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Gannett's newest "innovation"

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by murciélago, Jul 5, 2007.

  1. JayFarrar

    JayFarrar Well-Known Member

    Words I never thought I would hear in connection with journalism.
    "adjustments to the metrics dynamics"
    Lordy. Let's go build some widgets and be done with it.
     
  2. Our ME kept making the comment ``we're not trying to build widgets here" today. Damn, were you there?!?!

    Same as I expected. Six stories plus a centerpiece per week. A centerpiece, as I understand it, is a story that is multisourced, has a multimedia component and could run as a centerpiece. Not exactly a lofty standard.

    Management claims that we are not alone in this quota thing. ME said Burlington, Asheville and Lafayette are doing this. If you work at one of those places, PM me or post here STAT because I can't believe quotas are widespread.
     
  3. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    Looks like the Mercury News is recycling failed Gannett ideas now: Apparently "innovations" like t readership surveys, blogs and focus groups will help turn newspapers around. I don't know what I think less of after reading this article, the Merc or Portfolio.

    From Portfolio.com

    The San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's struggling paper of record, is embarking on an ambitious and unusually public campaign to figure out how to contend with the rapid changes -- many of them originating with its readers -- that are transforming the newspaper industry.
    The newspaper, long the preeminent authority on technology news, has launched an initiative called "Rethinking the Mercury News" that will be the subject of a paper-wide meeting this afternoon at its headquarters in San Jose.
    At a time when many newspapers are staggering around like punch-drunk boxers trying to find a business formula suited to the Internet age, the paper's effort, which is being spearheaded by Deputy Managing Editor Matt Mansfield, appears uniquely clear-eyed and transparent.
    "We all look at our slumping circulation and revenue numbers and wonder what kind of changes it will take to grow -- or even keep -- our audience," Mansfield told Portfolio.com in an email interview. "The good news is that we can find out. The answers lie in the people who walk, talk, drive, shop, and read among us every day."
    Mansfield does not have the luxury of time on his side. Last month the paper cut its news staff by 17 percent. It was the third round of newsroom cutbacks in the past two years.
    At the core of the Mercury News campaign is a deceptively simple idea: Give the readers what they want.
    To achieve this, the paper is preparing to conduct an extensive survey of its readership, to be undertaken by teams of staff members from all departments at the Mercury News, who will venture into the community to observe and catalog readers' news consumption habits.
    "We intend to focus outward so we can know best what media consumers want and need," Mansfield said. "The challenge will be to discover those things that will grow the business while holding to the core component of the great journalism that has come to distinguish the Merc."

    Perhaps no news organization in the country is more acutely aware than the Mercury News of the challenges facing newspapers in this era of media consolidation and technological change. The paper's readership, encompassing Silicon Valley, is arguably the most tech-savvy in the country.
    The paper also has the added challenge of catering to an audience that expects local news coverage in addition to its signature tech franchise. Mansfield said he is well aware that the paper plays a very important role not only for Silicon Valley businesses, but for their employees as well.
    "We're hoping that we get a level of engagement that's meaningful," Mansfield said. "We believe we will because Silicon Valley has a lot of thoughtful people who understand that a thriving local media is important."
    Mansfield said the paper's role in fostering a sense of community in the Bay Area "calls back to journalism's early roots." It's a mission, Mansfield said, "not to lose as we head into the future."
    The paper is taking a very public approach to its reinvention, complete with a "Rethinking the Mercury News" blog, co-written by Mansfield and investigative reporter April Lynch, and a Facebook group.
    As data rolls in from readers, it will be uploaded to a central database available to everyone in the newsroom. Mansfield said the paper would be incorporating principles developed by the Newspaper Next project and the Ideo design consultancy.
    The paper will also host a series of "group conversations about the media in general and the Mercury News in particular, with groups such as Silicon Valley thought leaders, business owners, and community advocates," Mansfield said.

    The Mercury News, long a crown jewel of the Knight Ridder chain, has been on a roller coaster ride for the last year in the wake of the McClatchy Company's $6.5 billion purchase of Knight Ridder. Shortly after the sale, McClatchy sold the paper to the MediaNews Group.
    Despite the daunting challenges facing the Mercury News, staffers are moving forward with remarkable optimism and aplomb. The paper's blog borrows a line from the X-Files to capture the spirit of the new initiative:
    "When it comes to starting the reinvention of the Mercury News, the X-Files may have said it best: 'The truth is out there.'''

     
  4. I'm a walk-about veteran (Gannett's code word for venturing into a community that doesn't like you and asking them why they don't like you) and lemme say that it sucks ass. One guy raised a full bottle of alcohol in what I think was a mock attempt to hit me.

    I asked him if he took my paper.

    I guess that's a no.
     
  5. boots

    boots New Member

    0
    Would you and Gannett call what your are doing in the neighborhood a DITLO?
     
  6. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    Bingo....

    My condolances to you and your fellow grunts, Murcie...
    Oh... is the News side held to the same standard?
     
  7. crimsonace

    crimsonace Well-Known Member

    When my old shop (not Gannett, but a small chain) instituted byline counts, we tried all sorts of stuff ...

    Our sports staff would double-byline the daily roundup (a "compiled by"), separate the "briefs" and the podunk PR news and put a "compiled by" byline on it, break event coverage into several small stories, et al.

    But we didn't institute byline counts because the publisher/management was trying to force us to work. It was because the publisher told us we didn't work hard enough, so we started measuring it to save our editor's @$$ (a few months later, when he said "there's not enough local in the paper," we clandestinely worked with the ad department to take out a full-page house ad that listed every single local name that was in editorial copy in the previous week. They had to run in something like 4-point type).
     
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