The News & Record

As noted here before, the News & Record, the newspaper of record in Greensboro, North Carolina, is embarking on one of mainstream journalism's most important experiments: turning the paper into a community forum, "to build a Web presence that invites readers in to share the news they know and engage in the civic discussion," as John Robinson, the paper's editor wrote on his blog. (See online editor Lex Alexander's memo, chock-full of ideas, for more.)

After a visit today with Robinson and some staff members, plus several people from the thriving Greensboro blogging community, I'm more persuaded than ever that this is an experiment to watch -- carefully.

These folks don't claim to have all the answers. They are doing the smart thing: asking the right questions, and listening hard to what they hear. Yet I suspect I learned more from them than vice versa, because this is the first group of newspaper folks I've met who are grappling so directly with the issues.

Go, Greensboro. This is going to be complicated, but fun.

Comments

[Claiborne Booker]

Mr Gillmor --

You may be also interested to see that my local paper, the Santa Fe NEW MEXICAN, has started a blog:

santafenewmexican.blogspot.com

[Carmi Levy]

This is exciting stuff, and definitely something to watch.

It is clearly being driven by the demographic reality of today's newspapers: namely, young people don't subscribe. Because of the evolution of new media, the hallowed place that old media held in the minds of our parents (namely, that everyone by default subscribes to the newspaper) has not been replicated in today's youth. Their messaging environment is significantly different - and much more interactive - than it's ever been before.

The Greensboro initiative seems compelling for anumber of reasons, chief among them that it isn't simply a blog tacked onto the newspaper's web site. It's a cultural shift, and one which editors and publishers everywhere should be watching very closely. I know I will.

Thank you for once again zeroing in on the stuff that matters. Well done.

Carmi
http://writteninc.blogspot.com

[Lex]

And thanks again for squeezing us into your schedule, Dan. The feedback I got from participants was overwhelmingly positive.

[Sue]

I'm one of those overwhelmingly positive comments. Great job, Dan, and thanks for taking the time. I wish we had more time to talk. Well, perhaps in another medium....