Here’s another tidbit I took away from an interesting conversation at the Inland Press Association: to survive (and thrive) in a new media landscape, newspapers must undergo a shift in thinking. They must conceive of themselves as creators of content, not producers of newspapers.
During our question and answer session, I repeatedly emphasized the importance for newspapers to use the Web as a platform rather than a medium; a place upon which to empower communities with tools to build, share and interact with the news.
In thinking of the Web as a platform, however, newspapers must first realize that their job is not to produce a physical product, but to create content.
The connection between those two points is so important because it affects newspapers in a very fundamental way, right down to the content management system they use to produce their end product.
The gentleman who brought this to my attention pointed out that many newspapers are (tragically) focusing on how to most quickly and efficiently repurpose their individual newspaper articles for the Web site. They’ve got it backwards. They ought to be focusing on the news first, then the newspaper.
Just a thought…
Matt Bigelow 