With the newspaper industry in decline, and many newsrooms at a loss about how to adapt to this Internet thing, Gannett is pushing ahead with an ambitious new program that reorients its writers to a 24X7 news cycle that includes video and actively solicits the help of its readership. Gannett’s “Information Center Project” applies to its 89 local newspapers, and not flagship publication USA Today.
It’s a pretty radical overhaul of newsroom operations — in fact the newsrooms at Gannett have been rechristened “information centers” — and journalists will now be assigned not to the “city desk,” or the “sports section” but to one of seven desks with names such as “data,” “digital,” and “community conversation.” This is the least attractive element of the overall plan, subverting journalistic traditions in favor of relatively colorless Web 2.0-speak.
Other than that, however, Gannett seems to be onto something. One of the most intriguing elements is the incorporation of “crowdsourcing,” by which Gannett will buck to outsiders functions that used to be performed by employees. As an example, this past summer Gannett’s The News-Press in Fort Myers, FL engaged in first-class investigative journalism by asking its readers to dig into sky-high fees being charged to newly built homes that needed to connect to water and sewer lines.
Expertise poured in from retired engineers, accountants and even a municipal whistle-blower. The result: connections fees were slashed by more than 30% and one city official had to resign.
CEO Craig Dubow spelled out another key goal of all the changes in a memo, now posted online by Jim Romanesko: reach all platforms.
News and information will be delivered to the right media - be it newspapers, online, mobile, video or ones not yet invented - at the right time. Our customers will decide which they prefer.
This new goal is perhaps more important than any other for a newspaper company. The days of limiting news to staid formats is over and to keep pace with the rapid changes, newspapers have to bust out of their print mindsets.
Cynthia Brumfield at 5:27 PM|Comments(0)
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