WordPress for Online Newsrooms

Today’s current events are no further than a fingertip away at all times. We are flooded by the news all day, every day. And not just on television like in the past, but on our computers, on our phones, even on our watches! There are many times I text my friends or family and say, “Did you see [insert headline here]?” The answer, of course, is always that they have. Never before have we all been so on top of all the breaking news, and there sure is a lot of that these days. Now, we often focus on the headlines and the stories, but never think about the online newsrooms where these headlines and stories originate or the journalists crafting the stories so quickly before they ever get to us. Because WebDevStudios (WDS) is an established WordPress agency, we are fortunate enough to be a part of the success of different online newsrooms powered by WordPress. We get to see the behind-the-scenes action firsthand.

Administrators of online newsrooms are likely aware at this point that WordPress accounts for about a third of the web. Now with Gutenberg, the current WordPress editor, it is easier than ever to craft content and publish quickly. This is important because we live in a time when the speed at which news is published is faster than ever.

The way that Gutenberg allows editors, journalists, and online newsroom admin to quickly draft stories and see exactly what it’s going to look like within the site helps to streamline the publishing process. Media sites are getting their stories out in front of readers as it breaks and/or when it matters most.

– Lead Engineer, Tom McFarlin

Journalists have studied how to write comprehensive, informative, and sometimes groundbreaking articles. The software that they use to get those articles out there seems far less important, I suspect, to the journalist. That is, unless or until it becomes a hindrance to their ability to deliver the news.

Using both WordPress and the Gutenberg editor for an online newsroom is a great solution since it allows journalists to do what they do best—write and format their articles. With its ease-of-use, journalists can interact with Gutenberg enough to add the necessary elements of their article, but their content is always at the forefront.

Article Components

Let’s do an exercise. View a breaking news article from today and examine the various components you see on the page. Perhaps there is the headline, the byline, an image, the article body containing quotes, and tweet embeds. This article was likely curated and published on WordPress!

Perhaps a few years ago, the ability to embed a tweet quicker than you could blink would seem like a luxury. In this day and age, it is a necessity. Social media has become an integral part of the fabric of breaking news. The ability to add embeds quickly and see how they will render on the frontend of your media site is important, and Gutenberg allows journalists to focus on getting the news out there rapidly.

Of course, there may be some custom elements to the article as well, like a featured podcast. No problem! With experienced developers like we have here at WDS, adding these custom elements to the Gutenberg experience becomes a breeze. Your online newsroom also may need to use some other internal tools to manage images or charts. Those can be seamlessly integrated into your article with custom blocks built using Gutenberg and WordPress.

Gutenberg Experience

Aside from the ease of adding the different components of an article, the WordPress Gutenberg editor really elevates the online newsroom experience for journalists. Instead of wondering what their article will look like on the frontend, we can tailor the editor to match as closely to the frontend as possible. Internally, I love to remind the team that we need to give editors and journalists the opportunity to do what they do best—just write their articles. But instead of making them craft their content in an outdated software, Gutenberg allows them to write their articles while severely enhancing the experience. In a sense, it brings their articles to life before they ever hit publish.

Article Syndication

Remember the news I get on my watch? Once the content has been created, we understand the importance of article syndication so that the article appears in appropriate feeds, etc. The publishing process certainly has to be tailored to the particular news organization or publication. One thing I personally admire about my colleagues at WDS is their ability to collaborate with anyone. Our team is great at working alongside the internal team operating online newsrooms to ensure this happens. In other words, our team loves helping online newsrooms bombard readers with the latest news.

Put simply, there is no way of avoiding news these days, but there is certainly a lot that goes into getting the news in front of readers, and we at WDS love being a part of that process. Would you like our team to build you a WordPress-powered online newsroom designed to help you break news when it’s important? Contact us. We’d love to talk about it.