How to get a new CMS

In this guide: what you need to know about 5 publishing platforms, how to make the move and a new grant that can help your newsroom get there.

No piece of technology is more important in a modern newsroom than a content management system. CMSs define how news organizations publish, how they interact with audiences and the way journalism appears online.

Yet for many organizations, the technology is difficult to research and cumbersome to implement. Our guide aims to help news organizations in the process of transitioning to a new publishing system with resources, case studies and a place to ask questions and get answers.

We’ll talk about what it actually takes to transition to a new publishing system, provide feature-level overviews of some of the most popular options on the market and hold open demos and Q&As with system providers.

Need help funding a transition?

A new initiative from the Knight Foundation and the News Revenue Hub will allow nonprofit news organizations and/or news organizations targeting underserved communities to apply for up to $20,000 in funding to transition to a new publishing system. Click here for more details.

Get started with our resources about CMS solutions

The Philadelphia Inquirer newsroom October 23, 2019. Submitted image

Here’s what you need to know before moving to a new CMS

We researched five CMSs to kickstart your CMS transition

Get more information about Arc, Chorus, Ghost, Newspack, and The News Project

Sign up for open demos

We are at capacity for our demos! Sorry!

This project is a collaboration between Poynter and News Catalyst. Poynter received no funding to work on this project.

This project was originally published on February 5, 2020, in conjunction with the announcement of an initiative from the Knight Foundation to help news organizations fund CMS transitions.