Wise Words

Don't miss this terrific post by Douglas McLennan about why newspapers need to take the Web more seriously. What? You say they already take the Web seriously? Yeah, right. McLennan demolishes that illusion with spot-on points like this:

• Most digital operations are seriously under-staffed and under-resourced. They don't employ even the basic traffic-building strategies that independents are using with great success.

• Newspapers have declined to innovate as eBay, Craigslist, Monster.com, Google and myriad ad networks have sprouted, thrived and stolen away customers.

• Hundreds of small web operations have sprung up to compete with traditional newspapers, while news organizations remain mired in old conventions.

• Social networking has changed the way young people interact, yet newspapers have failed to meaningfully take the plunge.

• Pretty much every online initiative in the traditional news industry has been me-too-ism rather than bold invention.

• The backend digital news production structure at most newspapers is a mess.

• Many papers still bizarrely consider their online and paper versions separate operations.

• Most web operations are seriously understaffed and technically deficient, making what should be even basic tasks difficult to impossible.

There's a lot more. McLennan echoes a lot of things that have been said on this blog and a few others over the past year or so. His post should be required reading for newspaper publishers and executives attending the NAA convention this week. And the comments are great, too.

Comments

[Beth Lawton]

Hi Mark,

I think more newspaper.coms are interested in social networking than you (and McLennan) think: Our social networking session at the Newspaper Association of America conference was standing-room only yesterday afternoon. In addition, NAA just launched the Online Community Cookbook that has a ton of examples of newspapers taking the plunge. Cookbook is at www.naa.org/digitaledge/cookbook.

- Beth

[albert]

"Hundreds of small web operations have sprung up to compete with traditional newspapers, while news organizations remain mired in old conventions."

"Newspapers have declined to innovate as eBay, Craigslist, Monster.com, Google and myriad ad networks have sprouted, thrived and stolen away customers."

A lot of the innovation at places like Google and Yahoo, the others from that mini-list less so, from buying up little start-ups that have good ideas. I wonder why more newspapers don't do that?

Things like Everyblock, Outside.in, Topix, seem like they would be ripe for acquisition by newspapers. Heck, even some of the more techy web startups, social networking/bookmarking/news sites would be good targets for acquisition.

Though I guess the financial situation at most newspapers doesn't exactly put them in a buying mood.