First Step to a Multimedia Future p.

By: M.L. Stein

The San Jose Mercury News' Mercury Center project is scheduled for a late April launch
The San Jose Mercury News is embarking on what it calls "the first step to a multimedia future" ? a computer on-line and fax service designed to powerfully extend the newspaper's thrust.
The project, Mercury Center, which is scheduled for a late April launch, aims at giving subscribers a wide variety of supplemental and specialized information through an easy search process while, at the same time, providing a platform for new forms of advertising.
Chris Jennewein, general manager of the new venture, outlined its scope to a rapt audience at the fourth Annual Conference of Newspapers & Telecommunications Opportunities: Voice, Fax and Online Services in San Francisco.
Developed by Mercury News executive editor Bob Ingle and Bob Gilbert, director of strategic initiatives for Knight-Ridder, Mercury Center has been nine months in the making and ultimately will have 15 full-time equivalent positions, according to Jennewein.
Jennewein, who came from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, said the idea for the Center is based on the hard truth that "newspapers are being read less frequently and less predictably. Something isn't connecting."
Noting that many readers and potential readers have turned to a new media mix for information ? cable, on-line services, newsletters, community newspapers etc., which encroach on a metro daily's territory?Jennewein said the center's first goal is to "strengthen the newspaper by extending the franchise.
"This isn't really a product," he added. "It's more a redesign of the paper."
The Mercury News chose America Online as its on-line partner and a Perception audiotex system with an AudioFAX server, the speaker said.
Working with these vendors and the newspaper's systems staff, an "electronic composing room" was set up, he explained. Any of the more than 300 SII terminals in the building can be used to "set" a story to America Online or to the fax server.
"This electronic backshop makes possible extensive involvement of the full newspaper staff," Jennewein said.
Subscription entry, fulfillment and billing will be done in house, offering customers one bill for their dealings with the Mercury News.
The operation required a special arrangement with the Newspaper Guild, which has agreed to treat Mercury Center as an experiment and encouraged Guild members to cooperate, Jennewein said.
He went on to point out that "Mercury Center is organizationally part of the newsroom but the age-old wall between advertising came down. The center and the ad department are working together to develop applications that make sense for advertisers while preserving editorial independence."
Among the center's features, Jennewein said, will be an "In the News" section for supplemental, specialized information about local and national news. Users can browse or search a complete text of that day's Mercury News.
However, most of the information going out is expected to consist of articles, lists, documents, images and other material going back to 1985 when the newspaper began its data base.
The cost: A $7.95-per-month subscription cost and 80? a minute during the day and 10? a minute at night for accessing information by computer modem.
Subscribers can also tap into the complete classified section and 25 message boards. Editors and columnists will have folders to receive mail and answer questions on-line.
Jennewein conceded the center will need a large audience to be profitable.
"We're not in this to create a niche market, but to assemble a large collection of niche markets," he stated.
Interviewed later, executive editor Ingle said he is optimistic about the venture's success.
He said that the newspaper's Silicon Valley market has double the number of PCs as the rest of the nation and that focus groups have shown encouraging interest in the project. Ingle envisioned wide use by individuals for back information and by businesses researching other companies.
Ingle declined to put an exact price tag on the center but said it ran to seven figures.
Jennewein's presentation was generally well received although some audience members expressed doubt that the system will find enough users, even in the computer-conscious Silicon Valley.
One listener said only 15% of the PCs in the area have modems. Ingle said he expects the number of modems to grow as a natural process and because of the Mercury Center's offerings.
Among the other visionaries at the conference was William R. Hearst III, editor and publisher of the San Francisco Examiner, who predicted a "revolution" that will involve newspapers in a merger of computers with television."
"A new medium will be born, and newspapers can be programmers in it," he said. "We already know about arranging information, about technology. We have capital. We know how to create and sell advertising. We have regional franchises and, most importantly, we have a newsroom ? a place where information is gathered, tested and put into packages."
Hearst said newspapers must realize that their future lies not so much in the supplying of information but in the "real value" of its arrangement. The price newspapers charge for voice and other telecommunications services will be determined by their perceived value to the reader.
"We need to focus on values, not cost," he said.