In a July 24, 2007 article on the Wired Magazine website, Jeff Howe writes that while revenue at Gannett news operations is generally down, web traffic is steadily climbing - and more traffic means more potential ad revenue. Howe writes that Gannett is speeding ahead with reforms that may save local news-gathering operations but which might, in the process, leave these operations bearing little resemblance to yesterday's newspapers. Howe writes:...In case you missed the headlines , the ink-on-paper daily news business is in the middle of a long, painful, and seemingly irreversible decline. Newspaper circulation has dropped 30 percent since 1985 — and fewer readers means lower ad rates. That translates into diminished profits, falling stock prices, and disgruntled investors. In the past year, true panic has begun to set in. Publishers have been making deep cuts in newsroom staffs, and some of the industry's gold-plated brands — Knight Ridder and the Tribune Company — have been sold off at fire-sale prices. Gannett's execs were painfully aware of the crisis. [Sometime in early to mid 2005], executives at Gannett's McLean, Virginia, headquarters were gathering for late-night brainstorming sessions, polishing up a hefty two-by-four of their own. Gannett had a new CEO, Craig Dubow. His mandate was simple: Drag a 19th-century industry into the 21st century — and do it without busting the budget or alienating Wall Street. Two of the company's rising stars in new media, Michael Maness and Jennifer Carroll, were given free rein to question every assumption about how a newspaper gathers, writes, and distributes the news. By March 2006, the pieces were in place. The Web was to become the primary vehicle for news, with frequent, round-the-clock updates. The newsroom would be rechristened the Information Center, while traditional departments like Metro and Business would give way to the Digital and Community Conversation desks. Photographers would be trained to shoot video, which would be posted online. Investigations would no longer be conducted by a coven of professionals working in secret. Instead, they'd be crowdsourced — farmed out to readers who'd join in the detective work. Gannett papers would also become repositories of local information, spilling over with data about everything from potholes to public officials' salaries. "We must mix our content with professional journalism and amateur contributions," read one of the PowerPoint slides prepared by Gannett execs. "The future is pro-am..." ...Better known for ruthless cost- cutting than risky initiatives, Gannett has emerged as the first big publisher to attempt a wholesale reinvention of the newspaper. Rather than slashing jobs, Gannett is shifting staff into new positions and investing in new technologies. For years, the newspaper business — much like the music industry — has largely ignored the shifting ground beneath its feet. "Now the blinders are off," Carroll says, "and we can't move fast enough." At the heart of the plan lie two Big Ideas that are sweeping through journalism circles nationwide: Involve the reader in every aspect of the process, and take a so-called hyperlocal approach to news coverage. In recent years, Gannett's Cincinnati arm has gone from producing one metropolitan newspaper to producing 270 niche publications, including suburban papers, neighborhood Web sites, and regional magazines. The readers — their thoughts, their half-baked opinions, their kids' Little League scores — are at the center of them all...Click here to read Howe's article in its entirety on the Wired Magazine website.