Why do newspapers make it so difficult to give them news?
We’ve seen plenty of news lately about print media scaling back, including the Christian Science Monitor and U.S. News and World Report ending their print editions to “focus on the web.”
Considering how much newsrooms are underfunded, understaffed and underutilized at many newspapers these days, it’s always surprising to me that they make delivering news or news tips so difficult.
Part of my day job is putting out news announcements to various media in a three-state area. Therefore, I spend a lot of time trying to contact reporters and editors at newspapers.
The newspaper industry in particular has been struggling with the growth of online news, blogging, microblogging and other web activities cutting into their hold on readers’ attention spans.
If they want to compete in this brave new online world, however, they need to embrace it fully by allowing a conversation and not just producing a one-way stream of information.
Newspaper web sites are notorious for making their “Contact Us” links tiny and difficult to find. They often don’t make direct contact with reporters easy by providing email links from bylines. They provide a “comments” section on articles, but those are essentially unmonitored tirades that turn into vitriolic slams on other comments within the first half dozen posts.
In the summer of 2007, a review by the Bivings Report of the top 100 newspapers, based on circulation, resulted in a Top 10 list. So there are some examples of newspapers doing things better than others. Nevertheless, the majority of sites I visit are more frustrating than helpful. 
Are your top online news sites even run by newspapers? What are the newspaper sites you frequent and why? Are they successful in having you as a visitor simply because they carry your local news, or because they finally figured out that a big part of the Internet is interaction?
Nominate your favorites. I’ll check them out and start cataloguing some great examples.
Article Tags: Christian Science Monitor | news websites | newspapers | U.S. News & World Report
Filed under: Digital Media, Graphic design, Interactive, Interactive design, News article, Technology
Do you use news search engine submission?
Ari, you have a great observation on the difficulties of getting in contact with reporters. I’m sure many of them like it that way — they want to write, not be bothered by pesky readers. As a result, readers are going place where they can more easily engage with the writer and the audience: blogs, forums and Facebook.
My favorite sites are the Spartan sports sections of the Detroit News, Detroit Free Press and the Lansing State Journal. Partly, it’s because I’m passionate about Spartan football and basketball, but also because these papers provide ample opportunities for fan feedback — much of which is surprisingly well informed. Maybe that’s a clue for the rest of the newspaper coverage: focus not just on reporting but also on facilitating reader feedback and collaboration.
I don’t visit newspaper sites very often. WSJ and NYT on occasion for tech news. I consume my news through RSS feeds, google news alerts, etc. That makes the source of my news, publications, blogs, video and whatever else is being pulled in.
While I don’t use it frequently, the South Bend Tribune is online friendly when it comes to their contact information. One click off the home page gets you to a list where you can choose from the main number, breaking news number, e-mail for a department, e-mail for a specific person or a phone number directory. Easy to find, easy to use.
On the other hand, one of the worst offenders is MLIVe and all the papers that are part of that. Try finding a contact number or email for someone at the GR Press or Bay City Times. It might take you a half hour to locate the page you need, and even then, the numbers or e-mail you need might not be listed. Very user unfriendly.