Indianapolis Star

Via the Indianapolis Newspaper Guild:

The Indianapolis Star announced its “newsroom of the future.” It involves 15% fewer journalists than the newsroom of the present. The copy desk, those folks who make sure stories are readable, who catch a tremendous amount of mistakes and who generally make everything of higher quality, is being “dissolved.” We’re going to lose 5 of 11 photographers and other support staff. Some good middle managers who guide journalists young and old will be out of a job soon, too. What the paper is telling the public is that there will be 6 more reporters. And there will be. With beats like beverages, party crasher and holidays and observances. No, we are not making this up. Welcome to the future.

I can’t say that this is shocking in any way, but really?! They’re ditching the staff who PROOF READ, and are adding NUVO type of content? If that’s what they’re after, then why in the world did they ditch Metromix Indy (and the previous iterations)? I personally enjoyed Metromix, but that sort of content is not really in line with what most older people are looking for in a daily newspaper.

For the past several years, the Star seems to be trying to see what works in the “digital age”. But having proof readers, fact checkers & editors are big things that differentiate them from “bloggers” and “online media”. (Go ahead, use the comments below to point out any mistakes I’ve made in this post.)

I don’t know. It’s a hard situation all around, but I don’t think the solution is in college kids and booze. Personally I’d love to see more LOCAL, non-wire, content. More human interest pieces. More small business features, especially for those who don’t have the means to purchase expensive advertising, but could really use a boost. There are plenty of places to find news of what’s happening elsewhere, but to find local stories, not just politics, crime and sports, is hard to come by. Those of us who try to fill that void by producing content, often do so in our spare time, for little or no money, solely because it drives us and we feel that the stories should be told.

The situation the Star, and most other local media (see: recent WISH-TV news), is in is tough. Trust me, I know. I am friends with a lot of these folks, in all media formats, and have heard their side of things. While there’s no silver bullet, maybe the solution lies in going back to their roots and mixing in new sources of income. I can think of a few off the top of my head, but they’ll need to do more than take me out to crash parties to hear them.