Ten Ideas to Save Journalism

1. For bigger stories, run the main story and then have readers' stories run along side of it as a way to show different perspectives. People will enjoy reading about more personal experiences and the writers of these shorter articles will like to see their name in the paper.
2. I know some newspapers already do this, but some don't, but papers should make it so that to access the website you need a subscription. Readers could have the option of buying the paper subscription, the digital subscription, or a combo deal where you get both.
3. Instead of having the paper be online, just do the paper version and then make a website that's an online community to complement the paper. People could discuss articles and issues and even submit ideas of their own. It would make a nice discussion to go along with what people are reading. Writers and reporters of the paper could even talk back to the readers on the site.
4. Make the website have a lot of multimedia so that once people read the article in the paper, they can check out more online. Then they'll want to read the paper so they know what's going on and then they can follow up with extra stuff on the website. The whole story wouldn't be available online though.
5. It might be interesting to make a newspaper have more of a magazine feel. It could have more graphics and pictures and cool design layouts. A lot of papers look the same but if one had a different feel to it, then people would want to check it out. Also, it might give it a younger feel which would appeal to the younger generation.
6. This would be an interesting thing to do for an alternative sort of newspaper. Each day they could pick one or two issues/events and then dedicate the whole paper to it. Every article would be a different spin on the issue or show a different side to it. Everyone involved in a story has something different to say so there would be enough material. There could also be a lot of pictures to go with the stories. Every issue of the paper would be like an in-depth exclusive look into a story. It might be interesting to see how this would work.
7. It would be interesting if subscribers of a paper could have it personalized to them. Say a reader hated sports, then they would never receive the sports section. If they really enjoy the lifestyle section though, maybe their paper would include an extra pullout with more articles in that section. This idea is a big long shot and would require a lot of extra work on the part of the people at the paper, but it would also save money on printing if not every subscriber gets every section. Also, the readers would feel special that they paper cared that much about them individually.
8. Since people are very into the environment lately it would interesting to make a green paper. Every issue could be printed on recycled paper. People would feel inclined to buy it if they knew they were helping the environment. Also, whenever someone recycled the paper at a certain place it could just go right back to the newspaper for them to use again later. It would cut down on waste which people care about.
9. It might be interesting if papers did contests or giveaways that can only be won by buying the paper. There could be a contest people could just enter by signing up or they could have to read through the paper and find the clues to solve something. The winners would have to show proof of purchase (meaning more people will want to buy it to win) and they could get awesome prizes, like sports tickets or gift cards.
10. I read an article today about a reporter who uses Twitter to ask the general public for help with her articles. She says she needs help investigating or finding sources and then her readers actually go out with her in the city and help her. I think if every reporter for a certain paper did this, then their readership would increase because people like to see that the reporters are real people. Also, if they helped, then they probably want to see the finished project.