$1.95 and a dream

     I’ve been asking my Gannett friends lately (those still in the box, those now breathing fresh air) what they think will happen to newspapers.
     After today’s bleak showing on Wall Street ($1.95 a share for GCI stock — a year ago it was $33), it seems evident that the printed newspaper is mortally wounded and only Jack Bauer could save it at this point.
     Time magazine published an article today in which it listed “The 10 Most Endangered Newspapers in America.” They include:

• The Philadelphia Daily News.
• The Minneapolis Star Tribune
• The Miami Herald
• The Detroit News
• The Boston Globe
• The San Francisco Chronicle
• The Chicago Sun Times
• NY Daily News
• The Fort Worth Star Telegram
• The Cleveland Plain Dealer

     Pretty depressing list, eh? The thought that the brilliant Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts (and others) might be silenced by this industry free-fall makes me want to cry. So … what’s the alternative?
     Instead of standing there like deer in the headlights, journalists nationwide should band together at this moment to forge their destiny. Why wait for it to find us? Can’t we do something proactive RIGHT NOW?
     We’ll need thinkers who have the visionary mindset of an Aldous Huxley or Ray Bradbury, plus those who can figure a way to steer journalism back toward focusing on readers, not advertisers, yet still generate money. How can we deliver news to those who need it most, yet might not be able to afford computer access?
     Although the lack of a job would prohibit some of us from gathering in person, why not hold a virtual summit? Enough of us are connected through user groups or facebook or great blogs such as Jim Hopkins’ Gannett Blog. It would be easy enough for us to get out the word.
     Although the vehicle of delivery may be altered forever, journalism can be assured that one thing remains constant: in a free society such as ours, it must always matter. 
     Put on your thinking caps, journos… how do we dig ourselves out of this mess? (Yes, that was an intentional gratuitous DIG …)