New Media Strategies for Newspapers

01:30 AM May 14, 2006

We know newspapers are bemoaning the bite free online content has taken from their circulation, and that the two worlds are wont to hector one another.  Now a peace envoy, and a seemingly successful one. 

Tom Edsall of the Washington Post posted a DailyKos diary seeking commentary on the Democratic "50-state strategy" of contesting even safe GOP seats everywhere in the country (strongly endorsed in Kossakhstan), vis-a-vis the utility of focusing resources on the few most closely contested seats where the marginal short-term value of a buck looks greater.

Looks like follow-up to a Thursday story on the intra-party strategy controversy. His ask netted more than 500 comments in a day. It'll be interesting to see how he makes use of them -- his diary implies that these are for more than run-of-the-mill vox pop.  It'll also be interesting (for Edsall, no doubt, as much as anyone) to see whether the fact that the request for opinions went out openly in advance like this amps up the buzz factor for the piece relative to other WaPo content when it publishes.

And most importantly, interesting to see if the practice, or something like it, catches on.  If so, prepare now for the day the Associated Press bypasses your media department and sends the question straight to your issue's unruly, non-talking-points-compliant chatroom.

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