Daily reads worth considering

From PBS's Media Shift, "At Rural Newspapers, Some Publishers Still Resist Moving Online."

Long shielded from the pressure of Internet news competition, as well as classified competitors like Craigslist, rural newspapers have reportedly fared far better than their metropolitan counterparts. While newspapers in population centers saw growing competition from online startups in the past decade, rural newspapers have faced relatively little competition. (So-called hyper-local sites like AOL's Patch are clustered in metropolitan areas and altogether absent from rural areas in the West.)

As broadband Internet spreads into rural communities -- spurred by a $7 billion federal investment -- rural newspapers are increasingly facing a question encountered by their metropolitan counterparts a decade ago: What information should be offered online?

The article quotes Al Cross, among others.

And from Earl Wilkinson at INMA: "Why is relevance to audience such a sin for journalism?"

It has this provocative line: "Start rewarding “relevance” over “quality” in the culture of your company, notably the newsroom."

SNPA Conference on Community Journalism

The Southern Newspaper Publishers Association is holding a conference on the future of smaller newspapers Sept. 15-17 in Atlanta.

For those interested, here is the rundown

• The Role and the Future of Community Newspapers (read more about this session)
  
  • David Dunn-Rankin, president and publisher, The Sun, Port Charlotte, Fla.
• Save Yourself
  Bold, Original Thinking for the Future of the Newspaper Industry
  
  • Kay B. Lee, community initiative entrepreneur, The Center for Community Preservation and Planning, Covington, Ga.
• Masters of the Web: Paid Content Models that Work
  
  • Randy Morton, publisher, Statesboro Herald, Statesboro, Ga.
  • Ted Jatczak, director of sales and marketing, Kentucky New Era, Hopkinsville, Ky.
  • Doug Toney, editor and publisher, New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung, New Braunfels, Texas.
• Mobile Technology and the Future of Media
  
  • Renu Kulkarni, executive director, FutureMedia, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Ga.
• Local Search
  
  • Christopher P. Reen, executive vice president, The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Okla.
• Interactive Database Marketing: You've Got E-Mail Addresses – Now What? (read more about this session)
  
  • Michelle Novak, sales and marketing specialist, Presslaff Interactive Revenue, Norwalk, Conn.
• Ideas that Drive Gains in Circulation (read more about this session)
  
  • Steve Learn, circulation consultant, LEARNing More Circulation Idea Service, Killeen, Ala.
• The Ben Franklin Project (read more about this session)
  Local content that really matters.
  Building local content without increasing costs.
  Developing social networks and user-generated content.
  
  
  • Jon Cooper, vice president/content, Journal-Register Company, Yardley, Pa.
• You can Make Things Happen, Watch Things Happen or ...
  How to Deliver Nearly Flawless Execution
  
  • Tony Marsella, president and COO, Ranger Data Technologies, Augusta, Ga.
• What I Would Do on Monday if I Were Your Sales Manager
  
  • Mike Blinder, president, The Blinder Group, New Port Richney, Fla.

Rural broadband

One of the things that came up in discussions at the recent AEJMC meeting was rural broadband and mobile, and how news organizations that have largely bypassed the Web may not be able to afford to do the same with mobile.

This column by Al Tompkins of Poynter has some statistics on rural broadband and mobile and a link to a White House document (PDF) listing the various broadband projects being funded under the federal initiative.

Community media and mobile

At AEJMC, there was a bit of a debate about local media and their ability to withstand the mobile onslaught. I am of the opinion that even the smallest community newspaper will eventually have to confront this. Here are two articles to consider. The first is about Facebook about to launch its geolocative service (imagine the potential for advertising there).

http://www.lostremote.com/2010/08/10/facebooks-places-feature-about-to-launch/

And this is the Dave Morgan article linked to in the above post
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=133350

The comment attributed to the ValPak person in the comments area is worth considering.

Which then raises the questions for many j-schools - if, when and how do we get into the "mobile" game, which is a different world from the Web world we know.

Doug