Friday is a historic day for Michigan journalism.
As one of eight Booth newspapers ends its 174-year run as a community staple, a new digital publication embarks that day which, for all we know, could symbolize a desperately needed transition in the state’s journalism industry.
The Ann Arbor News, a newspaper in the town of about 114,000 people, the home of the University of Michigan and Detroit’s next door neighbor, will shut its doors after publishing its final work Thursday, putting even more talented journalists out of work. But in its place the following day comes AnnArbor.com, a digital news publication “created for the people of Ann Arbor, by the people of Ann Arbor.”
It is not 100 percent online news. Print editions will run Thursdays and Sundays. But all content on the site will be free and revenue mainly will be drawn from AnnArbor.com’s print publication and online advertising.
The idea of creating a digital publication certainly is not new. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer fully went online within the last year. So did The Christian Science Monitor and others. But AnnArbor.com, while not fully online, is a complete rethinking of the way a modern newsroom is built. It is not related to The Ann Arbor News, although a handful of its staffers will take the digital jump. Its leaders, including content director and fellow Central Michigan Life alum Tony Dearing, are scrapping the traditional newsroom model and creating something new.
Writers will refer to themselves as “digital journalists” who not only report real-time, but think visually as well. You won’t hear the term “editor” too often in this newsroom. Instead, you will hear “director,” “producer” and “leader.” The site strongly encourages user interaction, including registering and posting comments with real names, in order to provide for a civil, constructive conversation on local issues. Users also will have the option to post their own content to share.
In other words, AnnArbor.com is embracing the new age of communication, something many newspapers around the country could do a little more of. But will it work? Will AnnArbor.com be able to sustain itself purely with online advertising and twice-weekly print revenue? Will it garner a reading audience similar to the Ann Arbor News? Furthermore, will its staff of reporters truly embrace this journalistic change?
I’d rather not predict how this journey will turn out. It is unlike most anything seen in an American newsroom, particularly in Michigan. But I am hopeful. I certainly think Dearing and the rest of the crew have the right idea. They know free online content is not what is slicing newspapers’ profits. They know there is a better way to engage readers in this age of mobile Web, Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. They believe community content can work in harmony with professional content.
Other journalists not only in Michigan, but also around the nation, should watch closely, too. We’ve all seen publications go online-only already, but we’ve seen very few, if any, get scrapped completely for another newsroom model that thinks digitally first. I’m not expecting dozens of other publications to follow suit should AnnArbor.com be successful. But hopefully, it will open the door for new thinking for the handful of news executives who still fear the Internet over embracing it.
We have to put the time of sitting back and watching newsrooms shrivel up in the past.
As a fellow journalist and fellow “CM Lifer,” I wish Tony and the rest of the AnnArbor.com gang all the best. I will be watching closely when they launch their answer to today’s journalism. And I really hope it sets a precedent for how local news outlets can thrive today.
Posted by Brian Manzullo at July 22, 2009
Journalism