Gannett embraces multimedia plan for its local newspapers

Gannett Co. is putting into practice the old maxim: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Faced with waning readership, the country's largest newspaper company says that it will embrace the Internet era of round-the-clock, multimedia news reporting. "We've never had more signals that we have an imperative to change and innovate," says Jennifer Carroll, Gannett's vice president for new media.

The McLean-based company is restructuring the newsrooms of its 89 local newspapers as "information centers." Under this model, they will produce news and information through a variety of media, including print, online, video, audio and mobile devices. "We need to keep up with the way people want to access news and information, and if we are only doing it with a print product once a day, then we are not doing our mission," says Carroll. "The information center was a very strong mission statement for us announcing the need for transformational change throughout the company."

Other changes include:
- producing Webcasts and podcasts;
- using "crowd sourcing" (online suggestions from the community) in developing investigative projects;
- reaching deep into community databases to provide "hyper-local" information and public service coverage;
- engaging in blog dialogues with readers; and
- providing customers more opportunities to customize news content.

By providing more targeted information, Gannett believes that it will be able to attract more advertisers. "I think they're really doing the right thing," says Steve Klein, an electronic journalism professor at George Mason University and a former Gannett employee. "My only concern would be … is it in time? I think these are survival efforts now."

Carroll notes that the plan has been in the works for some time. The company tested the idea for two to three years at a number of newspapers, including the Des Moines Register in Iowa and the News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla.

Judging from Web site "visits," reader response has been better than expected, Carroll says. David Ledford, editor of the Wilmington News Journal in Delaware, says in an editorial that his staff has been energized by the changes. The paper's circulation has stabilized and online readership has risen by 60 percent.