media maven / By Marcy Burstiner

The end of Somervillization as we know it

But his death forced me to look back and realize that you can clock the rebirth of the Times-Standard to his arrival there. And no major changes happen in a newsroom without the consent of the top editor.

Go back to that October 2006 Journal story. Somerville laid out his whole plan right there in a brilliantly concise format.

“We want to give people something to talk about — you know, this is reading the news as a social glue…. People want to look smart and be able to talk about things. And so, then, making them smarter is another thing. Tell ’em something that’s really gonna help them make money, help them have a better marriage, help their kids get into the right school, help them figure out what they want to do on the weekend… Show them that the paper’s looking out for their interest — that’s the typical watchdog function of the newspaper. You know, keep an eye on the government, keep an eye on what’s going on in your community. And the other one, the fourth one, is just as important but it’s more nebulous, I think, in that the paper provides something surprising, or fun, or somehow taps into emotions, either joy or sadness. You know, too often newspapers … they squeeze the fun out.”

Somerville was all about informing andengaging readers. It wasn’t enough for a newspaper to inform if people didn’t read the paper, didn’t think about what they read and didn’t discuss what they thought with each other.

See, Somerville, who spent years in Boise and who studied the connection between newspapers and readers, understood the deep problem affecting America’s newspapers. He understood that the problem was only partly the Internet and the multitasking nature of our electronic world. What newspapers are in the most trouble? The big ones in the big cities. And those are the places where everyone minds their own business. Growing up in New York, I knew the code — you never looked strangers in the eye. Small towns are all about everyone minding everyone’s business. It has to be that way because any day the road could close or the power plant could turn off or a bear could be in your yard and you have to be able to knock on your neighbor’s door for help or be prepared to help if he knocks on yours. It is essential in small communities that everyone knows what’s going on around them and everyone is willing to discuss it with each other.

That’s why Somerville relished the huhu. It was the evidence that the paper was engaging its readers. Look at the Website, it now inspires all kinds of readers to blog their thoughts and expertise. And you can still get the Bully Pulpit to boot.

If Somerville relished the ha ha that he got for proving to a skeptical public that he did his job half as much as he did the huhu, well he’s up there in heaven right now with a big satisfied grin on his face.

Here’s hoping that Dean Singleton chooses a successor who doesn’t botch it all up.

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