Deadwood

Optimistic Thoughts on the Tabloid Trib

The MSM fear whispered in the hallowed halls of Tribune Tower since 2003 has finally come true: On Monday the great Chicago Tribune will be reduced to the RedEye.

Wait, is that supposed to be bad? RedEye is, after all, one of the few print products in the country with a growing rate base and increased sales revenue. Whenever I visit the windy city, there’s no car on the Red Line “L” trains that isn’t cluttered with its valuable pass-along pages.

Before buying into the hysteria that Sam Zell has pressed the fast forward button on the demise of journalistic grit, I’d like to argue what I’ve been pointing out to naysayers about my former employer for the past six years. The tabloid edition of the Trib, like the RedEye before it, is a niche publication designed to engage consumers who don’t identify with the existing product. You can still get the Tribune broadsheet if you insist on consuming news in the stone age. Sam has hacked the jobs of some of my best friends but at least he’s providing an alternative to paralysis, even if there is some grumbling in Winnetka, Oak Park and Evanston from the city’s cultural elite. (Looks like an opportune time for the folks at the Reader to swoop in and own the high-brow content in town.)

Likewise, there was never a definitive plot to jump from “red” to “blue,” as we lovingly refer to RedEye and the Trib. Sure, things were bound to get purple at some point, but all great experiments yield a learning curve and the missions of the two newspapers could not be more drastically different. I can personally attest that Jane Hirt and Joe Knowles, RedEye’s founding editors who are now blue big shots, are two of the most competent, passionate MSM journalists you’ll ever encounter. They’ve dedicated entire years of their lives to being part of the solution that will move this essential industry forward through trying times. They bleed that newspaper, and they are acutely aware of what’s at stake. They will be excellent leaders as this and other innovations are rolled out.

I support my former colleagues fully and wish them the best of luck. In fact, I’m getting a little belligerent the more I read histrionic reports about the collapse of the newspaper industry. 1) It’s no shock. 2) Something more robust is going to replace the status quo and establish a more interactive and engaging democracy, which should be the goal of all journalists. And 3) Each major move, such as taking the Seattle P-I online only, means we’re a step closer to realizing the improvements.

We’ll be talking about this a bit tomorrow on Wilshire & Washington, when Eat Sleep Publish‘s Jason Preston joins Teresa and I at 7:30am PST. I also recommend checking out Clay Shirky’s ’09 predictions for news orgs if you haven’t seen it yet.

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