I care deeply about journalism. I’ve been a newspaper reader since I was about eight, and it was journalism that made me want to become a writer. My internship in college was with baltimoresun.com (then called sunspot.net), and I’ve done my share of freelance in the industry. Journalism, to me, is part of a healthy society.

So, naturally, I’ve been closely monitoring the state of the art. While I can’t answer the question of how (or if) newspapers will end up making money, I do know one thing they’d better keep in mind as they try: keep it personal.

Once upon a time, newspapers were institutions. The Times on a global and national scale, a daily like the Baltimore Sun on a state/regional scale, a paper like the Annapolis Capital on a local scale. People had limited access to information, so they turned to institutions to help them understand the world. As far as everyone involved in that system was concerned, it worked.

Except that it didn’t. People turned to the paper because that’s what was available, not necessarily because they loved it. Now, a few years into the revolution, they have choices. And newspapers are realizing that institutional status alone is not necessarily a competitive advantage.

Here’s the good news: this doesn’t have to be a bad thing. While newspapers may be struggling, journalism itself is not. What publishers and editors and managers throughout the industry need to do is put their egos aside and recognize one absolute truth of the New Media era: if you want people to buy into your journalism, give them journalists.

The lesson to be learned from the emergence of blogs and social media as credible sources is that individual users who demonstrate knowledge and trustworthiness are rewarded with an audience and, eventually, a community. That can go a long way.

I no longer give a damn about the Sun because I trust its decision makers about as much as I trust a promise of untold riches from a dead African king. However, I trust many of the people who work there and at other media outlets very much. I trust individual writers and editors who are out there speaking in their own voices and engaging the community. Asking questions and responding when questions are asked of them. 

People like Gus Sentementes, Sam Sessa, Dan Steinberg, and Roch Kubatko (not to mention folks on Twitter, like Mary Hartney) are proving every day that people still need and want journalism, and that the practice is alive and well. 

It’s time for newspapers to get out of their own way. Time for the folks in charge to realize that it’s not about “saving the paper” (or their own jobs) as much as it is about recognizing that people’s news appetites have changed, then responding with real value. “The Sun” (or any paper) can no longer be one brand that speaks with one voice. It should be, instead, an aggregation of a hundred small brands and voices that are created and nurtured by individual journalists and their fans/readers. Only then will they generate the kind of trust and loyalty that is essential to a healthy future (whatever it looks like). 

I’ll admit that it’s not going to be easy for papers to return to profitability even if they embrace this idea. But what I do know is that they absolutely won’t get there by sticking to the old ones.

(photo credit)