No, here’s how to fix the Philadelphia dailies: The Eight-Page Solution

Recently, Joel Mathis wrote a piece for PhillyMag.com describing his ideas to save Philadelphia newspapers. I won’t go into the details of his solution, but it is worth a read.

 The problem, however, is that as “radical” as his idea of cutting the Inquirer to virtual web-only status may be, it’s also entirely untenable in terms of maintaining any semblance of profitability.

 Instead, what the Inquirer – and, indeed, most every newspaper in the nation – needs to move toward is not cutting the print product entirely, but cutting it to the absolute minimum that still allows it to qualify for pocket-filling revenue such as legal ads while maintaining the product’s presence and name.

 Mathis’ plan for an extensive Sunday print edition is a sound one. That day’s newspaper should be a must-buy filled with high-quality investigative journalism, Fourth Estate watchdog pieces and actual “news you can use.”

 But publishers then must make the bold step of cutting the daily print edition to eight total pages.

 Eight.

 Of those eight pages, there should be news on Page One (two articles and a rail pointing out top online content, along with a premium advertisement stripped across the bottom), Page Two (quarter-page for in-depth listings of today’s online-only content), Page Three (half-page of news for Page One jumps and additional related or local news), Page Five (half-page of news for local and professional Sports, along with listing of today’s online-only sports content) and Page Seven (quarter-page for Features content with online extras).

 Before the many journalists with whom I studied and worked light their torches, keep in mind these ratios are not far off from what is currently running in print; everyone should see their section reduced by similar percentages.

 Furthermore, the goal is not to reduce your department or its output. The goal is for continued employment wherein the content will be used online with the print vehicle becoming a truly premium product.

 With fewer slots to fill, only the very best content will show up through the week, raising the authority, reputation and brand-recognition for the newspaper. As that happens, the fewer advertising positions available in the eight-page product also will become premium positions that can sell for higher rates.

 Other advertisers will be funneled into the expanded website that must accompany this plan, into advertising inserts that can be included with the daily newspaper and into the larger Sunday edition.

 For this proposal to work, newspaper employees must truly buy in to the idea that they are news site employees first. The newspaper will be a premium product, but it also must be recognized by the writers and editors as a record of the best content that was on the website yesterday. And one of its key goals must be to push users back to the website today.

 The Sunday edition, meanwhile, will have plenty of the groundbreaking content we all hoped to create when we started our careers, but it will need to be viewed to some degree as a weekly magazine more than a vehicle for late-breaking news.

 So how does this save newspapers? It reduces expenses via drastic cuts in newsprint costs. It maintains some revenue streams (legal ads, for example) while increasing others (fewer print advertising spots leading to increased print rates and increased demand for online positions).

  More importantly, perhaps, it maintains one of the most valuable elements of any newspaper: its name and reputation.

 I’m not saying this is the final solution to an entire industry that may be on the verge of disappearing. I am saying we’ve reached the moment for drastic measures. Efforts to cut several days of print publication have not solved the problem. Nor have efforts to erect clumsy paywalls.

 All that said, I’d love to hear what you have to say about my theories …

 Mark Correa has been a copy editor, page designer, news editor, editorial writer, opinion editor, web updater and online editor for newspapers and sites in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Contact him via Twitter @markcorrea.