Is your local paper slowly burning off its key asset, goodwill? Matthew Ingram takes a swing at the answer, via a pickup and close-reading of a post by media analyst Jack Shafer:
In order to avoid the accusation that they are just liquidating the goodwill of a generation of readers (and advertisers), newspaper owners need to at least have a plan for reinvesting some of those proceeds in the digital end of their business. The best-case scenario is that they re-engineer their papers the way John Paton has at Digital First Media, by putting the web first and print second — and by hiring or promoting people from within who understand the challenges and opportunities of an online media business. In my view, they also need to think less about how to erect a paywall and more about how to benefit from what Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger calls “open journalism.”