Newspapersaurous

David Reich has an excellent analysis of a WSJ Op/Ed piece by Walter Hussman, publisher for the Arkansas Democrat-Express, on how to sink a newspaper. David calls his blog my 2 cents but today I feel like its worth way more than 2 cents! I'd say he gives a dime's worth :) The reason? Its about the comments and the conversation that follows the post. Call it a cheap thrill but anytime blog creators and readers talk about newspapers its a happy day in the neighborhood. It means they care about the community here and where they live. Its easy NOT to read a newspaper - easier still not to pay attention to issues affecting the local world. You know, the one you pay taxes to and expect the water to flow when you flush the toilet. I'm being a little harsh but lets face it - culturally we've slipped a notch or two when citizens don't find $.50 worth of value in their local fish wrap. That has got to be one bad newspaper! But thats the way it is...its not my point, however.

To paraphrase the post, Hussman makes the case that some newspapers blew the cannonball through the hull of the ship by giving away their news on line - and they are paying for it now. Hussman says its a mistake to give away then news that publishers spend hard earned money on. His model suggests a mix of free and paid. I think thats the way to go, too.

Giving it away was very popular as the WWW expanded - or is that exploded?!?! - about 15 years ago. As the Yahoos, MSNs, and Googles developed ways to get the news out cheaper, faster, 24/7/365 - newspapers continued to print everyday AND tried to get news online. In the not too distant past high speed connections to the home became available. Then we got cellphones - or is that vice versa? Then we get Blackberries or Treos or iPods...all of which can send/receive "news" messages. Now this thing called Web 2.0 whereby even a dinosaur (my wife's term) like me can create - and publish - a blog. This is a very brief history of publishing through my lens. And the "publish for free" battle is still being fought .

Its about the worthy and worthwhile comments David's readers make - Matt Dickman, Techno//Marketer Supreme, (dig his Monday post on the term "blog" :) weighs in by asking why would anybody pay for news when its free? Good question - I don't actually pay for free news either - unless you count time as money (which my Boss does). But my time is of less value than my money. Matt pays for WSJ news online. Its a value to him. And he reads his local news online. Check this post he published after reading a story in the NYT. Now there's a good use of bloggers. I also think, secretly, that Matt reads a printed newspaper more often than he admits ;). he certainly grasps the concept of relevance.

Its about the comments - Ann Handley at MarketingProfs Daily Fix weighs in on the conversation with a passion statement for the NYT and web 2.0. MarketingProfs is not a newspaper but newspapers might think about stealing a page from their business model. Post a lot of stuff - most of it good - but invite the reader to pay for the real good stuff. Stuff being a technical term I picked up in grad school :)

Comments? you want comments? CK talks about the economy of sharing in todays publishing world. And she brings up the dough in newspapers comes from advertising. Isn't that where the dough online comes from - hmmmm? There seems to be a pattern developing here. You need people to read so advertisers can sell. The kicker is newspapers have figured out a way to measure those eyeballs - or so most advertisers believe - and online hasn't quite got there...its real close. But really, really, really - I'm not kidding - check out CK's post here. NOW! GO! CK's blog is all about interaction, relevance and conversation!

Mark Goren, Transmission Marketing publisher, newspaper fan and now I find out baseball free agent, adds to the dialogue with a great understanding of advertising revenues - print and online. More to come from Mark as we exchange more information.

David's post is a classic example of the feedback and encouragement that surrounds blog communities. That it focuses on newspapers - my livelihood - makes it a bonus. Newspapers in one form will be with us for a while. My belief is they will remain ink on paper for some time to come. There is no denying pixels on a screen add value to some readers. Its finding the balance for readers, advertisers and publishers. The dinosaur meets the computer.

Update: Pardon the Disruption adds to the conversation here.