Comments on: Can Local Newspapers Afford to Report in Real Time?

By: Philip S. Moore

Philip S. Moore — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 05:45:08 +0000

Joe, the answer is yes AND no. Local journalism can meet its mission through any medium. It just won’t meet it the same way. Just as local TV and local radio news differs in content and presentation from local newspaper journalism, the Internet is and will continue to be fundamentally different in from print media in its mission and message.

Here are two fundamental differences:

1. “Push” media–local TV and newspapers–are near saturation in penetration but limited in reach. “Pull” media is the polar opposite, offering a global reach but scant community penetration. This means that local media can muster tremendous local impact by reaching an audience with tremendous interest in being informed, while Internet media seeks the attention and sensation of a much broader audience, less interested in being informed than entertained. “Push” media is part of the community, while “pull” media is part of the data “cloud”.

2. Newspapers provide news in context, giving meticulously researched depth and meaning to transient events. The Internet is a medium of the transient, insisting on readers providing their own context. This is why newspaper readership has always, and I mean always, been greater among the middle aged than the young. Until you have a mortgage and kids of your own, you don’t need context, because news is just another form of entertainment. Once you’re a committed part of the community, you can’t live without context, because context is what you need for the informed decision making you’re faced with every day.

That, by the way, is why I’m not inclined to worry about young people’s affinity for the Web. For now, Facebook and YouTube are enough. For the future, they’ll want more. When they do, it’s the newspaper that will provide it.

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 18:36:36 +0000

ahhh
So my real question should have been… Can local Journalism meet their mission regardless of the medium (print or digital)… I believe they can and in some cases are doing a good job. Making money is all together a distinctly different issue… I am a bit older and kind of like the paper “feel” but my kids who represent the next generation will have nothing to do with print… We both read the same articles. In fact they typically get them before me because I wait for the paper. I would argue the journalistic mission (unless I am missing something) is met in both cases…

By: Philip S. Moore

Philip S. Moore — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 05:35:55 +0000

Joe, you ask if newspapers can still meet their core mission using an online medium. The answer is “no”. As I noted before, quoting Marshall McLuhan, the medium is the message.

That means the journalism and advertising we accept as the newspaper’s mission cannot, by definition, be met anywhere else but in a traditional paper-and-ink newspaper. That’s not a bad thing. Books will continue to be books, magazines will continue to be magazines, TV and radio will continue to be TV and radio, and the online medium will find and define its own mission, whatever that may turn out to be.

For newspapers, the only online value is in the Web’s ability to provide easier access to archives, easier subscription service and a handier tool for managing advertising contracts.

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 23:16:02 +0000

Interesting… Can newspapers (as we know them today) still meet their core mission (assuming the mission is independent professional journalism) using an online medium? I hope they can under the new rules… God I hope they can, because if they can’t I am afraid they may be minimized…

I agree with you on how the publishers got out sold by CL and others!!! I do believe they can win back that revenue if they focus on their strength which IMHO is “local”… They own the relationships with the community and the advertisers… That after all is their strong asset!

I am hoping they can play their own game but just on a new field (sorry for the metaphor (;-)

By: Philip S. Moore

Philip S. Moore — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 05:04:59 +0000

Joe, I understand where you’re coming from, since that’s been the demonstrated concern of newspaper publishers since the emergence of the Web. However, it’s just not real. Despite the “print” look and feel of the web, it’s not print. It’s a new medium, with new rules and a new content structure. It can’t and won’t offer competition to the newspaper unless the newspaper undermines its core mission to try to compete on the web.

The fact that Craig’s List slammed local papers doesn’t demonstrate anything more than poor salesmanship at newspaper classifieds. Smart ad departments have been able to use CL and dedicated web sites, such as Realtor.com and Cars.com to promote classified and class-display sales, adapting to the new paradigm by promoting classifieds and display ads as a high intensity strategy for driving traffic to the web.

The key to winning is always playing your own game, not the other guy’s game, and doing it better.

By: Joe

Joe — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 21:09:50 +0000

Hey Phillip

My concern is if newspapers don’t adapt to “new media” (digital) they will be beaten at their own game. Craigslist took millions of dollars out of the newspaper’s balance sheet while publishers looked on in utter dismay… My fear is someone will do just what you suggest “provide intelligent and authoritative source for local news” but in a low cost digital format… and that would be the end of the industry as we know it!

By: Philip S. Moore

Philip S. Moore — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 18:54:01 +0000

Don’t worry about it. People in the “digital world” may like their news instantly, but they aren’t willing to pay for it. That’s hardly new. Radio offered instant news and gave it up because there was no audience, or at least not enough of one to make instant news a product the radio stations could sell.
The key to newspaper survival is to let the Internet be what it’s going to be–a place for snippets, comments and rumor-sharing. Newspapers should concentrate on providing an intelligent and authoritative source for local news, as well as local advertising. Make it something worth waiting for and people will wait.