National Niches in Every Local Newspaper
The recently released Harvard University based Nieman Reports, in its series of articles entitled Goodbye Gutenberg, almost unwittingly, by what it publishes here, reveals how far behind newspaper top thinkers appear to be and how much of this has appeared in the blogosphere, weeks, months before. No wonder we are saying Goodbye Gutenberg.
Still I am working my way through it and finding nuggets; so, Gutenberg still has some life left.
I like this idea a lot from Michael Riley, in a series of ways to get innovative:
Own local? Go global: Almost every region has something special that can play on a larger stage. In our region of Virginia, for example, bluegrass music is big, and we should expand on that strength and create a Web site with tentacles reaching far beyond our circulation area. No, we haven’t yet done that one, but every newspaper should identify similar opportunities and find a way to own them.
So what does my town of Marietta, Georgia have to offer? It is one of the most conservative counties in the country. The home of Bob Barr and Newt Gingrich. So why wouldn’t the Marietta Daily Journal parley that into a national niche audience?
Remember with the Internet you can find your communities of interest and fulfill their needs, whether they are in your backyard or across the globe.
