More than ever, the new plan emphasizes local news in a bid to recover readers frustrated by newspapers that have lost their relevance. "The news is delivered where they want it, how they want it, when they want it," Gannett says.Sounds like the Information Center model announced in fall 2006, right? Guess again! That was actually Senior Vice President Phil Currie announcing the then-new program -- Real Life, Real News -- in September 2003. Is it any wonder we're cynical about the latest flavor-of-the-moment initiative dreamed up at Corporate?
There! I've gotten all that in my First Five Graphs and I've hit every one of the 10 blocks in the News 2000 pyramid. Plus, I'm gay, which means I get points for diversity and mainstreaming!
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I was going to go with "First Five Grafs," myself. Was that before or after "Real Life, Real News"?
ReplyDeleteOMG! I forgot that one. I think the order is something like this:
ReplyDelete1. News 2000
2. First Five Graphs
3. Real Life, Real News
4. Information Center
And don't forget the coming 44-inch web reduction! An 11 X 17+ format that will showcase the latest and greatest program corporate has to offer. The project kick-off meeting is in February and I hear all Gannett papers will be converted by the end of 2008/early 2009.
ReplyDeleteThanks for making me laugh out loud, Mr. Diversity-Mainstreaming.
ReplyDeleteLOL, write on, Jim! I too laughed out loud.
ReplyDeleteJust yesterday I was going through my papers cleaned out from my desk after I quit and found the News 2000 manifesto. How much do you think it would bring on eBay?
Wait, do gays count as mainstreaming? I always thought it had to be a person of color so you could mug them and actually show the world you were mainstreaming. Unless you say, "Jim Hopkins, gay man," it wouldn't be submissible for the All-American Review, no?
ReplyDeleteMy favorite anecdote on such matters came from a buddy who had to cover a country western festival in the 90 percent Caucasian upper Midwest and was ordered to mainstream his story. He spent all day looking for anyone remotely non-white and came up dry. However, he did find a white woman who was married to an Hispanic man, so her last name was Fernandez or Garcia or something along those lines. When he turned in the story, he happily noted he'd found a mainstream source ... after all, just look at her name!
Aaah, keep your mainstreaming. When I was a Gannetoid, all we worried about was penetration and satisfaction.
ReplyDelete