WSJ's Grueskin: Papers must 'figure out who your readers ought to be'
Bill Grueskin, Managing Editor of the Wall Street Journal Online, tells Jay Rosen that the key to newspapers' future is figuring out how to balance online offerings with the great work of the print reporters.
Any newspaper Web site that limits itself to repurposing content from the paper is in serious trouble. Any newspaper site that fails to recognize the value of the paper's brand and content is in serious trouble. So there you have it. I'm firmly and unequivocally ambivalent about this.
The first step is, you have to figure out who your readers ought to be. Not who your readers are; anyone can figure out, in rough terms, who's reading your site. But who should be reading your site, and how should they be reading it?
....They key is figuring out content that connects with readers, that breaks some conventions, that is clearly on top of the news cycle, yet is still congruent with the kind of journalism the mother ship is doing. It’s a constant challenge and no one has fully figured it out. But the trends show that some of us are getting closer.
Apr 14, 2005 | E-MAIL | SAVE | PRINT | PERMALINK | DISCUSS(1)
Discussion
1 comments about 'WSJ's Grueskin: Papers must 'figure out who your readers ought to be''WHAT I THINK PEOPLE WANT BEING AN OUTSIDER TO JOURNALISM IS LESS CENSORSHIP OF MATERIAL AND INFORMATION THAT IS TO THE POINT AND IN SOME CASES RISKE BUT DEFINITELY PROVIDING AN INSIGHTFUL PERSPECTIVE.
THE QUESTION IS HOW TO MAKE THE CONTENT STICKY FOR USERS AND I GUESS H0W TO GET THE USERS THAT YOU WOULD LIKE.
I JUST CAN'T SEE THAT THE AVERAGE GUY WHO BUYS A HARD COPY NEWSPAPER IS GOING TO BE ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT READING THE SAME INFO OR SIMILAR ONLINE- I REALLY BELIEVE THAT ONLINE CLIENTELE ARE QUITE A DIFFERENT BREED.
THE KEY IS 'BREAKING SOME CONVENTIONS' IN ORDER TO GET ONLINE USERS HOOKED WITH THE MEDIUM AND COMING BACK FOR MORE.
Posted by Martinette at April 15, 2005 3:38 AM
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