The Ben Franklin Project is an initiative started by the Journal Register Company to refocus the journalism process on producing stories for the Web first, and print second:

Traditionally the model has been for the reporter/editor to determine what should be covered and how it should be covered. That story would then weave its way through the journalistic process – reporters gathering facts from the usual stable of sources and the editors guiding the efforts – before ending on the printed page. From there the vast majority of newspapers have then pushed those stories onto the web. They are literally going from a slow medium to fast. And that’s just backwards both in timing and audience desires.

The project is prompting journalists to rethink how they plan and research stories with the help of readers, and write those stories for publication on the Web:

Taking a digital first, print last approach motivates journalists to tap into readers before they even start reporting. To inform their reporting, journalists at both papers have used polls, online chats and other free tools to ask readers what stories they want the paper to cover and what questions they want answered about their community.

When reporting on a story about local electric rates earlier this month, Perkasie News-Herald Managing Editor Emily Morris asked the community via Twitter and Facebook to share their questions about the rates. She then asked those questions during an interview with local officials and created a separate article listing the answers.

(Via Carrie Brown-Smith)