Jackson Free Press

My, my. It seems that Gannett Co. is causing consternation in its news room and talk in the newspaper industry by its decisions to turn its newspapers into "information center" in order to "stay relevant" and seek out the "mojo" of the Internet and "ground-up" news sources. The Washington Post:

Gannett Co., the nation's largest newspaper chain, is radically changing the way its papers gather and present news by incorporating elements of reader-created "citizen journalism," mining online community discussions for stories and creating Internet databases of calendar listings and other non-news utilities.

The McLean company has 90 newspapers, including USA Today, the nation's largest. Like all major newspaper firms, Gannett has watched circulation and advertising revenue slide over the past decade, as readers turn to television and the Internet for news and information.

Gannett is attempting to grab some of the Internet mojo of blogs, community e-mail groups and other ground-up news sources to bring back readers and fundamentally change the idea of what newspapers have been for more than a century. The attempt to involve readers in news-gathering is part of a larger plan that also calls for Gannett to merge its newspaper and online operations into single units to speed delivery of news and improve its offerings to advertisers. [...]

Gannett's plan renames the newsroom an "Information Center" and divides it into seven areas: public service, digital, data, community conversation, local, custom content and multimedia. In a memo to employees Thursday, Gannett Chairman Craig Dubow said the company's news will be "platform agnostic," meaning it will be delivered however the reader desires -- on paper, on the Web, on a mobile device and so on.

Faced with declining average daily circulation since 1987, newspapers have been struggling to reinvent themselves and stay relevant. Before the Internet, many newspapers tried to look brighter and less staid, following the lead of USA Today, as a flurry of redesigns swept the industry. More newspapers began using color photographs, colored boxes and other design devices, and articles became shorter. Circulation did not improve. Now, newspapers look to the Internet.

Previous Comments

ID

108367

Comment

Change is in the air, y'all. Hang tight.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-11-07T17:40:13-06:00

ID

108368

Comment

Hmmmmmm....one of my bestest most talented girlfriends just got on as a blogger for Gannet at another paper...in a way other state :) Happy for her! This happened just today.

Author

emilyb

Date

2006-11-07T17:54:08-06:00

ID

108369

Comment

Yeah, I saw the CL looking for "citizen" bloggers one day on their site. I guess we can do their job for them, free, while they eventually charge for subscription to their site. I see it coming.

Author

Jo-D

Date

2006-11-07T18:16:02-06:00

ID

108370

Comment

Yep, the Internet and all you citizen bloggers have through the corporates into a tailspin. Tee, hee. I mean look at "StoryChat." Come the hell on. They're terrified.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-11-07T18:22:44-06:00

ID

108371

Comment

mining online community discussions for stories Reckon I better take down my personal MySpace page before my latest trist with the male species becomes breaking news. And that is a joke BTW.. I'm faithfully MARRIED.

Author

Jo-D

Date

2006-11-07T18:30:03-06:00

ID

108372

Comment

StoryChat's a joke. Half of us abandoned the site once they converted to that format. And I expect that the Clarion will eventually move toward paid membership for its news stories since they probably can't give away the hardcopy papers away these days.

Author

Jeff Lucas

Date

2006-11-07T18:36:13-06:00

ID

108373

Comment

Reason No. #2485 that The Clarion-Ledger can't do "citizen journalism": A link on the front page of their site tells reader to "follow today's election" on David Hampton's blog. You click the link and get this. They can't direct link to one of their own frackin' blogs?!

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-11-07T18:38:43-06:00

ID

108374

Comment

Yeah, but who's going to pay the Ledge to read that stuff online? Big-o Problem-o. Maybe a database of churches and fast-food restaurants in the new Information Center will save them. (snicker)

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-11-07T18:39:45-06:00

ID

108375

Comment

Umph, there it is. Bye, bye, Johnny Newhouse.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-11-07T19:14:58-06:00

ID

108376

Comment

NEWHOUSE IS OUT OF THERE!!!!!!

Author

pikersam

Date

2006-11-07T19:16:08-06:00

ID

108377

Comment

Ahh... great minds...

Author

pikersam

Date

2006-11-07T19:17:04-06:00

ID

108378

Comment

Now, what is that? Four publishers in two years? Early word is that he is out of Gannett Co. as well. Wonder if he's taking his TDN boxes (and our still-missing racks) with him on his U-Haul? Here's a JFP tribute to his short tenure in Jacktown. It's a few weeks old, but hey.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-11-07T19:18:20-06:00

ID

108379

Comment

Wonder what other third-stringer Jackson will get from Gannett.

Author

Ironghost

Date

2006-11-07T22:43:07-06:00