The local newspaper
Jeff Jarvis envisions a newspaper without sports, without business, without stocks and without a national and international wire report. Oh, and without editorial columnists, although I think he means syndicated, non-local ones, so you're safe, Ed.
His bottom line: Make it totally local.
"I'd argue that you could cut all that stuff out of the old, one-size-fits-all paper and even raise your price because it would be unique and valuable."
We're making the paper much more local -- particularly in sports -- although obviously we haven't gone quite as far as Jarvis suggests. I can tell you by the calls I get asking for more on this Bush speech or that battle in Iraq or this NBA game or that specific stock that some people are still using us as a one-stop-shop. But intensely local news and information is the way we're going.
Comments (3)
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Sounds like Jeff has been talking with John Hammer.
I read the N&R almost entirely for local news and opinion (both local and syndicated), and would continue to subscribe if you dropped national / international coverage.
Posted on April 15, 2005 11:13 AM
Does Jarvis not think that sports and business are local? That's the problem with a lot of journalism theorists -- they forget that a lot of people skip past the A section and read the rest of the paper.
Judging by the calls you're getting, it's clear that a fair number of people still want their "local" papers to give a bit of national and world news. I'd expect that to continue for at least 20 years, if not longer.
Posted on April 15, 2005 12:56 PM
I believe he was being provocative. It is an intriguing thought, particularly if we could plow the savings into additional reporters as he suggests.
Posted on April 15, 2005 3:36 PM