From the 'No Kidding File'
A little inside the industry comment today, courtesy of The Globe and Mail:
NEW YORK — The many and deepening cuts at newspapers across the country are starting to take a toll on their content, according to a study being released Monday.
The challenge newspapers must meet immediately is to find more revenue on the Internet, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism's study, called “The Changing Newsroom: What is Being Gained and What is Being Lost in America's Daily Newspapers.”
Newspaper managers need to “find a way to monetize the rapid growth of Web readership before newsroom staff cuts so weaken newspapers that their competitive advantage disappears.”
You can read the full story here.
The steep newsroom job cuts working their way across the United States haven't hit Canada as a hard – yet. Hopefully we'll learn from the mistakes being made in the U.S.
I firmly believe that news organizations that invest in local coverage will do better over the long run as the web destroys the concept of the mass audience. And I'm not just saying that out of motivated self-interest.
The key for newspapers trying to survive this transformation is to provide the news that global organization's can't, won't or aren't interested in - the kind of intensely local journalism and rich storytelling newspapers can excel at.
The web also presents an interesting feedback system for newspapers, albeit a dangerous one. Through the web, editors can glean detailed information on what stories readers are most interested in. That doesn't mean editors should solely provide the most salacious stories, but rather that they should understand and balance the public's information wants with its news needs.
While I don't believe newspapers should be cutting back in the newsroom, I do think that the job requirements are changing. The days of simply being a radio, television or print reporter are quickly fading and the reporters of the 21st century will increasingly be called on to provide audio, video and print versions of their stories, sometimes in both short, medium and long formats, to truly multimedia news organizations.
