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The notion of creating a story package means that the

writing is just one aspect of an online story, albeit an

important one. In creating a well-rounded package,

every element must complement every other one − all

text, photos, links and multimedia must contribute to

the same story. (This excludes items in the page’s

margins such as ads, section links or “top stories” links,

which are clearly not elements of story package.)

Inconsistencies within news story pages are common at many online

news outlets, but you should strive to set higher standards. While links

might take a reader to a story that takes the subject in a different

direction, all the information on any other page should contribute to the

overall theme of the page.

This all work best when you and your

reporters have a collective notion of the

most important elements of a story and how

the story will be presented. While working

on story, reporters can keep their eyes

open for items that would enhance its Web

presentation − they’re the ones venturing

out of the office and doing all the

interviewing. You can call this a shared

vision or simply good communication, but as

you work with reporters , the more rapport

you can build with them, the better their

stories will be and the more your outlet will

benefit. If you’ll pardon the expression,

online journalism works best when

reporters and editors are on the same page.

ALWAYS REMEMBER…
• Fact checking is always important, but particularly so in
the online venture.
• Have your reporters give you their lists of sources for each
story including web and database sources used to verify
information.
• Although stories can run just about any length online,
different outlets use different formats for longer stories.
Some simply let the story run on one long page, and
others break it up into multiple pages. The latter allows
readers to read a few screens of text (usually three), then
click go to the next section of the story.
• Best approach is to keep things as concise as possible.
Regardless of the lack of any rigid length restrictions,
people generally doesn’t enjoy reading huge blocks of text
online, whether they’re on one page spread over several.
The only real exception to this is when a reader takes

a deeper interest in the subject of the story and wants

to read more about it. In this case, your links and

archives should allow readers to immerse themselves

in your past coverage of the topic as well as any off-

site pages pertaining to it. Thus, you don’t have to tell

every aspect of every story with each new report. If

you’ve organized your site well, you can simply point

users in right direction and turn them loose.