Gannett overhauling papers for 24-hour, new media
By Robert MacMillanFri Nov 3, 8:24 PM ET
Gannett Co. Inc. plans to overhaul its local newsrooms to report stories around the clock using text, audio and video, as it tries to retain readers who are deserting newspapers for other media.
Gannett's Information Center project is designed to let its 89 local papers disseminate local news and information "when, where and how our customers seek it," Chief Executive Craig Dubow wrote in a memo to employees on Thursday.
"News and information will be delivered to the right media -- be it newspapers, online, mobile, video or ones not yet invented -- at the right time. Our customers will decide which they prefer," he wrote in the memo.
Gannett, the largest U.S. newspaper company, has tested the project at its papers in Des Moines, Iowa; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and Brevard County, Florida. It plans to revamp other newsrooms by May 2007, Michael Maness, vice president of strategic planning for the newspaper division, said on Friday.
"The focus is on getting the news out as quickly as possible on the information you gathered, and at the end of the day that process helps you construct the newspaper," he said.
The papers will also try to get readers involved in large investigative projects, such as poring through weighty public documents and sharing findings with reporters, Maness said.
The project does not include Gannett's flagship paper, USA Today, whose online operations are integrated in the paper's newsroom in Northern Virginia.
Information Center is one of the more ambitious attempts by a U.S. newspaper chain to cater to modern news-reading habits.
Paid circulation at U.S. papers has trickled downward in the past few years, and in the six months to September 30, paid weekday circulation dropped 2.8 percent, according to the Newspaper Association of America's analysis of industry statistics released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
With advertisers shifting to other media, papers have been trying to find ways to prop up their sagging profit margins.
"This is the way you have to go," said Benchmark Co. analyst Edward Atorino. "News is the right media at the right time. This is what people want."
Web sites of papers such as The New York Times and The Washington Post break news on a 24-hour cycle and use video and blogs to enhance what print journalists produce. But at many papers, online staff operate separately from print reporters and editors.
Gannett's move shows that its newsrooms are trying to overcome resistance to change, said O. Ricardo Pimentel, editorial page editor of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, and a former Gannett reporter and editor.
"Many of us practice journalism with a capital 'J', and we always fear that the mission of journalism will be denigrated with each change," he said. "By and large, change has been good for journalism."
At Gannett's papers, reporters will produce stories in increments throughout the day and use multimedia such as video or narrated slide shows to tell them. Editors will also present stories in various media, and shift their working hours.
Some journalists could find the change jarring, but Gannett is training them on new equipment and reporting and editing techniques, said Jennifer Carroll, vice president of new media content for the newspaper division.
"We're trying to be innovative, yet mindful," she said.
No employees will be laid off as a result of implementing the project, Carroll added.
Gannett officials declined to say how much money it has devoted to the project.
