It’s thought most restaurants fail in their first year, whats the track record with new media? Dunno. It’s very new.

Anyway, True/Slant and it’s tiny full time staff of five have reflected on what the past year has taught them with their unique new media hybrid business model.

Coates Bateman, the content chief writes:

Edit talent, not copy:…Sure, there are typos, there are less than cogent sentences at times and there are some premises that are just flat out wrong. We’ve tried to remedy as quickly as possible. That’s not the editorial process I was used to. I’m still not entirely comfortable with it. But, I’m learning to see the value and authenticity it brings as journalism adapts to a new world.

And yes, we fought the urge to spell his name wrong in this post.

And we liked Michael Roston, the homepage editor’s observation:

There isn’t enough original content on the Internet: There are a lot of people re-purposing things that have been published elsewhere, and you often hear more echoes than original sounds. But it turns out that the online audience, like nature, abhors a vacuum, and if you provide them with matter to fill it, they will click, click, and click some more.

Read the entire piece from the whole staff here.

Happy birthday True/Slant. We wish you many many more!

Previously on FBLA: Breaking: 65 Journalists to Get Paid ‘Small Amount’ by True/Slant