Sunday, January 1, 2006
Yesterday's News Tomorrow?
From Ron Karle, 68, freelance writer and former editor, East Lansing, Mi.:
I enjoyed your column on 11/23 in the Detroit Free Press, which is my old paper, too. (I worked there in the late Fifties/early Sixties as an apprentice printer and later as a journeyman before earning a journalism degree from Michigan State in 1966.)
You ask, "What would it take to win over friends and family who don't read the paper now?"
Well, for one thing, quit running notices in the paper such as: "Last night's (political, business, sporting event, etc.) did not end in time for this edition. Complete coverage is available on our website."
No wonder fewer and fewer people--especially younger readers--bother to pick up a newspaper most days.
In the "old days" the story may have been written on a typewriter and set in type on a Linotype machine, but somehow it made the morning paper.
Despite all of today's advanced technology, the motto should be: "Yesterday's News Tomorrow!"
Sent 12/1/2005.
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Thursday, December 22, 2005
What Will it Take: Your Replies
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Saturday, December 10, 2005
What Do You Want in a Newspaper?
Detroit Free Press, Nov. 23, 2005
By Bill Mitchell
Changing planes recently at Detroit Metro Airport, I plunked down my 50 cents for a Free Press and flipped through the paper in search of news that I assumed would not be good.
The latest circulation figures for the nation's newspapers had just been released. I was anxious to see where my old employer, the Free Press, stood.
Better than average, it turned out: The Free Press lost 2.2% of its circulation from the same period a year ago, compared with a 2.6% drop at papers around the country.
The information revolution has been making life difficult for newspapers for some time now. Knight Ridder, former owner of the Free Press and the nation's second-biggest newspaper company, has responded to a shareholder revolt by saying it will consider selling the company.
Most newspapers are still making lots of money -- they're just not growing fast enough to satisfy some of their stockholders. Many papers are showing big increases in traffic to their Web sites. But very few are ringing up enough new revenue online to compensate for the circulation and advertising losses in print.
As hard as newspapers are working to remain competitive, it's never easy for big, established companies to compete against challengers with lower costs and newer ideas. Just ask General Motors.
Paging through the Free Press, I found author Maryann Keller telling columnist Tom Walsh what the auto industry really needs is simple: better products.
Is the same true of journalism? What will it take for the American institution you're holding in your hands -- or reading on your screen -- to survive long-term?
I confess to pondering these questions in an especially self-interested way. I spent nearly 20 years at the Free Press as a reporter and editor between the '70s and '90s. Passing through town, I was en route home from South Bend, Ind., where, from 1967-71 at Notre Dame, I'd spent more time chasing stories than studying for classes.
I was among seven alumni back on campus as advisers to the John W. Gallivan Program in Journalism, Ethics & Democracy. Since 1999, I've worked at the Poynter Institute, a training center focused on improving journalism.
You'd never know journalism is at risk by the students signing up for the Gallivan program.
It's at the other end of the pipeline -- at graduation -- that you discover all is not well. Of the 18 or 20 students who complete the requirements, only two or three end up with jobs in journalism.
Our campus visit ended with a public forum addressing the question bubbling beneath the surface: What will it take for journalism to survive the information revolution?
Tom Bettag, a 1966 ND grad and senior executive producer of ABC's "Nightline," had a one-word answer: humility.
Given recent media scandals and the loss of trust among readers and viewers, it seemed like an idea with legs.
Anne Thompson, ND '79, a former WDIV-TV reporter and now chief financial correspondent for NBC News, endorsed humility as one of her most reliable reporting tools. She said she asks sources to explain complex economic developments as if she has no background in the topic at all.
Don Wycliff, ND '69, public editor of the Chicago Tribune, turned to the audience of Notre Dame students and residents of South Bend and asked them what it will take for journalism to survive.
It's a question that deserves a larger audience. So tell us.
Given all of your options for getting the news and information you need, what will it take for you to keep paying to keep a newspaper showing up in your driveway?
What would it take to win over friends and family who don't read the paper now?
If you e-mail your comments to bmitch@poynter.org -- or send them by regular mail to me c/o The Poynter Institute, 801 3rd St. S., St. Petersburg, Fla. 33701 -- I'll share them with those prospective journalists at Notre Dame, my former coworkers at the Free Press and my colleagues at Poynter.
We'd appreciate your help. Trust me. We need it.
BILL MITCHELL is director of publishing at the Poynter Institute.
Copyright © 2005 Detroit Free Press Inc.
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