Newspapers in Decline

Scott Adam's has captured my thinking about the direction newspapers have to go in to stop their decline. They need to change their business! Just delivering fishwrap with lots of advertising worked in the past, but not now. They have to focus on a service that meets needs. As far as "news" go, they have to get beyond the flash in the pan headlines and give you useful information. In other words, put news into context and manage that context so that the meaning behind the news is available so that you can learn from it.

Here's his point:

When I read the news, I'm generally most interested in how stories have unfolded across time. I want to know the "new news," as in the topics that have never been reported until today, but I also want ongoing charts and graphs about the "old news" such as wars and the economy. My understanding of the war in Iraq, for example, has little to do with what blew up today and a lot to do with the trend lines over the entire war. In other words, I see the news in terms of time.

I don't want to see murder and mayhem. I want to know what it means. As far as national/international news, it needs to be put into a context of analysis. And I want to see different political points of views. Real views. Not the shouting farcical name calling that passes as "infotainment politics".

Adams also talks about local needs being put into a context that makes it useful to you:

In most families, everyone keeps their own calendar and does a spotty job of sharing what's on it with everyone else. In time that calendar coordination will happen electronically. And most of the information will come from external sources, such as your schools, clubs, and organizations to which you belong.

Some time ago I blogged that advertising belongs in your electronic calendar, for your benefit more than for the advertiser. That's because my interest and desire in certain products and services is linked to timing. If my calendar has a certain birthday coming up in a week, and I've checked the boxes saying the person is a certain age and gender, or has certain hobbies, my calendar can start giving me gift suggestions and recommending online flowers and e-cards and the like. In other words, advertisements can move from nuisance to valuable service just by adjusting when you see them.

I think the biggest software revolution of the future is that the calendar will be the organizing filter for most of the information flowing into your life. You think you are bombarded with too much information every day, but in reality it is just the timing of the information that is wrong. Once the calendar becomes the organizing paradigm and filter, it won't seem as if there is so much.

This has it right. Local news should not be focused murders and scandals. That ends up creating a terrified citizenry convinced that everything is going to hell in a handbasket. The local news of most use to you are activities and information that fit your personal life, your schedule. Sure, throw in a bit of local crime, but put it in context. One murder in a town of one million means the streets are generally safe, especially if the "news" points out that the crime was one involving gang fights, or people drunk and fighting, or as is most commond: it is not a crime of one stranger on another. Most murders are among families, relatives, and friends. These are crimes of passion. The danger to you is minimal.