Pay the talent more

I realized that my last few posts have been long on criticism, short on solutions.

So what should Zell be doing? What should any of us be doing? The answer really isn’t difficult. It’s great journalism.

We all instinctively know what that means. We’re talking about stories that are exciting and interesting: Local crime. Jury verdicts. Political scandal. Natural disaster. We’re talking about hard-hitting reporting: Investigative projects and impact journalism. We're talking stories that are important: Government failure. Corporate malfeasance. Abuse of power. Maybe boring. Yes. And?

We’re talking about newspapers that are newsy, authoritative, insightful and edgy. That lean forward. That take chances. That pulse with life and energy.

Yes, we should cover local stories. Yes we should write news you can use. But the focus should always and exclusively be: Is this interesting? Does it matter?

Before I start sounding too much like the Zellsters, here are specifics: News owners have to invest in reporting. Every dollar a newspaper gets should be plowed into the people that create it: the reporters, editors, copy editors, ad sales people, press guys, delivery folks.

Fire the consultant. Give up on the redesign. Stop hiring web programmers from failed start ups with no interest in reporting or writing or raising hell.

Send reporters out for training. Improve writing. Demand stylistic changes: why does every first paragraph have to be 25 words long? Why does the nut graf have to appear above the jump? How about classes in math? Or statistics?

Every story must have context. See the Economist for quiet, everday brilliance by insisting on context on most stories, delivered via a graphic that’s smart, not pandering (Are you listening USA Today? I didn’t think so. Too busy coloring.)

This is most important of all: Destroy Craig’s List, viciously, ceaselessly. Be remorseless in winning back eyeballs with better classies, better policed. Google is not the bad guy. Focus on Craig.

Pay money for ad reps with track records. Simplify rate cards. Deliver the paper for free. Or charge what it's really worth.

Invest in new presses. Use modern publishing technology to deliver ROP ads house-to-house. Train the carriers to out-microtarget the Postal service.

These are not particularly smart things. But they are hard.

So what else is new?