Will Newspapers end up like the Milkmen?

This last week has been filled with more discussion about the future of newspapers than I’ve seen in about four years. Although strangely, it appears the urgency of the situation is finally hitting the docks of newspapers around the country with everyone talking about how to change and none of them actually doing anything about it. While managing editors around the country are trying to figure out how to better monetize the web for their purposes, the blogs keep popping up and doing the work for them.

Taking just one example, of many, let’s look at the city of Concord, California. There are now at least six blogs covering local news (OK, there are a bunch more, but I’m tired of linking to all of them) in this suburb of San Francisco with a population of about 120,000. Granted many times they are simply repeating what the mainstream TV, other bloggers and newspaper reporters have reported, but they are training themselves to replace these traditional outlets, particularly the newspapers in time. One particular blogger, who started writing about city and county issues only about six months ago, has already gained enough attention to be interviewed by the local newspaper. He has, with only his time, created a space where local citizens can visit in order to discover what is happening in their town, often outside the scope of the local paper. Ad revenue, although minimal at this point, helps to support this model, but ultimately it is an opportunity for one concerned citizen to inform other less informed citizens and to create discussion and greater awareness of the issues that affect their community.

One of the key areas to explore with the web and community-run blogs is the idea of how information is transmitted. Critical to that is the discussion that takes place. No longer is it a one-way model for information delivery, but a shared discussion and interest in each particular idea. One of the primary reasons the Internet is so popular is due to the collaboration in encourages. People want to do more than read a static page of information (what most newspapers provide as online content), but they want to share, dissect and discuss this information, constantly adding to it and diving in deeper than most reporters venture these days.

The idea of online, local, community-based journalism is certainly still in its infancy and admittedly does not always have the great investigative skills newspaper reporters have been known for, but the possibility to grow and become the reckoning voice of reason in the local community is approaching. More importantly, people are doing something. It may not be the newspapers (although they are happy to report on it), but I’m getting the feeling the newspaper industry doesn’t really want to be saved. If a business model has outgrown its consumer base, it will either adapt or die. Although I would love to see the milkman zigzagging through the streets every morning, it just doesn’t make sense anymore…

Tom Ashbrook, host of NPR’s On Point, conducted a discussion to these points yesterday. Guests included NYU Journalism Professor and blogger Jay Rosen, NPR Media Reporter David Folkenflik and the Co-Executive Editor of the non-profie online investigative journalism service, Voice of San Diego, Andrew Donohue. The broadcast of the program can be listened to on the link below. Some of the more interesting points were brought up by Donohue and Rosen, the two “non-traditional” members of the discussion. Instead of just discussing the downfall (i.e. reasons for failure) and what will happen next (like Ashbrook did and Folkenflik to a lesser extent), these two are actually picking up the slack where newspapers have fallen off. Although it is taking decades, the newspaper insiders are slowly coming around to the idea that they can’t be milkmen their whole lives. Their business model must change and it must change now, because six months from now is too long, as the blogs are showing.

On Point – The Future of News