Join the newspaper revolution

I thought this comment to the editor's plan nailed my thoughts exactly:

Of course, that anonymous post is probably from one of the paper's writers or copy editors ...

 

Undoubtedly.

 

Is that anything like

?

 

Newspapers have succeeded in getting rid of the only thing that made them unique in the cluttered media landscape. Timely, independent, objective in-depth reporting. Great business plan.
I'm really tired of newspaper execs coming up with new "5-year plans" every two years. Do they think readers haven't heard this crap before? Sure you give something a fancy new name, throw around words like innovation, digitization, crowd-sourcing, etc., but it's still just bullshit. People aren't as stupid as we wish they were.

 

Newspapers are not the Internet.

If people want to receive and disseminate news in a variety of ways, so be it.

Asking them for ideas or story tips? We've done that for years.

But getting them actively involved in the decisions and planning? Put the brakes on, and hard.

Lorain wants to be different? Fine. Best of luck to them. But they'll suffer the consequences.

 

I don't think -- long term -- that newspapers not being the Internet is something to celebrate, ya know?

 

I'm not celebrating it.

But I'm not ready to discard it, either. Newspapers still have value in the way they exist now.

Maybe Lorain's management will hit the right buttons. My money's not on that bet, though.

 

"Don't sell readers short," he says, to which my response can only be "Spend 20 minutes talking to your readers, then get back to me."

 

I don't think it's something we can change, either.

 

This idea would work if readers actually cared to sent suggestions to the newspaper. Unfortunately, with the majority of people having no concern over events unless they have something to do with their own lives, I think people will only care if they feel "robbed" by coverage of a certain event, like most of you guys have already said. Maybe some of the problems with newspapers lie with the quality of readership...

 

80 percent of them have been laid off/run off. Those who remain have all taken hefty pay cuts.

 

Not true. Lots of newspapers, magazines, blogs, etc., are succeeding on the internet by providing news and information.