Future of Journalism, Again

Colleague and former CoSIDA panelist Dan Gilmorr was on the front line what seems like a decade ago (even though it was just five years), and we've seen the aggregation-type micro-site come and go. In the American Journalism Review, it's ba-a-a-ack -- citizen journalism. The concepts here is a little more focused -- read no further than this phrase "one of 14 Gannett owned community newspapers". Gannett doesn't get into things to not make money, and it is an abject opposite of the top-down approaches similarly getting retreaded (let's create America's BBC).

What separates the volunteer-filled paper discussed in the AJR article from even the best Topix attempts in the past is just that -- lots of interested humans. Why will it get traction?

For the same reason I used in urging media relations offices to understand the need to go out and engage people and make friends -- the reporters are highly likely to be people you know, and then in turn, people you trust.

As Gannett races toward a highly centralized future via print (word now they are consolidating their layout for 81 papers into four regional offices), they are sticking a toe into the opposite end: born digital, staffed local.

Here's to hoping Gannett goes against corporate reputation and allows these 14 papers to bloom into whatever flowers they may become rather than seeking to force them into some "proven" formulas.