Save the Media

Today, I’m not blogging as a journalist. I’m taking off that hat and writing as a news consumer — a regular person who has been devouring newspapers since I was about 6 and read my parents’ daily delivery of the New York Daily News.

Dear newspapers:

I know. I know. Times are tough. You’re cutting news hole because next to the cost of employees, newsprint is right up there. So papers are feeling thinner and thinner — even on Sundays. I understand. I do. I understand you’re in a really tough financial spot. Plus I’m all for newspapers transitioning to the Web, and I think that’s the future. But you’re in that awkward stage now where you can’t make the money you need on the Web, but you need to trim the print to cut costs.

Here are some things I hope you’ll keep in mind during this transition:

• Give me something to read: I know first TV and now the Internet has trained you that people want sound bites, scannable stories, bits and pieces. All true. But, while we still have a newspapers, don’t fill it just with 6-inch stories and snippets of yesterday’s news. I’ve read those already online. What I haven’t read already online is enterprise, a well-written profile that really digs deeply into a person, investigative pieces that expose government waste, inequity and greed. The short, shallow story isn’t going to save newspapers.  And if that’s all I get in the print, honestly, I don’t need the print at all. I want the print to become more like a magazine. The place I read over my coffee or (let’s be honest) in the bathroom. I want my newspaper to be online-first and summarize the latest on the Web quickly, but I also want to read actual stories.

• Give me original reporting from your staff: I can read The Associated Press stories on the Web (at least for now), so please don’t fill your pages with them. Sure, rely on the wires for national and international news in the print and online, but for the rest of the print, use your staff. There’s really no excuse for running most feature wire stories these days with a few exceptions, such as movie openings or some science and technology pieces.  And if you must run it, please make sure it has some additional information to localize it. That can be as simple as: Can I buy the product here? Is the trend happening here? What’s the local impact.  And, please, please, don’t tell me you don’t have enough reporters because you’ve laid them all off or cut their hours or furloughed them. That may be true, but as a consumer, I don’t really care. I want value in what I’m buying, or I’ll stop buying it.

• Give me investigative and enterprise reporting from your staff: Blogs and people on Twitter can be very quick about reporting the news — sometimes quicker than news sites. But few of them are doing really investigative reporting. I know Huffington Post is launching an investigative reporting initiative, and I think that’s wonderful. I hope more blogging sites will do so. But newspapers, this is something many of you do really well. Don’t stop doing it. We need it. Democracy needs it. Journalism as a whole needs it. And don’t limit it to the “investigative” or “enterprise” team. Every reporter should be doing enterprise reporting on his or her beat. Some stories may be simply noticing a trend in a community; that’s fine. Not every story has to be Watergate. But there should be many stories that tell me something I can’t get anywhere else.

• Give me a great Web site and great print: I know, you’re torn. You can’t abandon print because it pays the bills, but you know the Web is the future. Yet, you can’t focus just on the Web because you need to make money. I feel your pain, but as a consumer, honestly, I don’t care. I want it all. I want a great print product that gives me fresh perspectives, enterprise and investigation along with aggregation of the best of the Web. And I want a Web site that’s updated constantly, helps me make sense of my world, gives me links to the best information elsewhere and enables me to connect with others in my niches of interest. I know. I want a lot. In fact, I want it all. Sorry. I’m a brat that way. The truth is: You can’t pick Web or print. And, guess, what? When I look at your newspaper and your Web site, I won’t be happy if I can tell that you picked one over the other.

• Give me a connection between your Web site and your print: You may have things set up so a different staff oversees your Web site than your print product. That’s fine, but, as a reader, I don’t want to see any disconnect between print and online. I want to see a seamless connection between the two. A story is getting a huge buzz online, tell me in the print. (And tell me boldly please. I’m in a hurry. I can’t notice every little thing.) If you have a great multi-media package, let me know in the print. (And again, scream it: This new media stuff is as new to many readers as it is to you.) Bring the best of online back to the print in a meaningful way. That way those readers who are a little Internet shy may get the hang of that new-fangled thing. Don’t be afraid to explain new media to us. Maybe even start a blog about it. For decades we have depended on the newspaper to help us make sense of our world. We just didn’t use that lingo. But we still need help. We need to understand how to connect online, and we’d love you to figure it out and show us. That way, your Web site won’t just draw the tech-savvy and early innovators, but it might just connect with the naysayers, too.

OK, I’m done. Sorry to unload on you. I really love ya’ newspapers. But I needed to get this off my chest.