Comments on TEMPLE TALK: The 10 things local newspapers should do - compile...

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2010-01-01T23:45:58.288-10:00

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Hi john. This is really good Article.The contain i...

2009-11-12T19:15:01.774-10:00

Hi john.
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I think you have missed one important thing to hel...

2009-07-02T00:26:15.623-10:00

I think you have missed one important thing to help strengthen newspapers and that is Production.

From my many years of experience I know that Newspaper plants typically invest in large capital projects (with most of the cost being in hardware) every 5 to 8 years.

However, they do not then maintain or monitor the Software, Systems or Automation that control the process and equipment. This is because of the focus on day to day production issues and a lack of the required Technical knowledge from the in house personnel. So inevitably, over a period of time the configurations and settings become much less than optimal (if they were commissioned fully in the first place!). This is especially the case for Ink Presetting Systems.

The net result is increased waste, reduced efficiency and a big unnecessary hit on the bottom line which can be avoided.

For a modest outlay and a very quick return on investment (ROI) a suitably experienced Consultant can help to make real savings. Especially if they work in conjunction with the Printers, Process/Production Managers and Equipment/OEM/Systems Suppliers concerned.

In these uncertain and challenging times, surely it is the companies with some forethought and ability/willingness to see further than the immediate and short term that will survive.

Do you agree?

John, thanks for recognizing that you are uniquely...

2009-06-30T09:47:25.539-10:00

John, thanks for recognizing that you are uniquely qualified to help lead this discussion and doing it.

Serious question about #10. Should newsrooms be hiring librarians?

For years, we've been been talking in generalities about "unlocking the value" in our "deep local information". Face it, other than a few niche pubs and a welcome guide once a year, we've failed.

We employ people with newsgathering DNA. They find and tell stories. These visual and textual narratives wrap useful bits of local information deep in the folds of fine storytelling -- where they become essentially useless in a database world.

So perhaps the next step in developing a true strategy of being a local information source is to recognize that we have neither the people nor systems in place to execute. I think we guess wrong when we think this takes the same skillset as a traditional reporter, photographer, editor or news assistant. I come back to the question: Should we be hiring librarians?

@Edward's #9 Headline writing is very difficul...

2009-06-28T03:38:03.790-10:00

@Edward's #9
Headline writing is very difficult today.
Print and online require completely different headlines.
Online headlines need t be written for search engines who have no conception of puns.
Print headlines are written for humans who are already reading that particular page of the paper.
It is not clear to me how you reconcile these.

As I have pointed out a couple of times, there is ...

2009-06-27T08:15:43.034-10:00

As I have pointed out a couple of times, there is one big thing missing from your 10-point analysis: content. And I think the content is a central issue that the newspaper industry needs to address. It is what newspapers today chose to report, or not, and how they are published.
Ten rules for content:
1. Ironclad rule #1: two features per edition with only one in any section. This is a newspaper, not a featurepaper.
2. Ironclad rule #2: two trend stories or “top 10” list stories per year, timed for the summer and the winter equinox. “What’s in, what’s out” stories are stale. This rule cannot be violated under any circumstance.
3. Back to basics. I am in agreement with David Simon, screenwriter of The Wire (I recommend Season 5, which you can rent at Blockbuster) who says there has to be a return to basics and beats in newspapers: courts, cops and the local city councils. I would extend this to a local community federation meetings beat as well. This would entail reorganizing the newsroom, and I would assign all new reporters to one of these basic beats. The New York Times used to assign new reporters and returning foreign correspondents to the local sanitation beat in New York city. This resulted in some surprisingly good garbage stories.
4. No more series. They are a waste of space, designed only to win prizes. Readers may read the first installment, but readership drops off dramatically from there. The space is going to be needed for real news.
5. No more cutbacks in newspaper furniture. When my local paper stopped running stock tables, I cancelled my subscription and took out one to the Wall Street Journal. It has surprisingly good journalism. Yes, I do know in this day and age that I can get stock quotes online. But nothing compares to the ability to comb through columns of agate in search of stocks that might interest me. Newspapers could shift the sports agate online, but generally have not done this because of the fear of the loss of the younger generation of sports readers. Why discriminate against old fart stockholders, or others who do acrostics?
6. Ironclad rule #3: Religion stories belong only on the religion page. Mercifully, the WSJ rarely writes about religion.
7 Expand coverage of local deaths and assign a writer to the obit beat. There are great stories in people’s lives, and obit sections are read.
8. Crime tick-tocks and mugshots. Readers want to know when their neighbors fall from grace, and why.
9. Original and unique stories only. If the newspaper is a tabloid, the headline writer needs to look at the New York Post or London Sun and put some zip in the headlines. “Headless Body in Topless Bar” is outrageous, but readers read that story.
10. Perhaps the most important, return style and writing to reporting. Today’s generation of reporters are largely drawn from university journalism schools where style e and writing is played down in favor of the traditional inverted pyramid style of writing. Reporters should be encouraged to experiment with writing, and not condemned or ridiculed when they try. E.W. Scripps had a valid prescription for news of giving readers stories in the ratio of nine parts jam, and one part medicine. The one part medicine was what the editor wanted them to read, the nine parts were what the readers wanted.
In general newspaper management, I would kill focus groups and fire all consultants. Circulation is the barometer of what people feel about their newspaper, and polls or focus groups are misleading editors into reckless decisions. Editors are professionals in deciding what readers want and if they get out into the community, they should have their finger on the pulse of the community. It is not difficult. What is interesting to me, and news to me, is probably going to be interesting and news to a majority of my readers. You don’t need a focus group to tell you that.