Weekly Newspapers in the 21st Century.

I was promoted (and ultimately rewarded) to focus the weekly Morrow County Sentinel on what our readers said they wanted — hard news. The only credit I take for the improvement is that I acted on that request. At a time when newspapers are faced with uncertainty, as Lu (2005) points out, listening and responding is vital to surviving in the turbulent 21st century.

Weekly papers compete with daily newspapers for breaking news using Web sites to give readers what they want, when they want it. This exposure also generally provides increased out-of-town readership and an additional revenue source (Adams, 2007).

The dynamic marriage of Internet-based tools and journalism conflicts with Dietrich’s assertion (2006) that reporters are akin to buggy whip makers — facing extinction due to uselessness. The journalist determined to succeed will pick up the wireless laser mouse and update his or her Web site, just as predecessors embraced the ballpoint pen and flash photography.

References

Lu, J. (2005). The Listening Style Inventory (LSI) as an Instrument for Improving Listening Skill. Sino-US English Teaching, 2(5), 46.

Adams, J. W. (2007). U.S. Weekly Newspapers Embrace Web Sites. Newspaper Research Journal, 28(4), 42.

Dietrich, W. (2006). Goodbye Gutenberg: Finding our footing. Nieman Reports, Winter, 31-33.