Nevada Press Association The best in Nevada journalism since 1924
By Peter Wagner
Not all newspapers are dead and the printed newspaper business is not doomed. However, many editors and publishers, hearing the “sky is falling,” have hurt the industry by cutting content, news hole and subscriber value. Instead, they should have increased interest with more local content.
Newspapers remain the one necessary media in their community. Newspapers provide the important, uniquely exclusive role of serving as a community’s fact checker, cheerleader and creator of consensus.
Too many pundits put local and metro papers in the same category, but the home-owned, hometown community paper has the advantage. Metro papers have traditionally depended on their wire service and national news to fill their pages. That made sense when the afternoon daily was the only source of current war news, Washington happenings, National League updates and the stock market reports.
Now most of that information is available 24/7 on the cable news channels, computer, social media and satellite radio.
Local news and human feature stories, meanwhile, can be elusive in metro markets. Attempting to please a metro area that sometimes covers hundreds of square miles, it can be difficult to track down sufficient inches of local interest news and features to satisfy a subscriber base.
It’s all about content
Community newspapers, however, filled with well crafted stories about local issues, school sports and activities, a strong editorial page, interesting personality features and local ads can still attract and keep a large audience. There’s a huge difference between local news coverage in community papers and big city dailies. It’s summed up in local names, stories and hard work.
Local newspapers do more than just report on the latest city council meeting or who had tea with whom. The exceptional ones, those making money, provide much needed services to the community: They inform but they also entertain. They write local history and provide keepsakes for the refrigerator door.
Local newspapers are the community’s cheerleader. They explain big ideas and help the reader understand the reason something should or should not change in their respective community. They share information that helps lead the way for ideas and projects.
Most important of all, local community newspapers educate. They update the reader on the proposed cost of an upcoming street project, the winning play at last Friday’s high school football game, the appointment of a new minister at the Methodist Church, what’s playing at the hometown movie house and the price of fresh strawberries at the town’s supermarket.
“I keep telling my readers and customers,” Matt Paxton, publisher of the Lexington, VA News-Gazette, once told me, “that they should not include the News-Gazette as part of that failing group of a few metro newspapers they keep hearing about.”
Secrets for reaching more readers
The name of the game is “reaching readers”. In today’s fast paced culture that means providing subscribers tighter, shorter, better written stories presented on imaginatively designed pages.
It means stepping away from the inverted paragraph to make the stories more readable, enticing and fun to read. Today’s population wants immediate gratification and aren¹t willing to plow through 40 inches of body copy to capture the essence of the story.
Ask former and current subscribers in your community what upsets them about your newspaper and newspapers in general and this is what you¹ll hear:
- Today’s newspapers lack sense of passion. Too many articles are cliché-loaded and nothing more than coldly reported facts. Good reporting, they’ll tell you, includes solid research, great insight and heartfelt story-telling.
- There are two types of stories: hard news and features. Today’s editors don’t understand the difference between a hard news story and a feature story. A great paper needs both. The first might be the report on the latest city council meeting. The second is a story about a kid in a wheelchair playing pee-wee basketball.
- Many youthful and even older readers think newspapers have become boring and set in their ways. Readers want tidbits and insights they can use to start a conversation at the water cooler. That’s why the police report is always well read in any paper.
The trick is to find those stories that encourage conversation but are often missed by even the most experienced reporter. My son Jay P. Wagner, one-time editor of our N’West Iowa REVIEW and later a reporter for two daily newspapers, often shared these story finding ideas with rookie reporters:
- Read your newspaper’s classified ads. You’ll be surprised by what you’ll find that will lead to a great story.
- Pay special attention to what is discussed before and after the council, school board or county supervisor meeting. Some of the best story ideas pop up outside of the official discussion.
- Take time to check out the local school newspaper, church bulletin, business mailings and emails and club and organization newsletters you come across. You’ll be rewarded with both news stories worth reporting and some unique personality features.
- Join the local business leaders who meet for coffee weekday mornings. Say little and keep your ears open. You’ll hear about what is really going on in the community.
- Drive to work along a different route every morning. It is the best way to stay on top of new construction, destruction, development and unrest.
- Make sure you are always accessible. Provide after-hour contact information to all key sources such as the fire department and local and county law enforcement agencies.
Secrets of design
Readers have a short attention span. Even the best writing has to be presented in an interesting way with multiple points of entry. These include large, interesting photos with cut lines that include unique additional information, well honed headlines and subheads, quote boxes, stat boxes, sidebars and graphics.
Remember, there are many ways to share a story. We live in a hectic, busy world with limited time for all the learning and entertainment activities available to us. Not every story has to be long to be good. Shorter can often be better. Use illustrations, graphics, photos and other design elements to share additional details.
But most of all, get out of the office and experience life in your city. Chuck Palahniuk, author and freelance journalist offers this suggestion: “Have your adventures, make your mistakes and choose your friends poorly all these make for great stories.”
We all depend on each other to improve the future of newspapers. Every great newspaper with lively, comprehensive local content lifts the entire industry. Only the local newspaper can create a real sense of community and consensus. The local newspaper is the only broadcaster in town. Radio stations have become narrowcasters with limited impact on only the audience their musical format attracts. Television has become fractured with over 100 channels splitting the audience into small demographic groups.
Newspapers have to remain true to their calling. Only the hometown newspaper continues to reach the broad market with quality content that the subscriber wants and needs.
