Should a small daily paper go digital-only?
Go pass along your thoughts to the Columbia Missourian, which is weighing its options.
I didn’t post in the comments, but I did send along an e-mail to Tom Warhover, who has some fancy title over there. I advocated for going digital-only, which should be about as surprising as molasses. My thinking was, well gee, that’s where we’re all headed, anyway. To throw a driven, massive, dedicated staff at an online-only endeavor would be the best argument to-date for other papers following in the Missourian’s footsteps, at least on a journalistic level.
But I took it a step further. Bear with me.
One reason few papers have made his switch is because online ad revenue barely begins to pay for coffee, much less salaries, capital, etc. It’s simply not financially possible. Worse, I haven’t heard of many publishers who are really driving hard at growing online ad revenue. It’s a big Catch 22 that’s going to leave us at status quo for the foreseeable future.
The Missourian serves a number of purposes. Foremost, it’s the community paper for Columbia, Missouri and the surrounding area. Second, it’s a training ground for budding young journos. Third, it’s the canary in the coal mine for this entire industry. This is a paper that’s not afraid to fall flat on its face in the interest of moving forward. (*cough* Emprint *cough* Seriously, will you kill that thing already?)
If I were king for a day, or just a member of UM’s Board of Curator’s, I’d chart out something like this:
- Go online only. throw the full manpower of hundred or so staffers at making it the best dam community paper there is, and train the most competent journalists in the country. Employers want slideshows? Audio? Video? Put their desires to shame.
- Serve that community in a way no other local media outlet can/is willing to, because they don’t focus online. Take the best of hyperlocal and own it. Take the best of online magazines and own it. Throw turds at the wall and see what sticks. Make the rest of this industry excited to copy your work (and believe me, I’ll be first in line to do so).
- Last, but perhaps most important, make this work financially. That’s the big hairy audacious goal. I feel bad for saying it, because I have no vision of how this plays out. Zero. Nada. But that’s the point. I don’t trust myself; I trust you. I have no doubt that the concerted efforts of the most reputable J-School in the country can come up with something. With minimal overhead (no paid reporters!), the Missourian is in a special position to figure it out for all of us.
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on June 19, 2008 at 6:11 am The Columbia Missourian should look to an online future, rather than strike a deal with the Daily Tribune « The J junkie wrote:
[...] I believe, the point of having the Missourian, a paper my friend Matt Wynn aptly called the “canary in the coal mine” of the newspaper industry. If the Missourian loses that distinctive feature, it will be just like any other [...]
on June 19, 2008 at 6:16 am Isabelle Roughol wrote:
Thanks, Matt, for pointing me to this. I indulged myself and wrote a post not just on the Missourian but on how the J school might want to reorganize itself. I’d be thinking these thought for 3 years.
I agree with you, striking a deal with the Trib would make the Missourian just a lame duck paper and make it lose its editorial independence. I’d rather the Mo’ian went with online innovation, even if it means “falling flat on its face.”
on June 26, 2008 at 2:40 pm Shannan Bowen wrote:
I hope they choose the online approach, so they don’t lose editorial independence.
If going online only is too much of a change to handle, how about online-first at least (the phase of transition that most newspapers are in - or are heading toward - or SHOULD be). I don’t know much about your college paper, but an online-only product would be a great experience and would definitely be a fitting training ground for journalists entering the industry in the next few years. I also know of some newspapers taking the online-only approach and then reverse-publishing select content or reader-contributed content into a weekly edition. Cons and pros to that, of course.
on October 11, 2009 at 3:22 pm The Columbia Missourian should look to an online future, rather than strike a deal with the Daily Tribune - The J Junkie wrote:
[...] I believe, the point of having the Missourian, a paper my friend Matt Wynn aptly called the “canary in the coal mine” of the newspaper industry. If the Missourian loses that distinctive feature, it will be just like any other [...]