Shall we blame the economy or the readership?

The St. Petersburg Times has announced it will enter a hiring freeze and offer retirement incentives to employees to cut costs at this Poynter-owned nonprofit newspaper. The newspaper has seen declining advertising revenues due to the overall economic downturn being experienced in the country. Or at least that's what reason the editor gave to employees in a letter.

The thing I like the best is the comments on the story. From disgruntled employees to former subscribers, people certainly have a lot to say about the state of business at the St. Petersburg Times. I think the comments about local news are particularly interesting, because I believe that is what will keep newspapers relevant in the lives of readers. If they never see themselves in the paper, it certainly becomes irrelevant. Additionally, a newspaper has to prove it can reach the readers that advertisers also want to reach. Without advertisers, I don't know whether newspapers will have the support they need to pursue their true mission.

I also like the idea of non-profit newspapers. They can pay their staff well without turning a profit. I think the community can respect that as well. It would solve a lot of the problems with advertising crossing into news and asking for favors.

Reaching the audience

I read an interesting piece on NPR today about how journalists should handle offers of help from readers and listeners who are touched by a particularly moving story. The article says there are often no definite guidelines present at most news organizations.

The point of telling stories is to make change or get people motivated. It seems odd that we don't have set methods for dealing with our success. We find ways to deal with them, because we are humans and we want to help. But, as the article points out, we can't be responsible for funneling that help to people, and we can't accept donations on behalf of others. It goes against our rule of remaining the observing party.

CNN maintains a Web site designed to guide people to charitable organizations that accept donations which CNN has done stories about. It doesn't solve everything, especially since you may want to help one particular family and the links go to major organizations, but it is a start. 

Why those PBS telethons are important

The New York Times reported that the phenomenal PBS newscast "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" is experiencing some of its most difficult financial times right now. With corporate sponsorship harder to come by, the aging Lehrer, 74, won't speak about a potential replacement to anchor the show.

NewsHour is not the only PBS show mentioned. Some of my personal favorites such as "Nova" and "Antiques Roadshow" have found they must experiment with new types of funding models, since corporate sponsors want to know more about audience and use these sponsorships as marketing tools rather than solely philanthropically.

My aunt used to volunteer in Iowa answering phones during the PBS telethon, and I remember being excited about seeing her on TV. I no longer have that giddiness about seeing someone I know on television, I know how it works now, I am gaining a better understanding of why those telethons are so important. Supporting the broadcasting that isn't tailored to attract advertisers rather than educate may become a necessity in the future, especially if public television refuses to lower itself to the depths of traditional networks. I mean, there can only be one OC Tree Hill 90210, right?

Check out Jim in Charlie Rose's greenroom:

Ruhl Lecture: "Participatory Media: Challenges to the Conventions of Journalism"

Here is initial coverage of the Ruhl Lecture at the University of Oregon today. I'll provide more comment and analysis later.

The Internet has opened up possibilities for journalism that several years ago traditional, mainstream journalists never would have considered possible. Citizens are taking the helm and producing news about their communities that doesn’t necessarily conform to what traditional media calls news. The difference is citizen journalism is produced by the “experts” in a community that care about that community.

“Participatory Media: Challenges and Conventions of Journalism” was the topic of Executive Director of J-Lab Jan Schaffer’s lecture at the 32nd annual Ruhl Lecture, presented in conjunction with the Payne Awards Thursday.

J-Lab supports innovations that help citizens participate in public life, and Schaffer drew examples from grant and award winners of J-Lab’s projects to illustrate the effects citizen journalism has had on its communities. She suggested that mainstream media, endangered as it seems to be, should embrace these sorts of Web sites.

“We don’t see many partnerships between mainstream and citizen media,” Schaffer said. “I believe we can figure this out if we just pay attention.”

Schaffer said J-Lab has found community news sites to be responsible, even if creators draw questions about what journalists consider ethical.

“We find (creators) to be literate and passionate about their towns and yearning for a sense of place in their communities,” she said. Several community news sites have become so credible that contributors or creators have been asked to run for public office, something definitely against journalistic ethical creed. Schaffer said citizen journalists have their own set of ethical criteria, and it may be time for mainstream media to rethink what it finds to be ethical as well.

While community sites may report on a meeting where there was consensus, traditional media might think there is no story if there is no controversy, in which case, mainstream media could be seen as instigating or perpetuating controversy in their communities.

“Readers are not keeping score. They don’t really care the about the score day-to day,” she said. “They just want their leaders to address and solve problems.”

Roseburg’s The News-Review Editor Vicki Menard found Schaffer’s comments about hyperlocal sites covering their own communities interesting because Roseburg is surrounded by several small, outlying towns.

“I wonder if that could happen in our area,” she said. Thinking in terms of traditional journalists, it was hard for her to believe citizen sites are run by volunteers. “Citizen just means you really just want to do this for free?”

The talk inspired Menard to consider ways to enhance The News-Review’s newly revamped Web site to provide what Schaffer described as the umbrella mainstream media should offer to their communities.

University School of Journalism and Communication Dean Tim Gleason opened the lecture by saying it is an exciting time be involved in the news and quoted a speech given at the University of Kentucky in April.

John Carroll, former editor of the Lexington Herald-Leader, told University of Kentucky students, “There will be journalism in the future. And the journalism of the future will have tools unlike any imagined by earlier generations.”

Admitting the inevitable

 A recent survey of newspaper editors found that most think newspapers will be free in the future. It seems logical considering that most breaking news is already free, and many people catch their headlines online, which is essentially free - except the initial investment of resources to access the Internet.

While newspapers in the print edition still come at a nominal cost, many people that I've talked to say, "Why would I pay for the paper when I can read it online for free?" And those papers that aren't producing interesting online content, or have Web sites that appear amateur, are certainly not earning themselves readers using online content. And think of how far a story online can travel and compare that to how much exposure it gets in a newspaper with 20,000 circulation.

While many online news consumers want their news as quickly as possible, that does not excuse journalists from fulfilling their primary function of being watchdogs for the public. It is discouraging to see that many editors responded they thought the quality of journalism will decline due to the emphasis on speed. Certainly both aspects of journalism can work together in this changing news environment. I believe that advances in information dissemination will lead to greater news-gathering abilities in less time. This is the perfect union of speed and investigation.

See Yahoo! news story here.