Newspapers as personable helpers

 
In light of a report, "Newspapers Next," a project of the American Press Institute (API), Fancher urges Times’ readers to send suggestions to the paper on how to serve them better. Here are some quotes Fancher picks from the report:

"This is change on the grand scale, driven by a fundamental transformation in the connection between humans and information. The social impact is likely to rival the advent of movable type and mass literacy."

Technological advances have transformed the media. They have also transformed the audience, and on a whole, this transformed relationship has affected society.

"The trigger is technological, but the impact is behavioral. As individuals respond to the infinite range of choices available to them, this will reshape the media landscape and, over time, society itself."

Point taken. The report becomes ardent about newspapers’ mission as bearers of civic values, which they must uphold despite declining impact.  

"Many people in the newspaper industry see grave danger ahead for newspapers in fulfilling their traditional civic mission as a maintainer of an informed citizenry, facilitator of civic dialogue and watchdog on institutions.”

“With less than half of the public regularly using newspapers, a large question looms: How will society function if the quality, quantity and public impact of meaningful journalism are not sustained?"

So Mike Fancher is trying to do just this with The Seattle Times, and so should all newspapers. To do so (maintain a quality and quantity public impact), he resorts to calling for the reader’s own opinions and suggestions.

Some things a newspaper can do for their readers include:

_giving tips for parenting, work, or school

_entertainment

_giving help on how to take action on things important to the reader

_provide information that can reek material benefits, such as making or saving money or time.

These practical, personal, life approaches to a newspaper’s reader are perhaps the report’s most important conclusion. As newspapers lose audience and redefine their role, these must focus on helping their readers, rather than simply offering content such as general news.

"To find their way amid these bewildering changes, media companies must shift their focus from products and services to the lives of customers," says the API report.

Source: The Seattle Times