How to Save Newspapers

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. […]

You’re relaxing on the couch or in your easy chair, reading a story about … a politician ranting … a great new song … the world’s worst snorer. Wouldn’t it be nice if you didn’t have to move to see or hear a clip? Just hear or see it on your cell. Maybe the story […]

You’’ll find many wild ideas here. Ideas to inject new life and energy into newspapers.
But here’s the most revolutionary, evolutionary idea of all.  
In one swell foop, it capitalizes on many points presented here: 

Job 1: Be less boring.
News is not the answer.
It’s time to empower the renegades on staff.
Dare to brainstorm the blank page.
Really find out what readers what.

In a single section, […]

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 […]