Relevance, not immediacy

There is no denying that journalism today is dramatically different than it was a decade ago. Even in the past few years, the media industry has undergone tremendous transformation as continued technological developments revolutionize the way we communicate and exchange information. In today’s atmosphere of 24-hour cable news channels, Web sites, RSS feeds, blogs, mobile alerts and Podcasts, traditional print newspapers are struggling to determine their role in delivering information to readers. As readers today have more options for news than ever before, newspapers must reconcile their desire to be the first source for news with the reality of today’s media landscape.

While many journalists may prefer to believe that people get their news from the newspaper, that assumption is no longer true. Research from the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute has shown that increasing numbers of people are turning to the Internet for their information needs. The Internet will become an even more prominent news source over the next three years, according to the research, with an expected 39 percent of people using Internet news, compared to only 8 percent using the newspaper. Furthermore, the Internet and its ability to break down information barriers has created new perceptions of what is “news.” Instead of accepting news as centralized and top-down, research showed, audience members today view it as two-way communication, wherein content is both received and created by the audience. With Web sites such as YouTube, MySpace and Blogspot and news sites such as CNN.com that solicit reader content, it appears that nearly anyone with a computer can be a journalist.

At the same time, it also appears that people are no longer interested in “serious” news (Gans, 37). The Reynolds Institute research showed that across all ages, the number of people who agreed they needed the news every day decreased 6 percent from 1995 to 2005. Downie and Kaiser suggest that in times of relative peace, people are more concerned with their own lives than with national and international news (26). Readers today are interested in major news events, such as elections and natural disasters, but not in regular day-to-day reporting (27).

Readers’ perceived apathy toward news and the shift to digital information and citizen journalism, combined with general disapproval of the news media (Downie and Kaiser, 28), means traditional print journalists must re-evaluate their role in the media culture. If nobody reads the newspaper and everybody can be a journalist, then where do print journalists fit in?

Despite all the pessimism, news still retains an important place in American life, as was clear after Sept. 11, 2001. (Downie, 27). Newspapers may no longer be the primary source for late-breaking news, but that doesn’t in any way exclude them from the information world. Newspapers can still produce ambitious, quality accountability reporting, such as The New York Times’ 1996 investigation of Scientology or the Washington Post’s reporting in 1998 on civilian shootings by police officers. (Downie, 32-51). Furthermore, “gimmicks” such as short stories and positive fluff (Downie, 87-91) have failed to substantially increase readership, perhaps suggesting that readers still desire sophisticated, contextual reporting and analysis.

There is still a market for news — it just isn’t the same market it was 10 years ago. Compared to the up-to-the-minute capabilities of online sources, print products will always be too slow and too late. Newspapers must recognize that their strengths lie not in immediacy, but in relevance. Instead of trying to compete with online and cable news in the breaking-news realm, newspapers must use the print product to highlight what newspapers do best: in-depth analysis, long-form investigative stories and watchdog journalism. “The most intensive investigative journalism,” write Downie and Kaiser, “is generally produced by the most ambitious, best-staffed and best-edited news organizations. Those belong to newspapers” (51).

Instead of reporting solely on the day-to-day news, newspapers must supply readers with meaningful information about the world they live in. For example, on Sept. 12, 2001, when many cable news networks were repeating the basic elements of the terrorist attacks, Americans turned to newspapers and newspaper Web sites for the background and context of the events. Newspapers gave readers the information they needed to understand the events. They covered the intelligence that linked bin Laden to the attacks, the financial connections and plans of the hijackers and details about the airplanes and their passengers (Downie, 64). Virtually every news outlet in the U.S. and abroad covered the story, but it was newspapers that gave the events meaning.

Print journalists’ ability to provide this kind of meaningful reporting depends, in large part, on their commitment to developing expertise and digging deep into complex issues in the national and local community. Unlike most bloggers and citizen journalists, good newspaper reporters develop rapport with sources, read documents related to the issues they cover, follow issues and people and accumulate knowledge over time (Downie, 65). And good newspapers must provide readers with information they can’t get anywhere else, which means information “acquired by creative reporting, conveyed by good writing, digested by smart analysts who know what to make of it (Downie, 103).

Essentially, newspapers must redefine their role and focus on what newspapers have always done best: Delivering meaningful content. This includes investigative reporting projects, data-driven analysis and quality reporting that is both thorough and thoughtful. Though newspapers may never be able to compete with new media in terms of immediacy, print journalism can still serve a vital function by bridging the gaps left by other news media and providing information relevant to readers’ lives.