The Spokane Spokesman-Review is becoming a poster child for how newspapers might address the impact of technology on their businesses and the citizen journalism movement.
At their website you can read the news stories; read what readers think through at their blog, News is a conversation; access the Daily briefing – a blog of comments, notes etc from the daily news mattering where news decisions are made; and access Ask The Editors, where the editors answer readers’ questions about The Spokesman-Review’s editorial decisions and operations. There is also a series of blogs by columnists and a list of local blogs. Wait, there’s more. There is audio and video content. (See this vision of a semi trailer which hit a house.) And there’s even more. For me this is the cream, this is the perfect example of local engagement. They have been collecting MP3 files from local bands. Their catalogue now has With the catalog now at more than 250. They have gone so far as to launch an internet radio station featuring the local music. Read their story here.
I find myself responding to what the Spokesman-Review is doing on several levels.
As a local consumer: This is a newspaper I want to engage with. They provide access as and when I wish – print, online, RSS. They demonstrate a local commitment which matches my desire for less of a one size fits all world. As a newsagent: One the one hand I like it because I’m helping the local connection by selling the newspaper in my shop(if I were a newsagent in Spokane that is). But then I see them pushing their brand so much beyond print and I can only engage with the product in the print world. It scares me because the better they get at it and the more the world changes in terms of mobile devices and fast low cost access anywhere, the les my newsagency is part of the supply chain. As an observer from the other side of the world: The world shrunk some more. Where as I could read stories about other places, the Spokesman-Review website and all of its tentacles take me there on a cohesive yet local way. I can get a real feel for the place and its culture. I can connect. And this is a valuable role of local newspapers in the evolving world.
Australian newspapers could learn from this innovation. While some publishers here are playing in the space, none is embracing citizen journalism, transparency and the new mobility paradigm in the way of the Spokesman-Review.
Given the role newsagents play in distributing and selling newspapers in Australia, it would be appropriate that we are part of these changes here. We could be the access point for music, the face to face community connect between the newspaper and their online content. Newsagents ought to be taking this opportunity to publishers and working on strategies which are mutually beneficial.
The Spokane-Review is not alone in this innovation. Their story is interesting because of the size of their marketplace, their strong local commitment and the wholeness of their innovation. It’s an excellent model to study on changes in news and information publishing.
Here’s a bit about the newspaper from their website: The Spokesman-Review, Spokane’s 106-year-old daily newspaper and the largest news and information provider in the Inland Northwest. Launched in 1894 by Publisher William H. Cowles, The Spokesman-Review has been owned throughout its history by the Cowles family of Spokane.
According to The Readership Institute, the Spokesman-Review achieves circulation of 118,877 Monday-Saturday and 132,489 Sunday.