NPR, the public radio network, is introducing a revamped NPR.org this week, giving users what its executives say is an easier-to-navigate Web site that emphasizes written reporting over audio reports.
It is part of a digital expansion, branded with the new tagline “Always On,” that will include several mobile applications to be available late this summer.
The changes are meant to raise the level of NPR’s journalism and journalistic output, and to make public radio more widely available, not just on local stations but on any format consumers might want, said Vivian Schiller, NPR’s president and chief executive.
“We are a news content organization, not just a radio organization,” Ms. Schiller said.
But NPR is also a membership organization, partly financed by local public radio stations nationwide. While Ms. Schiller said that Web and mobile changes would make it easier than ever to find programming from local stations, they will also make it much more convenient for listeners to bypass local stations, if they choose.
“That’s the risk,” said Jake Shapiro, the executive director of Public Radio Exchange, which works with stations to expand programming options, and just released a new version of its own iPhone application, the Public Radio Player.
“It increases the pressure for stations to offer compelling and distinct programming,” Mr. Shapiro said. “There is definitely some anxiety about how easy these devices make the ability to shop around.”
The changes to NPR’s Web site are intended to make it easier for users to find NPR news reports on a less cluttered home page, or to jump to two other areas of emphasis, Arts and Life, and Music.
Breaking news is already being posted faster, after a merger of NPR’s radio and digital news desks, and a regimen of Knight Foundation-financed digital training for NPR’s journalists. Searching for, sharing and commenting on NPR articles will be simpler, and free transcripts will be offered for the first time.
By next year, when NPR expects to have secured the digital rights, the site will offer entire NPR programs for downloading on demand.
The Web site changes are part of a strategy meant to increase NPR’s share of the midday audience, between its “Morning Edition” and the late afternoon “All Things Considered,” when listening to NPR stations drops considerably, said Kinsey Wilson, senior vice president and general manager of NPR Digital Media.
Instead of short paragraphs that direct users to click on links to audio reports taken from NPR’s programs, the Web site will now offer fully reported text versions of articles, so users can click from their cubicles. “We think the midday experience is much more text-driven,” Mr. Wilson said.
The Web site will flip “from being a companion to radio to being a news destination in its own right,” Ms. Schiller said.
It will not be as comprehensive as some sites, like CNN’s, are, Mr. Wilson said, but will “concentrate on areas where we can be particularly authoritative.” He added, “We’re not in a battle for share with established players who’ve been doing this for 15 years.”
Users can customize the Web site with a link to a local station, a feature that Ms. Schiller said was far superior to the capabilities of the current NPR Web site. Still, she said, “the bypass issue,” as it is referred to internally in public radio, “is not going to go away overnight.” Until it can be sorted out, she added, “first and foremost, we have to serve the audience” by making NPR content as easy as possible to find.
Stations worry about listeners cutting them out of the loop because they get much of their financing through local donations. NPR, however, will experiment this fall with letting users donate to specific local stations directly through the NPR Web site, which Ms. Schiller said could make it easier for stations to raise money and could encourage “impulse donors.”
In the coming weeks, NPR will release free mobile applications for the iPhone, Google’s Android and Symbian-powered phones.
Dozens of public radio apps already are available for the iPhone and other mobile platforms. NPR’s new applications, however, will emphasize news content, offering quick links to articles in written or audio form.
One element that users will not see much of on the NPR Web site is video. An experiment a year ago of adding more video to the site particularly irked local member stations, who did not want competition from video. Video is expensive, Ms. Schiller said, and she and Mr. Wilson are not convinced of its value. “We absolutely should not be heavily invested in video,” she said.
