Gannett Newspapers are Going Pro-Am to Survive
Radical Change Driving Move to Make Readers Reporters
If you live in a town with a Gannett newspaper as we do in SW Florida, you’ve observed a pretty dramatic change in the online version. Gannett is empowering citizen journalalist in what they call a ‘pro-am’ effort.
This may work, but it’s not necessarily good for journalism. They are replacing experienced reporters with motivated readers who may have an ax to grind. The Fort Myers News-Press kicked up a huge fuss over the issue of sewers in Cape Coral much to the consternation of the city staff professionals.
The August 2007 issue of Wired details this growing phenomenon:
The Web was to become the primary vehicle for news, with frequent, round-the-clock updates. The newsroom would be rechristened the Information Center, while traditional departments like Metro and Business would give way to the Digital and Community Conversation desks. Photographers would be trained to shoot video, which would be posted online. Investigations would no longer be conducted by a coven of professionals working in secret. Instead, they’d be crowdsourced — farmed out to readers who’d join in the detective work.
All this is part of a desperation move to survive the ongoing drop in readership, particularly among younger readers. Falling print readership is going hand-in-hand with falling print ad revenues–a drop of 2% or almost $800 million in the past year. Online ad revenues are climbing even though they are a fraction of print: $630 million vs. $47 billion.
Gannett and other newspaper publishers may be risking their credibility in their desperate pursuit of disappearing readers. Perhaps, this is an opportunity for niche publishing by local companies. A bank for example, could publish a business website. A department store could create a fashion website.
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Comments [2]
Good luck with the new endeavor. Trained jounalism, more often than not, rely upon people with an ax to grind for information. They go one step further and find the opposite side of the ax to ensure balance and hopefully go a few more steps for a 360 perspective. Newspapers have to seek new ways to ensure their marketshare - their readership demands it- the changing world requires it. Your thoughts on niche opportunities are right on target. Again good luck!
Lois,
Thanks for the comment. I think the biggest challenge for newspapers is how to balance shrinking newsrooms and eroding ad dollars with the need to provide content that is relevant. Because the print revenues dwarf online revenues, will the print versions be able to survive as print profit margins evaporate.
There is a unique challenge to objectivity here in SW Florida because we have lots of motivated older citizens with time on their hands who may be only too happy to be part of the ‘crowdsource.’ Their parochial interests may have littl to do with the best interests of the community as a whole.