Rieder: Safeguarding journalism's mission, and finances

CHICAGO —It's a dilemma facing so many legacy news outlets.

In an exceedingly crowded and competitive media landscape, with so many platforms to do battle on, with staffs far smaller than in the past, how should they proceed?

There are no easy answers. So it's hardly a surprise that that was one of the first topics to surface as many of the the nation's editors gathered here in an annual rite of introspection and searching for solutions.

The kickoff event at the American Society of News Editors convention, held this year in conjunction with Associated Press Media Editors, focused on "What's new/What's next? Trends every editor should know." And leadoff speaker Tom Rosenstiel, executive director of the American Press Institute, was quick to cut to the chase.

The old days when newspapers could be like the old general store, with something for everybody, are over, Rosenstiel said. So much specialized information is located in so many venues in the digital world, he pointed out. And even if newspapers wanted to pursue the fully stocked model of the past, they don't have the firepower to do it. All they'd accomplish is doing "everything a little worse," he said.

So what's the prescription, doctor? Rosenstiel says news outlets should think about what they do that makes them "indispensable" to readers, and act accordingly. "Build your brand about a few things that you can be great at," he said.

Rosenstiel stressed that he knows newspapers can't entirely abandon their efforts to be comprehensive. They can't become specialty publications. But there's no doubt that whether in print, on the desktop, on the laptop, on the phone, on wearable devices, wherever, newspapers (and all other news outlets) have to offer up material worthy of readers' time and money. And that means presenting engaging and worthwhile material. They certainly are not going to out BuzzFeed BuzzFeed at the clickbait game.

Case in point is Marty Kaiser, editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Several years ago, as the Milwaukee paper was forced to reduce its staff, Kaiser decided to protect watchdog reporting. It was too much a part of the Journal Sentinel's essence, too vital to its readers. There were other painful cuts, but the watchdogs stayed. And year after year the paper does exemplary investigative reporting.

Consultant Amy Webb, CEO of Webbmedia Group, had a concrete example of how news outlets must differentiate themselves from the rest of the hive. Webb lives in Baltimore and says she'd love to be a fan of the Sun. But she finds herself disappointed by its website.

Focusing on one Sun homefront that Webb said had only one story she couldn't find elsewhere, she said, "If there's nothing unique about the Sun's coverage, why should I go there?"

More broadly, she added, vanilla is not a flavor destined to find success on the Web, "Brands with strong points of view tend to do well."

Mike Klingensmith, publisher and CEO of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, conceded that newspapers can't do everything. But he thinks they must keep their aspirations high. "Our ambition is to be the Amazon of our news environment."

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Recalling Rosenstiel's remark earlier that news consumers tend to gravitate to local TV for traffic, weather and breaking news, Klingensmith said, "I refuse to concede anything to local TV news."

The publisher, a former Time Inc. executive who has greatly improved the fortunes of the once-sinking Star Trib, made a crucial point when he noted that local and regional newspapers have a responsibility that doesn't come in to play for sexy Web start-ups.

Maximizing the number of unique visitors is not the be-all and end-all for his operation, he said. Its mission is to serve local readers. And "that doesn't exist for BuzzFeed."

He's right. While solving journalism's massive financial puzzle is critical, so is protecting that core mission.