newspaper morphs into online town square

Hold the front page! Newspaper morphs into online town square .....

"........ the loss of trust in conventional news media and the emergence of technology, especially blogs, that make it easy for ordinary people to barge into the old media's one-way conversation".

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/07/04/business/paper.php

By Katharine Q. Seelye The New York Times

TUESDAY, JULY 5, 2005

GREENSBORO, North Carolina "Get me rewrite!" For years those words evoked the romanticism of the newspaper business, with its dashing young reporters and crusty old editors.

Today they mean something else entirely, at least here where the people at The News & Record, the local daily, are toiling to reinvent their newspaper.

In this world, "Get me rewrite" will in effect be a menu option, a way for unhappy readers to go online and offer their own versions of articles they do not like.

Their hope is to convert the paper, through its Web site, www.news-record.com, into a virtual town square, where citizens have a say in the news and every reader is a reporter. That feature, part of an overhaul of The News & Record's Web site, is a potent symbol of a transformation taking place across the United States, where top-down, voice-of-God journalism is being challenged by what is called participatory journalism, or civic or citizen journalism.

In this type of journalism, readers contribute to the newspaper. They are doing so in many forms, including Web logs, photos, audio, video and podcasts.

Whether such efforts can revive revenue for newspaper publishers is an open question. But with gloomy financial forecasts and declines in circulation, some papers are starting to see participatory journalism as their hope for reconnecting with their audiences.

Recently, The Los Angeles Times briefly opened its editorial page so readers could go online and insert their own thoughts in editorials. The approach was patterned on Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia made up of contributions from anyone with something to say.

But nearly all newspapers have been troubled by similar worries: the loss of 18-to-34-year-old readers, the loss of trust in conventional news media and the emergence of technology, especially blogs, that make it easy for ordinary people to barge into the old media's one-way conversation.

The paper, with a circulation of about 100,000 that has not risen significantly in almost two decades, has been open about its audience-participation plans, discussing them with readers and seeking direction from them along the way.

"They were commenting on civic affairs and what the city council did and all the dumb things The News & Record did, and that annoyed me because they were misinformed," he said. "But they were scooping us. They knew things that were going on that we didn't, in the schools and other places. There was power in what they were doing."

"They link off-site to other bloggers, and they recognize amateurs and independents," Cone said. "That's the fascinating thing they're doing - they're participating on the Web rather than just using the Web."

Alexander has proposed several ways for the paper to become interactive, including blogs for all staff members;
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This great article epitomises all that has been said on this 9and other) boards, by Looksmart shareholders, as to the 'change' that is occuring. A good read.

Remember, these articles & "Blogs" (saved by Furl or, Spul, "savethis" users) are then "shared" by other users ??? How many users?? - Try 22 Million, at last estimate!!!

ADS will then be "contextualised" on pages of the more popular of these articles & Blogs. Looksmart are 'right in the middle' of this 'shift', in, how people will now get their news & information, in the future.

Cheers !!

:)
LC