Dallas ISD exploring options to get into news media business

(Matthew Haag/The Dallas Morning News)

Reporters from Dallas TV stations were outside the Dallas ISD administration building in April.

Dallas ISD Superintendent Mike Miles said Monday that the district is planning to get into the news media business and make its website a top source to read the latest on DISD.

Miles told the district’s 223 principals in a training session that DISD officials are working to overhaul its communications plan, which includes a proposal to launch a news media initiative. Miles said he wants DISD to break news before its reported by traditional media, specifically The Dallas Morning News, he told principals.

DISD spokesman André Riley confirmed Monday that DISD is in the beginning stages of launching the news initiative.

“One of the issues you have when you are an organization publishing to a media outlet is that you lose control of the story or are at the mercy of what people cover,” Riley said. “There are important stories that we want to get out on our own terms.”

In recent years, government agencies across the country have increasingly become their own new media outlets, releasing information on blogs and social media before they send news releases to reporters. The Dallas Police Department, for example, publishes news on DPDbeat.com and encourages its officers to send messages on Twitter from crime scenes.

Miles told principals that the idea is not to transform DISD’s communications team into a news station. But Riley said that DISD is exploring ways to provide in-depth stories and explanations of DISD news through video and text.

“One idea we have is to make it (DallasISD.org) a place for people to come for information,” he said.

Riley said DISD doesn’t plan to hire new staff to run the news site.

“It’s just one of many ideas we are exploring. I just cannot categorize it as something that is coming. We are always looking at how we could do things better,” Riley said.