At The Times-Dispatch, we like to call Insight the ultimate contrarian play.
No local news. No advertising. Printed on bright white paper. A premium section subscribers have to pay extra to receive.
And so far, it’s holding its own.
Insight is a weekly 12-page broadsheet section filled with in-depth coverage of national and international news. The economy, politics, personal health, medical news, environmental news and commentary are reader drivers.
Subscribers pay an addition $1 a week to receive Insight with their Saturday paper. So far, about 1,300 have signed up.
Like many news organizations, most of our attempts at innovation come on the Web. But as we cut the printed product over the past year, a theme emerged from disappointed readers. “I don’t get enough national and world news from the paper, and I’d be willing to pay more for more it.”
These are people who want their news in the printed form. They told us they don’t get enough depth from cable news networks, and they’re not interested in searching the Web for it. They are readers.
At the same time, we were paying for a lot of excellent wire copy that we couldn’t publish.
So we listened to our readers and decided to put that wire copy to work. ¶
We put together a prototype, with most of the work falling to Lewis Brissman, who runs our news production operation, and Paul Whelan, editor of our presentation desk. ¶
They came up with a section that has a different look and feel than the paper. The content offers context and texture to the issues and events that shape the country and the world. Sometimes, they are just fascinating stories from around the world. We look for the great writing and reporting that we get from sources such as The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, the McClatchy and Scripps Howard news services and the Associated Press.
We opted for a design that is clean and simple, that is attractive and orderly without getting in the way of the readers. And because we have an older audience, we use larger type than in the main paper.
Our aim is provide the depth and breadth that newspapers have long promised. That said, we seek a mix of story lengths. We also want a mix of topics and geography, with stories from around the country and the world.
Insight is not for everyone, and this may be a temporary solution as younger generations all head for the Web. But for now, there are still plenty of people who love newspapers.
That’s not to say it’s for everyone. Some readers have turned us down with the explanation that these stories should be in the daily paper. Others told us that Insight does not offer enough depth.
But we also heard responses like this: "I signed up yesterday and congratulate the paper for the innovation. The articles were great and of proper length to present the issue. I also subscribe to the Wall Street Journal and pick up a copy of The Washington Post and NY Times when available in order to read articles similar to those that you have printed in Insight." ¶
Contributed by Daniel Finnegan, senior editor, Richmond Times-Dispatch, dfinnegan@timesdispatch.com