newslists - 10,000 Words

Is An Open News Approach The Way To Go?

By Elana Zak on October 19, 2011 8:31 PM

Last week, I blogged about the Guardian’s experimental decision to share part of its newslists with the public. The move was somewhat risky. Traditionally, newspapers keep their lists of upcoming stories close to the vest in an effort to scoop the competition.

A little more than a week in, and the Guardian’s experiment is going well, writes Dan Roberts, the paper’s national editor. So well, in fact, that they are extending the process and including more sections of the paper in the newslists made public.

“… the remarkable thing about our experiment publishing the Guardian’s list of upcoming stories is why newspapers have been so secretive about such information for so long,” Roberts comments in the blog post. “Whatever competitive advantage may have been lost by giving rivals a clue what we were up to was more than made up for by a growing range of ideas and tips from readers.”

This begs the question: Should more newspapers/news organizations consider an open news approach?

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The Guardian Shares Newslists with Readers

By Elana Zak on October 10, 2011 5:23 AM

In a new — and potentially risky — experiment, UK’s the Guardian will make its newslists public starting today in an effort to better engage readers in the editorial decision-making process.

A screenshot of part of the Guardian's national news newslist.

Newslists are the upcoming stories a news organization is looking into or plans to run. In an industry where being the first to break news is of the utmost importance, these lists can be extremely valuable. There have even been examples of reporters selling their story lists to rival publications.

“What if readers were able to help newsdesks work out which stories were worth investing precious reporting resources in?” writes Dan Roberts, the paper’s national news editor. “What if all those experts who delight in telling us what’s wrong with our stories after they’ve been published could be enlisted into giving us more clues beforehand? What if the process of working out what to investigate actually becomes part of the news itself?” Read more

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