This short story, from the other day’s Tribune, is one of my favorites. It did especially well on the website. Probably not in terms of hits, but in terms of the quality of reader reaction. The seemingly unimportant piece about librarian Jenny Haraden leaving one small-town library for another prompted readers to supply other possible Tribune headlines, including this from RoseParkInIt:

The relief society leader in LaVerkin is going to St.George for supplies.

Amidst all the hand-wringing about the future of journalism, there is a lot of talk about giving the readers what they want. And on the other side there is a lot of talk about giving the readers what they need. I don’t know where this librarian story fits into that equation, but I will use it for a jumping-off point.

With the glut of content out there, more and more readers are finding their niches and only reading or watching the things they are interested in. We all have new tools that allow us to filter the unwanted material out (RSS, TiVo, etc.). At the same time, we have become adept at avoiding the advertising that pays for a large operation to provide broad coverage.

Supplying the niche reader seems like a challenge for a big media company. The cable industry has faced this issue as consumers clamor for an a la carte system where they only pay for the channels they watch. The industry responds that such a plan would make dozens of smaller channels unsustainable and knock those niche channels off the air.

The same thing may apply to the future of the news business. If we had to sign up for the subjects we wanted covered, I wonder how many reporters would be pulled from covering important beats like local city government because more people might be interested in the Utah Jazz and American Idol contender David Archuleta?

You don’t put down your fifty-cents for a copy of the paper (or hit the website for free) with the idea that you’re going to read every story. But your pennies do go toward funding every story we publish, even the important boring ones. You’ll still read just those you want. But those important stories are might catch your eye and teach you something you didn’t know.

I’ll just end this with the last line from the article, which is a classic bit of reporting:

Haraden says she’ll miss everyone.

Good luck with your new job, Jenny.