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Supply, demand and information

Supply and demand rule the world of commerce. Would it surprise you to know that supply and demand has an impact on the news pages of Minot Daily News, other newspapers and news sources in general?

I am not referencing the business side of the newspaper here, but the actual news.

The principle came up the past couple of weeks as I’ve been toying with the makeup of news material in the newspaper for some additional changes ahead in 2017. What, I’ve wondered, is an appropriate combination of news types and themes to craft the most compelling pages to foster the most interest in buying and reading Minot Daily News?

That’s where supply and demand comes into play.

As journalists, we have an idea of what we believe are the most important stories to tell. We think in terms of the ones that have the most impact or potential impact either on readers as a whole or on a distinct category of reader. Issues that affect people financially or in terms of quality of life tend to rank high on this list. This is pretty common among journalists everywhere. Then, there are those issues a news staff might feel are particularly important to a specific community. Sure, we have those.

However, the stories we feel are most important aren’t necessarily the ones that readers feel are important – or, alternatively, the stories we feel are most compelling aren’t the stories that prompt dozens and dozens of comments and debate on our website or social media platforms. Over the past year, for example, what we consider the biggest stories we have broken might have echoed considerably among the Minot area beltway, but it has been other stories that set the internet on fire or made my phone ring off the hook.

So, the question is, do you give readers what we think you most need to know (guided by longtime industry standards and conventional wisdom) or do we give readers the type of material in which they demonstrate the most obvious interest?

If a newspaper publishes news selected by even the most wise, best-intended journalists based on what we think the public needs to know, will it matter if people don’t read the news? Some journalists do subscribe to this approach, blissfully comfortable feeling erudite but serving an audience of one.

Or, on the other hand, does one serve up a menu of crowd-pleasing favorites that often entertain at least as much, often moreso, than they inform?

If you know a definitive answer here, you’re doing well. Because those of us in the business don’t necessarily have an answer.

Pondering this topic, I reached out to an experienced adviser for suggestions. The reply was that pretty much everyone in the industry is struggling with the same challenge. Like most things in the newspaper business, the issue is clouded by the internet, the 24-hour cable news cycle, the advent of news via social media and the trend toward people’s enthusiasm for news that is tailored to support their pre-conceived notions.

Philosophically there is an answer here, but the entire challenge is in the execution. Somewhere, be it industry wide or specific to a market, there is a balance to be found. Just as there is a supply-demand balance to be found for a healthy economy.

One of the things that makes journalism interesting is that, like law and medicine, one “practices” it – it’s not something static that one perfects, even if some national types don’t like to admit it.

What is the balance for Minot? Honestly, I am not sure. But I know we are searching for it every day. I also know that if you are reading this, somehow you are part of the process of helping us find it.

It’s important to us to tell you that.

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