Temple: What newspapers should do to survive

OK, I was critical of the American Press Institute’s tired ideas for the newspaper industry. But what do I propose? Well, here goes: 10 ways to strengthen local newspapers in the face of the economic meltdown and the societal shift to the Web.

Today I publish my first recommendation. I’ll build my list over the next 10 days.

1. Start with the customers: Readers and advertisers. This might sound obvious. But too often newspapers still base their thinking and strategy on their own processes, traditions or needs. They have to stop thinking of readers as receivers or advertisers as sponsors, and instead treat them like participants in a common community.
* Readers should be able to customize/personalize how they use the services of their local paper. With everything newspapers offer, from the main newspaper and specialty print products to Web sites and smart phone services, the user should feel a sense of control.

* Readers should be able to contribute to the community conversation and a community’s understanding of itself in everything a newspaper does.

* Readers are looking for tools to improve their lives: financially, intellectually, emotionally, health-wise, etc. Newspapers should do everything they can to meet that need – to be a resource for a better life – and make sure their communities know that’s what they’re doing.

* Newspapers shouldn’t produce content the way they’ve always done it: basically, this could be boiled down to headline and text. Instead, they should ask what would provide the greatest benefit to readers in any medium and do that.

Click here to read the blog post by John Temple, former editor of the Rocky Mountain News, at Temple Talk.