Masa depan koran

(Laporan berikut ini adalah bagian dari wacana lama yang berkembang dari pertemuan ke pertemuan pimpinan media massa internasional. Tapi tetap saja laporan seperti ini masih diupload, sekedar untuk mengingatkan kembali betapa penting inovasi yang harus dilakukan surat kabar. Apalagi, Internet sudah hadir di hadapan kita. Yang menarik, kita disadarkan untuk mulai berpikir "kita punya website yang kebetulan punya koran, bukan sebaliknya, kita punya koran yang juga punya website." Menarik bukan?)


Experts: Innovation key to newspapers' survival
By DOUG MELLGREN

GOTEBORG, Sweden - Good journalism, innovation and reader interaction are key to the survival of newspaper companies in the new media world of cyberspace, said experts at the World Newspaper Congress on Wednesday.
"Our industry survives by producing good journalism," said Juan Antonio Giner, a founding partner in the Innovation International Media Consulting group, which presented its 10th annual report on innovation in newspapers to the meeting.
"I'm not worried about the future. I'm worried about the present," he told delegates, noting the slowness of some newspapers to adopt to change. However, he also warned about rushing into new designs and formats, citing examples of what he called "crimes against journalism."
"I am very worried about the future of journalism ... that is the soul of the industry," he said, adding that "great stories" remain newspapers' strongest assets, whether print or digital.
The 80-page report said newspapers must adapt to the new media of Internet, mobile phones and other wireless devices and communicate with readers immediately if they hope to survive. A second report, called "Trends in the Newsroom 2008," was presented separately and reached many of the same conclusions.
"Innovate or die," said Juan Senor, also of Innovation. "We must stop thinking of ourselves as wonderful newspapers that happen to have Web sites. We must start thinking that we are beautiful Web sites that happen to have wonderful newspapers."
During his talk, Giner presented examples of newspapers that he said were so caught up in their new designs that they overlooked basic journalism. In one example, he showed the newly redesigned front page of a newspaper that cut out the key element of a photo to make it fit the space allotted.
Try wild ideas
His advice to newspapers struggling to survive includes: try wild ideas, be different, shake things up, make readers smile, be local, integrate print and digital, hire talent, produce great stories, nurture good journalism and have good business management.
Senor said the first step is for editors and reporters to change their way of thinking to include print, Internet editions, mobile phone updates, and related television and radio services.
He said adapting means integrating traditional print reporting with new media, such as by having a multimedia editor in charge rather than one for print and another for digital.
With readers expecting to be heard, through blogs or e-mails, newspapers have to listen. One way to do so, he said, is by setting up a community desk that readers can exchange information with.
The three-day congress, ending Wednesday, brought together about 1,800 members of the World Association of Newspapers. They met in the Swedish city of Goteborg.