US: LAT launches project to "re-engage" readers

Posted by John Burke on October 12, 2006 at 5:12 PM

The Los Angeles Times is tapping the resources of its own newsroom to find new ways of engaging readers in print and online. Where most papers would bring in outside consultants, LAT is reserving 3 of its own investigative reporters and six editors into what it calls the Manhattan Project.

The Southern California daily has been experiencing significant problems of late, being under the gun by its owner, the Tribune Company, for more job cuts and losing its publisher who refused to make them.

Editor-in-chief Dean Baquet and new publisher David Hiller have initiated the project and the first report is expected in two months. They hope that they can avoid any permission or monetary compromises from the paper's Chicago-based owner.

Assisting managing editor in charge of the project, Marc Duvoisin, said, “We want to collect the best thinking on how to sustain the vitality and profitability of the print franchise. And we want to find the best thinking on how to transfer our journalism to the Web in the way most likely to grow audience and revenue.”

Several ideas already being tossed around by the Manhattan team are adding more sections, hiring more columnists and using citizen journalism. They will search for more within the United States as well as the rest of the world, especially from England and Scandinavia.

Source: The New York Times

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