I was reading Jason Whitlock’s latest column in the Kansas City Star today and my thoughts again turned to why the newspaper industry is failing, and how the barons who run it continue to not see the forest through the trees.

I love Whitlock, but his reasoning that newspapers need to survive is flawed.  If newspapers are to survive, they need to stop running their businesses as news papers.  When are they collectively going to realize that the printed news sheet, at a faster rate each day, is fading out of relevance?  And that they need to consider themselves as news organizations, not news papers?

Papers will tell you that they have websites that keep readers up to date with the latest news and that these are being well received by readers.  Agreed, but papers now need think of their online presence as the priority and their print editions as secondary.  Most papers, with websites, are not doing this.

I give credit to the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News in announcing last week that they will be cutting back on home delivery of the paper to only three days a week.  They appear to be weaning subscribers off the print teat that has restricted these news organizations over the last few years.  Others should do the same.

Even though just about all major newspapers have websites, they seem to treat those readers with less respect than those who subscribe to the print editions. 

As an example…I usually work on this site early in the morning, before I begin my real job and shepherding my daughter off to school.  When I compile my sports media columnists links on Friday morning you have no idea how many stories I miss because they are not posted on their newspaper website at the time I am assembling my post.  Often I will go back to see that a story is posted on a newspaper website well after 8am (check out the time stamp at the top of the article).  What service is this to readers?

Why is it that when an editor sends a story to the press that it is not simultaneaously sent to the website?  Haven’t we come to a time when there should only be one keystroke to make this happen?  Other newspapers have no problem accomplishing this.  To those who don’t, if there excuse is that they want their print subscribers to access the content before their online readers, then congratulations, you will soon be out of business.