How to Save Newspapers

You want to hear it? See it? And you want it now? Who says you have to hit the Web? Right there next to the newspaper story is a phone number to call for instant access to that concert clip, news conference quote, sexy celebrity photo, a joke, latest text-message forecast. Structure it like voice mail: […]

It’s a challenge and an exercise, posed by Good, a new magazine “for people who give a damn.”  You’ll find it in the March/April “Media Issue” on the back page. Couldn’t resist, of course. Since I give a damn, I gave it my best, putting together all sorts of my ideas on a single page. […]

The mission is to brainstorm ways to make papers as useful, newsy and entertaining as possible, with almost universal appeal. Impossible? Here’s an idea that for a single  feature that might manage to do all that.   
People mostly live in three worlds these days: Home. Work (or school). And car. So just think of all the high-interest subjects a dedicated Car Life Columnist might explore:
Traffic […]

Many readers crave more comic relief from the onslaughter (cq) of scary news. Humor columns and comics are traditional choices. Here’s another: Have a dedicated visual and lateral thinker whose mission is to concoct all sorts of amusing or fascinating short forms. Graphics. Lists. Charts. Quizzes. Photos. Mini-essays. For anywhere and everywhere in the paper, from business to sports to the front page. Could be […]

If on-the-fly sidebar creativity seems too scary, consider recurring boxes and briefs. Here are some possibilities that are amusing, useful or both:
How to Save 50 Bucks (At Least). Your daily reminder that “Hey, this paper is such a bargain!” Advice could be anything from bike maintenance to anger management to websites with free stuff.
Offbeat / Oddball News. Websites […]

Imagine every day your newspaper had on its front page a little box labeled “Know News.” In that box, you’d find a single timely word, term or name with a simple definition. Could be old: Arraignment. Concerto. Insurgency. Or relatively new: Stem cells. Keylogging. Podcast.
Finish with a quick teaser or page number to a story […]