The Christian Science Monitor has an intriguing story about a newspaper in Chile with a new approach:
[…]it’s a revolution in journalism, a reader-driven product that reflects the changing values and interests of a postdictatorship public that grew up on a diet of establishment news and now wants more. Or, as some say – because of the often low-brow content – less.
This revolution has occurred, says the paper’s publisher Augustine Edwards, thanks to his decision to listen to “the people.” Three years ago, under Mr. Edwards’s guidance, LUN installed a system whereby all clicks onto its website (www.lun.com) were recorded for all in the newsroom to see. Those clicks – and the changing tastes and desires they represent – drive the entire print content of LUN. If a certain story gets a lot of clicks, for example, that is a signal to Edwards and his team that the story should be followed up, and similar ones should be sought for the next day. If a story gets only a few clicks, it is killed. The system offers a direct barometer of public opinion, much like the TV rating system – but unique to print media.
[snip]
None of the LUN correspondents have news beats anymore, rather, they compete one against the other. Edwards says he will start financial incentives, with salaries reflecting the monthly clicks each reporter accrues. Editors, he adds, will work more as coaches than bosses. “I want my correspondents to be writing for the people,” he stresses. “Not for me, or their editors, or the bureaucrats who put out press releases.”
Well, that’s different! blogHOUSTON is very interested in the Chronicle improving the quality of its content, but until that happens, this idea holds some promise.
Just imagine how this would change the face of the Chronicle, if a reporter’s worth was based on the popularity of what he or she wrote: the Big Three Dinosaurs — Cragg Hines, Clay Robison and Rick Casey — could all retire; MeMo could move back to her beloved Northeast; Lucas Wall could start a travel blog; and Ken Hoffman would become the Chronicle‘s editor-in-chief!
