Rewrite!

2004-02-08T04:00:00.000-06:00

READY OR NOT | Digital paper is right around the corner -- and I don't think newspapers are ready for it.

Phillips Electronics announced at the end of January that it is ready to begin mass-producing a flexible display panel on to which users can download text and images, then roll it up and take with them -- much like tucking a newspaper under your arm. The February edition of the journal Nature Materials features a big cover story on the arrival of the long-awaited technology.

The first models have a display area of about five inches and can roll up into a case the size of a pen. It can be updated through connections to your computer or cell phone -- fetching you the latest Web pages, e-mail, books or news. Expect to see them on the market by 2005, say folks at Phillips who expect to make a million a year by then. "It's no longer a research project," one spokesman told Reuters.

Sure the first versions will be small, expensive, low-quality, short of memory and quick to run out of juice, but we'll be seeing a product that can hold a newspaper -- or rival it, with features like video -- within a couple years.

Our portability is the one key feature that no other technology has been able to match in all these years. It has kept us viable even while other mediums spread news and advertising faster, on more levels. Digital paper will change that, I think.

I wouldn't mind seeing the industry work toward something like the digital paper portrayed in the movie Minority Report. One scene featured a digital version of USA Today that looked more like a newspaper than a Web site, but changed as news developed. Something that wouldn't be hard to do today in a Wi-Fi hot zone. Add GPS to the mix and you could have ads appear in your paper for stores and restaurants within walking distance -- or local news for your neighborhood or about the businesses or institutions (or people!) you drive or walk by.

The possibilities are endless, really. But, I don't see any signs that we're thinking about this potentially fundamental change at all. Newspaper Web sites, for the most part, are still secondary and still run on a morning/lunch/afternoon news-cycle. Our newsrooms (and people) are not organized/prepared to publish constantly. Are we going to give away the technology or wait for people to buy their own digital papers? Do we know how sell location-specific advertising/base rates on radius? How are we going to design/present the news on these things? And, perhaps most importantly, how are we going to make money? Sure we'll save a mint on newsprint, but people still equate "digital" with "free."

That's a lot to think about. And since we didn't exactly bolt out of the gates with this Internet thing, I think it's time to get crackin'.

2004-01-11T16:46:00.000-06:00

ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL | U.K. newspaper The Independent increased circulation by 8.7 percent in the last three months by offering the same, identical newspaper in both broadsheet and tabloid formats.

The long-time broadsheet introduced a complete tabloid version of itself at the end of the September, targeting commuters in London and others who prefer the more easily flippable, compact size. The Independent claims it's the "first time in publishing history" that readers have been given a choice of formats.

I can't think of any others doing this, but I can think of many metros that should. Great idea. You've got to design your paper for how, when and where people use it. And several hundred thousand readers, obviously, don't all use it the same way. What a great way to grab more readers -- with the same content.

Ivan Fallon, the CEO of Independent News & Media, said in a release for a World Association Newspapers conference that the paper made the move to go after women, younger readers and commuters.

The tabloid edition, or the "compact" as they call it, sold 58,643 a day in December, up from 46,568 in November. (Before the launch, daily circulation of the broadsheet was about 178,000.) But despite the compact's popularity, Fallon said there are no plans to do away with the broadsheet because the company doesn’t want to lose the readers who are satisfied with it.

“If you walk into a supermarket and you want to buy a tube of Colgate toothpaste, you can get it in four different sizes," Fallon said.

While most broadsheets routinely print tab inserts, sections and special sections it may pose an operations challenge to do both on deadline if presses are near capacity. But the Independent's early numbers show this may be a problem worth solving.

Meanwhile, other papers in the U.K. are taking note. The Times of London followed suit in December, according to an article at Poynter.

2003-09-07T14:12:00.000-05:00

NEW FORMULA FOR SUCCESS ? | Just got back for the Society of Newspaper Design convention in Washington D.C. where Juan Antonio Giner, a partner at Innovation International Media Consulting Group, tried to talk some sense into us about the role of newspapers.

He was harsh. But we needed to hear it.

His biggest criticism was that newspapers continue to clutch to the role they played in the past and are not adapting to people's changing information needs.

If people want to know what's going on now, TV, radio or the Web will serve them best. We come out once a day and cannot possibly compete in breaking news. When we cover an event, readers don't see our stories and photographs for eight to 24 hours. Yet, Giner estimates that 90 percent of the content in today's newspaper focuses on what happened yesterday.

Instead, Giner said, we have to focus most of efforts on telling people what's coming next. His recipe for a successful newspaper of the future: 20 percent past, 30 percent today and 50 percent tomorrow.

My quick analysis here (green=future-oriented; tan=today; red=past) of a few papers from today shows we're looking to the future more than Giner suggests. Some of my green boxes were generous, though. But, then again, these are Sunday papers and tend to be more analytical and forward-looking -- I wonder if that has any relationship to the fact that Sunday papers are also our best-sellers.

I'll do this analysis again Tuesday. I'm curious to look at the difference on the weekdays. Though I dispute his measurement of the depth of the problem, I think he's on to something. Looking at stories through a past-present-future filter did help me see that even in cases where are telling forward-looking stories, we often spend the first 12 graphs somewhere in the past stuck in an anecdote somewhere.

We have to give readers what the haven't heard or seen before -- and not make them wade through old news to get to it -- if we are to be valuable and useful. As Giner said, newspapers "need to find news, not record it."

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2003-08-30T14:57:00.000-05:00

FREE MARKET RESEARCH IN THE BLOGOSPHERE | Boy I hate to see weblog headlines like: Newspapers are boring, Why I don't read newspapers, How to make fishwrap, or I hate newspapers!

Even journalists are out there blogging their tales of self-loathing.

Meanwhile, newspapers are spending some serious money exploring ways to hold on to readers. The percentage of U.S. adults who read a newspaper on any given day has dropped from nearly 80 percent in 1964 to 54 percent in 1997. Don't have more recent numbers, but we have not made notable progress, if any, in reversing the trend.

Interesting that the industry's major studies and the small sampling of weblogs above come to pretty much the same conlcusions. Readers get annoyed with us when we: are inky and smudgy, rehash old news, are too thick and too hard to wade through, behave unethically, overwrite and waste people's time, aren't engaging or interesting or don't deliver on time. They especially dislike us when we call at dinner to ask them if they want to subscribe.

Columnist Dave Barry was able to gather some additional free market research from an 8th grade class in this classic column on newspaper readership and young people. These students advised us to:

''I don't like reading about death, war and government. Write about things that we can relate to.''
''Make the newspaper more humorous, it is soooo boring. Talk about skateboarding, it is so huge now you don't even know.''
''Talk about not boring stuff. Like the peace thing. It's very important, I understand that. But it's boring.''
''When you talk about this stuff make it interesting. Like when we kill a terrorist, don't just say he died, say he blew up in a million pieces."

OK, so not all market research can be done through blogs. But when's the last time a newspaper got really useful information from a $100,000-plus consultant research project?

At least this advice is free.

2003-08-28T02:03:00.000-05:00

WHAT NEXT? A 33? | Headlines in UK newspaper The Guardian this week posed a couple of wonderfully titillating questions: "A newspaper revolution? Could the idea change the press forever?"

The paper's Big Idea is to toss a CD containing supplemental information in with the paper -- which makes the answer to these questions a resounding "no."

What with all the boasting, The Guardian's plan to circulate an additional CD-based "section" in the paper the last Sunday of each month at first blush almost seemed like an innovation. But, of course, it's not.

The disc, which will be called "The Month," will contain extra material, including 25,000 words of text, movie and music clips, filmed interviews, DVD offers, games previews and listings -- things the newspaper can already provide online for a lot less money.

The Guardian is also quite late to the party. Last year the Chicago Tribune gave away a CD time capsule to commemorate the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. While it was well-done and successful -- it boosted single copy street sales by 100,000 -- I haven't looked at it since. I can't imagine what people would do with something like that every month. I've got a drawer full of CDs that came with the guitar and computer magazines I've bought throughout the years. Never use them, never will.

2003-08-07T23:08:00.000-05:00

IDEA DROUGHT? | Each year I look forward to the results of the Tomorrow's Newspaper design contest sponsored by the University of Missouri.

The contest solicits entries for prototypes of ideas that would make newspapers better. Some interesting ideas have emerged during the five years the contest has been around, but the well appears to have run dry.

This year's pickings were slim. In fact, there were no winners in the professional category because "the judges felt none of the entries exhibited the innovation necessary for recognition." What's worse, then contest has been cancelled for the future.

How depressing is that? Nobody working in the business had one idea this year to make newspapers better? Sell any stock you have in non-diversified, convergence-averse newspaper companies -- we're doomed.

In looking back at the winners, I do see a common, alarming theme: news put on other products, not newspapers. Students and professionals suggested news on pens, watches and ATM receipts. One contest entry may have even been the inspiration for the short-lived, widely mocked CueCat experiment.

But, there were some good newspaper-focused ideas, like this flip paper, too. And that's why I hate to see this contest go. Surely, there must be ways to shake out ideas each year on how to retool the presentation and content of newspapers.

2003-06-29T16:01:00.000-05:00

FUN WITH FEATURES | I really love the Washington Post's new Sunday features section called Sunday Source. It's fun, useful and easy to read.

The pitch to advertisers is a little cheesy -- defining the section as one "created for young, energetic and self-actualizing D.C., Maryland and Virginia adults who ... place a huge importance on actively spending their downtime doing exactly what they want with the people they want." Then the Post advises, "Don’t get in their way."

But, the content is good. Each week the section contains these short features:

Gatherings: A feature on entertaining at home with a recipe.
Real Deals: A look at new gadgets you can buy.
Tell Me About It: A short advice column.
15 Minutes: A quick how-to project. One showed how the make a room screen.
The Look: Shows what people are wearing out on the streets, paired with "Style Q" fashion Q&A and another column by and expert "Fashionista."
Media Mix: A look at new movie and video releases for the week.
The Week: An extensive guide to events and entertainment throughout the Washington area.

They debuted it a month or two ago and I expect it will be successful. Check out some more pages at the bottom of the post.

It's possible that I'm smitten with it because it's so similar to our Medill Your Saturday project implemented by the Times of Northwest Indiana in October 1999. The section became the best-read feature section of the week, drove Saturday retail ad sales up 200 percent and boosted Saturday single-copy sales 8 percent -- all sustained during three year-plus run.

We pitched a section that focuses on what people do on Saturdays -- chores, shopping, family and fun. The cover features "Best Bets" for things to do that day, a people feature, a project to do with kids and the dominant element is a guide to what else is inside. Inside we had a One-Tank Trip, a Shop! page, a coupon page featuring discounts on Saturday chores like oil changes, a Go Guide calendar, Dinner & A Movie double truck of movie and restaurant reviews, Dinner & A Video recipes and movie reviews for those that stay in, a pet page among other features.

MMMM

2003-04-07T23:42:00.000-05:00

REDEYE WATCH | The Chicago Tribune today announced it will begin offering home delivery of the RedEye April 14.

While I still don't think the paper is being all it can be, I think this is a great strategic move. It's not unlike Play BAC Presse's strategy, outlined in the post below -- an age-targeted specialty paper delivered at home.

A Tribune spokeswoman told MediaPost that home delivery will cost $1 per week -- a slight discount from the $1.25 it would cost you to pick it up each day on the newsstand. And, subscribers can get the regular, adult Sunday Chicago Tribune for another $1. Not a bad deal.

And what young hipster can turn down this kind of aren't-you-cool marketing: "Now, get RedEye delivered early enough in the morning so you can pick it up as you walk in from the night before."

Other interesting numbers RedEye is claiming: 100,000 daily readers, 120 new advertisers and 800 surveys each day to guage how readers liked the cover and paper.

2003-03-16T11:57:00.000-06:00

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GETTING KIDS HOOKED | Beyond this recent race for 18- to 34-year-olds, American newspapers still fret the youngest generations are not developing the habit. And when you flip through -- especially their "kid pages" -- there can be little confusion as to why that is. There's nothing there for the vast majority of young readers on any given day.

By running a weekly kids section -- usually a colorful, comic-y, tid-bitty, non-newsy page or two that also contains puzzles and games -- most newspapers think they're covering the bases for all readers younger than 18. For 14-year-olds these sections are insulting and they wouldn't be caught dead reading one. For 5-year-olds it's probably too advanced. It might be just right for a few 7-year-olds.

So, one one day a week, most of us take a shot at serving a few kids in one grade. Not the best strategy for future growth.

The Washington Post is taking it more seriously with a daily KidsPost page. They take stories in the news and rewrite them in terms of their relevance to a younger audience. I remember one from a recent trip about the West Coast port strike. The adult version talked about negotiations and union deadlines; the kid version warned that Christmas toys may come late. It's really well done, but I still think it's too hard to create one page that serves both 8-year-olds and 13-year-olds.

Play BAC Presse in France is trying the age-group approach and having some success. The company produces home-delivered daily newspapers -- Tuesday through Saturday -- aimed at specific age groups. It claims a circulation of 170,000 for its first three -- Le Petit Quotidien (ages 7 to 9), Mon Quotidien (ages 10 to 13) and L’actu (ages 14+) -- and expects the fourth added in January targeting ages 5 to 7 will add another 30,000.

Hmmm, I can think of some American newspapers who'd like to pick up another 200,000 subscribers. Since ABC allows these separate editions to be counted as part of total circulation, this may be an option.

There is no advertising in the French model, it's all subscription. My French isn't good enough for me to discern the price, but it seems to be growing and healthy. Having it as a separate edition, I think, is brilliant. It makes it seem special and gives kids something to look forward to. “Among other things, children as young as 5 already love to receive mail everyday,” said François Dufour, editor of all four newspapers.

My idea: Beyond specialized publications, I wonder if we can't do more in the daily. I'd like to see "Kid summaries" included as breakouts for most major stories. They would be a sentence or two simplifying a complex story and summarizing why it's news. With these translation boxes everywhere, kids can feel like they have access to the whole newspaper. And, it may help some light readers who want a quick update without thinking too hard.

2003-03-13T00:05:00.000-06:00

THE BRITISH ARE DUMBING | Down their newspapers, that is. The Economist on March 6 carried an interesting article about plummeting newspaper readership -- and advertising -- in Britain.

The Economist article claims newspaper readership has dropped off 20 percent since 1990, citing the National Readership Survey, the British equivalent of the Readership Institute in the United States.

Like their American counterparts, the British papers are particularly concerned that young readers don't seem to be picking up the habit. According to the article, the number of newspaper readers under the age of 24 has shrunk by more than a third since 1990 as young Britons increasingly grab news online, or from television or radio.

When they do read newspapers, they tend to like the ones without much news -- and newspapers have been quick to accommodate their tastes.

The Economist reports the only three daily tabloids that bucked the circulation decline in the second half of 2002 focused on entertainment "news." The Daily Star writes almost exclusively about celebs -- with headlines like “Kylie's bum is so yum” -- and its circulation shot up 17 percent. When not writing about bum-yum, the paper is engaging in more meaningful public service through its "Babes" section and by selecting the official five worst blonde jokes.

This pandering isn't shocking. But that it's worsening in an effort to attract young readers in Britain is particularly depressing. That was one country where newspaper readership has always been high -- supporting nearly a dozen daily, national titles in spite of fierce, scrappy competition.

2003-02-24T20:52:00.000-06:00

JUST LIKE MEXICAN FOOD | It's been a couple of months since I looked at a RedEye but after they installed four more boxes in my neighborhood I felt surrounded and picked up a couple last week. I quickly remembered why they annoy me so much.

The Chicago Tribune has gone through considerable time and effort looking for a way to reach the underserved and disinterested 18-34 demographic. Yet, for the most part, all they're doing is repackaging the same news most papers give to the masses. They're taking burritos and making soft tacos -- same ingredients, same taste, different form.

If you're truly trying to reach a different market -- a market that you've identified has different interests and priorities -- doesn't it make sense that you would have different content?

RedEye has attempted the occasional original story. They did one on how it's difficult to park in Chicago (that's news?) and they did another Friday about the upcoming Chicago city elections. The election article focused how voting may have slipped the minds of young people because they're thinking about things like "Gotta get to the gym ... am I hot? ... Tyson's tattoo ... and will Evan and Zora get married?"

The RedEye could have done a great youth-centric election issue, questioning incumbent Mayor Richard Daley and other mayoral candidates on what they would do for young people in the city and/or ask for their positions on city services most used by the young. Or, they could have have looked at the youngest aldermanic candidates and why they are getting involved in government. Or, they could have examined why there isn't anyone under 40 involved in Chicago politics.

But no, they gave us a few man-on-the street shots of three white young guys saying that voting is a good thing, directions on how to register to vote (even though it's too late to do so for this election) and a story that starts with this lead: "You may not know it, but there is an election Tuesday."

Well, if the RedEye thinks its readers are that ignorant about the election why write about it at all? Or at least given them a ward map to help them figure which aldermanic race they're blowing off.

If the RedEye really wants to attract young readers, it needs to serve them. That means being their voice and writing stories about their issues -- stories that supposedly aren't already out there for them in traditional newspapers. Taking stories from the big people's paper and cutting them in half doesn't serve anybody.

Links:
• LostRemote contributors says repurposing is journalism.
• U of Texas prof on how "repurposing" became a dirty word.
• Ingredients for Mexican food from MexGrocer.com.

2003-02-19T20:03:00.000-06:00

AUSSIES EYE REDS | Even editors in Australia are watching Chicago's Red tabloids as they try to figure out how to get young people to read newspapers. They're having the same problem.

These tabs are getting a lot of attention. It's too bad they aren't better.

2003-02-17T21:55:00.000-06:00

TALKING TO READERS | I've listened to a few presentations now from the folks at Northwestern University's Readership Institute about the findings of its national survey of 37,000 newspaper readers and what they want from us.

Sure, they want it all. But one thing they crave in particular is communication. In fact, readers are willing to forgive many of our failings if we just explain the situation or give them a chance to know us better.

At the Hoosier State Press Association conference in December, researcher Steve Duke encouraged newspapers to actively promote upcoming features and stories, casting aside fear that we might not be able to deliver the story on the promised day. "In that case, you just have to tell them when it will run. Readers are forgiving, all they ask for is communication about what happened and what's next. ... Newspapers just don't do that now. They leave readers guessing."

The editors at the Journal-Times in Racine, Wis. recently have taken steps to stop the guessing and reveal a bit of themselves to readers in a new a Web log, called Inside the J-T.

So far, editors have used the forum to: explain policies about slowing political coverage in the days before an election; give insight into how the paper interacts with other subsidiaries of the parent company; talk about decisions to cover stories outside of Racine; and even answer reader questions about why stories sometimes appear differently on the Web than they do in print; among other topics.

As important, though, the blog solicits comments so readers can give their own feedback. I think it's a great mechanism for this important dialog. Every newspaper should have one.

2003-02-06T23:57:00.000-06:00

HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE | This site is dedicated to moving newspapers forward, but today I had fun looking back when an article on a Virginia group getting a grant to digitalize Civil-War era newspapers caught my eye and led me to a small archive that already exists at the University of Virginia.

The university's Valley of the Shadow Project has transcribed or summarized hundreds of stories from five newspapers of the era -- two from Virginia, three from Pennsylvania. The papers have some interesting historical information and provide a fascinating glimpse into life at the time. Interestingly, the curators of the project suggested that these papers had their own problems with relevance -- even when there was no competition from TV, radio, magazines and the Internet.

Curators: "The papers of the nineteenth century, however, may be an even more important source of information for those of us investigating the past than they were for those who lived in it. In the nineteenth century, as today, individuals shared information in many nonliterate and informal ways -- by word of mouth in the church, the household, the workplace."

Wow, were we ever relevant?

Even more interesting than the articles are the actual digitized pages. They're hard to read, but still quite interesting. You can look at a few here, here, here or here.

My absolute favorite find was a small item at the bottom of the Republican Vindicator of Nov. 25, 1859 -- it struck me as somewhat innovative in terms of subscription payment models. Currently, this is a hot issue at newspaper companies as papers try to get subscribers to convert to automatic-billing methods like credit cards or direct debit to reduce costs, cut churn and, I think, obscure how much a subscription actually costs. The Vindicator's alternate payment method of choice, however, was wood. And in that cold November, it put in a notice that someone needed someone to step up and pay their bill.

2003-01-30T23:48:00.000-06:00

IS INFLUENCE OUR PRODUCT? | In trolling around the Web tonight for signs of newspaper innovation, I ran across The Quality Project being run by Philip Meyer at the University of North Carolina.

The most interesting piece, for me, was the 'Societal Influence Model for the Newspaper Industry' shown above. It argues that a newspaper's primary product is influence -- commercial influence is for sale (ads) while societal influence is not.

The Quality Project site says a 1970s-era Knight Ridder executive developed the original model. I've never seen it before but the more I look at it, the more I like it. They are trying to study the validity of the model. I for one hope they can prove its thesis, making that little drawing more than a fleeting oasis in a desert of we-sell-eyeballs-to-advertisers thinking.

You can check in on the project's status here. It hasn't been updated since November, but there are a couple of interesting reports that merit a look: a report on editorial staffing as it correlates to quality and a report on the credibility-circulation death spiral.

2003-01-28T12:14:00.000-06:00

GOOD IDEA: A READERSHIP EDITOR | The Union in Grass Valley, Calif. is putting some money behind its efforts to readership by hiring a dedicated readership editor. Here's a job description.

Dixie Redfearn got the job. She will spend her days as a central contact point for all readers with story ideas and submissions, while also leading newsroom planning on proven readership-driving topics like health, local news, government, business, health and fitness, public safety, home, food and fashion.

I think this is a great idea and I commend a 17,000-circulation paper for dedicating resources to it. I think bigger papers could take this idea and make two jobs out of it-- a full-time readership-driving story planner and a full-time funnel for community news.

In our case, we've got three community news folks representing different territories -- releases come in from all over and get sent to dozens of people in the newsroom. No one knows who's doing what and readers who submit items can never get a straight answer. That angers readers and, I think, stops them from sending us things in the future.

I was reared at a paper where the publisher's mantra was, "What comes in, gets in." I think we routinely underestimate the importance of submissions -- people love this stuff and buy mulitple copies for friends and family. One of the most valuable lessons I took from my online days was that "reader-generated content" was often more popular than what our team of "professionals" was laboring to create.

Newspapers are notoriously one-way. It will be interesting to see if the Union's approach translate to any quantifiable gain in readership.

2003-01-22T20:33:00.000-06:00

TOO FUNNY | Normally, I might find this little game a bit cynical, but I had *one of those days* in the newsroom today.

Right now, I'm thinking it's hilarious.

I discovered this at Infomaniac: Behind the News, which is a great web log of links gathered by a news researcher in Florida.

2003-01-20T01:37:00.000-06:00

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE | Who needs angry readers when your teammates across the hall can't find much good to say about you?

This column from the Akron Beacon-Journal's public editor runs down a list of complaints from advertising, circulation and office staff.

Surprising, but good to see. Employees are readers and members of the community. Why not seek their input on how we're doing in the newsroom?

In fact that reminded me of a long conversation I had with a pressman I bumped into and began chatting with at a mall. He seemed sad about his job, suggesting that he planned to just go through the motions the next couple years until he could retire.

His biggest lament was how corporate newspapers had become -- in his case, he meant the growing separation between departments. In the old days, when he was a pressman at the Chicago Sun-Times, guys in the pressroom used to know a lot of people in the newsroom who would sometimes come down to chat. Conversely, pressmen would go upstairs with tips and report things that they heard out in the community. At one point, there was even a program to pay non-editorial employees a cash bonus for good tips.

Now, he works at one of Hollinger's printing facilities which is miles away from any newsroom. The workers print several different newspapers, and feel no particular connection or loyalty to any one of them.

With the readership slide, newspapers spend a lot of time worrying how to bring people back -- pondering how they can cover their community, be an integral part of it and also how they can leaders in it. Ironically, they are doing this all while they're destroying their own internal communities with off-site plants, cutbacks, etc.

I think learning to connect, involve and communicate with the people in your own company -- people who are supposedly working toward the same goals -- is our first step. The staff is a microcosm of our readership. If we can't connect inside, how can we hope to reach hundreds of thousands of others on any meaningful level?

2003-01-19T02:41:00.000-06:00

IDENTITY CRISIS | Our newspaper, like virtually every other in the country, doesn't know how to explain or sell itself to its readership. For a business that makes its money selling advertising and convincing clients they need to advertise each day so they may create brand awareness, it's shameful how poorly we do it for ourselves.

Our paper, which has decided to redefine and reinvent this year, has taken the drastic step of reaching for outside help. We hired Lynn Upshaw & Associates and this week its namesake dropped by to meet us and start the process.

I hope this helps. Something like this, done internally, could help us sort out who we are and who we want to be -- not knowing this I think is our most significant problem at the paper. But I don't know that going outside, and having our identity decided in some conference room in California is going to be as effective.

So far, we've been the subject of the consultant's research. He spent all day in different meetings with staff, asking us a series of questions about how we think people perceive us and what we would do as individuals to change the paper if resources weren't an issue. He's supposed to come back in a few weeks.

I hope he returns with more information than we gave him.

2003-01-16T23:27:00.000-06:00

'LESS SPENDING ON LESS' | That was demographer Peter Francese's disturbing summary of newspaper household spending for the Newspaper Association of America's conference on the future of newspapers last week, as reported here.

Only 43 percent of households are paying for newspapers. And those households are only averaging $56.81 a year -- that's significantly less than what the average household spending for online access. Talk about a shift.

Francese said it wasn't hopeless and that there were changes newspapers could make in delivery and in the product that may help. He suggests improving subscriber service, providing more service journalism, interacting more with readers and providing greater context for local news.

Other reports from the conference lauded papers for trying new things right now. They included:

The Topeka-Capital Journal's monthly magazine for women, HersKansas, inserted into the paper. Interesting, though, it seems a lot like the ol' women's page with features about miniskirts and hosiery. But, they also explore workplace issues and public policy.
The Asheville Citizen-Times provides game-day coverage of the Asheville Altitude, the area's minor league basketball team.
New Jersey's Bergen Record has invested in its Herald News acquisition to build readership among recent immigrants and blue-collar workers.

I think it's interesting that all industry eyes are on specialty approaches like these, niche publications or micro-zoning. Newspapers spent decades creating an omnibus vehicle to serve the masses -- is the answer going back?

Likely not. I think the answer is learning to be both. We need to give people the big picture and a shared experience. But, we also have to find ways to fill their special, deeper interests, too.

2003-01-14T19:17:00.000-06:00

BOMBS AWAY | The ominous, methodical clicking has stopped for the RedEye which this week handed its fate to gravity.

Crain's Chicago Business reported Monday that the Chicago Tribune has decided that it's time to try to get people to actually buy the RedEye.

Free at newsstands, gas stations and special newspaper boxes since launch, the paper will now cost a quarter. Not to be outdone, or accused of having an original idea, the Chicago Sun-Times announced, it too, will start charging.

It's been interesting to watch the papers dabble in this experiment, but this is the part of the ride where we hold on, kids. It's gonna be a steep one.

2003-01-08T21:37:00.000-06:00

WELL SAID |E&P had some interesting articles this week about market share and the industry outlook for 2003.

I thought this statement by Earl J. Wilkinson, executive director of the International Newspaper Marketing Association was particularly insightful:

"Culturally conservative, newspapers have a history of avoiding innovations and new products that don't have a 20 percent profit margin, immediate return on investment, and 99 percent chance of working."

2002-11-27T00:25:00.000-06:00

POKE IN THE EYE | According to Mike Miner in the Chicago Reader and the Chicago Magazine's Press Box column, the Chicago Tribune just received a letter from the Red Eye Press imploring it to stop using the RedEye name.

Here's the funny part: The Tribune's extensive coverage of marijuana issues in the RedEye may actually hurt its case here. (The pic here is from Red Streak, but typical of stories frequently in RedEye.) You see, Red Eye Press is the publisher of the 330-page, pot-bible "Marijuana Growers Guide Deluxe," "Marijuana Botany," the all-new "Growing Marijuana Hydroponically," as well as several other alternative books.

Considering the name the Tribune started with, is anyone surprised this has become an issue? RedEye? Were they high or something?

2002-11-25T13:32:00.000-06:00

THE FINAL FRONTIER | These are the voyages of the National Newspaper Association. In its continuing mission to explore strange, new demographics and seek out new readers and subscribers, it is boldly going on a new marketing campaign.

The industry organization has developed a full-page ad designed to run as a public service announcement, featuring actors from Star Trek:The Next Generation and tied to the movie being released this December. It implores readers to use a newspaper to "discover new worlds."

Don't they know our geek readers are too busy watching reruns of the five different Star Trek series on Sci-Fi? They'll probably buy the paper, but will only do it once so they can take the ad and seal it in cellophane, then sell it as a collectable at the next Creation convention.

2002-11-22T21:44:00.000-06:00

KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS | Newspapers' negative brand image problems appear to be starting quite early in life. Check out the lead on this story on career day at an elementary school in San Bernandino, Calif.

Stephanie Misquez, 7, tells us that she would not want to work for a newspaper because a newspaper is "only for parents because it's so boring."

2002-11-20T13:37:00.000-06:00

NATIONAL ATTENTION | NPR's All Things Considered considered the Chicago youth newspaper battle in a segment yesterday.

Critics say: It's insulting. "You don't have a look into the souls of 18- to 34-year-olds," says Reader media critic Michael Miner. "What you have a look into the minds of marketing people who think they can woo 18- to 34-year-olds -- which is a very different thing."

The Tribune counters: "Short doesn't mean stupid," said co-editor Joe Knowles, comparing the RedEye to Headline News, which updates people on world news in 30 minutes. "No one thinks that's stupid." Besides, he argues, the Red Streak is even more base with sex columns and scarcely clad women.

And finally, the Sun-Times' says critcs be damned: "Who cares what the critics say? The market will decide and we won't know that for some time," Sun-Times editor Michael Cooke said. "The critics didn't like USA Today, remember?"

2002-11-18T22:29:00.000-06:00

DOUBLE BAGGED | My Sunday Chicago Tribune came this weekend in two bags: The whole paper came in the usual sleeve. And inside that, all the ad inserts, the magazine and the TV book were sealed in cellophane in the middle of the paper.

I liked it. It made it easier to throw the ads away.

I'm sure this approach makes inserts easier to store and move in the distribution center, as this article in Print World claims, but I wonder what kind of impact it's going to have on the effectiveness of advertising inserts. When they fall out all over the floor you have to touch them and look at them as you're picking them up. It's likely you might take a moment to read them. If they're just a bundle of plastic, how many will open them and flip through?

I think this is a good idea, but one that didn't finish baking. You need to go the next step and give people an index or directory of what's inside -- a sticker on the packet or something they can see through the plastic. List what advertisers have inserts included and, even better, what they're featuring that week. Give people a reason to open it, or at least enough information to let them judge if it's worth their time.

I proposed something similar for our paper -- the Times Deal Peel -- but we haven't moved on it yet. I'm envisioning a newsprint, or heavier paper, folder that would hold all the inserts and would have a list of what's inside. The inside of that folder should be an anchored page of coupons -- readers love coupons, but they're often hard to find in the paper. I think a list of inserts would also be useful. If just flipping through, readers might miss the Best Buy insert. If they know it's in there, they'll dig for it.

Advertising is one area where newspapers have not evolved much in 150 years. We've focused on utility in editorial, but we need to help readers find and use advertising information, as well. The Tribune took a good first step in that direction.

2002-11-14T10:02:00.000-06:00

THE I's HAVE IT | Well, the Idaho Statesman in Boise is trying this youth publication thing, too. It has named its weekly magazine Thr!ve. Notice how they're playing with the "I," not unlike RedEye that is typeset within an "i".

Apparently, this is a very hip letter. Or, maybe, everyone just assumes this is a very selfish generation and the "I" is its natural icon. Other names that appeared to be contenders were: Catalyst, Chomp and Spud. But they didn't pass the I-test.

The editor promises that the readers will be the boss in this, but here are the key topics they plan to present:

Key Topics of Thr!ve
Outdoors: Fishing, hiking, mountain biking, climbing, etc. Both "extreme" and traditional outdoors are covered with a balance between urban and remote activity.
Entertainment: Including movies, music, arts, books, horoscope, advice columnist, food/drink, and restaurant news.
Travel: Idaho and the Northwest with a focus on easy to reach inexpensive getaways.
Environment: News and issues, especially relating to outdoor activities.

Again, no news. Are we that afraid that's it's too hard to edit and present news in a smart, quick-read kind of package that we won't even try it? Falling back on an entertainment magazine format is nothing new. It might draw us in temporarily, but we can't live on candy alone. The best, long-term business models fill people's "needs," not they're fickle "wants."

Man, these youth newspapers are making me old and crabby.

It doesn't appear Thrive -- oops, Thr!ve -- has launched yet, but the editor reports ad sales are strong. This is the second paper in the Gannett chain to serve as a testing ground for the company -- the other is Lansing's Noise. As always, it will be interesting to see what the come up with.

2002-11-13T01:18:00.000-06:00

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT? | Ifra, an international journalism association, is nearing the launch of its $2 million "Newsplex" -- an experimental lab to help develop the newroom of the future.

Newsplex opens in just a few days at the University of South Carolina. Founders created this mega-multi-media newsroom to study this thesis: if journalists have the right tools, and sit in the right setting, they can be innovative convergaholics.

Lord knows my windowless, bulletin boardless, radio receptionless, one-TV, I-can't-hear-myself-think, half-cubicle set-up is NOT helping me be all the editor I can be. But I can't help but feel that Newsplex is nothing more than a superficial approach to solving some fundamental confusion about our role, our product and our audience.

Looking at their promotional materials made me more, rather than less, skeptical about the approach. There's a 10 minute movie on the site that looks like an episode of Star Trek. Not one of the good ones, though ... more like season one of the Next Generation.

Anyway, I expected to be really excited about what they're trying to do -- after all, I'm a sci-fi geek who has more than her fair share of technological gadgets. (I even bought a C-Pen during a temporary lapse of judgement.) But, after looking at their plans, I just can't see this actually happening because newsrooms are so notoriously stingy about investing in equipment.

In my case: We're still using Photoshop 4; I just received a four-year-old refurbished laptop for my staff to use while out of the office; our photographers have one camera body because we didn't want to put the money into these new-fangled digital cameras; and we're not allowed to view streaming video on our computers because we don't have enough bandwidth to support it. And, no, I don't work for some weekly shopper in Appalachia. I work at a paper that has been considered a top innovator. In fact, it was one of the very first in the United States to paginate.

Newsplex creator Kerry Northrup defined the problems pretty well in an interview with Editor & Publisher about the new facility.

E&P: What's the biggest shortcoming of world media in 2002?

KN: Burned by the Internet development years, hurt by the economic downturn, and confused by all the shifts in technology, most media organizations unfortunately seem to have let go of the rudder and are just reacting to wherever the wind takes them these days. Innovation has rarely been an attribute ascribed to traditional news organizations. It is difficult to find any research and development work going on in newspapers and other mainline media. That is a key reason that Ifra decided to develop the Newsplex.

Clearly there is little to no research and development at any but the very biggest papers. So, perhaps this will help. The question remains, though, is a new room enough to clear the confusion and show news companies the new course they must chart?

I hope so.

2002-11-06T14:34:00.000-06:00

PRIORITIES PEOPLE | I've been a subscriber to the Chicago Tribune's Web site news alerts for some time. They've done a good job with it, generally, often beating the New York Times system for getting breaking news out. Today, however, made me wonder who's making the calls. In fact, when I read the alert aloud in the office one colleague asked, "Are the RedEye people running everything over there now?"

11/06/02 02:08:02 PM From: "Tribune Alerts" To: Rewrite cc: Subject: Winona verdict

From the update desk of chicagotribune.com:

WINONA VERDICT Actress Winona Ryder has been found guilty of grand theft and vandalism. Details and further developments as available: http://tm0.com/alerts/sbct.cgi?s=142338096&i=667403&m=1&d=3373436

Also in the news this afternoon: Fed cuts interest rates by a half-point. http://tm0.com/alerts/sbct.cgi?s=142338096&i=667403&m=1&d=3373437

And watch the WGN News at Nine tonight for more on both these stories.

Seems like monetary policy -- especially a bigger-than-expected cut that leaves the Fed with few options in the future to deal with this unusual, weak economy -- must be more important that a $5,500 lift from Saks by a wacked-out actress.

Doesn't it?

2002-11-05T20:10:00.000-06:00

WHAT'S BREWING AT NEW YORK POST? | Wondering if anyone's heard of any innovative stuff at the New York Post. I noticed in today's ABC statements for the second and third quarter that the Post's circulation is up more than 10 percent. That's huge!

Circulation figures
Average weekday circulation of the nation's 20 biggest newspapers for the six months ended Sept. 30 as reported by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. The percentage changes are from the comparable year-ago period.

1. USA Today, 2,230,899, down 0.5 percent 2. The Wall Street Journal, 1,800,607, up 1.1 percent 3. The New York Times, 1,113,000, up 0.3 percent 4. Los Angeles Times, 965,633, down 0.8 percent 5. The Washington Post, 746,724, down 1.8 percent 6. New York Daily News, 715,070, down 2.5 percent 7. Chicago Tribune, 613,429, down 1.3 percent 8. New York Post, 590,061, up 10.5 percent 9. Newsday of New York's Long Island, 578,809, up 0.3 percent 10. Houston Chronicle, 552,052, up 0.04 percent (a) 11. The Dallas Morning News, 521,956, up 2.4 percent 12. San Francisco Chronicle, 512,129, up 0.02 percent 13. Chicago Sun-Times, 479,584, up 0.5 percent 14. The Boston Globe, 463,113, down 1.7 percent 15. The Arizona Republic, 448,782, down 0.6 percent (a) 16. The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., 408,557, up 0.3 percent 17. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 381,833 (b) 18. Star Tribune of Minneapolis-St. Paul, 379,139, up 0.6 percent (a) 19. The Philadelphia Inquirer, 373,892, up 2.4 percent 20. Detroit Free Press, 368,839, down 0.7 percent

2002-11-04T19:28:00.000-06:00

MM IT COULD BE WORSE. HERE'S PROOF. | The Chicago Tribune RedEye and the Sun-Times' Red Streak have been taking a bit of a beating in this space, but I'm here to tell you there are publications out there even more insulting to the demographic.

Meet the Lansing State Journal's tab for 18- to 34-year-olds -- Noise. It beat the RedEye and Red Streak out of the gates, launching Oct. 23 and makes much more liberal use of words like ass, bitchin', condom and butt. It also provides an in-depth report about how to have sex in the woods.

How can these publications possibly hope to attract a group for which they have such obvious contempt and low regard?

In the Tribune's case, I'd say it's arrogance. In the Sun-Times case, I'd say haste. But for Noise, the only explanation I can come up with for this is that it isn't even trying to be a "news"paper. It has only three-quarters of one page (ah, that's a tabloid size page) devoted to news -- it contains five briefed versions of Lansing State Journal stories. The other 47 pages are devoted to ads, bar reviews, tech bits and interviews with local celebs who pass on sage nuggets like, "You don't have to do fart jokes to prove you're edgy."

The editor's intro letter, in which Rich Ramhoff apologetically points out that he is (gasp!) older than 30, sets the stage all too well. I've taken the liberty of highlighting some of the really hip parts:

I didn't even want to write this letter because editors' notes often turn out to be 1) self-absorbed, 2) pretentious, or 3) flat-out boring. And NOISE should never be any of those... We're trying to write for and about people our age -- people in their 20s to mid-30s. (OK, so maybe I'm the only staffer who is over 30, but I'm also the worst dresser, too.)
Our stories will be told with snappy visuals as well as strong words. We'll give you a lot of information, mostly about places to go and things to do ... but also things like competing in paintball tournaments, building a yoga butt and celebrating Halloween at work. ...
Most importantly, we want you to have fun reading NOISE. That's why you'll find some strictly tongue-in-cheek articles, like our outdoor whoopee guide.
The next step is to hear from you. Tell us what people and ideas you think we should cover. Tell us when we're full of crap. Go to www.lansingnoise.com to rant. ...
So does this mean that if you're over 40 you shouldn't read NOISE? Heck no, but don't call us if you have a conniption every time you read the word “condom,” (see pages 10 and 12). ...
We want to build something that you'd actually want to read. Something that cuts through the clutter of free media - the Internet sites and radio and TV shows. That's the bottom line. So stop reading this lame letter and have fun reading the stuff inside.

Any good things about it, you ask? Well, it has a lot of useful ads, particularly classifieds. And its Web site seems decent, certainly better than the Tribune's RedEye site apparently geared toward advertisers. (Hello, Tribune, we're the wired generation. You can't launch a publication for us that doesn't have a Web site.)

But here's my favorite thing about Noise: It's a weekly.

2002-10-31T11:33:00.000-06:00

BETTER DEAD THAN RED? | If I were stranded on a desert island with only one hyper-hip Chicago tabloid ... well, I would probably tie coconuts to my ankles and swim into deep water. But if somehow I found the will to live, I'd want to spend my time with Red Streak.

That is both high and faint praise. High praise because, while the Sun-Times spent a small fraction of the Trib's time and resources developing Red Streak, the scrappy tabloid outdid the Tribune in many respects. Faint praise because the Tribune set the bar so low with its dense, Weekly Reader-meets-USA Today design and puzzling page ones. The Trib made it easy for the Sun-Times.

Without engaging (for now) in a blow-by-blow analysis of the "content," I make a plea to Red Streak writers: Stop telling us how old you are. Wednesday's Red Streak gossip column included an awkward mention of the anonymous writer's age -- 26 (young!). Another writer's Red Streak debut column told readers he WASN'T a member of the target demographic, but that reading his column would be like taking medicine. Uh huh.

As for RedEye's top ten, er, nine, reasons to read the paper: Don't they remember from junior high school that showing sentences are better than telling sentences? Less space telling me why I should read your paper and more space compelling me to read it, please.

Giving the papers away (and probably giving away many of the ads), is one thing. People get kind of funny when they're asked to pay for things. So the papers' battle for readers raises a question: What if the idea of a young tabloid is solid and sustainable, but only for one newspaper?

The Trib and the Sun-Times each printed more than 100,000 copies of the new tabs. Each wants to dominate the "new" market, but could it be that in dividing the market, the two fragments won't add up to enough to keep the tabs going?

The flip side to this is what if the Trib's RedEye ends up with 80,000 subscribers and Red Streak gets 10,000. That may never happen, but for now rhetoric is ahead of reality. Sun-Times editor John Cruickshank says Red Streak will keep publishing as long as RedEye does. But at some point he may be better off spending the money on coconuts.

2002-10-30T17:53:00.000-06:00

MM
SEEING RED, EVERYWHERE | Well, I have volumes to say about the city's new newspapers targeting 12- to 34-year-olds. Oops, did I say 12? It's really 18, but you can see how I might make that mistake. The Chicago Tribune's RedEye and the Chicago Sun-Times' Red Streak officially hit the streets today. Two new daily newspapers wooing people like me launching on the same day? Why, it's an embarassment of ri..., well embarassment is a good place to stop. Never has there been so much of so little.

On launch day, I was pleased to find out that I live in such a demographically desireable neighborhood -- there are boxes for both papers at the end of the street by my Dunkin' Donuts. The Tribune spent big bucks on newspaper boxes with helmets on them. The Sun-Times, working hasitily, slapped some red stickers on old, reconditioned boxes. From what I've read, its a good metaphor for how the publications came together.

But in terms of what's inside, I do have to say that I think the Sun-Times is on the right path. I think Red Streak is a much better product with much more local, city-focused news. Today, they had actual stories on the cover. The Tribune had a self-promoting, top-ten list (ah, with nine items) about why you should read the paper. Red Streak has better columnists, too. But, then again, the Metromix pages in RedEye are pretty good.

Maybe we can do a JOA -- taking the best of each -- when they start failing next week.

There's much more to talk about, but I thought I'd at least throw the covers up here for our out-of-town friends.

2002-10-29T11:49:00.000-06:00

DIFFERENT APPROACH | I'm not sure where to start on my analysis for RedEye. So, I'll save that for another day when I have more time. I just thought this item was interesting about a new newspaper in Denmark called Dagen -- the Day -- targeting 18- to 34-year-olds. Its approach? Longer, more in-depth stories focusing on lifestyles.

I wonder if they have as much marijuana coverage as RedEye?

2002-10-22T22:05:00.000-05:00

PIONEERING NEWSPAPER WEBLOGS | It's been interesting to watch newspapers venture into the uncharted territory where journalism crosses online diaries. Weblogs, by design, are part information and part opinion. They can create a very intimate tie between author and reader -- and close ties are something newspapers are having a difficult time knotting these days. It's a tool that could draw readers, build connections, convey information and spark interactive dialogue, but how far can journalist-bloggers go in terms of opinion?

Newspapers are trying to figure it out. There are a lot of different experiments going on:

The Guardian in London uses them -- very well -- to track complex, ongoing stories and tie in coverage and information from outside sources. The Guardian defines its approach as "our pick of the best journalism from around the Web." Hmm ... is this the start of newspapers setting themselves up as the evaluators, prioritizers and organizers of information -- and not necessarily the creators? Instapundit.com's Glenn Reynolds thinks so. "I think we've moved profoundly from the older period in which news was a lecture," he says. "Now the job is that we tell you what we have learned, you tell us if you think we are correct, then we all discuss it."
The Journal-Times in Racine has a couple Weblogs and acknowledges that each is "a little bit newsy, a little bit opinionated." They've started with fairly innocuous topics: Packers and prep sports. (OK, maybe the Packers aren't innocuous in Wisconsin.) Anyway, they're planning a third on called "JT:A look behind the scenes at the decisions that shape newspapers." I wonder how honest they'll be? I can't wait for it to launch.
Kuro5hin has been running with group Weblogs, where anyone can post on any topic and readers can comment on each others' posts. Readers and topic activity also determine what the top news of the day is on the front pages. That's also the model used by Plastic. Newspapers have message boards, but nothing quite like this. Group weblogs would be interesting community-building features. I wonder if legal concerns are blocking these.

And, I'll just toss in two more on the way out: This is an interesting article on the developing "Blogosphere" and the relationship between journalism and blogging. It's an interesting read by John Hiler, co-founded WebCrimson, a software consulting firm based in Manhattan. And The Guardian's article, "Time to blog on" is another good analysis.

Oh, and one more for fun: Fark.com is a wonderful collection of the weirdest news from around the world proving each day that truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

2002-10-18T11:04:00.000-05:00

MORE MEDIA NEWS | The Poynter Institute's Web Tips: From the Pros column pointed out this Romensko-like site call IWantMedia.com. It has some good stuff. I'll add it to the list of links on the left.

2002-10-18T00:42:00.000-05:00

HEADING OUR WAY? |I was flipping through some foreign newspapers online and I was struck at how common front page ads are becoming in Canada and Europe. Wow.

Not only are they common, but they're getting really bold and big. Check out today's Vancouver Sun and today's Le Monde in Paris. The ads basically fight with the dominant art. Ha'aretz in Tel-Aviv had a quarter-page ad on the cover, with big orange punctuation marks.

And speaking of dominant art ... looks like Jackson Sun in Tennessee had its lead election art fall through. At least I hope that wasn't intentional. Yikes. (Click on the image or links for full-sized renditions of the page. These pages are from the Newseum's front pages around the world exhibit -- the link is on the left rail under "design." Daily, they have about 100 U.S. fronts and a few dozen from other continents. One of the more interesting comparisons is the English and Japanese versions of Asahi Shimbun in Tokyo.)

2002-10-17T10:06:00.000-05:00

The Northwestern Readership Institute was here yesterday to talk about younger readers. I really wanted to go but was too busy.

2002-10-14T22:45:00.000-05:00

THE $102.6-BILLION QUESTION | The Aspen Institute released a report this week on a June summit of 24 top media executives who met to ponder the question: "Is great journalism compatible with great business in the context of the current media marketplace?"

Duh. Of course it is.

The 11 media companies represented on the committee made $102.6 billion in sales in 2001. Minus "infotainment" specialists like AOL and Disney -- which, interestingly, lost $5.2 billion in 2001 -- the newspaper companies made a profit of $2.24 billion on sales of $31 billion. That's about 8 percent in one of the worst advertising climates ever. I'd say there's a little money to be made in journalism. The study is interesting reading, though. E&P summarized it this week and the full report is available here or at the Aspen Institute Web site. In the reports you'll see that the group identified these key problems:

The definition of ‘journalism’ is changing. Oprah is news.
Financial foundations becoming more tenuous. Everyone's going niche and technology like TIVO (A'hem, Daniel) lets people skip ads.
News department a small fish in bigger companies. Mickey Mouse and Christine Amanpour work in the same building.
News culture is defensive and change-averse. Maybe we're averse because it's getting worse.
I'd like to add my own: Managing companies to meet quarterly expectations on Wall Street.

The group proposed solutions, but I don't think they quite have it. They proposed:

Setting up a 'Values’ committee on the board of directions of communication companies. No good unless it has some real power. Instead, leaders of these companies should be journalists.
Better communication between the editorial and business. Maybe it was better when we weren't talking so much.
An industry-wide campaign to educate the public about the importance of journalism and raise level of ‘journalistic literacy’. This one's a good idea. I can't tell you how many people call asking me to write an "ad" about their business. It's sad we have to do public service announcements, but at least we can get the ads cheap.

That's my two cents -- a mere pittance compared to $102 billion -- but I thought I'd share.

2002-10-13T15:21:00.000-05:00

HOLY NAME CHANGE, BATMAN | I was looking around for other URLs for this site that might be easier to remember. I considered Tomorrow's Newspaper, but it was already taken by a site that doesn't quite have our focus.

2002-10-11T13:35:00.000-05:00

EXPENSIVE HABITS | Natalie -- Something tells me I'm not on the short list.

My head is so full of pricey, time-consuming ideas -- focus groups, surveys, original content, etc. -- that it would probably not be a good match.

God only knows who put such ideas in my head.

2002-10-11T12:55:00.000-05:00

TWO-WAY MUSEUM | Our American Press Institute Business Editor's group went to the Freedom Forum last night to talk about the First Amendment. For a room full of journalists, we knew embarrassingly little about it.

Quick, name the five -- yes, there are five -- protections it guarantees. If you want to see the answer, click on the "comment" link at the end of this post. And, no, there aren't just four.

Anyway, as interesting as the talk was, equally interesting was our session with the of the Newseum afterward. We were talking about ideas for what could be done with the new facility being built at 555 Pennsylvania Ave. (Unfortunatley, it's closed in the interim.)

The mission of the museum, they say, is to help the public and the media better understand each other. So what I'd like to see them do is use those wonderful interactive displays -- where you explore ethics, select stories and shoot photos -- to collect information FROM visitors about what stories they want to read, what they expect and how we could make newspapers more useful to them. Might be interesting to take oral histories of people who have appeared in newspapers and ask them about their exerience.

The Readership Institute surveyed 37,000, but the first incarnation of Newseum got 2.2 million through its doors. There must be some way to collect a valid sample. It's particularly interesting because the museum is a popular stop for junior high and high school groups -- the readers we're most worried about losing.

A quick PS: Though the museum is closed, its most popular feature -- front pages from around the world -- is being continued at the new location and online. It's fascinating.

2002-10-11T00:18:00.000-05:00

ANOTHER UNFUNNY BLONDE JOKE | I really hate it when we collectively get duped. It's even worse when it happens on stupid things that screamed for a double-check. It just kills our credibility when the important stories come along.

I am, however, relieved to hear there is no study dooming my kind (natural blondes) to extinction in a few decades -- as reported by the New York Post, ABC, CBS, CNN and several foreign newspapers. They all cited a non-existent study by the World Health Organization.

These days we're letting this stuff slip through because we're rushed, gullible, lazy or believe that because we saw it repeated on more than one Web site we've got multiple-source confirmation. I can't decide if that's better or worse than the era when newspapers used to do it on purpose to sell more papers than the competition.

The Discovery Channel page has an interesting little section on newspaper hoaxes written to intentionally mislead -- and spur sales. My favorite is the 1835 New York Sun series on the "bat-winged, human-like creatures spotted living on the moon." It was confirmed by the Edinburgh Journal of Science ... which didn't exist. Edgar Allen Poe eventually got in on the action, too.

I do concede that not all of today's media hoaxes are rooted in stupid errors. It's pretty much still the business model of the National Enquirer and Star. In fact, the Enquirer's well-known Bat Boy cover is a wonderful nod to Benjamin Day's pioneering New York Sun moon hoax.

On the surface it seems odd that people will continue to pay to be misled. But maybe people just really want their newspapers to entertain them.

With that in mind, I think we ought to look at bringing back serial novels -- they were once a regular feature in many newspapers. Look at what a hit books have become again -- Oprah got people reading, new Barnes & Noble construction is keeping pace with Starbucks openings and Amazon.com actually made a profit. People are reading again. And if we can't give them good stories when we're relaying the news, let's at least give them some good stories.

2002-10-10T01:31:00.000-05:00

REUNION | I'm back in Washington D.C. this week and I have to say, I really missed the Washington Post. I have to run zig-zag patterns to get the paper box because of the sniper, but it's worth it once you get one.

The news section continues to be exceedingly traditional, gray and thoughtful. But, they've really developed an edge in other areas:

Health:

Lean Plate Club is a column looking at eating more healthfully;
Walk the Walk features a new walker each week, where they go and how they stay motivated;
health related letters;
reviews of health books;
column on health care cost and coverage trends;
Quick Study, a digest of new research on research and treatments;
health calendar;
and health news briefs.

KidsPost: Every day the Post is running this page on the back of Metro or Style, rewriting and reframing the day's news. I've seen other papers try this kind of thing, but most do it weekly. Our own section runs Tuesdays -- and what good is that if the kid picks up the paper on "wrong" day. The Post also is not dumbing it down too much or making it look like a comic strip -- they seem to be aiming for early middle school with a newspaper-like look. I think they have the right idea.

My favorite story today was the reframing of the West Coast port situation. The KidsPost lead: "For a while, it looked like new toys might not arrive in time for the holidays. But yesterday, President Bush asked a court to order West Coast ports to reopen." Talk about bringing it home. The adult lead, FYI: "Saying the nation's economy and security were at risk, President Bush today secured a court order to temporarily reopen West Coast ports and force docworkers and their employers to continue negotiations."

Preserving the flow of toys is a much better argument for reopening.

2002-10-09T18:03:00.000-05:00

Dan, Are they going to make you edit the S-T "tab?"

2002-10-08T19:08:00.000-05:00

ANOTHER STEP | Yep, pretty soon we'll all be working for one big Mediasaurus. This item from the AP shows they're already commingling their money:

Gannett acquires one-third interest in job site CHICAGO (AP) -- Gannett Co., owner of the nation's largest newspaper group, has acquired a one-third interest in the online and print job-search company CareerBuilder LLC. Terms were not revealed, but Gannett will have an equal share of CareerBuilder with Knight Ridder and Tribune Co. "Combining CareerBuilder with the resources of our 94 newspapers, 22 television stations, and related Web sites will further advance our position as the leading recruitment solution in our local markets," Gannett chairman Douglas H. McCorkindale said. At least $1 billion of the estimated $8 billion recruitment advertising industry now appears online. With Gannett's one-third interest, CareerBuilder will now deliver local help-wanted ads to a combined Sunday circulation of 15 million through about 130 newspapers, according to company officials.

What do you think they'll call it?

I recommend Aoltimewarnetribuganneknightpostviacoxclearhearstcastbloomscrippzilla.

2002-10-08T09:33:00.000-05:00

SEEING RED | If the Tribune's RedEye is a bad idea, then the Sun-Times' new publication (RedInk?) is a horrendous idea. Sun-Times Lite (reads great! less filling!) will try to appeal to younger readers. (Maybe they can have Kup or writing partner Stella Foster edit the new paper. You can't touch those hipsters!) But this may be a losing battle.

Reading a newspaper may simply be a habit acquired as people age. Of course, this is a dangerous assumption for newspapers to make. They risk sitting back and waiting for their readers to come of age and finding out -- oops -- people don't subscribe when they turn 35.

So we get desperate, painful-to-watch stabs like these. RedEye, at least, will presumably feature original content. The Sun-Times' new paper will almost certainly be full of wire copy, stuff the paper's target demographic is particularly likely to find on the Web -- or have read to them on TV or radio.

But Sun-Times Jr. could have a few things going for it. The Tribune will be charging 25 cents (cheap!) for RedEye. The Sun-Times should consider giving theirs away. Yes, this is fraught with difficulties and downsides. For one thing, even the new, hilariously permissive ABC rules ("Single copies forced upon readers at gunpoint will count only if they constitute less than 51% of a newspaper's circulation") won't let this count toward the Sun-Times' circulation. But the Sun-Times already competes with the Tribune on price for its REAL paper. This is also their best bet for the new paper.

The Sun-Times also competes on simply looking better. This is their second-best bet for their new paper. Sure, the Trib poured so much time and energy into figuring out what youngsters want in their newspaper. But the Sun-Times should -- and probably will -- just go for something pretty and not worry too much about content (hey, you get what you pay for).

The final advantage of the Sun-Times' baby over RedEye?

It'll have a better name.

2002-10-07T21:48:00.000-05:00

LIKE LEMMINGS OFF A CLIFF | So now the Chicago Sun-Times is going to develop a tab to attract the 18- to 34-year-olds and compete with the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye project. I have five words for them: "Psst, you ARE a tab."

And, it’s a tab that already has those kind of 18-34 lures like Susanna's Night Out. Susanna hops from bar to bar and takes pictures of herself with celebs or groups of happening people. This city will soon have an embarassment of media riches for an 18- to 34-year-old gal like me. Guess I'll no longer have to read Mary Schmich -- who now realizes that she is dated.

The crew they’re bringing in to help with this project comes from the former Copley dailies surrounding the city. These are the folks that brought you the very average Web Street Cafe. This site is geared toward teens, but it still doesn't show evidence of a keen understanding about how to reach the young ones. For one thing, it doesn't look MTV-slick at all. I've checked this site occassionally during the last two years and only recently has it been resurrected and updated.

So, Hollinger's will be rushed and it will be put together by a B team. And, for the Tribune, I continue to have issues with the associations to the name RedEye. My search of the Tribune’s own Web site for "red eye" turned up some other associations to add to my own: Birds mating at Brookfield Zoo; fond recollections of POW camps in the Midwest; cameras set up on Chicago street corners to monitor cars; and Elvis Costello T shirts.

So if this isn't the right answer about to reach young people, what is? I think one place to start the hunt is to take a look at where young people spend their time now -- online. Seems like we have more tools than ever at our disposal. Never before could we tell what stories people were reading, how long they looked at them and how they found them. Big companies can watch their own traffic numbers, which skew young. The rest of us can look at Yahoo's top viewed, New York Times' most emailed, The Buzz and Zeitgeist.

There's a lot going on out there that we don't pay attention to in newsrooms. If we won't go out, maybe we need to bring kids in once in a while. At the very least we need to watch and listen instead of relying on the ol' young-people-like-entertainment formulas. In checking the Buzz tonight, I see that KaZaA was the most requested search and it prompted me to look it up and learn about this new peer-to-peer file swapping software that may make sharing MP3s kind of legit.

Hmmm ... that topic would make a good story for a newspaper trying to attract young readers.

2002-10-07T00:08:00.000-05:00

HAPPY NATIONAL NEWSPAPER WEEK | To mark the occassion, students at All Saints' Episcopal School in the Lakeway region of Tennessee will get a special vist from reporter Stan Johnson who will talk with students about writing, reading and newspapers.

It looks like pretty standard stuff, but this is big. It's not every day you get a chance to meet an Official Newspaper Cat Columnist. Johnson chronicles his life with Foo Foo and Skittles -- and his wife Vivian -- in a column in the paper's living section. Twice a week, readers get slice-of-life anecdotes like:

"Our youngest cat, Skittles, has a drinking problem. No, she is not an alcoholic, although she would probably suck up booze if she could get it. The problem is that she will drink everything else she can find in a cup or glass. I always keep a glass of water on my nightstand. One night I woke up and heard something kind of strange. Sort of a slurp, slurp sound ... I don't know how long I'd been sharing water with the cat, but I had to start covering the glass."

A couple of my recent favorite columns:

Our youngest cat, Skittles, has a drinking problem (10.2.02)
Skittles becoming a live paper shredder (09.28.02)
Who knew a chair could provide fun for the cats (09.25.02)

Clearly, I'm mocking this a bit, but maybe I shouldn't. From what I can find, this appears to be quite popular in the region. Maybe this is the kind of real-life, human connection readers enjoy. Should we be doing more of this kind of stuff?

Personally, I have different loyalties. How about a little fair comment at least?

2002-10-05T18:20:00.000-05:00

FLIPPED OUT | We don't experiment a lot with newspaper shapes and sizes -- we've basically got two flavors: tab or broadsheet. Maybe we don't mess with size because its such a huge task -- look what a big deal the 50-inch web conversion was in most places. But perhaps we should experiment with shape. Here's a different approach that won best of show in the 2002 "Tomorrow's Newspaper Contest."

The sports page can be accessed just as easily from the front page by flipping the front page down first, instead of upward. In a similar fashion, the reader may more easily flip backward or forward at any time whilst reading the paper, in order to browse ahead for stories, or check back on a story they have already seen. The reader can now do this more comfortably whilst even standing on a train, tube or bus on the way to work in the morning.

Pretty clever. Designer Dean Jackson from South Africa said he thinks this approach solves many of the problems facing newspapers today -- ease of navigation, difficulty reading in crowded spaces, pages falling out, no connection to youth market.

2002-10-05T14:10:00.000-05:00

THE PERFECT MARRIAGE | I love how the Chicago Tribune has linked up with the Web to enhance its classified ads. Classifeds run in the paper, per usual, except some have a little camera icon in them with the Web address for TribPics. When you go to the site, you type in the phone number from the ad and you can see up to five pictures of what's being sold. (To see some cute boxer puppies, type in 618-665-4330 without the dashes.) I first noticed this a couple of weeks ago, but I haven't seen it promoted much. This morning I spent upward of 45 minutes scouring the Tribune's Web site looking for information about how much these cost or how to place one and couldn't find it. That's not good. You can't create good features like this and then hide them. The Chicago Tribune is actually one of 17 newspapers doing this through an outside company called ADpixx. I'm really curious about why they're doing this through an outside vendor. They have a vast interactive machine in the that company and this is a super simple database. There are other companies providing this service, PictureAds is one. The company's site doesn't show a list of clients, but the it does have a nice set of slides about how the process works. Newspapers should have been doing this five years ago; it's a natural way to use the technology. Will be interesting to see how it catches on.

2002-10-04T14:02:00.000-05:00

WILL I NEED VISENE? | Looking forward to seeing the Tribune's new tabloid aimed at the 18- to 34-year-old demographic. Glad to see a newspaper trying a new approach for young readers. Will be interesting to see if the tab format, appended stories and entertainment-focused content does the trick. The preliminary description leaves me -- part of their target demographic -- unoptimistic.
I wonder if we need to stop fretting so much about age and look more at centering publications around topics and geography. I care nothing about "entertainment news"; I never have and I doubt I ever will. This study of even younger readers suggests a path like that.
I would, however, be very interested in news from the Chicago Tribune about my neighborbood. The only time I see it mentioned is in the occassional brief should there be a shooting or something. I guess I can't be too critical before I see the thing but, what are they thinking with the name? Here's what I associate with Red Eye:

1. Burning, stinging eyes -- possibly from reading too much. 2. Miserable travel experiences on late night flights. 3. Hangovers. 4. Bad flash photography. 5. Conjunctivitis.Hope this was a trial balloon.

2002-10-03T00:18:00.000-05:00

WE'RE DOOMED | It really doesn't get any scarier than this item from the wire today about CNN gettin' chill wit y'all.

CNN tries to get hip in search for younger viewers for headline news service NEW YORK (AP) -- Is CNN Headline News down with it? The cable network is trying, judging from an effort emanating from its executive suite to think young. CNN Headline News general manager Rolando Santos told the San Francisco Chronicle this week that he's looking to mix "the lingo of our people" -- words like "whack" and "ill" -- into newscasts to attract young people. And the New York Daily News on Wednesday quoted from an e-mail sent by a network manager to his headline writers, sending them a copy of a slang dictionary so they can be "as cutting edge" as possible. "Please use this guide to help all you homeys and honeys add a new flava to your tickers and dekkos," the message said, referring to graphics on the Headline News screen ...

It continues, but I can't. I have to go sleep this one off.
Peace out.

2002-10-02T23:58:00.000-05:00

THEY CAME TO THEIR SENSES! | Well, readers finally turned the tide today, pushing the Powers That Be to move the business section back to a section-front location.
On Monday, I was a little disheartened (OK, completely devastated) that very few readers had anything to say about their business page appearing on the back of a section fronted by a siezure-inducing car dealer ad. On Tuesday, only a few calls trickled in, our colleagues still hadn't noticed and the PTB were holding firm. The business staff was so demoralized that, at lunch, we had to go out to hit golf balls at the driving range to work through the stress.
Finally, on Wednesday, hundreds of readers figured out it wasn't a mistake and realized that we actually intended to keep doing this to them. Then, God bless 'em, they called and wrote in droves. The sent hundreds of messages like Mr. Petrosky's:

"I've been reading the paper for over 35 years and I still can't believe you're putting the business section backward. Who thought that was a good idea? Why would you make your paper harder to read? It looks like you did this to put an ad on the front. Well here's some news, I don't need to buy ads. I want to be able to find the news. I think its very, very rude on the part of the paper. If this continues, I think I will make a change."

Well said. I hadn't thought of "rude" but I think it fits. I'm so glad we're back -- well, actually front -- in business again.

2002-10-01T22:00:00.000-05:00

READERS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS (No. 2) | I usually dread my phone. My calls are usually complaints, requests to cover ribbon-cuttings or somebody mad about how the local car dealership treated them.
Today, however, I was waiting for my phone to ring so I could bolster my list of those who thought putting the business section on the back of a section starting with car ads was a really bad idea. When newspaper managers won't listen to reason, sometimes they'll listen readers. I feel like going down to the holography museum, doing a Princess Leia message and sending it out to all our readers. You're our only hope.
I thought this one had some nice points.

To: Editor From: Lynn [Withheld ] Subject: Business section
I am expressing my displeasure with the new location of the business section and obituaries. In today's [withheld], articles addressing business, the economy, employment, etc. are most important to the consumer. Placing this very important information in a remote section of the paper (behind the [Withheld] Dodge full page ad) is very problematic ... The first time it appeared that way I had folded that section up and placed it in the recycling bin ... Lynn [Withheld]

This, from one of my voice mails, was the funniest though:

9:47 AM Mystery Caller |

Hello I'm calling to tell you how much we really dislike the new way the business and obituary section in the [Withheld] is set up ... The last couple of days the paper has not been easy to read -- This ain't China -- we read from left to right and not the other way around.

Xie xie, Mystery Caller! (Chinese for thank you.)

2002-10-01T20:39:00.000-05:00

ONLINE NEWSPAPERS KEEP FOCUS ON OLD MARKETS | This recent study on online newspaper advertising from Borrell Associates and Harvard Business Professor Clark Gilbert scolds newspapers for investing millions of dollars in new technology to serve their same old -- and, ah, dwindling -- markets.

"After seven years of aggressive investment in local Internet operations, the newspaper industry has refocused its efforts not on obtaining new customers with new applications that the Internet can reach, but on serving its traditional advertisers."

The price of this old thinking to newspapers? A loss of $300 million in annual revenue, they estimate, adding this year's total revenues were about $550 million. Haven't newspapers noticed that the dot-com boom consisted largely of companies that set up shop to move in on specific newspaper advertising niches -- and doing it better and more innovatively than newspapers? Newspapers have been selling help wanted ads for more than 150 years, but it took Monster et al. to force them into innovating by making them searchable and highly usable through the Internet and databases. The cost of letting that train go by? Newspapers have lost 40 percent of their lucrative recruitment ads in the last 18 months -- that's $5.4 billion, according to the study. Newspapers have been selling general merchandise through classifieds for just as long, but it took eBay to make it fun, easy, national and profitable. Real estate and car Web sites also beat newspapers at what used to be their own game. How'd they do that? They focused on the end user. They considered how people were going to use the information and how that could make it essential, useful and fun. We need to develop useful content that attracts readers and meets their needs. That is, after all, exactly what advertisers are looking for.
A recent E&P article summarizes the study.

2002-10-01T02:23:00.000-05:00

READERS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS (No. 1) | Here's an example of the many crazy letters and phone calls I get each day. This was in response to an article about a car dealer who retired after 40 years. We made a pullquote out of this statement in the story: "I have some old people who come in and say they don't build them like they used to and I say 'thank God.' Those cars weren't safe, they didn't have crash barriers and get 200,000 miles on them like today's cars can. It's an entirely different automobile today." Pretty harmless? Not to this reader:

To: Editor From: Fred [Withheld ] Subject: 09-24-02 art. Mize
I don't know but I went to school when one had to be careful about what one said or put into print. Over the years I have witnessed a more blunt attitude of we will go ahead with this project no matter what. The Old Testament is chuck full of of how that self-god thinking always came around and bit the originator in the butt. Today's writers and leaders are heading for the rath of God, which is what comes around will go around.The saying, history repeats itself, is a cover up for sinning.
09-24-02 the article about Mr. Stan Mize caught my attention. I confess I'm not a newspaper reader but my wife is. This man makes a staatement about selling unsafe cars and you put it into bold print no less and because the adverage man makes more money today it's all right to rape his wallet for more loot, WOW. Let's see, he put families into cheap dangerous cars to make himself money and you blow a trumpet proclaiming how great he is. God gives talent and intelligence to certain individuals so they can take advantage of us poor not so smart people, great philosophy you have there. I got some advise for you and Mr. Mize; enjoy your heaven on earth because it will soon make alot of dust.
Fred [ Withheld ]

If you spend any amount of time working in newspapers, you develop a fairly thick skin. I let most arrows like this bounce off, but for some reason this got under one of my scales when it arrived Sunday night. Maybe it was the bad week I had. Maybe it was the fact that self-righteous people who can't use punctuation really bother me. Or maybe contemplating eternal damnation makes me crabby. I can't say, really. All I know is I felt compelled to write back. I'm sure it will show up in my bosses email box one of these days.

To: Fred [Withheld] From: Editor Subject: Re: 09-24-02 art. Mize
Mr. [Withheld] --
I believe you misunderstood Mr. Mize's statement. He was saying that his long-time customers thought the old cars were better, but he believes the new cars are much safer and last longer. He was not saying that he knowingly sold unsafe cars.
You may disagree and you are certainly enititled to your interpretation of Mr. Mize's statements. However, you are not entitled to stand in judgement over my soul. Enjoy my heaven on earth? How dare you. You know nothing about me.
I have some advice for you Mr. [Withheld.] It comes from Proverbs 19:2, "It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way."
Editor

Yeah, resorting to Bible verses is pretty lame. But, hey, you gotta fight fire and damnation with fire and damnation. He wrote back, of course. I can't tell if he zinged me or not -- it's a little unclear. I decided not to continue our correspondence. If I'm headed for the "rath (sic) of God," I simply don't have the time.

To: Editor From: Fred [Withheld ] Subject: Typicle,
Qouted your article and the Bible and you get personal. Thankyou for putting me in my place; I'll not venture into your domain again.
Fred [ Withheld ]

2002-10-01T01:28:00.000-05:00

THE IMPETUS | On Monday, my section moved from the cover of the D section to F16 -- the back of a section, behind an abomination-of-design classifieds front, sandwiched between sections of car ads and designed in a way that would require readers to flip backward for jumps. And we're wondering why our circulation is down 5 percent from last year? OK, kids, one more time: Readers + Advertisers = Healthy Media Companies and an Informed Citizenry Capable of Perpetuating a Democracy. Too often we're making moves like this -- whoring ourselves to advertisers for a few extra bucks to shore up short-term results. This move was made to create a Classified ads section cover each day with our just-barely-fits press capacity. In meetings, the only aspect of the juggling that got any attention was what ad postions would be lost. How readers would experience the section was an aside. Navigation, usability and creating a brand that says "easy to read" sit atop the Readership Insitute's list of opportunties to increase readership. And, frankly, readers see a lot of slick, packaged information out there in magazines, on the Web, on TV, so their expectations are high. They demand a well organized paper. Newspapers are products and we need to pay attention to the packaging -- with a focus on reader utility. Creating more advertising opportunities isn't enough.< B>We can't focus on half the equation. We're supposed to be there until April when a new press comes online. Maybe I can talk some sense into somebody before that. Wish me luck.

2002-10-01T00:13:00.000-05:00

TEST |Test, test. 1, 2, 3. Is this thing on?