Right, Or Reckless?

By: Tim McGuire The move by my local paper, the East Valley Tribune in Mesa, Ariz., to an A-Section tabloid on Oct. 17 may prove that the line between desperation and bold innovation is mighty thin. The Tribune's debut of the new format featured a tabloid local news A Section wrapped around broadsheet sports, nation, and food sections for home delivery in Scottsdale, Ariz., where I live. That tabloid wrap will be distributed as a stand-alone free section in designated areas.

In a candid letter to readers, Executive Editor Jim Ripley admitted that changes made back in August, which included eliminating the business section, "weren't well received." He wrote that the intent of this latest reorganization was to "strengthen our local focus."

For my money, it does. The local A Section displays local political news, localization of national news, local business news, and local "Arts and Life" information. The net effect of packaging all the local news in one place is quite powerful, and evokes the emotion that "hey, there's a lot of local stuff here."

I'm sure many critics and the competition at The Arizona Republic in Phoenix are going to smell desperation in this move. That is not a far-fetched assumption. The East Valley Tribune has struggled for a long time for recognition, market significance, and advertising dollars.

I think the newspaper has been too easily dismissed. It is a pretty good news sheet. Executive editor Ripley has vast newspaper experience (including working for the much-loved, late Max Jennings). He has genuine newspapering skills, even though he has to have Sisyphus (the rolling-the- boulder-uphill-with-his-nose guy) feelings most days. The staff struggles with a serious Avis complex, but they do some good work, and their Web site is a cut above many.

This is definitely a long touchdown pass attempt, but it is no Hail Mary. The Tribune has good local content, and this decision to trumpet that content in a free-distribution vehicle is, for my money, more clever and imaginative than desperate. Bloggers and media critics have been complaining for a long time that newspapers are unwilling to try anything new. This is new. This is also bold. It deserves to be watched.

The content choice the newspaper has made compartmentalizes local news in ways most papers have avoided. With all local news -- no matter its department or subject in the A Section -- that means national news is secondary, but the six-page "nation" on that first day was compact, easy to read, and gave a reader a nice scan of the U.S. and the world. The sports section seems unchanged.

Essentially, the Tribune is going to move to two businesses: The paid model will still sell audited circulation to advertisers., while a second business model will depend on selling advertising to marketers interested in reaching a broader "free circulation" audience.

Anybody who has ever worked in a newspaper should have a headache about now just thinking about the operational issues this will create in advertising, production, and distribution. I can only imagine the list of "can't do this" and "can't do that" items that management had to overcome to get the green light for this effort.

If we're all honest, we know that operational issues and traditions have been big factors in making true innovation difficult for newspapers. It's not that newspaper departments haven't wanted to innovate, but overcoming internal roadblocks has been difficult. The Tribune deserves real credit for refusing to allow operational challenges to mess with their strategic and tactical plans.

There is simply no question that the Arizona Republic is firmly entrenched throughout the Valley, and this new strat-egy probably won't even cause the Republic to break a sweat. The Tribune is a distant No. 2, and while the Republic faces all the threats other newspapers face, the Tribune has never been high on that threat list.

Publisher and CEO Julie Moreno and Ripley are obviously searching for the answer ? and like everyone else in the industry, they are finding that answer elusive. For the Tribune the urgency is obviously greater than it is for some newspapers, and that is unquestionably why a bold solution didn't frighten them.

Still, Moreno, Ripley, and Freedom Communications deserve some credit for trying to innovate before all the critics pile on with reasons why this won't work. On Oct. 17 the quality of the debut edition indicated to me that this is not a slapdash desperate effort, but rather is a valid, laudable attempt to figure out the puzzle. The industry should celebrate that effort.

Personally, I'm going to be cheering for the Tribune just so innovation gets rewarded.