I’m sure the American Press Institute Newspaper Next study will be a blueprint for something, but Susan Mernit, a former online newspaper pioneer now with Yahoo Personals, takes the newspaper industry to task for continually redrawing the drawings and says do something.
Read her advice.
Tags: newspapers | API | Susan Mernit

According to Paidcontent.org, some of the suggestions in the “Next” report for what newspapers should do include:

• Local information websites and local affiliate sites, such as databases of upmystreet-type info, rateable listings of restaurants and local services and chat groups.
• Special niche editions for commuters, tourists, parents, seniors, teenagers and entertainment and sports fans.
• Joint online and print ad sales teams and standardised pricing and delivery for online ads.
• Think like a disrupter and experiment with a portfolio of ventures, even if that means experimenting with services removed from traditional news.

Sounds reasonable, but:

“Isn’t this report the embodiment of the problem online newspaper businesses face–that there’s way more talk than there is action?”

–Susan Mernit
There’s a clarion call in here somewhere.