[Landing page, above, for Des Moines's Supreme Court news]
More than ever, Gannett's community newspapers are relying on USA Today for national and world news, both in print and online.
But until now, I didn't know they were outsourcing online reader opinions, too.
Almost certainly, this isn't a decree from Corporate. Turning over production of nation/world news to Gannett's biggest paper saves money, because it lets a handful of employees do the work of many: building pages from one worksite for all 81 community papers in 30 states and Guam. Nonetheless, this consolidation has the effect of homogenizing reader's views, and further undermining Gannett's long-held pledge to support local editorial control.
Where is america1stboy?
Here's what I discovered: Clicking on the nation-world link took me to a page dressed up to look like the work of a local paper; in the example, above, it was The Des Moines Register. Three clicks later, I was reading a USAT story headlined, "Kagan's credentials take hits on Hill." Then, clicking on the comments section, I read the first entry: "What a joke," wrote reader america1stboy. "All these so called quallifications, and NO connection with what the average American deals with on a daily basis."
I assumed that remark was one of many Iowa readers sounding off, because I believed I was still on the Register's site; in all that clicking, it was hard to keep track. Regardless, I expected the site's software was tuned to only show comments posted by Register readers; it's reasonable to imagine Iowa readers would have the same expectation. After all, what's the point of having a local news source if I can't read local opinion?
But, no. And when I checked sites in the other six states, I found the same story -- and the same comments. Over and over.
Crackpots -- or real people?
Now, it's tempting to dismiss reader comments as the work of wing nuts and crackpots, people whose opinions don't influence the news. Real opinion, according to this view, is only that reflected in traditional letters to the editor.
But as print versions of papers head into oblivion, won't those letters fall by the wayside, too? And at that point, we'll know a whole lot less about what readers think from New York to Michigan to Utah, and all parts in between.
Earlier: Is your paper publishing a USA Today page inside?
Do story comments by local readers matter? Or are they just a trick to drive up page views? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.
Yes, local community newspapers are now publishing USA Today copy. So what is wrong with that? We are in the same company, and if it wasn't USAT copy, it would be AP. I think what is happening is clear -- we are all coming together as one company with one national newspaper, and several community papers. Just as the community papers contributed to the start-up of USAT with reporters housed at the stay-free minipads in Arlington, so USAT is now feeding copy back to the local papers. It is a natural evolution of the idea. It is certainly not the way Frank Gannett left it, but it is clearly the future. Why do you think they called Tara's operation ContentOne?
ReplyDeleteCommunity conversation. Two words that Gannettoids hold sacred these days. "We're expanding the community conversation." "We're adding to the community conversation." "We're part of the community conversation."
ReplyDeleteI suppose the idea is to make readers, bloggers, posters, or whatever they're called these days, feel a connection to the Web product so they'll keep coming back for more.
Nothing wrong with that.
But I think readers expect that comments on their local sites are made by their neighbors.
Letters to the editor often include the writer's town or city. Maybe Gannett could do that when it's shipping these things all over the country!
Jim's work is that of a wing nut and a crackpot. Is he a real person?
ReplyDeleteHave another drink Hunke.
ReplyDelete