The future of news (part 342)

In about six months or so, we will know a lot more about the future of news. By that time there should be early returns from some of the experiments that are getting under way in the news biz.

From Washington comes news that the Web startup headed by two former Washington Post political reporters has a new name and some new hires. The new hires include Roger Simon, a very amusing and insightful political reporter who passed through the newsroom at The Baltimore Sun when I was there a couple of decades ago. I didn't know him personally, but I remember that many of his columns were laugh-out-loud funny even when they were taking on serious topics.

The new name for the Web site is "thepolitico.com." And the question I have is whether there are enough people with enough interest in politics to keep the site going. I doubt it.

In my view political coverage is the core of journalism. But it is only the core, and not enough to build an audience around. That's one of the reasons why newspapers have diversified into so many other things, froms sports to comics to cooking to nightlife, etc. A great newspaper is great in part because it attracts readers for a few of these things and then shifts their attention to others.

At thepolitico, the test that will be carried out over the next six months or so is whether a Web site devoted primarily to politics can attract enough readers and advertisers to sustain itself. Can the contributors to the site make politics interesting enough (and simple enough) for ordinary readers to get hooked?

As I said, I am skeptical. On the other hand, there are enormous sums of money at stake in Washington, and traditional political reporting does not do a very good job of illuminating this situation. If thepolitico becomes a truly authoritative source of exclusive insights about politics, then I can imagine a scenario where it becomes the place to be for corporations and other interest groups that want to use the site to speak to the political elite. In that case, there could be a goodly flow of advertising.

But the problem with that scenario is that special interest groups would prefer to do their speaking out of the public limelight, and so I'm not sure that will pan out.

It's also possible that thepolitico will find a way to generate exclusive information from database analysis that it could sell to subscribers, using the Web site, and newspaper and TV appearances mostly for promotional purposes. Could happen. But I remain doubtful.

One extremely important advantage for thepolitico is that it will not be saddled with the legacy costs of print distribution. At the same time, it will face an infinite number of competitors on the Web.

Meanwhile back in Oshkosh, the Northwestern has revealed the names of those competing to become community columnists. They are:

Mary O. Ross

Kelly Schwegl – former Merrill Middle School principal, active Propel Oshkosh member

Dani Stolley – Also of Propel; UWO Foundation employee

Courtney Lasky – Also of Propel

Kevin McGee – UWO economy professor and former Oshkosh Common Councilor.

Wendy Falk – A North High School English teacher and advisor of the NorthStar, the student newspaper; participant in Northwestern forums.

Mary Hiles – worked as a scriptwriter for American Family Insurance and writer/editor at UW-Madison's Center for Health Sciences, 17 years was director of publications for UW-Oshkosh, wrote the Oshkosh Sesquicentennial Musical: "The Fountain of Life," has a PH.D. in literature/Renaissance drama…

Robert Meyer– A regular letter writer

Karl Stein – Omro resident

David Hayford – former finance column writer for the Business News of Green Bay; regular letter to the editor contributor.

Nancy Leipzig – V.P. of business development for Clarity Care.

Bob Knudsen –Manager of The Magnet, former college radio show host

Donna Lohry – A Winnebago County Board supervisor

Marc White – A drum teacher/muscian from Oshkosh; regular letter to the editor contributor and participant in Northwestern forums

John Lemberger – UW O professor in the college of education and human services; regular letter to the editor contributor.

Polly Briley – former columnist, political activist, former Assembly candidate.

No knock on any of these folks, but why would you pay money to read something that you could hear from them over a beer at your favorite local eatery? (Of course, many people are not going to pay money to read their columns, because they will be freely available on the Web.)

And what will make their columns anything more than extended letters to the editor?

Where will the Northwestern's new-found determination to be "hyperlocal" take us?

We'll know more in six months.