Talk Back Newspapers: The Santa Fe New Mexican Gets It Right...

The Santa Fe New Mexican, the oldest newspaper in the West, is anything but stodgy.  It is really serving the community by taking news and information into a new level of two-way interaction.

"...With rare exceptions, the newspaper industry is avoiding this personal-page and social-networking trend," writes Steve Outing in Home, Home on the Web: Giving the Audience Some "Space" of Their Own,  in the 4/25 edition of Editor and Publisher online.  He asks if the concept remains too foreign for news people's sensibilities and suggests that it is time to move past that outdated reaction.  Outing thinks newspapers should "invite readers in."  Well. Harrumph, harrumph.  Some newspapers have been doing just that.

The Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper  Web Editor Stefan Dill has for several years been very innovative in making the Santa Fe New Mexican online site a dialogue.  If you click here,  for example, you will see that every story has a link for the full story and a listing regarding the commentary from readers -- how many comments and the time the last comment was posted.  There is two-way dialogue going on at this paper! It hasn't just "happened." 

J.D. Lasica, one of the leaders of the new media and open, democratic, grassroots media, had an article, Giving People a home on the Web,  pointing to the Editor and Publisher article mentioned above.   Dill has been a follower of J.D. Lasica and Dan Gillmore.  Gillmore wrote the book, We the Media,  in 2004 on the trends of the citizen-as-journalist and the social level of news and information that was changing traditional mainstream media (MSM).

It is all about participatory journalism and the Santa Fe, New Mexico newspaper has been "getting it" for a long time in netsphere time (at least 3 years for commentary and forums for interaction).  Dill says that listening to the audience is important as it is a key to determining the "news that matters."  He listens to his audience by continually monitoring the comments, determining the level of engagement for stories (who reads/clicks what and also which stories generate comments, not just readership) and is quick to respond in getting responses up.  He moderates -- a role he feels is very vital -- but he edits out very few comments.

Making the newspaper a dialogue and bringing a conversation along has as much to do about being responsive and listening than it does about "just making a space" for interaction. The fact that the online site for the Santa Fe New Mexican makes a front page display of reader interaction is in itself a novelty.  Dill not only hears what readers think is important, but he helps get the feedback moved up through the newspaper hierarchy, helping the agenda-setters at the newspaper to determine what readers are interested in knowing.  It makes the Santa Fe New Mexican journalists more relevant to their audience.

"Reporters are trained to follow-up and use the comments," Dill says.  "The public is the harshest critic out there and their criticism keeps the reporters honest, on their toes, makes them more responsive and inspires them to do more follow-up."

Dill believes that the close to real-time commentary serves as a mechanism to close the gap between top-down information and information, news, feedback and opinion from the grassroots up.

"In some ways it is no more complicated than Tom Sawyer getting Huck Finn to whitewash the fence," Dill said.  It is harnessing the wisdom of the readers.   We had a minor debate about whether it was Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn who smartly harnessed the energy of the other but the point is -- readers can and will make corrections to get the facts straight. 

This is the second in a MotherPie series taking a micro-look at the macro issue of changes in print newspapers with new media opportunities focusing on way that the Santa Fe New Mexican online presence has been cutting the trail in its efforts to be interactive and relevant to its audience.

Part I:  Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper - New Media: a MSM Tool to "Close the Gap"...