It's in the numbers

As if you needed more evidence of the disintegration of local news, I have the numbers to prove there is less local content distributed through the newspaper.

A quick check of what was published the last four months of February in the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune (a 10k circ Gannett paper in central Wisconsin where I was city editor until last month) shows a dramatic drop in content.

Bylines (stories locally written) for the month dropped from a high of 245 in 2007 to 186 this year. Pages and average number of sections are down from 2006's high of 434 and 2.88 (there was a great deal of three and four section newspapers in 2006 and all but a couple of days had more than two sections.) to 326 and 1.54 this year, which is an incredible decrease. For 24 days (the study did not include Sunday's newspaper or leap day), there were 108 fewer pages this year from 2006.

Feb.
Year / Bylines / Pages / Sections (daily average)
2009 / 186 / 326 / 1.54
2008 / 235 / 408 / 2.29
2007 / 245 / 414 / 2.29
2006 / 194 / 434 / 2.88

These numbers show how a large media company without any local ties can rip information from the hands of those in the area who need it the most. As Gannett loses money and its stock price plummets, the company cuts from the newspapers it owns.

So who's impacted by less information from the newspaper? Everyone. A democracy relies on a free press to engage citizens. People who live in the area now have less information about the local government; less information about the community.

And people are leading less informed lives.

Whoa, hoss

Time to slow down; we got a lot of work to do.

Two main initiatives over the next two months: develop some sort of communication strategy and initiate professional and informal readership surveys.

Our project is tasked with filling the voids in local information so we need to discover those voids.

So before we start talking about what we are going to do, we need to get a handle on some basic information.

That's task numero uno.

Boldness, courage and change

The Knight Foundation seminar wrapped up with talk of boldness and courage; civic catalysts and change.

I heard people talk about responsibility of news organizations and the gaps in local news that exist across the country.

And there was a lot of discussion about solutions. (Here is the Knight blog with video from the breakout sessions.)

One issue discussed by a couple of people is the lack of broadband coverage. Most of the projects funded by the Knight Foundation center on Web-based dissemination of information (here is a list of the projects). More than one person called access to broadband the divide in America's two-class system. 

I think more access to broadband internet in Wisconsin Rapids can better educate, inform, and connect the folks in the area. It is something that needs to be a priority, simple as that. (the FCC has an outreach program.)

We also have to provide more information and connect with more people. During a session this morning, the group was studying The Forum from New Hampshire. This little, home-brewed start up has filled gaps in local news coverage with volunteers: moms and dads, friends, and family. After the first year, they reported an huge increase in contested elections. Considering the number of uncontested races in Wood County, we have a lot of work to do.

There are hurdles; yet there are people willing to make the leap.

Gwen Ifill recap

Kristin Taylor of the Knight Foundation has been diligently blogging and recording video from this weeks conference. 

Check out her vid of Gwen Ifill's conference-opening remarks