Credibility is crucial to the financial success of newspaper Web sites, said Frederick Mann, general manager of Philadelphia Online, the Web site for The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Philadelphia Daily News. Since journalism experience is not the only criterion for working online, newspapers use several models to determine editorial content on their Web sites, according to the committee chair, Jane Amari of The News Journal, Wilmington, Del. Mann said he looks for a wider range of talent in hiring Web content producers and managers. Several sports and entertainment groups have tried to prohibit newspapers from posting material online because they believe their property rights are infringed on, said Patrick A.Yack, editor of The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville. The Web's multimedia capabilities are a particular threat to private organizations, he added, because new media can easily and instantaneously present information. The battle appears to be exacerbated by the fact that private organizations are competing with news sites for 'page views,' Yack said, a reference to the number of times a Web page is seen by users.
Page hits determine the amount of money Web sites can demand from advertisers.
Committee meeting attendees also said that the drive to make Web sites profitable, an important goal, could undermine a newspaper's credibility, particularly if boundaries blur between editorial and business sides, which often work together to produce Web content. Deliberately linking ads to certain articles further provokes such questions, Mann said. But all these issues are complicated because the Web is still a developing medium. We have this whole new world and there are no lines on the playing field. There are no standards yet.