An open letter to Lee Abrams

Dear Mr. Lee Abrams,

You heretic.

“THE NPR FEEL? Newspapers strike me as being a little TOO NPR. I like NPR, and their shows like Morning Edition do well. But NPR can also be a bit elitist. Morning News Radio has a lot of similarities to papers: Similar target audience; Old Media; Time restraints. It’s probably a good thing to study the feel of a well honed All News Radio station.”

I love NPR. If that makes me an elitist old-media type (despite being 20), I will accept that. Their news is well-reported and listener-supported, so they don’t have to go to the 50-50 ad/content format that your employer, Tribune Co., is hawking. If we’re going to ditch the excellent reporting of NPR in exchange for the sound-bytes of all-news radio — sure, that would save us money, but no one would read the newspaper if it were made up entirely of short, similar stories. Readers, in my opinion, want originality more than they despise elitism. How very Marxist of you — I’m sorry, was the Marx reference offensive to your anti-elite sensibilities?

Speaking of original writing, that brings me to my next point:

“Before I joined Tribune, I had NO idea that reporters were around the globe reporting the news…Because the paper “assumed” I knew. Then I saw an article on Broadway shows. Again a small byline with no mention of “Reporting from New York”. These are assumptions that are shooting ourselves in the foot. People DON’T know that you have REAL people exclusively reporting, because we ASSUME they do.”

Mr. Abrams: It is called a Dateline. That is what the “NEW YORK –” at the very beginning of the Broadway reviews means. The byline with a real person’s name might tip readers off to the fact that a real person is doing that reporting, as well.

Also, sir, you might like to take note that CAPITALIZING words for EMPHASIS is only appropriate for instant-message conversations (and not always then; be wary when using this strategy during IM fights). People might take your IDEAS that are actually GOOD more seriously if you communicate CLEARLY. That goes for newspapers, as well.

So, Mr. Abrams, do us all a favor: next time, leave the newspaper innovation ideas to people who know anything about newspapers.

Sincerely,

Hilary Lehman

P.S. If this letter means nothing to you, I suggest you check out more memos in your honor at Poynter Online. Maybe you could get some ideas for your next “15 POINTS THAT’LL GROW NEWSPAPERS” installment. I’m a big proponent of the Harry-Potteresque moving pictures idea, myself.