T-Squared opens shop

This morning the staff of the Texas Tribune flipped the switch and went live with their much-anticipated new Texas political news portal. It is, at first glance, everything the Trib's Evan Smith has said all along it would be, and more.

I can practically smell the innovation. I can practically hear Smith and Ross Ramsey (the other Trib boss) preaching to the staff that "we're not going to do it like everybody else does it," and preaching it in words fired so quickly that only the caffeine-addicted can keep up. One can practically hear the "oh crap!'s" of major daily newspaper editors and publishers as they sit down at their computers with their coffee this morning, seeing the massive amount of news and information running circles around the products of their own papers' newsrooms, in many cases produced by the same journalists who months ago were under-valued writers at those newspapers.

Months ago, political Texans were all asking each other, "what do you think about this Tribune thing?" I said from the start that I thought the start-up would be a good thing, which would not only aggregate some of the best Texas political writers' work and give them the freedom to do more of it, but also force everybody else in traditional media to step up their game. And every time I said it with great confidence, I wondered if it was true.

Now that I see the site live, I know it is. There's more useful news and information on today's front page alone, on the opening day, than one would get from the sum total of every political newsclip from every major daily newspaper in Texas for a week or two. And, oh yeah, the Trib also has all those major dailys' newsclips on their site too.

There are, no doubt, challenges ahead for the Trib. Foremost among them is the lingering worry that, once the dust settles and the "newness" wears off, the business model might not work. Equally challenging is how they'll keep up the pace of producing a massive amount of content day-after-day. Afterall, writing and delivering the news isn't a sprint - it's a long distance run.

Also challenging, and instructive, will be how they handle the task of picking themselves up and brushing themselves off, following the inevitable mistakes and snafus to which startup companies always seem prone. I already see one possible pitfall - they've managed to contract with a polling outfit many find questionable. I might be mistaken, but isn't this the same outfit which contracted with newspapers for years not because they were good, but because they were cheap - and even so, one-by-one newspapers abandoned the arrangements because of quality issues? I guess time will tell whether the polls are worthy of the Trib, but on this front they'll have to prove it to me.

I also wonder some of the same things they may not yet know at the Trib, because they probably haven't re-invented it yet - like how a publication which isn't a "newspaper of record" will cover urgent breaking news. Like how they'll make things right when they get it wrong. Like how they'll avoid blurring the lines between news and analysis such that they don't draw excessive fire, while at the same time not being afraid to present solid analysis.

What I'm not skeptical about is the Tribune's ability to adjust, improve, and evolve such that the product is high quality, the interest remains high, and folks are armed with more news and information than they have been for years. I know the people involved, and if the Trib leadership can avoid burning them out (sometimes a big trick among start-ups), they'll keep producing and innovating.

Texas politics is the greatest full contact sport in America. The Tribune's roll-out appears at first glance to be a product worthy of the sport. And remind me I said that, after the first time they totally burn somebody I like.