'Banding Together' to Promote 'Resurgence' of Local News

By: Barbara Bry It?s no secret that many consumers now rely more on the Internet for news and information than traditional media, often times threatening the demise of local newspapers and television stations. The Pew Research Center made that official earlier this year.

That doesn?t mean, however, that journalism isn?t perceived as a beneficial service by the general public. Far from it -- the very same report noted that audiences consider newspapers more valuable than before. In fact, news content has actually increased slightly in popularity in recent months. To paraphrase Mark Twain, the reports of the death of journalism have been greatly exaggerated.

While the profession remains in good standing with consumers, today?s 24/7 news environment requires a seismic shift in the traditional media?s distribution strategy. Not only must information be relevant, but it must be hyper-segmented and delivered in real time via the Internet, and mobile smart phones.

Major outlets like The New York Times and Wall Street Journal possess the resources to make this transition possible. However, many regional and community media companies are struggling in their attempts to do this on their own. To survive, these organizations must do what was once considered blasphemy -- band together with others.

Partnerships in transition
Economic realities have even forced this type of strategy upon the larger players within their own divisions. Just recently, the Tribune Company essentially merged its Hartford Courant news operations with its Connecticut television stations, moving all entities into the newspaper?s headquarters and axing the publisher in the process. Some in the industry view this as strictly a last-ditch survival tactic. However, if done correctly, such actions could actually provide significant, long-term benefits to the region.

Here?s another case in point. I?m the executive editor and publisher of the recently launched San Diego News Network as a new, regional news, information and entertainment Web site for the second largest county in California. We tout ourselves as both a news and technology firm that provides comprehensive hyper-local news, sports and information in large part by partnering with more than a dozen other key community, business and broadcast media organizations. It?s our belief that no one organization can effectively -- and as important, profitably -- provide the breadth and depth of local news for a decent-size media market.

What?s more, we at the San Diego News Network are counting on our ability to provide a Web-based platform that offers subscribers the ability to segment content in a manner that is most relevant to them, and in turn more respected and valued. The general belief is that in doing so, the level of interactivity with users significantly increases. Subscribers will become prominent news resources in and of themselves as a result.

The San Diego News Network is indicative of a trend that highlights the growing belief by consumers and some media companies that news itself is no longer proprietary. While the Greatest Generation were loyal to one entity, such as Walter Cronkite or the Huntley-Brinkley Report, the general public today is more willing to hear from a variety of credible sources, so long as the information is current, of importance to them, and delivered in several different formats, including online. The key now is relevancy. With relevancy comes value, and with value comes customers.

Technology now a mission critical component
Effectively making this transition requires significant investment not only in forging strong, mutually-beneficial partnerships, but also in Internet technology. Think of it this way: Google empowers users all over the world to search for and obtain information about people, places and things that exist in their backyard as well as around the world in nanoseconds. Doing so has given the $21 billion company a large following.

So it should be no surprise that consumers today demand similar capabilities. Unfortunately, the majority of local papers have failed to capitalize on this trend, and instead see their Internet properties as a place to simply post their print stories. Very few offer subscribers the chance to hyper-segment news by region, demographic or psychographic preferences, defaulting instead to categorizing articles by business, sports and lifestyle focuses.

Technology and partnership are the drivers here and the news industry will have to adapt.