AG on New Media

Evan Cornog, in his Columbia Journalism Review piece “Let’s Blame the Readers” discusses how newspapers might combat the marked decline in readership currently in progress in the United States. He mentions two opposing solutions: changing what papers cover and reeducating the American public. Cornog’s prognostications are faulty in that they are not extreme enough. Blog networks are doing a better job than newspapers ever can of coverage on topics readership studies say younger readers care about most meaning the educational role of the newspaper must improve if papers are to survive.

I have a particularly interesting (read: random) daily media appetite. It starts with a customized email of the headlines and summaries from NYTimes.com (usually read on my BlackBerry before I actually get out of bed). Then I make stops at Slashdot.org and TUAW, The Unofficial Apple Weblog. Later in the day, I might go back to the Times. I’ll definitely go back to Slashdot and TUAW. Often three or four more times. Blogs like these provide fanatical coverage on a subject that I’m fanatical about. For example, on Monday, November 20, TUAW posted 6 new stories on all things Apple related. Slashdot posted more than 20 pieces on “News for nerds. Stuff that matters.” But not everyone is interested in such news for nerds, and that’s where the newest of new media companies — blog networks — come in. The parent company of TUAW, Weblogs, Inc. owns blogs that cover: the advertising industry, cars, environmentally friendly cars, baby products/care, card games, movies, shareware, scuba diving, gadgets, HD TV, games, luxury goods, Tivo and other PVRs, food, fashion, health/fitness, Apple Computer, and TV shows. See anything interesting there? Yup, Weblogs owns properties that cover most of the “top items of interest for younger, so-called ‘light’ readers.” Weblogs’ competitor, Gawker Media, has another network of blogs that cover some of the same topics and additional, edgier ones that cover sex, Hollywood gossip, and the famous Wonkette D.C. gossip. Though experts are recommending that newspapers aim to remain relevant by covering these topics, they simply can’t in as much depth or as often. Moreover, younger media consumers such as myself are perfectly comfortable getting our news from such online sources with a laser-like focus on our interests. Essentially, newspapers shouldn’t even try to compete in a race to the bottom because they simply can’t win.

Where newspapers can win, however, is in the role of educator. The space between teaching and journalism is, as Cornog suggests, quite small. A journalist aims to teach people about something that happened yesterday or is happening today, whereas a traditional teacher is, most often, teaching about something that’s been discovered longer ago. That’s it. Each is engaged in the same core process: distilling the important facts and presenting them in an easily digestible manner. So what’s an editor-in-chief to do? Get her reporters to start teaching people about the subjects a newspaper can cover well. Write lucid articles about how our government actually works. Prepare compelling graphics that can relate complex processes at a glance. And most important of all: don’t take a story’s impact for granted. Be sure to tell readers exactly why they ought care about a governmental agencies most recent administrative ruling.

Declining readership is a severe problem for newspapers. A race to the bottom is, undoubtedly, the wrong way to win readers back.