I’d written something about this… and then sat on it. Ha!

In any case, here’s what I had to say about it, with a little different approach given that I’m an out-of-state Husker fan consistently looking for news:

A couple of weeks ago, Patrick Reusse of the Minneapolis Star Tribune had this to say about newspapers:

And don’t kid yourself:
A doesn’t-cost-a-nickel, stand-alone Internet site is not going to have the quality of resources the Star Tribune has mustered for a rich sports section that lands on a doorstep.

Here’s Reusse’s problem. The Minneapolis Star Tribune isn’t going to die because of the Internet. It’s going to die because as a newspaper it’s a piece of crap. Papers like the Strib have had a monopoly on news for a long time. Now they don’t. When you’re a monopoly you can suck at what you do and still get by. I’ve been up here for 20 years now and about 18 of those years have been living without the Strib. I don’t feel I’ve missed anything and that’s a problem for them more than me.

Now, consider the two biggest newspapers in Nebraska, the Omaha World Herald and Lincoln Journal-Star. They’re symbolic of what’s going on with newspapers. The LJS has embraced the Internet, and their online site for Husker news, Husker Extra, is the finest resource of Husker news on the Internet. They have a blog. They do videocasts. They’ve effectively cut off the advance of the army of Husker bloggers by doing so (damn them). Bottom line – they’re doing a damned good job because of instead of seeing the Internet as some bogeyman that would kill their business model they embraced it and did a better job than everyone else around. It’s basic Tom Peters "Thriving On Chaos" stuff – "If you don’t find a way to obsolete yourself, someone else will".

By comparison, the OWH restricts some of their content to their print version essentially cutting off any revenue that might be gained from those of us living outside the state hungry for more Husker news.

Want irony? Many of those years I didn’t subscribe to the local monopoly the Strib, I subscribed to the Omaha World Herald’s special Husker subscription for fans who lived out of state. Their customer service was excellent. One year I moved and forgot tell to them, called and a woman said "Yeah, Jon, we have your newspapers here for you. Where do you want me to send them?" I about fell over and after I told her my new address, the OWH delivered my errant newspapers in a couple days, a half-season’s full of reading. It was like an early Christmas.

Fast forward a few years and it’s like the OWH is lost. It’s like the internet just appeared out of no where and they weren’t sure what to do with it. I know organizations like that. They tend to be full of leaders who hire people around them who tell them what they want to hear. They don’t know that armies are advancing until they’re at the gate… hey, maybe that’s a good idea for a book.

You could diatribe about how far behind the OWH is but that would be pointless. What it is is sad. The OWH was a great contributor to my Husker love as a child. Every Sunday during football season what I wanted to see was the game photos the OWH that diagrammed a play. maybe I was six, seven years old. I couldn’t read the sports page but I could understand the pictures. Now the OWH is barely on the radar for those of us living out of state because they’ve determined their market is the Omaha area. How 80s of you.

Go around the internet, visiting other college-related sports sites and you’ll find they link to Husker Extra. There isn’t one of them that links to the OWH. Why? Respect. Respect for the job that the guys at the LJS are doing. OWH gets nothing not because their writers are outdated (they are) or they’re uninteresting (they are), but because no one respects them anymore. Like the Strib, the OWH won’t die because it’s a monopoly. But it won’t be the thing that a six year old kid somewhere looks forward to on Sunday morning anymore. That’s sad.

90% of everything in the world is crap. That includes newspapers, TV, radio, blogs, and websites. Like the man said, respect is the major commodity of media. More respect = better readership/viewership.

of blogs and newspapers…..

The Iowa blog ‘Black Heart Gold Pants’ received a cease and desist letter from the Des Moines Register after using the Register’s own embed codes to embed a video of the flooding in Iowa and asking people to donate to the Red Cross.

Given that the Des Moines Register has threatened legal action, I don’t think I’ll be linking to anything they have to say any more.

Someone want to explain this one in a logical manner?

I was meaning to jump in on the point/counterpoint over at BRN, but it kind of slipped through the cracks and I never got around to it and sort of missed the boat there…
So I wanted to include my 2 cents here this time around. I think the main point that I hear come up over and over is “access” and whether or not bloggers are worthy to be considered relevant, considering their lack thereof. To me, the matter of access means very little…as generally speaking, coaches, press and fans alike have equal access when it really matters—the game. We are all equally free to witness and express our observations about the games themselves. As bloggers, that’s really the only access that counts…the rest is just filler. Sure, a nice feature story on one of the coaches requires access and gives a little slice of life that the rest of us aren’t privy to. But does it really matter in the end when it comes game time? Personally, I judge the coaches by the product they are responsible for placing on the field on Saturday. I really couldn’t care less whether or not they take their kids to soccer practice or help their wives with the cooking or go to church on Sunday. Consider…all of the feel-goodness that comes from a Tuesday profile on a second-team DB and the struggles he faced on his path to NU doesn’t amount to a hill of beans if he’s inserted into a game for an injured starter the following Saturday and gets toasted for three scores. I’m still gonna hate his guts and curse his name, in spite of the fact that I read all about what a great kid he is four days earlier…And even if I hadn’t read the feelgoodery-laced feature profile, I’d still be ecstatic if he made the game-saving interception. But the bottom line is that I’d still probably know a good bit about his background story anyway, based on the extensive time I spend on various internet sources that provide the same…well in advance of any MSM newspaper feature.

Maybe it’s just me who feels this way, but the game(s) should still count first and foremost…and we all have equal access to formulate our opinions based on the outcome(s) thereof. The internet is rightfully listed among Thomas Friedman’s “flatteners” that has served to level the field of, in this case, our ability to communicate and share opinions of the sports and teams that we love as fans. The media’s old guard seems split into camps that are
a-greatly threatened by this fact (mostly it seems by the fact that the floodgates have opened and they are no longer the lone gatekeepers of information.)
or
b-willing to embrace and incorporate this latest means of conveyance to their information delivery arsenal. (ESPN.com, Sportingnews.com, the LJS and the like)
A good example of insight into the mentality of those in the first group…I just had to chuckle when Tom Shatel made a big stink about losing his “access” a while back. Having to wait at the reception desk for a media guide like a regular schnook seemed to unnerve him so. This is the logic that those of Shatel’s ilk cling to: “we’re important”, “we’ve got the access” and furthermore, “our insight means more because of our access…” And in the temper tantrum that Shatel threw in his column following this indignity, he pretty well defined how the old-media dinosaurs feel as though they are somehow deserving and entitled to such access. You notice how often they bring their “access” up in the discussion of the relevance of blogs? It’s usually about the first thing out of their mouths. But when you think about it (and this point has been made before) all their access really does is enable them to repeat any given story that’s been spoon-fed to them. Here’s a tip, Tom…nobody cares anymore about your tired writeups regarding what you overheard at the Big Red Breakfast three days ago—mostly because we’ve all read the same thing from a dozen-or-so internet sources whose access currently appears to amount to as much as yours already. You can either embrace this fact, or get left in the dust…the choice is yours. Why should I care about “giving you the headset” (sic) when there are about 5 million fans on the internet who are far more knowledgeable of the game and more engaging, entertaining and articulate in their writing than you? Beats me!? That’s probably why it stands to reason that I’ve not given a hoot about what Tom Shatel has had to say for about the last 10 years or so. When he was the only source of information and opinion, he mattered (albeit, not much)...but those days are about as old as Back-to-Back crystal footballs being awarded with fireworks shooting over Memorial Stadium.

Corn Blight was right on the money in noting the comparable difference between the OWH and LJS online presence. It should come as no surprise that Lee Enterprises (ownership group of LJS) lists among their website mission statement…

Our company is focused on six key operating priorities:
Grow revenue creatively and rapidly
Deliver strong local news and information
Accelerate our online innovation
Continue expanding our audiences
Nurture employee development and achievement
Exercise careful cost control

Conversely, the OWH’s “Mission and Values” section includes…

To be the news and information provider of choice for individuals and businesses in the Midlands. For our customers, we will:
Be a courageous, independent newspaper that educates readers and serves as a
center for public policy debate. Truth, accuracy, clarity, fairness and timliness are our
objectives.
Listen carefully to understand our customers’ needs and expectations.
Take immediate action to remedy our mistakes.

Not a lot of vision toward the future of their industry expressed there…at least not for what the vast majority of folks view as a given for the future of their industry. But hey, they’re gonna be courageous, so they’ve got that at least…

Personally, my background gives me an altogether different slant in looking at this whole debate and a quite unique one, in my mind. But I think I’ve said plenty and will save that for a diary entry for another day (or fanpost…I’m still catching up on all the changes around here!)
Good topic and discussion…I also wanted to mention that I can also relate to Corn Blight’s memories of digging into the Sunday WH sports section as a young boy. It is a shame that those days are but a fuzzy memory…but time marches on, I guess.
Thanks to Mike & all!