Newspapers: Fix your RSS feed(s), please

I’m about to dump — bigtime — on my local daily newspaper, The Gainesville Sun (owned by The New York Times company, by the way). So all you colleagues over there, put on your weatherproof attire and listen up.

An RSS feed is really useful to people — if it provides what they are looking for. Current local news, for example. When I subscribed to the one and only RSS feed offered by the Sun, I thought I might get my local news in an efficient and easy-to-use manner. I thought I could spot the most relevant local news and click through — to the Sun’s own Web site — from the RSS headlines each morning.

Here’s what I had on Wednesday morning (these headlines, with short summaries I have omitted, were posted Wednesday morning between midnight and 1:06 a.m.; this is the complete list, in the order I viewed in my RSS reader):

1. Iraq democracy is impossible
   A signed letter from a reader, whose opinion is made clear in the heading. This was the top story in the RSS feed on Wednesday morning.
2. New GRU manager should have business savvy
   Another signed letter from a reader. (GRU is the public utility company in our area, controlling water, gas and electricity.)
3. UF is strong in both athletics and academics
   Another signed letter from a reader — but in this case, that reader is the president of the University of Florida. Not that you’d know that from the heading.
4. A diverse race
   The summary: “This year Oscar embraced diversity.” Uh huh. Well, I already read my Oscar news on Tuesday — when the announcement came out. This story is a syndicated news item from The Philadelphia Inquirer. (Not a newspaper I think of as being plugged in to Hollywood, I might add. Who picks these things?)
5. SpringHills brouhaha: County, city trade barbs
   Finally, a real local news story by a Sun staff writer! The topic: The Gainesville City Commission meeting. More like this, please.
6. Bush: Give Iraq plan a chance
   Dateline: Washington. When I clicked the link, I went to a page on the Sun’s Web site that said: “Error: Invalid story key (GS,20070124,WIRE,701240324,AR).” (Thanks so much.)
7. Clark emerges as key player for Colts
   Dateline: Indianapolis. Associated Press wire story. Like I wouldn’t have already read all about this at ESPN.com — if I cared.
8. Glued to your cell?
   A short Associated Press wire story about cell phone addiction, featuring some woman in Chicago.
9. City vs. county
   An editorial — I think. Maybe. Who knows? It has no byline. It’s labeled “News.” The topic: The same Gainesville City Commission meeting (from Monday) and the SpringHills issue.
10. Big Mouths
    By the Sun’s sports editor, a column about the previous Saturday’s basketball game at the University of Florida.
11. This Super Bowl will be uniquely special for NFL
    No byline on this column about black professional football coaches. Definitely not local, though.
12. Smathers’ gifts to libraries cements his legacy at UF
    By a Sun staff writer, about the recent death of a great benefactor to the university.
13. Ticket prices going up
    An important story, by a Sun sports writer: Seats will cost more for the 2007 football season. This is a big story around here.
14. Bank of America, Wachovia going strong
    A business story from the Associated Press.
15. P.K. Yonge completes sweep of Buchholz with 67-59
    Local high school boys’ basketball; story by a stringer.

I hope everyone out there in old-timey newspaper land can see my point. I’ve got 15 headlines here, and only five of them are local news. (Two of those are about sports, plus one about football tickets.) Then there is the maybe-editorial. And three letters to the editor. Leaving six wire or syndicated stories in your incredibly puny feed for Wednesday.

If you think I am the only person miffed about this, check out what someone in the TV news business says about it.

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