If newspapers die, at least they’ll go down experimenting. That was the message I took away from a Sunday afternoon lecture at UC Berkeley’s New Media program. Four print veterans from the Ventura County Star talked about their foray into multimedia storytelling — and how on peak days they can get three times the number of visits to the site as they normally sell copies of the paper. That gain came with pain. As columnist Colleen Cason said:

“You’ll spend a lot of time at the ragged edge of the technology and outside your comfort zone.”

But Ventura Star editor Joe Howry stole the show when asked whether the online traffic was drawing advertiser support. Howry was a thin, vinegary fellow who must be a pisser of an editor because he didn’t mince words:

“Advertising has not caught up with this technology and does not know how to sell it. I’m tired of our content being devalued. It’s a real frustration for me . . .  We have this catch up we have to (do) as we try to keep our professional lives.”

As a paid reporter with a blog on the side, I feel their pain. Continue reading →