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Ask HN: I want to start a News Website

14 points by zackfern ↗ HN
Hey there. I have a question: I want to start a news website, how do I do it?

I can code (front end and backend), and I can study topics, learn them, and make them easy to understand for other people.

The problem, however, is that I'm 17. I know that this project probably won't get off the ground simply because of that fact, but I'd love to hear any tips / opinions people have about it. Thanks.

31 comments

[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 70.5 ms ] thread
donohoe
Couldn't hurt to work/intern for a online news site and gain some experience.
freejoe76
Can you write? Are you going to scrape other people's information? What kind of information are you interested in publishing?
zackfern
I think I can write, but I certainly don't know if I can in the form of reporting.

The kind of information I'm interested in publishing is non-biased facts. I doubt a news site could function purely on this, but if I could design one I would put a lot of emphasis on bullet points.

freejoe76
Well, a question in this situation is: From where are you going to pull your information?

If news-dot-coms actually labeled and isolated the facts that they published, this wouldn't be a problem. It also wouldn't be a challenge.

ahemphill
I've been in journalism for about six years now and have worked on some fairly prolific sites; in that time, I've learned that objectivity is a myth. Don't trick yourself into thinking otherwise.

That said, I'd love to offer advice/guidance on a more specific level if you'd like to chat.

zackfern
What aren't I tricking myself into thinking?.. That I would like to make the news as non-biased as possible, that I'd like to use bullet points, or that I'd like to use facts?
ahemphill
Bias is inherent in every step of the news gathering and reporting process. It better to recognize (and perhaps even highlight) this than to expend energy and resources on pursuing that which is ultimately unattainable. Doing so will go farther in creating credibility and trust than operating under the guise of presenting "just the facts."
zackfern
I see what you're saying... So you are saying that because facts are so hard to find, and bias is all over, it would be helpful to point out bias for the sake of clarity? I like the sound of that, thanks for the tip.
ahemphill
More or less. Be aware of your weakness, basically.
Ganthor
Why not just use Wordpress with a few add-ons and a theme that looks like a news site?
zackfern
Because I have ideas I feel could shake the news industry up, even if it's just for a small niche of people. I don't really want to be a "me too" site.
ddemchuk
What does that mean? Are you looking to serve news up in an unconventional way?
zackfern
Yes. I want to use a news source that is built mainly around bullet points, short sweet facts. A news source that provides resources for it's users to do it's own research, but not overwhelm them.

I can't find this. So I am considering building it.

bdickason
Build it on top of wordpress, for sure. You could accomplish something not-so-pretty in a day with Wordpress as your foundation. Maybe even faster if you use v3.0 beta.

Orrr in a few weeks if you go at it alone.

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carbocation
Your choice of tools (including blog vs custom code, PHP vs Rails, etc) doesn't determine whether or not you'll create a "me too" site.

One could shake up the industry with something that leverages blog software. Another could write an amazing piece of news-displaying technology and not make a dent.

robosox
+1. As a developer it's easy to take the old "not invented here" attitude, but you don't even know if people will be interested in your idea. Get it out there as quickly as possible with off-the-shelf software first. If it's something people want/need, your users will flock to it for the content. They truly don't care about the tech going on behind the scenes, especially as you're beta testing it.
famfam
Drudge Report was almost literally one single page of static html. I would say it shook up the news industry.
gojomo
Your age is only as relevant as you choose to make it.

What kind of coding (languages, systems, projects) have you done so far?

zackfern
I like the sound of that.

I have done PHP / MySQL, and learned Django before jumping ship to Ruby on Rails. I'm now exclusively Rails, but also have toyed with C# in the past.

As for projects, I have many ideas in my arsenal but as of now only one is being actively developed; however it isn't giving me the kind of passion I had when I came up with the idea about a year ago.

gojomo
That's a good enough base for lots of web-based projects; it seems to me like your general "how do I..." question may not have been about how to build your idea with web software, but something else. How to attract early users/contributors, maybe? Or collaborators? Or other attention/support? (Or maybe you are wondering about the mechanics of setting everything like the domain/hosting/server up, in which case you may want to ask more specific questions in other targeted forums.)

I'd say build as much of what you've got in mind as you can. Encourage people to look at it even when it's very rough -- don't disappear for months making something slick/complete. Adjust. Continue.

You may also want to put contact details or a personal web page in your profile here.

zackfern
Yes, my "how do I..." question was retaining to all of what you said. Support, attention, users, contributers.

I know how to do the site, front and back. I know how to host. I know where to host. I was simply looking for feedback on those questions as well as some general feedback on the idea.

And I will do. I'm a long time lurker, and this is my first post.

gojomo
If you're in the Bay Area, a tech-blog-sponsored confab/brainstorming session on journalism in the web era is tomorrow:

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100526/0142359581.shtml

Might be relevant to your concept, which I'd also be interested in discussing further if only there were contact info in your profile.

zackfern
I unfortunately don't live in the Bay Area. I live in Sacramento, and have had the pleasure of going to the Googleplex, but unfortunately couldn't make it there.

Thanks for the link, though.

bluemoon
I dont mean to put you on a defensive but, what makes me want to go to YOUR site. Where will the content come from, users? aggregated? How will the content be shared? Social networking? reddit style?
zackfern
I personally HATE social networking in my news. That is, for example, you going to the Huffington Post and seeing Facebook Connect buttons, as well as Twitter / Google / Yahoo! login buttons.

However I do think that the idea of use aggregation leaking in to the site, Reddit Style, could be a good resource. However that probably wouldn't be a main feature of the site, but likely a sub-section of the site completely separated from the actual content.

alanthonyc
Go ahead and code up a prototype, then run it by the folks here for feedback.
Dnewz
Work on an example page or design that conveys the essence of what you are trying to create. This core design prototype will help you focus on what distnguishes your project and can be used to get some early feedback. I strongly support youdigging into this project and forgetting about your age. You'll learn more from this than you can imagine regardless of its success.
albertsun
While Hacker News is focused on hacking/coding, that will almost certainly be the easiest part of what you're trying to do.

What will make the difference in whether or not you shake up the news industry is the type of content you create and how you create it, not the software that runs the site.

My advice to you is to get the easiest possible writing platform (that means WordPress) running, and then spend your time writing and putting out those "short, sweet facts." Try and find other people to do this as well.

Then get as many people as you can to read the site and see what they think of it.