yes, many are working harder or longer hours, but they still had to give up some of their old duties.

Kent Fischer no longer does enterprise stories. Fischer misses those stories, but he knew he had to give something up in order to have a successful beat blog:

Yes, you make your day longer but you also stop doing stuff you did before. For me, the trade off is the enterprise reporting. Not every reporter is going to want to give that up, because generally that’s the fun, stimulating stuff. But for me, that’s what got dropped given the ridiculous amounts of daily news produced in a huge city school district that needs reporting.

Eric Berger usually writes 1-2 stories a week. During Hurricane season he might spend his entire day updating his blog with the latest news. And that means not doing print for a few days or so.

Ed Silverman rarely writes a print story. When Pharmalot started, the Star-Ledger envisioned it being an online-only enterprise. Pharmalot has found immense success because of dedication to the Web by Silverman and his editors.

All three of these beat bloggers have found success on the Web, and all three had to give something up in order to find success. Silverman started off blogging full time, but Fischer has gradually put more time and resources into his blog. Editors buy-in to successful products, and that’s why Fischer might become a full-time blogger (or as he plans, a "blog on steroids," complete with database journalism and other features).

"My editors have accepted that I am doing less print work," Fischer said.

Fischer is on track for 500,000-1 million page views in his first year of blogging. Berger gets between 100,000-200,000 page views a month. And Silverman, with his world-wide audience, probably does quite a bit better than either of them (John Hassell, Silverman’s editor, says that Pharmalot makes money).

That’s real, palpable Web success. But they were only able to accomplish it because they gave up some or all of their print success.

The idea that news organizations can ask employees to wear more and more hats to do more and more work does not work. What works is admitting that we have to give up something in order to create something new.