Transitions Online

Technology Issues: Development and testing of a state of the art, full featured

content management system in partnership with the Media Development Loan

Fund s (MDLF) Center for @dvanced Media Prague (C@MP). After months of

preparatory work, TOL began publishing using the new system in October 2000.

MDLF will distribute the new software free of charge to new media outlets

throughout Central and Eastern Europe and the developing world. 

According to the Managing Editor of TOL, it is almost impossible to compare the

content production processes between traditional and web based media. She argues

that the fact that on a web based medium you can go back to the story once

published and do changes is a curse and a blessing. A blessing because it allows you

to do corrections to mistakes that sometimes are unavoidable but also a curse

because compared to the traditional media it encourages much more sloppiness

during the content production. Furthermore, web based media have more flexibility

in terms of space and less layout  concerns . 

There are other challenges though that new technologies present for the production

process. The journalist in a web based news organization like TOL has special

additional responsibilities and opportunities. He exercises much more editorial

control over the stuff s/he writes than in the traditional media. "In our organization

he places the story in the section s/he thinks more appropriate for example"

TOL also believes that the content of the news start up needs to constantly be

diversified. "Sometimes due to the nature of the medium we tend to become

newsier, with shorter stories than you will print in a newspaper or a magazine. On

the other hand, for other stories we can also become even more analytical than a print

medium or other traditional media since we have the luxury of space. We have almost

unlimited space." That is useful when your audience includes average newsreaders but

also academics and other researchers. TOL also produces different versions of the

same articles for different platforms. "We have been asked from  CNN.com to do

 cultural translation  for their readers, for example," said the editor of TOL. 

During interviews TOL staff said that they do not prioritize their articles in their front

webpage according to the hits on them. "This is very good marketing perhaps but

this will eventually lead to the  tabloitization  of our news organization. We could

become the web version of a  Sun  type of newspaper in order to sell what people

want. But then where is the editorial judgment." Instead they exercise journalistic

judgment and decide what is important. Then they to attempt to make what is

important, also interesting for their audience to read.

4.4. Content consumption processes 

TOL readers representation by age:

14.13%

7.67%

Under 18

(0.50%)

51.97%

18 24

(24.32%)

25 39

(51.97%)

40 49

(14.13%)

24.32%

50 65

(7.67%)

65 or over

(1.41%)

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