
Ask HN: I want to start a News Website - zackfern
Hey there. I have a question: I want to start a news website, how do I do it?<p>I can code (front end and backend), and I can study topics, learn them, and make them easy to understand for other people.<p>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.
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Ganthor
Why not just use Wordpress with a few add-ons and a theme that looks like a
news site?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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donohoe
Couldn't hurt to work/intern for a online news site and gain some experience.

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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?

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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.

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freejoe76
Can you write? Are you going to scrape other people's information? What kind
of information are you interested in publishing?

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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."

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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.

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ahemphill
More or less. Be aware of your weakness, basically.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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alanthonyc
Go ahead and code up a prototype, then run it by the folks here for feedback.

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pshirishreddy
[http://knowledgeisfortheworld.blogspot.com/2010/06/how-i-
sta...](http://knowledgeisfortheworld.blogspot.com/2010/06/how-i-started-
something-from-nothing.html)

Hope this helps :)

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pshirishreddy
Though it won't require much of, I can say any coding experience you can bring
up a website of your own in pretty much a day or two provided you have enough
content to flood the site

