What the Carnegie Corporation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation are doing to support young journalists across the United States through the News21.com initiative is wonderful.
That being said, giving the website a critical look, one can find a few things that should probably be changed. In fact, I have a few questions about the design and the website's structure.
1. Why are people’s faces being featured on the homepage? The home/front pages of any publication should feature the work of the journalists. I get the fact that they are trying to recruit new blood, but giving more importance to that takes away from the site’s professionalism. It’s about the work, not the journalist. These journalists do an amazing job, why not put it at the top of the front page? Their headshot and bio belongs in the contact us/staff page.
2. This brings me to the next issue: the website is not very consumer-friendly. Quite honestly, people go to news websites for the NEWS and not short biographies of journalists. The website should be easier to browse. Where is the news tab? Or latest headlines/interactives? Why don’t they promote their social media accounts? I know their projects sometimes take months to get done, but that doesn’t mean they should simply abandon the website for the remainder of the year.
Despite the few issues I have with their website, I want to reiterate that once you scroll down enough to find these journalists’ work, it is admirable. They do great reporting and use an interactive style that really engages the news consumer. Nice work guys! Now, make sure you put it somewhere people can appreciate it.
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