Comments on: Keep them coming back (how?)

By: Notes from a Teacher - Wednesday squibs

Notes from a Teacher - Wednesday squibs — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:27:37 +0000

[...] Keep them coming back (how?) Mindy McAdams ponders what online news sites need to do to draw and hold traffic, and offers some ideas. And before you protest that much of what she’s talking about isn’t big-J journalism, thing about the role columnists, classifieds, TV listings and comics used to play in bringing back readers every day. [...]

By: Mindy McAdams

Mindy McAdams — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 13:24:13 +0000

@Danny L. Mcdaniel – You’re right, the sense of being educated about the world is missing from a lot of North American newspapers today. Oddly, that’s one of the things that really strikes me when I am in countries where the press is tightly controlled, like Vietnam — there is much more INFORMATION in their newspapers. Yes, a lot of it is propaganda, but nonetheless, one learns about agriculture, education, foreign trade, border disputes, etc.

@Czech Neck – Of course, journalism has a responsibility to give people what they NEED to know, even when it is dull stuff. But the foremost mission must be to keep the products of journalism alive, financially.

I think U.S. newspapers have been giving people a combination of frivolous stuff and important stuff in recent years — but the frivolous stuff they have chosen is the wrong stuff. It’s not interesting, and it’s commodity — you can get it anywhere. Thus the newspapers made themselves irrelevant to their market.

By: Czech Neck

Czech Neck — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 12:59:03 +0000

This argument is pretty straightforward surely? Of course you have to give people what they want – and lots of it. But the point about information is that people cannot know whether or not they want to know something before they know it.

So sometimes, being a journalist is about using your best judgement to decide whether people will want to know something.

There is also a small element which is about providing a record of stuff that is dull but important.

It’s about getting the balance right in the mix you provide.

By: Danny L. Mcdaniel

Danny L. Mcdaniel — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 02:23:32 +0000

Journalism should reflect that America is the OPEC of knowledge, but right now it is as disoriented as the rest of the economy. Anytime a person picks up a newspaper it should be a learning experience. After one year of reading the business section of a newspaper, especially the large metro papers, a reader should have gained a MBA knowledge of the subject. Right now that is missing.