AR&D Reinventing Local Media

Everything you need to know about what stifles creativity in newsroom online environments - along with how to overcome those frustrations - was on display in the ONA session on how the Las Vegas Sun rebuilt its Website.

The name of the session was "Las Vegas Sun: Site Redesign." The two panelists were Josh Williams and Tyson Evans, the guys who went in, got their hands dirty and built the site. They are the brains behind the code. (See correction/amplification below.) They are two of the many great minds behind this project who have created what we have pointed to, time and again, as the model for a modern news and community Website. They are not the business development team, the sales team nor the marketing team. They were given parameters for traffic models, and that was it. These guys explained how to blow up an old site and build something better.

And there were some in the audience who just couldn't get it. These are not the guys to ask about the money. And they're especially not the guys to shake your heads at and "tut tut" about being in start-up mode.

First things first. The Las Vegas Sun website is kick ass. Its video is far superior to any you will find on any TV site. They have pieces in HD, which you can also get on iTunes. A demonstration of the video on a widescreen plasma screen put to shame any news video streaming you've ever seen. This... was HDTV.

The number of interactives the team has developed for its site, is a homebrewed CMS (built on top of Django,)

When you have the opportunity to learn from the minds behind a terrific piece of work, you listen. You ask questions about how they did it. I wanted to know about the cameras they used and how they get content into the system. To learn about their business model? That's for another day - the business manager wasn't there. Don't blame these guys. Blame, if you want, the ONA for not inviting him/her.

But people wouldn't let it go.

"Are you making money?" is among the first questions.  This is fair to ask. The audience doesn't know, at first, whether these are the guys to ask. Josh and Tyson explain they are not. The session description bears this out.

Josh answers, "We're in startup mode." This gets too much of a snort from the audience. Part of the laugh is recognition - we know how hard it is to make money on line. But part of it, too, is this mentality that "see - there's no way this will make money! It's another startup!"

So many companies fear the startup mode. Every company fears the startup. Name a company that starts making money the moment you turn it on. The web is about startup. We have to get there if we are to compete. Yes - when you launch a company, it may lose money. As opposed to the money the companies are currently losing?

It's not that we don't care about the money, and I'm not at all being glib about it. You need a budget, and you need your people working within that budget. But once you establish that budget - let them go. Free them to be creative and reinvent. They are not putting the paper online - they are building a new business at the Las Vegas Sun. We will find out whether they succeed or not. Right now, it's like arguing with the carpenter, when you want to be asking the architect questions.

NOTE: A much needed correction and amplification comes from the comments here, where "photon" writes:  "Josh and Tyson are great guys, but I wouldn't call them "the brains behind the code". Gotta give credit where credit is due. The brains behind the code are Doug Twyman and his brilliant team of programmers-- Kit Dallege, Tim Thiel, and Sean Stoops. These guys are wicked smart!"

I give bonus points for the proper use of the term "wicked smart," and agree. Thanks for the note, and props to the whole team.