The little paper that could
Of the many bad decisions contributing to the demise of Knight Ridder newspapers, one of the worst was forcing all the chain’s Web sites into the straitjacket of Real Cities in 1998.
Just when it should have been encouraging the 32 papers in the chain to try anything and everything to find the best way to present journalism on the new medium of the Internet, Knight Ridder corporate squelched innovation in a premature attempt to make money off the Web.
Water under the bridge, perhaps. But for a hint of what a little creativity can do, check out the Web site of the Chronicle-Telegram, a mid-sized daily in Elyria, Ohio. (Disclosure: The Chronicle was my first daily. I worked there from 1980 until 1991, when I moved to the Akron Beacon Journal, a Knight Ridder newspaper.)
Instead of the ubiquitous and criminally dull laundry list of breaking story headlines, the Chronicle’s site feature a slide show. Clicking on a photo takes you to the story.
Simple, inexpensive and effective.
There's more. Click on one the videos listed on the left of the home page.
Wait a minute, you say. Where does a local newspaper like the Chronicle-Telegram get the servers with the bandwidth capacity for video?
The Chronicle’s remarkable simple answer: Upload the videos to YouTube.
Stop and think. How many times have you read mainstream newspaper publisher and editors complaining about Google making billions by linking to their content without paying?
Instead of joining the chorus of whiners, the Chronicle is using Google, which purchased YouTube late last year, to deliver its videos -- all 253 of them, at last count.
Google gets the content and, in return, pays the cost of transmission. The newspaper reaches a wider audience at no cost.
Talk about a win-win.
Just when it should have been encouraging the 32 papers in the chain to try anything and everything to find the best way to present journalism on the new medium of the Internet, Knight Ridder corporate squelched innovation in a premature attempt to make money off the Web.
Water under the bridge, perhaps. But for a hint of what a little creativity can do, check out the Web site of the Chronicle-Telegram, a mid-sized daily in Elyria, Ohio. (Disclosure: The Chronicle was my first daily. I worked there from 1980 until 1991, when I moved to the Akron Beacon Journal, a Knight Ridder newspaper.)
Instead of the ubiquitous and criminally dull laundry list of breaking story headlines, the Chronicle’s site feature a slide show. Clicking on a photo takes you to the story.
Simple, inexpensive and effective.
There's more. Click on one the videos listed on the left of the home page.
Wait a minute, you say. Where does a local newspaper like the Chronicle-Telegram get the servers with the bandwidth capacity for video?
The Chronicle’s remarkable simple answer: Upload the videos to YouTube.
Stop and think. How many times have you read mainstream newspaper publisher and editors complaining about Google making billions by linking to their content without paying?
Instead of joining the chorus of whiners, the Chronicle is using Google, which purchased YouTube late last year, to deliver its videos -- all 253 of them, at last count.
Google gets the content and, in return, pays the cost of transmission. The newspaper reaches a wider audience at no cost.
Talk about a win-win.