The director of Semana.com is Víctor Diusabá, and the editor in chief is Mauricio Aragón.
Semana is a colombian magazine that was founded in 1946 by the former president of te country, Alberto Lleras Camargo after finishing his first period of presidency. It's online version was released on 1998.
The guy we talked with (interview on the field)
Víctor Diusabá, director of Semana.com
How Semana.com looked at the beginning
Diffferent prizes such as:
TRAFFIC DATA
2235 sites has linked the page
It is ranked as the 29 site most visited in Colombia. and 25 in Bogota.
49% of the visits are bounces = just one page view.
Semana.com has a newsroom independent from the printed edition that has around 10 senior redactors which includes its director, Víctor Diusabá, the general editor, Mauricio, and a group of senior writers that are capable of making really good analysis and development of the news facts that happen every day in Colombia.
Semana.com has his own agenda but they try to have a similar style to the one that the magazine has: develop the information, not just give people the news but go a step beyond and give them interviews, chronicles, put a countenance to the news, context, analysis, etc., using all possible genders to give people the most complete information about a news fact. They disagree with the believing that people don't read in depth online, they prefer to make journalism of quality no matter the length.
From Monday to Saturday they work on the web page but on Sunday they work is to upload the printed edition, so they put the whole content of it online at www.semana.com. You see at the top menu bar the tab "printed edition" and you can read it all for free.
"We have our own rhythm and of course we go first than the magazine most of the time because they are weekly and we are daily though we come from a weekly publishing, we are daily on the web and it is them who have to come out with something different, new, that we maybe didnt publish but we never fight for who has the information, it is a complementary work".
Mauricio Aragón, editor in chief at Semana.com
"We haven't migrated to the new platform because the process is more complex since we have more content than the rest of our sites. This is why we have to do this at a time when the traffic of the page is lower, maybe it will be on December".
"I, as editor of the page, review and organize the information. The idea is the all of it (though it is impossible to be 100%) pass through my hands. There are some that I exclude from that revision but the most important stuff of the page will be always reviewed by me or Victor if I’m not here".
"This bar has other social networks options because are used by the readers from oversees, and it were chosen and configured by our engineers". Redactor at Semana.com
Social Networks = Journalistic input. Very useful for some cases like tragedies in which followers become sources. But can't be used for everything; facts as Cano's death can't be confirmed through social networks. It also allow Semana.com to have a very interesting feedback with the users because through Facebook and Twitter they are told about the mistakes they make. Also is a way to generate debate despite the useless comments.
We recognize social networks as the place where our readers move. They are there and we have to reach them not only through social networks but also mobile devices like cellphones and tablets. Our policy is that we let them in but we reserve the right to refuse admission when it comes to social networks and comments on the web page. Is our decision to choose what to use from all the content that is online.
Our director, Víctor Diusabá said once: “I wouldn't cross a bridge built by a citizen engineer”, seriously, and I think the journalists we have are prepared to assume the role of giving people the information through a brand with the importance such as Semana. We have a high level of influence, what we publish is quote in other media and different places online.
There’s no objectivity but heart in many of the comments that people publish though we can’t generalize but this is why they can't have full access to manage our contents. However we do not regulate what people comment unless someone call to tell us a person is being rude or attacking someone then we go to review what this person wrote to see if we better remove it or not.
We have bloggers that colaborate with us for free. To get them we make convocations through social networks. The thing is that everyone wants to write about politics and justice because they thing that's is what Semana is all about, and yes, this is our strenght; but we would like to have people talking about music, cuisine, health, sports, fashion, celebrities, etc. People usually talk about light topics with their family and friends and that's what we would like the bloggers to write about, it is also what people can find in the bottom pages of the magazine.
Hanan Almutawa - Carolina Castro - Luisa Valdivieso
