Entries from lucasgrindley.com blog | Exploring the new way for journalism tagged with 'Rule No. 3'
Private ownership a temporary solution
The Washington Post reports that newspapers will increasingly be the target of private ownership because it provides a layer of protection from the ups and downs of Wall Street shareholders. Sound familiar? It should. I said the very same thing...
Newspapers can go online-only and pay the bills
Howard Owens disagrees with Wired Magazine’s prediction that a major newspaper will stop printing and go online-only in 2007. Although Wired’s punditry might be a little overly optimistic, Howard’s rebuttal is equally pessimistic. Howard alleges that newspapers can’t possibly support...
Can I just call this, I told you so?
What have we learned from the sale of the Star-Tribune to a private equity firm that was just created in 2005 by a bunch of richie-rich business men? 1) Newspaper industry analyst John Morton told the Associated Press that newspapers...
Fresno Bee let competitors get too Famous
Much to the chagrin of its users, community Web sites Fresno Famous and Modesto Famous were bought by mainstream competitor, The Fresno Bee, for an undisclosed amount of money. Buying a competitor is a last resort. So one can’t help...
Careful or you’ll miss the real lesson
Something about the Washington Post’s story on the “mojos” at Gannett got journalists in a tizzy. Mobile reporters at the Fort Myers News-Press work out of their cars, filing several times a day to the Web site, without editing. Interesting,...
How was your Black Monday?
On Monday, newspaper Web sites got an indication of whether they’re efforts to brand themselves as outlets for local shopping are working. The Monday after Black Friday is one of the year’s biggest days for online shopping traffic. Coincidentally, online...
Reassign beats now, or cut reporters later
In earlier posts, I’ve warned about the impending consolidation of coverage. And here’s a real-world harbinger. The managing editor for the Winston-Salem Journal was faced with the need to cut his budget. And when looking around the newsroom, he saw...
Next Steps
Obviously this report doesn’t have all the answers. Questions abound. Would a newspaper like this comply with ABC standards? What kind of equipment exists to deliver a personalized newspaper? How does this affect Accounting? How does it affect the way...
If you let me choose, I will let you help me
It is usually a veteran editor who makes the argument against the “a la carte” news idea. “If readers are allowed to subscribe only to the news they want, they won’t get the news they need,” or so the thinking...
Stop Wasting Paper
Newspapers are one of the most inefficient products on the planet. Companies spend thousands of dollars every edition to print pages and hand deliver them to subscribers who just throw them in the trash bin. The truth is not everyone...
Zoning by Interest
Readers want more coverage of the things they’re passionate about, but our passions vary. In response, newspapers depend on mass appeal. Topics that interest the majority get covered more than those that interest a few fanatics. The result is a...
Drop the price
Looks like someone else over at brasstacksdesign.com has a set of “new rules” for journalism. My rules are much broader lessons to live by. Brasstacks offers what feel more like steps. And Step. No. 6 is “drop the price.” Most...
Can this be done?
(Last installment in “From good to great” series) Consider the infamous “Innovator’s Dilemma.” As a company’s main source of revenue dries up, it takes deliberate leadership to reallocate jobs and money to those areas of immature but growing revenue. Those...
Need for immediate expansion
(4 of 5 in “From good to great” series) At the Associated Press, the Web staff of 10 multimedia producers is so overwhelmed that the duty of posting breaking news is being transferred directly to desk editors. JSOnline.com has already...
Tactics for transferring ownership
(2 of 5 in “From good to great” series) Models that help the newsroom take ownership of its Web site are already emerging. And they can be adapted to benefit the television partner, as well. With interests in the Web...
From good to great
The rare opportunity presented any Web site to become an industry leader and serve its readers better than ever before. A one-time opportunity to dramatically increase Web-exclusive content and television convergence is here, but only some journalism companies will recognize...
The 7th Step; Beyond CraigsList
Newspapers should take what they know about their kryptonite and use it against each other. Remember Rule No. 1. “If newspapers are going to survive, first some must die.” Maybe even more than most industries, newspapers spend time identifying and...
How Newspapers Can Survive CraigsList
The six steps to overcoming a disruptive business model and creating a new one to live by. With CraigsList in your market, the time for hand-wringing and worrying is over. It’s time to do something. So far newspapers like mine...
Syllabus for 'The New Way'
The New Way for newspapers comes with a few “new rules,” as Bill Maher likes to call them. Only these are serious. 1. If newspapers are going to survive, first some newspapers will have to die. And it’s every man...
Feed Subscription
If you use an RSS reader, you can subscribe to a feed of all future entries tagged 'Rule No. 3'. [What is this?]
