Join the newspaper revolution

[JoelHammond]

On July 4, The (Lorain) Morning Journal will declare its independence from the fading traditional newspaper business, along with other papers in Journal Register Company's historic Ben Franklin Project. We want, and need, readers to become part of the revolution by helping us to brainstorm story ideas, ask questions and find information.

http://telltheeditor.blogspot.com/2010/05/readers-become-part-of-creating-morning.html

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Gee, another "Let's ask the readers what they want" initiative. Hasn't this been done, oh, about 50 times in the last 20 years?

Then you get a bunch of coverage of JV soccer, and circulation goes down and the suits throw a fit and cut the page count even more.

Here's a suggestion: Stop with the stupid gimmick initiatives, and start putting your resources towards beefing up both your paper and your web site. And while you're at it, give your people a nice raise, since they've been getting screwed over by JRC for the last 20 years. Just the name JRC makes your readers want to run away.

 

[steveu]

What you said. Lorain's daily has been a pretty mean suburban competitor to the PD in past years, but the suits seem determined to turn it into a weekly shopper.

 

[Dr. Howard]

Have people stopped calling and emaililng the newspapers with ideas for stories, about developments in their communities, about their issues and woes? I don't think so. And there's a great plug for your own future, talking about the 'fading traditional newspaper business.' How about this instead? "We're drowning. Throw us an anchor."

 

[Ace]

Have people stopped calling and emaililng the newspapers with ideas for stories, about developments in their communities, about their issues and woes? I don't think so.

In my experience, people usually call after the fact and complain about why something wasn't in the paper or wasn't played up in the paper as opposed to calling beforehand and suggesting ideas.

 

[SixToe]

Hire good people, don't lay off or chase away your experienced people, have a creative and motivating work environment and don't pursue things that aren't in your best interests.

Be a good, solid newspaper and quit trying to be six different new, hip or trendy things your staff cannot achieve with the limited financial or staffing resources.

Or screw around with champagne aspirations on a Natty Lite budget, and then beg the remaining "customers" for a lifeline of ideas and help.

 

[Bubbler]

Stop covering us when we lose.

 

[WolvEagle]

At our JRC shop, we had a discussion about this just yesterday. Our conclusion is that we're not sure what the bigwigs want us to do. The companywide e-mail was so full of jargon that we couldn't figure out what they were trying to say. Boy, that's a great start.

 

[Stitch]

I wonder what program they are going with for layout, since they are ditching proprietary systems. GIMP works well for photos, and I know of one open source layout program.

 

[playthrough]

Hire good people, don't lay off or chase away your experienced people, have a creative and motivating work environment and don't pursue things that aren't in your best interests.

Be a good, solid newspaper and quit trying to be six different new, hip or trendy things your staff cannot achieve with the limited financial or staffing resources.

Or screw around with champagne aspirations on a Natty Lite budget, and then beg the remaining "customers" for a lifeline of ideas and help.

Jeez man, get your head out of the clouds.

 

[WriteThinking]

Have people stopped calling and emaililng the newspapers with ideas for stories, about developments in their communities, about their issues and woes? I don't think so. And there's a great plug for your own future, talking about the 'fading traditional newspaper business.' How about this instead? "We're drowning. Throw us an anchor."

Hire good people, don't lay off or chase away your experienced people, have a creative and motivating work environment and don't pursue things that aren't in your best interests.

Be a good, solid newspaper and quit trying to be six different new, hip or trendy things your staff cannot achieve with the limited financial or staffing resources.

Or screw around with champagne aspirations on a Natty Lite budget, and then beg the remaining "customers" for a lifeline of ideas and help.

These two posts have it right.

This is not an initiative. It another attempt to get other people -- more amateur, cheaper other people -- to do the work and jobs of journalists, you know, instead of having actual journalists do it.

It is so sad and wrong, and sounds so desperate, much more so, I think, than needs to be the case.

 

[Ace]

Have people stopped calling and emaililng the newspapers with ideas for stories, about developments in their communities, about their issues and woes? I don't think so. And there's a great plug for your own future, talking about the 'fading traditional newspaper business.' How about this instead? "We're drowning. Throw us an anchor."

Hire good people, don't lay off or chase away your experienced people, have a creative and motivating work environment and don't pursue things that aren't in your best interests.

Be a good, solid newspaper and quit trying to be six different new, hip or trendy things your staff cannot achieve with the limited financial or staffing resources.

Or screw around with champagne aspirations on a Natty Lite budget, and then beg the remaining "customers" for a lifeline of ideas and help.

These two posts have it right.

This is not an initiative. It another attempt to get other people -- more amateur, cheaper other people -- to do the work and jobs of journalists, you know, instead of having actual journalists do it.

It is so sad and wrong, and sounds so desperate, much more so, I think, than needs to be the case.

On the other hand ....

The way people receive -- and participate in -- the dissemination of news had changed completely with the internet. People (mostly younger people) are used to participating in the process and following what they want, not being spoon fed.

This is something newspapers struggle with, so I can't really fault any effort to try to connect with readers.

 

[I Should Coco]

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

I buy a newspaper because I value the editorial decisions made by reporters and editors, also known as trained journalists. Readers aren't trained journalists. With regard to content, their "needs" and "wants" probably won't align. If the Ben Franklin Project will include stories that are pitched by untrained readers, rather than trained journalists, then it seems to me that the value of the newspaper decreases. I guess you get what you pay for. If you're getting free advice from readers about stories to pursue, the product will probably reflect the investment.

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

 

[Ace]

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

I buy a newspaper because I value the editorial decisions made by reporters and editors, also known as trained journalists. Readers aren't trained journalists. With regard to content, their "needs" and "wants" probably won't align. If the Ben Franklin Project will include stories that are pitched by untrained readers, rather than trained journalists, then it seems to me that the value of the newspaper decreases. I guess you get what you pay for. If you're getting free advice from readers about stories to pursue, the product will probably reflect the investment.

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

Undoubtedly.

 

[slappy4428]

Is that anything like ?

 

[DanOregon]

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 bull****. People aren't as stupid as we wish they were.

 

[SixToe]

The way people receive -- and participate in -- the dissemination of news had changed completely with the internet.

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.

 

[Ace]

The way people receive -- and participate in -- the dissemination of news had changed completely with the internet.

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?

 

[SixToe]

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.

 

[deskslave]

"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."