Denver's oldest newspaper, the Rocky Mountain News, published it's final edition today after 150 years in publication.
The fate of this Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper might soon become the fate of our dailies here in Chicago -- the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times -- if they don't start doing something different.
Isn't the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results?
I believe that old-school newspaper men and women are so reluctant to change their format because the newspaper is no longer the only one deciding what is worthy of being deemed the news. With hyperlocal sites such as Uptown Update that covers Chicago's Uptown neighborhood or even Every Block, these people are threatened that they are not the sole authority on what is and isn't news worth knowing.
This was obvious at the Chicago Journalism Town Hall conference because the seasoned reporters spent the first two hours patting themselves on the back and reinforcing what good journalism is rather than brainstorm ideas for new business models.
While no one has all the answers, newspapers need to start doing something different. Try redesigning the web site. Work with advertisers and ask them what they want and how they want to advertise their products. Here's something crazy: ask the readers what they want out of their local newspapers.
Good reporting alone isn't going to pay the bills anymore.
(Cross-posted from my class's blog, go to newsnow.ning.com to see comments from my classmates).
