If the Grey Lady can do it…

Doom and Gloom. Gloom and Doom. Any way you cut it the Newspaper industry is in some dire straits. You’ve got calls from the muckity-mucks to change the roles of people, Journalists to Super-bloggers, massive layoffs and as I’ve said before an industry that seems to lack in creative thinking when it comes to enhancing their core product.. Well recently two papers have taken steps to monetize their products in 21st century manor and another has begun to embrace user engagement like never before. Maybe the wheels of innovation are beginning to churn and while things are certainly going to get worse before they get better it is possible that we are seeing the shape of things to come.

Recently the WahingtonPost.com has begun embedding Evri‘s content networking tool at the foot of it’s online articles. Evri is an online content to networking tool that allows readers to dig deeper into articles they have just read, exploring connections with other contextually relevant articles, blogs, images, videos, etc across the webisphere. Essentially Evriâ™s technology  is designed to enable content publishers to better engage their readers, allowing them to discover compelling content. The key here is creating a better user experience. The News Industry has the unique position of access and resources that most of those out there in the world wide web just can’t compete with so they need to find ways to enhance their core product and deliver a user experience that truly enhances their understanding of the world around them.

“How can we monetize what have right now?” a common question for sure, but lets be honest when your product offers a less than stellar user experience, you aren’t going to have any eyeballs to monetize. One answer the the news industry geniuses have bandied about is the whole pay-per-drink idea. Essentially a reader would have to pay a nominal fee, think $.99 to view an article. I mean this model has done gangbusters for the recording industry. Just look at your ipod and I’m sure the ratio of purchased to pirated music downloads leans heavily towards the purchased side of things…oh, wait, no. While itunes has had some success they’re dowload numbers are far outpaced by torrent and P2P downloads.

A little over a month ago the NY Times announced its Article Search API and just today the UK’s Guardian gave a pip-pip cheerio to the  pay-per-view model, launching its Open Platform. With two content-sharing services, Open Platform’s content API and the Data Store which will contain datasets, maintained  by Guardian editors, web developers will be able to create applications and services that pull from Guardian’s content. In return for unfettered access to the Guardian’s content, sites like The Cass Sculpture Foundation, Stamen and OpenStreetMap will carry Guardian advertisements. According to the Gaurdian’s article on the new venture the company is positioning its Open Platform as a commercial venture, requiring partners to carry its advertising as part of its terms and conditions’. In truth it seems as though the UK Newspaper is attempting create a new revenue stream in the form its very own ad network.

When we talk about the evolution of the news industry i think a lot of people envision a radicle shift but if I remember anything from 10th grade biology is that evolution takes a really long time and is built on incremental movements. The Fox News and CNNs are far cry from the days when it was declared ‘Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press’ but we must never forget what resides at the core of  the Fourth Estate; To provide society with pertinent information about the world around them so they can make informed decisions about their place within society. What the industry needs to focus on is enhancing their core product, creating new depths and transparencies in reporting and increase user engagement, otherwise the irrelevancy they fear may come to pass.