Lou Hansen is spending this academic year at Stanford, as a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow, developing a model for regional papers to produce afternoon tablet publications with exclusive content.
“The irony of online news and online publications is that more people are consuming the work that daily newspapers do, but newspapers are making less money,” Hansen says.
It is interesting that Hansen comes from The Virginian Pilot, where he is an investigative reporter. The Pilot launched an iPad equivalent of an evening paper delivering stories and features not published anywhere else in the newspaper.
I reached out to Lou Hansen to ask him what his plans are for this study at Stanford, and what we could learn from his experience with The Pilot's evening edition on the iPad.
Mario:
While it makes perfect sense for curated tablet editions, particularly in the evening (I continue to believe this is the way to go—see link below for Postmedia case study where we have done that successfully at The Ottawa Citizen), I don't see a lot of newspaper publishers enthusiastic about this proposition. Do you believe that publishers have given up on the notion of establishing evening tablet editions that can be, in addition to a new, exciting product, also a monetizing venture?
Lou:
I haven't yet taken a canvas of newspaper publishers and editors. I can say The Virginian-Pilot has continued to support and tweak Evening Pilot, even as we face the same revenue challenges as the rest of the industry.
These challenges can make it difficult to launch new products. To produce unique content for Evening Pilot, we’ve used a combination of dedicated reporters and editors with contributions from staff writers, photographers and freelancers.
Mario:
Based on your experience with the Pilot's evening tablet edition, what would you recommend to a publisher in a medium size, regional daily, trying to start one?
Lou:
Start small. Give your newsroom a chance to stretch into new responsibilities. Writers, designers, and photo-journalists have an opportunity to publish on a new platform. That means new ways to think about telling stories.
Work the newsroom culture. Despite 20 years of digital publishing, not everyone buys in to the digital-first newsroom. The tablet gives newspapers an opportunity to play to its strengths – long-form narratives, explanatory graphics, documentary photography.
Be patient and promote the app. Be willing to adjust the content and presentation.
Mario:
We know, based on focus groups in which I have participated, that readers of tablet editions like the idea of a pdf of the printed newspaper included with their tablet edition (this has worked ever so well for those folks at Berlingske, one of the national newspapers in Denmark–see link to my blog post below). Do you have evidence of that too?
Lou:
That aligns with our research, too. We get strong reviews from our readers – beautiful presentation, photos and engaging stories on this new platform. But we always want to reach more readers.
Mario:
Finally, can you tell us more about your study at Stanford? I am sure readers of my blog would like to keep up with what you are doing.
Lou:
As a John S. Knight Fellow in Journalism at Stanford, I’m studying the ways regional newspapers can better publish on the tablet. Can we make better use of the hands-on experience? Can we make it more interactive? Can we make it newsier? And finally, it has to be relevant to readers and advertisers. We need to find the right business model.
The need is clear: regional newspapers are the dominant source of news in their communities. Their health depends in part on finding new sources of revenue.
We will keep an eye on Hansen’s study at Stanford and how it may offer new ideas for the very promising evening tablet editions. I still think that it is here that newspapers can redefine their roles, incorporate tablet friendly features (as in multimedia), and attract advertisers.