News-Record.com

The American Editor is a magazine published by the American Society of Newspaper Editors, of which I am a member. It is published four times a year and comes with the ASNE membership.

The magazine publishes the sorts of stories you'd think it would. The summer issue has a cover story on the flooding in Cedar Rapids and how the paper published all the news on its Web site. Also in the issue are a column on a winning strategy for newspapers, a piece on the Newseum, a column on Twitter and where the presidential candidates are on a press shield law.

OK, fine.

Now, go to The American Editor Web site. The content of the Fall 2007 edition is still up. The winter and spring editions have come and gone.

Does that say all you need to know about the digital commitment of newspaper editors?

OK, that was a cheap shot. If you wander deeper into the site, it seems as if new content has been added, based on update notations, but it is all one-way.

What if the Web site were a resource for editors? What if it were a place where editors could ask questions of each other and exchange ideas that work? Want to know best practices when cutting TV listings, stocks or sections? Go here and ask. Have an idea for a new feature? Chances are its been done somewhere and there's an experience to learn from. Looking to fill a certain position in the newsroom? Ask: Who out there is good? Wondering about how to use Twitter day-to-day to help people? The answer is out there. What's the best digital recorder to use? You get the idea.

My experience is that editors -- even those at competing papers -- are happy to share knowledge and information when asked.

What if there were a wiki of good story ideas and results? Of new helpful journalism Web sites and how they work? Of specific newspaper content and design evolutions and how they work? Of technological developments that have journalistic adaptations? Editors and site administrators could create and update, contributing to the improvement of our craft. Nationally.

In short, what if instead of just another journalism site of articles and opinions, The American Editor became a place where you could draw on the lessons and strengths of a nation's worth of editors? Hundreds of people gathered every day, exchanging ideas about nourishing journalism.

Exciting to think about.

Sounds like Wired Journalists, doesn't it? But there don't seem to be that many editors there. Maybe that speaks to digital commitment, too.

I don't have any more time than anyone else. I'm not involved with the ASNE hierarchy; I'm not much of a joiner. But someone takes the time to produce a magazine four times a year that may have the readership of the typical newspaper. Maybe. What if that energy were devoted to building the Web site? I would contribute to the site as part of my routine. My guess is that others would, too. And I, of course, would not limit it to editors.

And, instead of reading about a shooting that occurred in October 2006 (!) as is featured on the front page of the Web site or the flood that occurred in June as is on the cover of the magazine -- I've read enough about both on Romenesko soon after they happened -- I might be talking with other editors about, say, what to do with the Edwards story.