I attended the national Associated Press Managing Editors conference last week and detected a change in where newspapers are focusing their efforts.
In past years, editors seemed more interested in learning how to please the many segments of their readership with specialized content.
Seminars focused on creating hip magazines for young readers filled with concert reviews and nightclub information. Editors learned to create Web sites where moms can share child-rearing advice and peruse local event calendars.
News organizations are still doing those things, but this year editors talked more about getting positive response from readers when they stick to what newspapers do best – break local news, be watchdogs of the powerful, and share public information readers can use.
Maybe it’s because readers can get much of that specialized information from other sources as well. Maybe it’s because new technology makes it easier for us to deliver breaking news and share public data and documents. For whatever reasons, it’s heartening to hear that just plain journalism is playing well with readers.
Here are examples from news organizations across the country:
• The Virginian Pilot in Norfolk has beefed up its breaking news team – even pulling reporters from other beats – to focus exclusively on breaking news online between 5 a.m. and 2 p.m. The Virginian Pilot, like The News Tribune, has the biggest newsroom of any media outlet in its market and no longer must wait until the next morning to deliver its news. Later in the day, reporters write for the next day’s paper. The paper’s motto is: Break it online; explain it in print.
• The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, with a much bigger newsroom, also had to eliminate other beats to assemble a 10-person watchdog team. The team conducts quick-hit investigations and longer-term projects, citing its mission as “shining a light on wrongdoing, dysfunction, waste and injustice.”
The Journal Sentinel makes it easy for readers to find these stories by labeling them in print as “Journal Sentinel Watchdog Reports.” They’ve packaged the reports on a “Watchdog Online” page, which also includes searchable databases of public information, a primer on how to request public records, and a place to leave news tips. Readers say they are renewing subscriptions because of the new emphasis.
• A much smaller paper in Wisconsin, the Wausau Daily Herald, took a simpler approach with a feature called “Document of the Day.” Every day, the paper scans in a public record related to a local news story, publishes it in the newspaper and links to it online. Sometimes the document is a police report on a breaking crime story. Sometimes it’s an inspection report on a troublesome local bridge. Readers are now suggesting records they’d like to see.
At The News Tribune, sticking to the basics has meant:
• Routinely breaking news online as quickly as possible. Our breaking news updates online draw more than 100,000 page views a month.
• Focusing on our watchdog role even on routine daily stories. Recent examples include a look at how much the Tacoma School District spent on its superintendent search and a report on whether Tacoma’s Community Based Services program is reducing crime as promised.
• Launching our online database page, Sound Info, which we did in July. As of Friday morning, our databases had received 28,290 page views in September. Almost half of those were clicks on our public school employee salary database.
To keep a varied readership happy, we need to provide a certain amount of specialized content, but we’re also working to stay focused on what’s at the heart of our mission.
NEW HEALTH MAGAZINE
On Wednesday, you’ll find a new magazine inside your paper.
HealthyStyle comes to us from Parade Publications, which also publishes the magazine in our Sunday newspaper. It will focus on food, fitness, nutrition and beauty, offering advice from experts and stories about celebrities. The first edition gives you five ways to sleep better and six secrets to a longer life. Plus, you’ll get actress Kate Hudson’s tips for “super energy.”
We hope you enjoy it. Let us know what you think.
Karen Peterson: 253-597-8434
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