You all have to admit Lee Abrams is a genius — especially if he doesn’t have naked photos of Sam Zell stashed away somewhere.
Who else in America can earn a massive paycheck writing bizarre stream-of-consciousness memos and rehashing tired ideas from the late 20th century and pass them off as a way to “reinvent” today’s journalism?
My hat’s off to him.
Today I checked out the Baltimore Sun’s new redesign, a vision of Abrams. There’s some promise there, but the website is almost impossible to navigate. Don’t take my word for it. Try it for yourself.
At any rate, here’s a clue for Abrams (and those web folks who have to deal with him). Newspapers (and their websites) have three advantages over the rest of the media: the ability to cover breaking news in a superior fashion, the resources to report in-depth on stories and the history to offer readers a vast reservoir of information in text and photos.
When I was at Los Angeles Times, I could never figure out why the newspaper didn’t promote the richness of its archives. I once wrote a memo to say The Times should sell its historic photos – it would be a nice revenue generator and provide a wonderful service to its readers. But I was told that was something “we don’t do.”
Not to sound like Abrams, but just think of what’s archived in the 125-year history of The Times: movie reviews for “The Wizard of Oz,” “Gone with the Wind,” and “North by Northwest.” Plus, critiques of “The Great Train Robbery,” “Easy Rider,” and hundreds of other classic movies.
This vault of history could be opened for hundreds of other subjects of interest. For instance, what USC football fan wouldn’t want to read articles on every game of historic significance and be willing to purchase photos of Trojan triumphs throughout the years? Wouldn’t readers love to read obituaries throughout the years?
The lesson: leverage your strengths. If you are The Times, and you have 125 years of history behind you, use it. No one else has that.
Severance Negotiations Conclusion
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Severance Negotiations Conclusion
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8 comments:
I would like to buy images of old sports stars....and as newspaper copy, they are public domain if the LA Times sells them...great idea!
And speaking of the Sun's rebirth, the centerpiece story and photo was of a damn mail box! Not one photo or story of Ted Kennedy who, in spite of suffering from brain cancer, appeared at the Democratic national convention and delivered a rousing address. Where the hell is the news judgment with those editors? Are they saying people care more about the inconvenience of mail boxes being phased out in some areas is more important than the pending presidential election?
so here's a question for the retch.
why don't you just quit? not to say that you couldn't still run this blog, but you just seem so miserable and to spend all your spare time biting the hand that literally feeds you, well it just seems odd.
many people have quit. many more have been fired.
if you're not at all aligned with what's happening here, why not just quit?
just asking.
from chicago tribune:
"Jay Mariotti, the opinionated and polarizing sports columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, told the Chicago Tribune he resigned on Tuesday after 17 years with the paper.
Just back from Beijing where he wrote about the Summer Olympics, Mariotti said in a phone interview Tuesday night that he decided to quit after it became clear while in China that sports journalism had become "entirely a Web site business. There were not many newspapers there.'' He added that most of the journalists covering the Games were "there writing for Web sites.''
He said that he "is talking with a lot of Web sites'' and added that the future of his business "sadly is not in newspapers.''
Commenting on his 17 years at the paper, Mariotti said he loved every minute of it. But he said that with the troubled times newspapers face, it was time to consider a new future.
"I'm a competitor and I get the sense this marketplace doesn't compete,'' he said. "Everyone is hanging on for dear life at both papers. I think probably the days of high stakes competition in Chicago are over.
"To see what's happened in this business...I don't want to go down with it.''
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-080826mariotti-resigns,0,1339701.story
Actually, I love the way the Baltimore Sun allows you to read stories online but see how the page layout looks from the print edition. I find that very satisfying and wish the LAT would do the same.
Anonymous #2, Why don't you quit coming to the Retch's site if you disagree the Retch and what the Retch posts on this blog.
Management would love nothing more than to see the Retch abandon this campaign to protect jobs and the quailty of our paper.
The Retch is obviously a fighter and there aren't many people fighting for others around here these days because of the "ME" mentality that has grown within these walls for quite some time now. Bravo Retch!
Many of us were told a hundred times that if we didn't like the way things were here, why don't we just quit. This is our house and we must protect what we can, any way we can.
FIGHTERS NEVER QUIT,
Quitters never fight!
The pressroom has your back Retch!
So Zell and his visionaries have been belly-aching about prior management was stuck in the 50s, Lee wants to hit people with 2x4s, Kierns points to iPOD as the future.....
http://mobile.chicagotribune.com/
http://mobile.latimes.com/
8 months in and this is the best in local coverage that a former Fortune 500 company can provide to its 21st Century readers. Tsk-tsk..
I think I will stay with Yahoo for MY local coverage. They have the experience...and hutzpah
"The lesson: leverage your strengths. If you are The Times, and you have 125 years of history behind you, use it. No one else has that."
Exsqueeze me? Every single Tribune newspaper has a long history behind it and a wealth of photos and stories that its community would find valuable.
While I applaud your idea, I am appalled at your arrogance in thinking "no one else has that."
And let me just also add that the whole reason the Tribune Company got into such trouble in the first place is because it bought the LA Times.
Stop being so snooty. We're all suffering, not just you journalists in LA.
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