The amount of media attention awarded to GoogleNews' announcement that it was going to accept comments from parties involved with the news story would have suggested to me that it was either an important announcement and/or controversial. Instead, I believe it was attributable more to the media's fascination with itself as well as traditional media's inability to get with the new program of a dialogue versus a monologue.
The success of certain sites, Huffington Post high on the list among them, should underscore to traditional media that there is a growing population of people who are interested in opinion along with the facts. Even of they aren't, in fact, interested in opinion, they can handle it, if it is well labeled as such. While blogging and citizen-contributed mediums are still in their nascent stages, they are growing in popularity. If newspapers want to survive, let alone thrive, they need to make themselves relevant and become part of the dialogue.
The newspaper industry has struggled to find its place in the ever-changing continuum of media. They remain appropriately concerned with integrity, getting the facts straight and a lack of bias. However, as media consumption habits start to change and as the newspaper industry's economic model is being eroded by the migration of high-priced, high-margin print classifieds to the lower priced, albeit still high-margin Internet, newspapers are being forced to really assess their competitive offerings.
I have argued strenuously that newspapers are caught between being a public utility that the general population has come to accept but doesn't believe it has to support and an economic enterprise that needs to be competitive. Yes, covering the news is important and essential to a democracy. However, just because a newspaper is comprehensive and well written, it doesn't guarantee that someone will read it. A lot of things are good for me but as a consumer, I vote with my wallet.
Newspapers need to figure out what they do well that isn't being done well elsewhere and make their self relevant and part of the dialogue. The Cleveland Plain Dealer doesn't need to do extensive Iraq war coverage unless there is a local angle as the more national publications do it quite well and can focus their resources there. However, we Clevelanders count on them to cover the local news as it isn't being done well elsewhere. But as the industry is suffering both from a weak economic cycle, i.e. a slowdown in auto and real estate ads in particular, as well as a secular shift, even the local paper has to make further difficult decisions as to coverage.
Local high school sports is a hot area for newspapers. However, newspapers could have a lot more fun with it by letting the students, athletes and families participate in the coverage. This would both jazz up the story a little, drive traffic to the paper's site as all the postings would appear, get more names in the paper in the edited version, and lower costs. A little known secret is that scores are often called in anyways as opposed to being authenticated by a journalist. While citizen participation could lead to some factual errors, it's really okay. When incorrect information finds its way on Wikipedia, it tends to get corrected pretty quickly and, in some cases, the errors become a story in and of themselves. A number of months ago, the fact that a Reuters photograph had been doctored was ferreted out pretty quickly. Yet, newspapers seem uncomfortable with giving up some of their control and ability to push out news rather than engage in interactivity.
Newspapers have an ability to really engage their readers by encouraging them to participate in a dialogue. It could be about local politics, it could be about gardens and soil. Newspapers should trust that its readers understand the difference between a factual story and commentary. Like the Huffington Post, safeguards need to be put in place to prevent the dialogue from becoming inappropriately nasty but that is doable.
Newspapers have some remarkable resources but they have to figure out where they can leverage those resources for a return that is relevant to today's society. Funny enough, according to the book, Infamous Scribblers by Eric Burns (a Fox MediaWatch commentator), the history of the newspaper business in the United States reveals tremendous bias, libel and good fun.
Maybe today's newspapers take themselves a little too seriously. While balanced reporting is essential to a democracy, going out of business trying to do it the old way isn't going to cut it.