On the Great Big Map of U.S. Newspapers, you’ll find about 8,400 flags – 1,400 daily papers and 7,000 community newspapers.
Though a struggling industry, it is still a gigantic industry that is working to reinvent itself. Times are challenging and the reinvention is not unlike repairing a plane while it’s in the air.
Along the way, there are wins and losses, and the map points keep shifting. Some grow larger, some disappear completely.
If you’re in a neighborhood marked by a “community newspaper” – rural area, intown neighborhood, suburbs or any other combination – you likely have an opinion on your newspaper: it meets your needs and is of value, or it DOES NOT meet your needs and is of little value.
In metro areas, you may not have that great a sense of connection, but you do have that opinion – it either does work for you, or it doesn’t.
Dig deeper into that map of U.S. newspapers, and look at the pin marking The Heights and several other neighborhoods in Houston.
With 8,400 newspaper pins on the map, you’ll find 8,400 different stories.
But here’s one that deserves a bit of extra observance, because of two very unlikely occurrences in recent weeks.
The paper is The Leader (http://www.theleadernews.com).
Its owner and publisher is Jonathan McElvy. In his previous job – VP of Content and Development at ASP Westward – Jonathan hired me as a consultant to work with him to redo the digital side of 60-plus newspapers in East Texas, Houston and Colroado then owned by Westward. That’s another successful and fun story, but only provides my connection to Jonathan, so I’ll save that for another day.
Several months ago Jonathan bought The Leader, a solid, venerable, stable newspaper that has served The Heights community for 50 years. Moving quickly, but cautiously, he and the staff started to make changes to the paper and web site.
In a very few short few months, readership is up and revenue is up.
That ought to be enough to warrant a story in any journalistic e-newsletter in the country, but there’s more: two very unlikely occurrences.
First, a simple reach-out letter to readers turned into what became a “very humbling” event for Jonathan and the staff. Remember that The Leader is a free paper, and has been for 50-plus years. Readers don’t pay a dime for it. It’s just there every week, supported by ad dollars. Is this a good time in the newspaper industry to change a local, 50-year tradition of not paying – even voluntarily? Generally, no. At The Leader, yes.
Jonathan’s letter to readers said simply, if you like what we are doing, feel free to send us a voluntary contribution, and we will use it to improve the paper, not our bottom line. Maybe follow through on the request from the high school junior, who sent in $10 and a suggestion for a horticulture article.
Here’s a portion of Jonathan’s note to readers:
“The reason for the letter was fairly simple. First, we felt there may be readers who wanted to support The Leader who otherwise can’t. We also thought that if people were interested in seeing the newspaper continue to grow, this would be a small investment they could make to be part of that growth. And last, we wanted to do something special for the people who faithfully prepare and deliver your newspaper each week by giving them a tip with some of the proceeds.”
To date, The Leader has received 500-plus letters of support, almost all with cash. A note from one reader which Jonathan read to his staff: “I cannot send any money this month, but plan to in the future. The Leader has always been a good newspaper for our area, but with all the extras, it’s become an excellent newspaper.”
And the second unlikely occurrence?
Perhaps sensing another “newspaper is dying” story, a Houston TV station heard about the letter and came to ask Jonathan why. The result: a TV report focusing on the good job The Leader was doing in its community, and the fact that those good things bring success. Take a look at this link.
In the hard-scrabble journalistic world of today, not often do you have a TV report applauding a newspaper.
What does The Leader teach us about the future of newspapers?
Each of those 8,400 map points is different but at The Leader print still works, but digital is highly valued, and effort is now going into building a terrific and useful community web site.
But what about larger map points? Sure, different issues and different challenges, to a degree, but it’s still all about making your paper truly indispensable, and not just using that phrase as a slogan.
As I type this blog, I look at a New York Times link shared on Facebook by my LA Times and Austin buddies Mark Yemma and Mark Sims. And then I see a comment by another Austin friend and LA-based author and ghostwriter Randy Fitzgerald: “Reading this and seeing the superb graphics had me thinking about the future of newspapers and magazines, we have seen the future….and this is it!”
Different worlds: from Times Square to The Heights, but success – whether your neighborhood is The Heights or the world.