My first thought on this idea of receiving a million dollars (or whatever arbitrary amount I received) to create a newspaper for a small town is to just take the money and run. But somehow I think that doesn't count. So my next thought is "The Yadkin Ripple." And then, as is necessary, I cringe a bit. But honestly, I just checked out their website and it doesn't look so bad. However, I want to put something else out there.
This "something else" is called Yadkin View. I'm slightly ashamed to even link it to my blog. In the "Your View" section, the extremely conservative people argue with the few liberal people in the county. About 98 percent of the posts are misspelled and prejudice. It's ignorant, it's gross and it's appalling. But it's one of the best ways to communicate in Yadkin County. I in no way endorse such a site. Yet I think they have something that a lot of newspaper sites are lacking. And if I were given a million dollars to create a newspaper, I would have to find a way to combine the two ideas.
Before I begin, I just need to say forget print. Print is fine and all, but we can use it in the same way we've used it for a hundred years and be fine. For small towns, you can't just get rid of the print stuff. People eat it up. But I want to focus on online media.
My idea is to incorporate this Yadkin Ripple and Yadkin View into one thing. We need knowledgeable journalists to start the discussions. Otherwise posts end up completely off-topic and full of things that most people don't want to read. Journalists will work in the same way they work for print news, but the stories might vary a little. For one, obviously, online news can be much more up-to-date. I find that often local papers don't utilize their websites as much as they could - breaking news could go online, but often it sits on a desk until the next paper is produced and is then put online.
Once these stories are published online, a discussion needs to be encouraged. People publish so freely to Yadkin View, but there are few comments on articles from The Yadkin Ripple. Why is that? I think people may feel intimidated by the newspaper's website. It seems professional, whereas Yadkin View looks like something where anyone can post. I'm not sure how to make a local newspaper's site look more friendly and inviting. Perhaps the best thing is to just spread the word through the print edition and by word of mouth. Those old people sitting at Bojangle's might like to talk about the idea of also being able to communicate about the news online. I think it's unlikely, but you never know.
I have just a quick word about the reading ... I want to keep this blog readable, so I don't want it getting too long. First, I like the idea of repurposing news for online. Taking news straight from the newspaper and posting it on the website isn't working. People want to see something different, something more - otherwise why would they bother with a website? My main idea is that online news is fresher, especially for local newspapers that may only publish two or three times a week.
Also, I think computer programmers should definitely be hired in newsroom. Of course I can learn programming, but my skill is in writing. If a company hires me to do both, they're losing out on someone who may be a great programmer but just can't write. We all have our specialties. People who are programmers know how to work with websites to make people visit them. I don't. I understand that newspapers don't have the funds they once did, but maybe sucking it up and hiring a programmer would bring in more money.
I like the idea of making abstract ideas concrete. That's probably why this class will actually be beneficial. We're going to make prototypes, and we're going to fail. And maybe sometimes we'll succeed. We can sit here and talk about what we should do all day - but until we actually try it, how will we know if it works?
Finally, I just want to point out a mistake. The last blog I read talked about API's. I do happen to know what API's are, but I wasn't positive so I looked it up. I have to imagine that I'm not the only person who wasn't sure. Bloggers, especially those who write for news organizations, need to stop using language and abbreviations that not everyone is familiar with. I hate when people do that because then I feel like an idiot. And maybe I am, but in this case, I have a good feeling that API was typed into Google more than once while people were reading that blog.
Those are my thoughts on journalism in small towns and the blogs we read. I'd like to talk about these thoughts even more, but in the interest of everyone reading right now, I'm going to cut myself short. I'm sure we'll discuss in class, anyway.
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