Alright so after reading this morning’s article from Robert Murdoch about how digital content in the near future will cost something to read, it got me thinking about the present local newspaper crisis.. And all of this made me think about one thing. Money. Money that is disappearing on one end and not reappearing fast enough on the other. And how is journalism going to survive?? Will Newspapers become local blogs…?? Will newspapers rethink everything? And I don’t think so I think they have the model already their just not executing on it fast enough. Look at the new york times and cnn.com their making a killing at it. They control the local content. But they are suffering, and maybe it is not about the content and is more about their cost control, and maybe it is more about the cost of printing a newspaper in general. What if their content was just just virtual my guess is I think they could survive with their 15 million unique users that visit nytimes.com receives each month. What about the Boston globe.. well I don’t think their as well branded frankly… and that gets to the root of the problem with newspapers. Newspapers are Giant Machines for owning and sending out information, but they can’t rely on their medium its their action that makes them valuable. Its about delivering local content not about delivering news rag.

Newspapers started locally, they covered local stories, and they grew larger and hired more staff and more and more people read them to receive the content they needed and yearned to know about. But in the past 10 years people have become less attached to papers clearly. And the content is coming from everywhere ( Web, Email, Print, blogs, iPhone, Blackberry, Cnn, Tv, Twitter, linked in updates and groups, etc. ), and so much so that everything from movies to music files to articles are easily accessible if you really want to find them. So how do you make a business off of offering content in a time when content is largely free?

It got me thinking that you can still make a buck,? But not in print, and so many of these newspapers have had huge amounts of subscription turnover. Maybe its the format maybe the audience doesn’t crave a full article to get their news source or maybe it’s because people spend the majority of their time on the computer.? But whatever the reason is that subscribers are jumping away from newspapers, its time or maybe even too late for newspapers to really focus on web presence and web branding and consistency. I mean thinking locally I think a major problem with the Boston Globe is that they did not brand themselves online equally at the same level they branded themselves in print.? They relied on big business coming from direct mailers ( press kits all that junk that you used to get from your newspaper in your home including free soaps etc. ) to make it a profitable business and it is as if they were running two separate businesses in one ( boston.com and the globe ).? And to make this point clearer if your from Boston do you look up bostonglobe.com or boston.com when you want to find news stories? Well its all directed to boston.com &? sub branded bostonglobe.com which looks tacky and well less reliable than the nytimes.com. But more importantly it doesn’t look like the newspaper that we’re so familiar with it looks like a sub branded mini globe. It’s sad really I crave the interesting articles about whats going on in Boston. It’s really a shame they did themselves in with not trying to convert their readership from subscription to the web. Because of this I think that competitors whdh.com wcvb etc. and the other news networks. That’s why I think the papers are failing their not thinking locally, or territorially in the transition time from print to web.

I think Magazines get it. Look at GQ, look at all of the Condenast magazines their online and just as powerful as their print counterparts. It’s a matter of time before people literally stop going to the news stand because it is not as up-to-date as the live content. Robert Murdoch might be right, people might have to pay for content online so that magazines can have a web and print presence. But if people are paying for a print presence to exist by paying for the online information than I don’t think its right. I think print content sources should shrink based upon demand and maybe that will do a little bit to save the earth at the same time and people like that so please content providers go digital ( save a forest or two ). Frankly if you have all your readership in one place you’ll have a clearer advertisement model as well.? And maybe this transition is scary, but you can save a lot of money be more resourceful and pretty much stop killing forests by getting over your egos and others by going straight digital for the majority of your businesses. Things have to change otherwise your focus is on being a newsrag and not a News-brand.

And Last but not least I hope the Boston Globe makes it well into the future their the only local newspaper that I enjoy reading from time to time, I just hope to see that their brand makes it to the web and that they can be themselves: the most credible local Boston news source in my opinion. Oh and I think the model of turning newspapers into content receivers from virtual writers to basically create content owned mega blogs may be an immature idea because of quality control, but what are your thoughts?

I? had an idea in general for all national newspapers that are struggling: Offer wi-fi for everyone in your major cities at a low cost as long as people agree to signing up for an email newsletter. You’ll get an instant email delivery alternative to your print direct mail pieces, for a low cost wi-fi network. And another simple idea is just ask your users to register, register for content and receive promotional gifts.? But registering for content and paying for it are two different things. One way to kill your readership is to make it too difficult to find the content. Make them want to register. If you want to make the content worth something than make the service less annoying in the future and less filled with email ads and for the rest of the customers who don’t want to pay send them emails and make sure their emails are automatically verified and active accounts. It’ll all work out if you set up automated machines to do your do diligence on checking emails.

- Joseph Maguire | joe@elephantik.com

PS – I know I am lousy editor you can kick me a few times for the grammar!