Newspapers evolution: Tweaks to Opinion pages help us focus on what's important | Opinion

Laurence Reisman, Treasure Coast Newspapers
·3 min read

I figured before I’d announce some changes we’re making to our Opinion pages, I’d write about an interview I did with what in January 2003 was a fledgling website that has become THE place for journalists to go to find jobs.

Perhaps my most prescient response:

JournalismJobs.com: “What's the future for newspapers — will they always be around?”

Me: “They'll be around for a long time. I think, though, that eventually they'll be quite different. For instance, I envision newspapers with smaller news holes. More people will rely on the Internet to get stocks, sports statistics, national news, etc., so newspapers will be able to streamline their coverage in these areas; many papers already are doing this. Superior local and regional content will continue to take on more importance … ”

More: TCPalm's impactful journalism effected change on the Treasure Coast in 2021

"Me being proud of where I grew up, seeing the name Gifford up on that water tower would be a way for other people to be proud of where they're from too," said Ernie Grier, a longtime resident of the town in unincorporated Indian River County north of Vero Beach, on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. Grier has spoken to several county officials about placing the name of the town on the tower with little to no action being taken. "You can drive up and down I-95 and see the names of the various towns you pass through," Grier said. "Why not Gifford as well?"

TCPalm strives to go beyond headlines

Part of our newsroom’s mission is to provide “superior local and regional content.” You’ve seen it in our coverage of the Indian River Lagoon, growth and development, COVID-19 and other areas. We’ve tried to go beyond the headlines and dive into issues, providing context, solutions and impact.

Data show we’ve been effective.

More: TCPalm's impactful journalism effected change on the Treasure Coast in 2021

Our online audience and paid digital subscriptions continue to grow dramatically. Online, we know exactly what people read, how long they read it, how often they share it and what they’re willing to pay for.

I can’t say the same for the printed edition, though our numbers show readership of our online E-Edition — a digital replica of print that often has more pages and later news than traditional print — is growing by leaps and bounds, too.

By the way: In that same 2003 interview, I questioned the wisdom of newspapers giving away content for free.

“I've always wondered about the logic of giving away your complete newspaper online for free, then trying to get 50 cents a day for it on the news stand,” I said.

Sadly, some people are used to getting their news or “journalism” for free. I’ve often subscribed to that adage, “You get what you pay for.” Social media is free. Partisan tripe is free. This news product isn’t, but it has a set of standards and ethics we’re trained on regularly.

But back to what you pay for.

Starting Tuesday, we’ll tweak the Opinion pages to give our staff more time to focus on local journalism while having as little impact as possible in Opinion. We’ll also redouble our efforts to have greater balance on the pages.

The changes:

  • Publishing only traditional Commentary pages on Tuesdays and Fridays, instead of editorial pages. Editorial pages only will be published Wednesdays and Thursdays.

  • We will maintain four pages in Sunday Opinion Extra, but replace syndicated columns, which we paid for. We will publish fewer editorial cartoons, too.

  • Letters to the editor will publish Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, with more space devoted to them each day. I estimate we will publish close to the same number of letters over the course of a week. Ideally, we’d publish more letters, and better ones, on local issues.

These are relatively small changes, as we will continue to have Opinion content in the print newspaper five days a week. If we need to make further changes to give us more time to spend on “superior local and regional content,” we will do that.

We plan to interview candidates in some local and regional elections. We hope our interviews, insight and reporting will help you make important choices in the August and November elections.

It takes a lot of time to do that — and for our Opinion writers, Blake Fontenay, Ed Killer and I — to report and write useful columns.

Thank you for your continued readership.

This column reflects the opinion of Laurence Reisman. Contact him via email at larry.reisman@tcpalm.com, phone at 772-978-2223, Facebook.com/larryreisman or Twitter @LaurenceReisman

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: TCPalm to tweak print Opinion pages to focus more on important mission