Economy, accountability and social well being priorities for 2009

Our team got together yesterday to talk about our future, the vision for how and what we will cover in the next year. Not that you care about the logistics, perhaps, but several of the editors brought in food; the concept was a family-style conversation.
The food was good. The conversation was better.
We do something like this each year; small groups brainstorm everything from structure to content ideas. This year, given the changes we face, the challenges are greater, but the opportunities are as well.
We spent very little time looking back at what we were. The economy has affected our business and will continue to do so, we expect, for the foreseeable future. There are – and will be – a lot of things we cannot control.
So we’re determined to control what we can, starting with the journalism we do. With fewer people, we won't be able to do as many stories and get everywhere to all things. It might be for some things we have to rely more on reader-submitted content to get a photograph or story about a community event.
There is no doubt that the daily printed newspaper is thin and will get thinner until the economy improves and advertising revenue picks up. So it’s important that we make the most efficient use of what we have. We want to put our reporting staff on impactful stories that require depth and context. That’s the vision and our future. Our challenge and opportunity is to shape the change that is coming to journalism.
Nice words. Here’s what they mean for us: We are restructuring what we do and how we do it around some centralized and critical topics. That's where the bulk our our reporters and editors' time will be spent. Whether in print or digitally, we think these are the things most important to our readers:
--The economy.
-- Government accountability and taxes.
-- Social well being, including public health and the environment.
-- Public safety.
-- Children and families.
-- Higher education.
-- Communities and neighborhoods.
-- Arts and culture/entertainment.
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