Writers, Stringers, Photographers ...

The new WEB based model has to run lean -- the monopoly that enabled newspapers to charge high rates for display and classified has long gone. That means that the great majority of contributors will either work on a piece rate or even for free.

Free? Yup, if the internet has taught us anything, it is that given the proper motivation there is an unlimited number of people who will work for free in return for recognition. The job of the editor is to manage, motivate, filter and train.

Let's start with photographers ...

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The "old" Sentinel has several full time photographers - experienced professionals. The new WEB Sentinel won't be able to afford that luxury. Instead it will have to depend on what pro's call GWC - (Guys with a Camera).

The editor will have to cultivate a small team of "specialists" Two or three guys that cover local sports (football, basketball, track, swimming), a couple for for specific story shots, a couple for nightlife, and a FLickr pool for everyone else covering breaking events and local color. (PS when I say guys I mean both genders ...)

Flickr? You betcha. This is how the photos will be uploaded, tagged and reviewed by he editor. Each photographer will be "trained" to review photos, tag them with the who, what, when and where and upload them to the WEB Sentinel group on Flickr. The editor (as group admin) can get a immediate notice when a photo has been uploaded.

Motivation? Let's start with PHOTO CREDIT. The "Old" Sentinel is very bad about that right now -- if their staff photographers didn't take it, generally you just see it labeled contributed photo. Other motivations - press credentials. Finally, after a photog has proven himself, cash.

In addition to your regulars you will have a breaking news feed. Figure every cell phone is a camera and I've seen better and better photos coming off of cell phones.

Writers The same principles apply to writers - there are no full time staff writers - editors yes, writers no. There will be many contributors. Again, the community is full of people who will regularly contribute in return for credit.

The editor will organize a team of writers and each writer (or possibly a small group) will specialize much like they do today. You'll have a couple of restaurant reviewers, theater reviewer, music reviewer, business writer, style & fashion reviewers, crime writer. On the harder news side, you'll have a city council specialist, a county specialist, a city school specialist a couple of sportswriters. You'll have a surf correspondent, fish guy, cooking contributors.

There is also feature stuff - the "only in Santa Cruz" stories, the stories on local color and interest.

In the internet age, there is what I call the public records "writer". This is someone who can find interesting things by combing through public records - court records, real estate transactions, tax liens and such. It's not the data which is so interesting as the story behind the data.

So how many contributors will the editors have to manage?

A back of the envelope calculation starting from the number of posts (40 per day) would indicate maybe 10-15 photographers and 40-50 contributors. Since you aren't paying these folks you cannot expect them to produce stuff daily.

On another post I'll talk about page views and how they should be used for both tracking your success and compensating the contributors.