Puzzled by changes in the Times? See Wired.com for the source of the shakeup and where Alan English got his running shoes

Alan English
Originally uploaded by trudeau

In a Wired magazine story entitled, "To Save Themselves, US Newspapers Put Readers to Work," by Jeff Howe (07.24.07), you'll see some of the background to the changes at the Shreveport Times.

You'll learn that Gannett editors across the country were sent an unusual package a year ago. Corporate HQ sent new pairs of running shoes to each editor. The message from the Wash, DC, bosses: run hard or die.

Newspapers remain a profitable business, but circulation continues to decline in every city.

Gannett's revolution in newsgathering involves you and me, an idea called crowdsourcing. Once, members of the reporters' club held the keys to the media kingdom. Today you and I are given a ton of space.

There seems to be a new level of transparency in that virtually every staffer has a blog for background and additional ruminations. You can find them for columnists, photographers (see SptBlog's links, please) and even the editor, Alan English.

In Wired you will be told:
* Only 27 percent of young women read a daily newspaper. In Cincinnati, the site cincyMoms.com has brought a mountain of moms to the Gannett paper's web site. Thus the importance of the Redrivermoms site.
* Gannett has emerged as the first big publisher to attempt a wholesale reinvention of the newspaper. Rather than clipping jobs, Gannett is shifting staff into new positions and investing in new technologies.
* Is Gannett crowdsourcing content in order to cut staff? Wired believes it enables the publisher to expand: more Web pages, more niche publications, more ads.
* Some 40 percent of Americans will read one of nearly 1,500 daily newspapers on any given day. The average profit margin at a newspaper in 2006 was about 21 percent — roughly double that of the average Fortune 1000 company.

It's a terribly interesting time to be a journalist - or reader. Will sliding circulation be adequately offset by newspapers' web site traffic? How do you charge for web ads? How much change - and emphasis on local news - is enough? Will rabble rouser type material provide enough readership for survival? How do you raise the level of discourse in the Conversation pages? Will the audience accept reporters' videos as a viable medium? Which blogs will make the cut?

It's all sort of exciting. None of it seems easy.