Columbia Journalism School Guide to Web Publishing

We are in the midst of a revolution in digital publishing. New platforms for distributing and consuming news are transforming the way we do journalism. Apps, for example, are displacing web browsers on mobile devices. And social networks are no longer just that, they have evolved as de facto news publishers.

Navigating the world of digital publishing can be daunting, like “navigating through an ocean storm,” in the words of EditorAndPublisher.com. Not only are journalists now expected to publish on multiple platforms, the character and audience of a given platform can change over time, as can the norms and culture of its use. Moreover, new platforms are always emerging, and journalists have to constantly figure out how these can be used most effectively for reporting, publishing, and monetizing metrics.

We hope this guide will help you navigate through the storm. These platforms are new, but most of them are not that difficult to learn, and what we publish on them should be governed by the same principles that have guided journalism in the analog world: accuracy, fairness, attribution. Regardless of form or platform, journalism is “the discipline of verification.”