That look at the future is now, and its central theme is the crux of newspapers' problem: Zach Leonsis and his buddies don't read.
That, and the fact that there is no internet-supported financial/business model for the industry to embrace that would replace standard advertising, is all there is to it.
This industry's problems have little to do with the journalists, or the work that journalists are doing. They have to do with the fact that the upcoming generation, essentially, doesn't bother, and doesn't want to be bothered, with anything except, um, what it wants.
The elder Leonsis pointed this out himself, although I'm sure he didn't mean it in quite the same way I do.
And, this quick-think list?
*That backstage access, absolutely. Give me a story in which the coach shows video on how his team defeats a neutral-zone trap.
*The stars off-stage, at home, on vacation. People magazine-y, it sells.
*Analysis, as often as possible by local experts.
*Humor. The games are meant to be fun.
It has all been done before, multiple times, and in various incarnations.
I know that, except for the fact that I've done it via my writing and not video, this is, in essence, the kind of work I've always tried to do, on any beat I've had, and whenever the opportunities have presented themselves, just because that's how I am, because I am good at free-thinking ideas, and because I want to do a good job.
And many times -- most of the time -- I have, but it doesn't matter.
I am still out of work, and so are a lot of other people, because the reasons for it have little to do with our journalism, or our willingness to do new, tech-driven journalism.
