It's about the people.

Exactly what TBD.com will be is a big question these days.

But while the whats whos and hows of TBD are still taking shape, I’m going to answer what I think is a more interesting question — why.

Why TBD? How is it different?

I came to TBD from the world of newspapers to help develop a new kind of news. Some principles are the same online as offline — such as accuracy, fairness, public service (I refuse “objectivity“). But some are drastically different. I’ve distilled five beliefs that depart from traditional media thinking and guide what I’m doing at TBD (Speaking for myself here, but I’d bet a month’s Metro fares that my colleagues mostly agree).

• Communities can cover themselves, through blogs and other online tools. We’re not hiring hundreds of professionals to come into your community and decide what you should know about it. You can do that better than we can. We just want to help you.

• Users are smart enough to make their own decisions. You’re adults, I trust you to judge what’s credible and what’s acceptable to you. I don’t need to censor the world in the name of protecting you from it.

• Transparency and disclosure are necessary to empower users and build credibility. You the users have a right to know what we do and how we do it, and to be part of the news process.

• Collaboration, not competition. Others who do journalism in the D.C. area are not the enemy — they are potential partners to help serve users.

• News is a conversation, news is personal, and storytelling has a voice. The distant, formulaic, third-person style of traditional newspaper writing has no place here. We are talking with you, not at you. And we expect you to talk with us.

Following and acting on these beliefs makes better journalism. More relevant, more open, more compassionate, more democratic, more fun and more complete. That’s why TBD.