It’s no secret that newspapers are in trouble. In fact, the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism’s “State of the News Media” report said the industry “ exited a harrowing 2008 and entered 2009 in something perilously close to free fall.”
For media junkies, it’s also not a surprise that “The Rocky Mountain News” is closing.
But for as someone used to hearing doom and gloom stories about the death of civic engagement because newspapers are going the way of the Dodo, hearing John Temple — the Rocky’s former editor, publisher, and president — discuss the closing on NPR’s Talk of the Nation bolstered my own confidence.
Let me run down what Temple said.
One newspaper towns have fewer reporters
At least reporters employed by newspapers. Temple said this means fewer eyes on government and reporting so “you’ll never know what you lost.”
How does fewer positions make me feel sure of myself, especially with the economy in free fall? Am I insane, or a masochist (most people say that when I tell them I’m studying journalism)? None of above. But first we have to get to the next point.
Opportunity for a web startup
According to Temple, 30 former journalists for the Rocky started a web publication — he calls it a newspaper — and they’re playing around with subscription models.
This when I sat down and started to listen.
Stop being a newspaper, start being an information center
This idea’s been batted around before, but Temple elaborates on how streamlining innovations might have kept the paper afloat longer.
Pushing online, feed to mobile devices, find a niche, create a subject based site … sounds good right?
It is, but you have to do it correctly. Temple discussed how promotional problems like directing the audience to different urls can result in confusion.
And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see a confused audience might hamper your success.
Weren’t you excited?
Yes, yes I was. Because I’ve got a an idea where I can cover a topic I really care about. Every journalism student needs to find that one thing you scratch and itch more than anything else because just like the 30 some journalists in Denver innovating with a new publication, you have to do it too.
In fact I‘ve been talking about a local news startup for awhile, and with any luck I’ll be cracking on it by the time BCNIPhilly rolls around. But that’s a whole other post.
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