Through our work with these leaders in public media, we’ve been introduced to public media stations across the spectrum who are interested in how Publish2’s platform technology can help them survive and thrive in the digital age.

In these conversations with public media, we are often asked about Publish2’s capabilities in the context of NPR’s Digital Services. This is not at all surprising.  All NPR member stations are *required* to pay for NPR’s Digital Services through a mandatory fee.  If the needs of members stations were being fully met by Digital Services, we would likely not have any public media customers.  And we would not be seeing so much demand among public media for what Publish2 can help them achieve.  Why buy a service or license a technology if you’re already paying for one, albeit forcibly, that achieves your objectives?

So for the benefit of the public media community, we thought it would be help to explain how Publish2 can help stations achieve what NPR Digital Services cannot.

Anti-Competitive Digital Services

In a normal competitive context, we might position Publish2 as a powerful alternative to NPR’s Digital Services. But the mandatory Digital Services fee does not give NPR member stations the luxury of choosing the best-in-class technology, despite that clearly being to their benefit at a time of such dramatic technology-driven transformation in media. It’s clear to most media companies that their future depends on digital. What advantage is there in mortgaging away all control over the core technology platform that will carry you into the future?

In the face of anti-competitive practices and locked-in technology budgets, almost all of our work with public media has been funded by third-party grants. Think about that.  The largest public stations, who pay the most for NPR Digital Services, are forced to go outside the NPR system, to independent grant makers, in order to fund the technology innovation that is the key to their future.

To be clear, this isn’t about NPR (we love NPR and are avid listeners).  It’s about NPR Digital Services, which is a separate group based in Boston, far from NPR headquarters in DC, with “new people” who are not from the “old NPR” (to quote a key distinction made by a public media station digital team leader).  And this post is a public response to a great deal of anti-competitive activity that we’ve encountered behind the scenes, which we thought was the most appropriate way to respond because, after all, it is PUBLIC media.

That all being said, the simplest way to explain why we’ve seen so much demand among public media stations for our technology is that Publish2 effectively closes the NPR API Gap.

The API Gap

The “API gap”, as we like to call it, is not unique to NPR.  It’s based on the broad failure of APIs in the news industry, a problem that Publish2 was specifically designed to solve. The API gap exists because of a series of terribly flawed assumptions about newsrooms:

1. There is always a developer available to create entirely customized applications for an API.
2. That developer has time available for this custom development.
3. The newsroom can afford the FTE cost of having that developer spend time setting up and maintaining a custom application for an API.
4. The newsroom’s analogue editorial system (broadcast/print) and web CMS are sufficiently sophisticated and capable to that they can be integrated with the API, even given the time and attention of a capable developer.

In the vast majority of newsrooms, whether they be broadcast, newspapers, or even online media, none of the above is true.

The NPR API, like all APIs, assumes that all of the above is true for all members stations, and that it’s true for any news organizations that want to partner with member stations.

Make Life Easy for Newsrooms

Publish2’s solution to the API gap is to assume that there’s only one viable path to integrating with newsroom editorial systems and web CMS — work with what those systems can do out of the box, without any support from a developer or any customization.  This means supporting a huge range of delivery formats, some highly customized, some highly antiquated.  Publish2 supports any custom XML format, we support all of AP’s formats (including ANPA, the old satellite feed format), and we support FTP, to bridge the gap between the web and analogue editorial systems.  We support any and every system, from new and shiny to old and busted, that exist within newsrooms.

Publish2’s innovation is that we meet the newsroom’s requirements, instead of forcing them to meet our requirements, which is what an API demands. Life is hard enough for newsrooms. Our goal is to make it easier.

Publish2 closes the NPR API gap by working with the existing content import and export capabilities of member station CMSs.  We also make integration entirely turnkey for member station partners, such as newspapers in their region.

Use ANY Web CMS

NPR has recognized problem of their API gap. That gave birth to Core Publisher, NPR Digital Service’s web CMS offering for member stations. The unique feature of Core Publisher is that it is integrated with the NPR API, making it easier for member stations to use NPR content on their web sites. It also makes it easier for NPR to get member station content into the NPR API.

This is a reasonable approach, assuming that the member station doesn’t already have a web CMS that works well for them.  Or that they aren’t interested in choosing a web CMS based on competitive vendor review, as most news organizations do.  Or that they aren’t interested in customizing their CMS to meet their unique needs.

Publish2 offers member stations a different way to close the basic NPR API gap. With Publish2, member stations can use literally any web CMS, because Publish2 can integrate with any CMS, and our system is fully integrated with the NPR API.  So we can send and receive any NPR content, directly to and from any CMS, as required by member stations.

Build Local Networks

But Publish2 also goes beyond providing an alternative solution to the fundamental problem of how member stations can work with the NPR API.  Publish2 isn’t limited to public media content.  Our system handles content from wire services, like AP, and we can handle content from regional partners, increasingly a key focus for public media. Publish2 can enable stations to seamlessly share content and collaborate with newspapers and online local media.

This is critical, because increasingly public media stations see their future in local.  If consumers can access national content, like NPR’s, from anywhere in digital, e.g. npr.org, then public media stations need to focus on local as their core franchise.  (If you see a parallel between NPR’s relationship with local member stations and AP’s relationship with local newspapers, yes, you’re onto something).

Empowering local news networks is Publish2’s core franchise. That’s why we’re working with several of the Local Journalism Initiatives funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Publish2 also handles, for example, all content distribution for the Center for Investigative Reporting’s California Watch and Bay Citizen, to the largest news organizations in California.

But wait, there’s more…

Integrate Digital and Broadcast

Publish2’s platform technology isn’t just for digital, i.e. we’re not just a “digital service.” We can support broadcast as well, by integrating with any broadcast editorial system, such as iNEWS or ENPS, delivering NPR or any other content directly into wire queues, as many stations receive content from AP.  With Publish2, broadcast can build their own wire service, combining NPR, AP, local and regional partners, other national sources like ProPublica, literally any content.

And Publish2 can also go beyond empowering member stations with external content.  We can enable stations to integrate their web and broadcast systems, towards the increasingly important goal of integrating broadcast and digital workflows and operations.  Stories published first on the web can flow directly into the broadcast editorial system to be edited into scripts, like an internal wire service. Audio segments published first on the website can be transcoded and delivered as broadcast-ready files directly to the broadcast system.

Platform for the Entire News Industry

The key to Publish2 as a platform for public media stations is that it isn’t just a “public media platform” (haven’t heard that moniker in a while).  It’s a platform and network for the entire news industry.  NPR Digital Services is investing millions of dollars of member station fees to build a platform that Publish2 has had for years.  Some public media stations may think that’s the most efficient way to spend their money.  But we respectfully disagree with re-inventing the wheel.  And we know that many public media stations share that view.

1. Creating content in a print editorial system is NOT digital-first
Many print editorial system vendors have convinced newsrooms that creating content in a front-end system and then “sending” it to the web counts as digital-first. These same newsrooms have used web-native blog software like WordPress to create true-digital first workflows where reporters publish on the web first and continuously update stories.  Excellent workflow tools (e.g. Edit Flow, NYT’s Integrated Content Editor) have been developed for platforms like WordPress that make it truly viable to publish everything digital-first by using a blog or web CMS as the newsroom’s primary CMS.

But this web-first content has no way to make it back into the editorial system for the print workflow… other than copying and pasting, or forcing reporters and editors to recreate these stories. That’s a huge disincentive to being digital-first! It’s telling that most newsrooms still think of this as “reverse publishing” — you can imagine the gears of the legacy editorial system grinding as you try to force it into reverse, but it gets stuck in neutral!

Newsrooms that create content in a print editorial system remain anchored to print-first workflows, and that puts digital products and digital revenue last.

2. No way to efficiently share content or create integrated workflows across newsrooms
Legacy editorial systems, which were designed as siloed desktop software that runs in each newsroom, have hacked an ostensible “content hub” layer on top of their outdated software architecture and sold it to news companies on the promise of internal content sharing.  These print editorial systems masquerading as hub solutions have not only proven notoriously unstable (see 7 below), they have failed to enable any kind of viable workflow for sharing content across newsrooms.

Giving every newsroom access to every other newsroom’s content via a shared database is not a workflow!  Imagine an individual newsroom, or a national desk, rooting through piles of local content to find stories of broader interest.  It’s like stealing from your sibling’s room — it’s a recipe for strife and frustration.

News companies are all focused on transforming from holding companies for local news orgs into fully integrated media companies that can leverage all of their content in new digital products.  Given the strategic importance of integrating newsroom operations, the failure of these print editorial system pseudo-hubs is particularly distressing.

3. Can’t create distinctive apps and mobile products when powered by a web CMS
There is a huge opportunity for news orgs to create apps that are highly differentiated from their websites, to support both a subscription model and premium advertising.  But how is that possible when all that news orgs have to power apps are the feeds from their website?  If content doesn’t go into the web CMS, then it doesn’t go into the app. Forget creating a content package distinct from the website, or curating content from new local and national sources.

For years, news orgs were criticized for “shoveling” print content onto the web. Now legacy CMSs are forcing them to re-shovel content into apps and mobile.

4. Can’t curate new content sources outside the newsroom
Apps like Flipboard and Pulse are seeing huge consumer adoption by aggregating content from top news sources and presenting it in innovative tablet user interfaces. Can news orgs compete? Not if their app is powered by their web CMS!

Outside of commodity wire content, news orgs have no way to aggregate content from new local and national sources because they have no way to get it into their CMS, and so no way to get it into their apps. Local news brands could create compelling new products by combining their original local content with a network of local and national content partners. In fact, they could use new content sources to enhance their print product in parallel.

Unfortunately, their editorial systems assumed that all they would ever use is commodity wire content. FAIL.

5. Downsized newsrooms are drowning in inefficient workflows (copy/paste/email/reformat)
Everyday, we hear about workflows based on copying and pasting from one legacy editorial system or CMS to another, or emailing content from one newsroom to another.  How can you ask newsrooms to do more with less and then ask them to spend hours a day hacking their way around deficiencies in their legacy content management systems? Newsrooms are so beaten down with these hacked workflows that it never even occurs to them that there could be a better way, that content management technology can actually create efficiencies instead of headaches.

6. Can’t integrate with partners and distribution channels
Want to share content with regional partners. Open up that legacy CMS, copy, paste, email. Want to use content from regional partners. Open up your inbox, open the email, copy, paste. Lather, rinse, repeat. Want to distribute content to a new channel or platform? Create an IT project to produce a custom feed — if you’re lucky! With a legacy editorial system, connecting with external partners is as efficient as a game of phone tag.

7. Content hubs built with legacy print editorial systems have been a disaster
Can you imagine in an age of agile cloud software an implementation plan that is slated to take 12-18 months?  That’s how long most news companies have had to budget to roll out print editorial system pseudo-hubs.  It’s desktop software, so if you have 50 newsrooms with thousands of people, that’s a lot of installations!  Hard to imagine in the age of the cloud.  Also hard to imagine that news companies should be in the business of maintaining servers that are more reliable than Amazon Web Services, or maintaining software code that has been hacked to do something it was never designed to do.

So it’s no surprise that these print CMS pseudo-hub implementations have produced notorious failures.  We know of implementations at some of the largest news companies that constantly crash, have horrible 15-year-old Windows desktop user interfaces, and rather than create efficiencies have turned into black hole time sinks.

We Feel Your Pain — There’s a Better Way!
We designed Publish2 for newsrooms to overcome all of these limitations and more, without actually changing any of these legacy editorial systems or spending a dime on upgrading them. When we implement Publish2, we ask the newsroom to imagine their dream digital-first workflows, what would be optimally efficient, and what they never thought possible with their legacy CMS. And then we make it happen, like magic.

Publish2 can:

1. Deliver digital-first content into print CMS wire queues — the newsroom can go digital-first by turning digital content into an internal wire service for print. Newsrooms are free to adopt any blog or web CMS without worrying about integrating with legacy editorial system.
2. Enable seamless sharing of content across newsrooms (including newspapers and broadcast TV) by connecting legacy editorial systems.  No need to purchase expensivee upgrades or spend 12-18 months consolidating on a legacy system that won’t deliver any efficiencies.
3. Power apps and mobile sites that are highly differentiated from desktop websites, with distinct original content and content curated from a network of partners.
4. Enable local and national content partnerships, to create new local products with curated content that engages consumers better than the best Silicon Valley news aggregator startups.
5. Eliminate all copy/pasting/emailing/reformatting from newsroom workflows. Enough is enough!
6. Enable seamless content sharing and distribution. No need to create an API and deploy development resources that you don’t have. With Publish2, you can connect with any partner or platform — it just works.
7. Provide a reliable, scalable, efficient software-as-a-service to enable news orgs’ digital transformation.  That’s all we do.  And that’s why we’re really good at it.

How much time did your newsroom staff waste today overcoming the inefficiencies of your internal systems, redoing work that had already been done, or chasing after content from partner or sister newsrooms?

Think about the real cost of inefficiency in your newsroom. If you added up all those wasted hours every day, across a year, what would they amount to? What could your newsroom afford if it wasn’t paying for that inefficiency? Depending on the size and number of newsrooms, that wasted time could add up to hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars per year.

With the staff reductions of recent years, newsrooms simply can’t afford to waste time. It’s a top of mind issue across all the newsrooms we talk to.

Everyday we hear stories of workflows accomplished through tedious copying and pasting. Reporters enter breaking news stories into the web CMS, where they create headlines, subheads, breakouts, and info boxes, and then editors have to start all over from scratch in the print editorial system. Or web producers labor to manually recreate on the web what editors have already spent hours of the day creating for print.

Every newsroom has to update their website throughout the day, publish content into new tablet apps, engage with their community in social media, and still put out the paper. The problem is that these workflows are fundamentally separate, rather than being an integrated daily news operation.

We also hear over and over that partner and sister newsrooms are emailing content back and forth, calling each other up to chase after copy. There are so many high value content sources that editors can tap into outside of the newsroom, but it costs them hours to go out and fetch it, rather than have the content come to them as the traditional newswire has always done.

These are hours that reporters and editors could be spending on creating original content. How much more content could your newsroom have produced today if editors and reports hadn’t wasted so much time with inefficient workflows?

The newsroom has always prided itself on efficiency, because nothing less than the most efficient operation could get a newspaper to press everyday. But the staff reductions, the demands of the web and other digital platforms, and the ad hoc nature of new content partnerships have taken a huge toll on newsroom efficiency.

That’s why Publish2 has been focused on solving newsroom inefficiency by addressing one of the key root causes: disconnected systems.

Simply by syncing a newsroom’s existing print editorial system and web CMS, we can save newsrooms hours a day in lost productivity. By connecting the newsroom’s publishing systems, then, to those of sister newsrooms, content sharing partners, and alternative news sources, we eliminate emailing content back and forth, more rounds of copying and pasting, ad hoc phone calls in search of content and permission, and yet more copying and pasting from third-party websites.

With all publishing systems connected through Publish2, all content gets created once and is then synced across all systems, within your newsroom and across newsrooms.

Suddenly the time savings starts to be measured in FTEs.

Think about how your newsroom could redeploy that staff time. What new products could your newsroom create? What new revenue opportunities would you be better positioned to pursue, especially if the gains in efficiency come from an integrated content workflow?

Every newsrooms should make it a top priority to remove all copy and pasting and emailing from their workflow and enable content, both internal and external, to flow efficiently across all platforms. That’s a critical step in transforming the newsroom into an agile organization positioned for growth.

The response has been tremendous.

Every newspaper newsroom in the world is struggling with integrating print and digital workflows.  And Publish2 can solve this problem for every newsroom, using their existing systems.

The inefficiency created by disconnected print and web workflows — all that copy and pasting, and emailing, and more copy and pasting — has huge costs. Newsrooms can no longer afford that kind of inefficiency.

The beauty of our solution is that by connecting their existing publishing systems, we can also connect newsrooms to a larger network: sister publications, regional partners, local blogs, and new content partners.  We can also distribute the newsroom’s content to tablet apps and social media. That’s the power of connected publishing.

And this isn’t just about newspapers. Magazine publishers, we’ve discovered, are wrestling with the same problem.

The evolution of publishing from print to digital can’t happen by flicking a switch. It requires a bridge. Every print publisher needs a bridge to digital. That’s the big, universal problem we’re solving for the news industry.