Heather Flyte

I’ve been reading on and off about this problem, from the Associated Press’ ridiculous attempts to control content, newspapers closing left and right, and others just hanging by using furloughs and layoffs. So I’m going to tackle this problem head on, right now, and solve it for everyone, almost.

1. Loose the Huge Advertising Staff

Get rid of the multi-layer advertising department. There’s no longer a need for multiple managers and VPs. Trim down your staff to those sales people with good reliable LOCAL business contacts and stop worrying about the national print campaigns. Get your sales team some basic training on selling for online markets and focus LOCALLY. Your local businesses aren’t getting the exposure they need.

2. Focus On Local News ONLY

Let the AP fiddle around with DRM-laden, mislabeled national stories. Your readers don’t want to read about that in the local news anyway. They want the LOCAL ANGLE. Remember when you used to write up those PTA meetings – do it again! Readers like nothing more than to see their names in print (or on screen). Focus locally.

3. Editors Need To Engage More

Editors can spend less time laying out pages no one will read, and focus more on engaging readers in a discussion about the local news. Keeping readers talking about any particular article keeps them coming back to be part of the action. Focus on how the story affects the local community, encourage community discussion and you’ll discover new story angles for future articles that you never knew existed.

4. Free Your Reporters

Give your reporters ownership of the stories they write. Release them from non-compete contracts. Give the writers the responsibility to market the republishing of their work and the burden to make sure it’s not copied elsewhere. Ownership leads to quality (at least in the crafts). If reporter from newspaper A wants to resell his piece to newspaper B, let him, as long as it runs on newspaper A’s site first (with an agreed upon embargo for newspaper B). Reporters can go back to competing over scoops, stories and beats and we’ll all wind up with more quality news.

5. Become A Print Shop

You know that big hunk of iron in your basement? USE IT! Use that left over advertising staff, editorial art staff, and press staff to become a print house for the community. People still need quality posters, magazines, fliers, catalogs, newsletters, etc. Diversify your operations and become an actual living part of the community, instead of it’s distant observer. You can also expand this idea into offering digital services (web sites, marketing, etc) to your community as well. Let organizations create blogs on your site, have a robust and FREQUENTLY UPDATED community calendar that becomes the go-to place for what’s going on in your area.

6. As In The Advertising Staff, So In the Editorial Staff

How many editors does it take to water down a good story? Take that number, cut it in half and redirect those people into the community focused areas of your business. Editing for online is a fluid task, there is not drop dead time. After the initial article is fleshed out, written, and “polished”, let it go. Mistakes can be fixed instantly and give your best copy editors full reign over this job. The others, let them engage with the online discussion and fill out the story even more.

These suggestions are really tailored to local newspapers, and , full disclosure, I spent over five years working for a local daily. And I loved every minute of it. But while big conglomerates knock their heads together trying to find ways of bilking more money out of readers, the little guys will get hurt the most. I want all those small papers, the papers that still actually SERVE THEIR COMMUNITY instead of serving shareholders, to take this new opportunity by the horns and wrestle it to the ground. Your community needs you, even if they’re not subscribing. The local newspaper should still remain the voice of reason in a world that’s growing ever larger and louder.

And readers – when you visit your local newspaper site, support their advertisers. Click on the links and take advantage of their offers. Tell local businesses that you saw their ad on the newspaper’s site. Become part of the conversation and part of the solution, because if you let your local newspaper die, who will speak for you?

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 16th, 2009 at 1:38 pm and is filed under blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.