Another Year Wiser… and Better

by Austin Rhodes   Last week marked the first anniversary of the return of the Metro Spirit, and if you think you have seen some significant changes since then, just you wait. Owner/publisher/frustrated brewmeister Joe White was kind enough a while back to share some fantastic news about the growth of the paper, and his future plans for the iconoclast publication, and all I can say is, “you will be amazed.” For the last few days I have been preparing remarks that I have been invited to make on the occasion of the Louis Harris Award being presented to my decades-long friend and media colleague Don Rhodes. The Harris Award has been presented almost every year since 1978 by the West Augusta Rotary Club for exemplary media achievement. One thing that unites the incredibly diverse and eclectic collection of past recipients (how about Phil Kent, Bob Smith, Harley Drew and Tom Grant for a small sample) is the commitment shown to their neighbors in all their endeavors. With Augusta media awards on my mind and the Spirit’s pending news soon to break, I have been considering the state of local media, and the way it has been, or will be affected by changes in social media and the more and more prevalent online citizen press. Augusta has always tended to lag a bit behind major markets when it comes to media trends, but if you consider what is going on in several major southern cities, it appears that the bright chaps involved in traditional media platforms are embracing the new technology and dominating those mediums just as they dominated their historical mediums. In Augusta, there is simply no website that comes close, remotely close, to the popularity of the Augusta Chronicle. When the AC established a web presence in 1996, it became one of the first major newspapers in the southeast to allow almost 100 percent access to all locally generated stories and content. Ironically, though they were pioneers in many ways, the paper’s leadership was completely clueless (right there with the rest of the print world) as to how to make money with its online presentation. AC editors also grew weary of the local TV stations accessing their original news items as soon as they were turned in and posted, and using them on the 11 p.m. news. To combat the situation, they started playing games with how and when they would post their stories. Many times they would have a great article sitting in queue for 12 hours or longer, just so TV (and everyone else for that matter) was not able to steal the content before the daily print edition hit reader’s driveways in the wee small hours of the morning. Understandable, but also quite frustrating if you are an information junkie used to getting the story as soon as a reporter could possibly get it to you. The news consumer deserved better than to be a victim of a pissing contest between media outlets. That changed as the TV stations got their own websites and started scooping the AC on stories they actually had on file hours earlier. The AC’s hand was forced, and as they decided to embrace the technology rather than run from it, they made the best management hire I have seen in recent media history with the addition of Alan English. Alan gets it and, from what I hear, if you work at the AC and don’t get it, he will drag you along kicking and screaming until you do. If there is a failure to embrace the new philosophy he will wave at you as you head out the door. But it is a difficult process, adapting the information industry’s ability to turn a profit into an internet friendly and accessible business model. Outside the areas of sports news and pornography, few have succeeded. From what I have been able to gather from the hours I spend absorbing media and information every single day, the entities that survive and thrive in these difficult times succeed because they offer something no one else can provide. Within a given metro area, that would be local news, local information and local insight… from dependable people, reliable reporters and experienced professionals. If there is accountability and transparency in delivery and content, an audience will follow. Happens every time. Anonymous contributions from the unmistakable presence of citizen generated, online news and opinion represents an enigma for the discerning news consumer. The lack of easily defined ownership, and, yes, often misguided and misrepresented agendas, relegates much of what we see to be regarded as little more than cyber-heckling. Entertaining at times, often irritating, but omnipresent in today’s news offerings. The media mergers and consolidations of recent years has tremendously undercut the staffs and, subsequently, the output of much of the traditional Fourth Estate. But as the Metro Spirit has shown us in the last year, concentrating on local content and information put together by accountable and accessible individuals is a recipe for success. Happy Birthday, Metro Spirit. The best is yet to come!You Might Also Like: