Want to improve your newspaper’s content?

Chip Hutcheson

Mar 1, 2025

Have you ever asked your readers what they read first when they pick up your newspaper? The responses you get can be helpful in determining what content appeals to them the most and reveal areas where you can improve.

Want to improve your newspaper’s content? Write a column. Have those on your staff write a column from time to time.

For 41 years, without fail, I wrote a column every Wednesday. I look at issues from that period and those columns elicit some fond memories — but they also reveal some where very little thought was involved. Yet, it was rewarding to hear people say that was the first thing they read.

It wasn’t that the columns were so profound — in fact, just the opposite. They were based on simple stories about people in our community, and readers couldn’t wait to see if I wrote about someone losing their car in the Walmart parking lot or arriving at a restaurant after church and realizing you had left your wife at the church building. (I was the guilty one in that case.)

In communities served by weekly newspapers, where it’s common for folks to know most everyone in town, the personal connection draws and keeps readers.

It seems that a locally written column borders on being extinct in many newspapers. That’s unfortunate. I was blessed to enter the newspaper business when the publisher or editor was expected to write a column. My father started writing one when I was less than a year old and wrote a column for 27 years — naming it after me, “Little Chips.” Upon his retirement, my column-writing adventure began. The title came easy — “Chips Off The Old Block.”

I was motivated and mentored in those “good ole days” by veteran column writers. In my first newspaper job out of college, I was privileged to work alongside the late Joe Dorris, a legendary columnist for the six-day (at that time) daily in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. His ability to crank out columns was second to none. For most of six decades, he would write five columns a week.

His story shows how significant a local column can be. He once wrote a column about outhouses. (For the younger generation, that was an outbuilding containing a toilet in the era before there was indoor plumbing.) The town went wild over it, and he ended up writing so often on that topic that he became known as the “Outhouse Editor,” then that title morphed into the “Privy Editor.” He became so linked to outhouses (privies) that the town held a downtown parade for him, and a manhole cover was made in his honor and installed in the center of town. It bears his image as well as the title “Privy Editor.”

Other columnists in the area would never consider skipping that weekly column. Vacation, illness, birth of a child, death of a family member — there was no excuse to skip a column. Have one prepared in advance in case of emergency.

Sports columns can be a valuable addition to your content offerings. Today’s talk shows on radio and TV are evidence that people love to voice their opinions about sports. It’s quite possible that one of your community’s biggest follower of local sports would be willing to write an occasional column. The hook when asking that person to write a column is that people will acknowledge them to be the sports expert in town.

Having a locally written column, focused on what is happening in the community and including plenty of names, are some of the best content suggestions I have.

But there are other considerations that can attract and retain readers.

While it was an ego boost when people said they went to my column first, those comments didn’t go to my head. Why? Because I knew the obituaries were a must-read and in many cases the first thing people would read. I heard one comment often: “I checked the obits to see if I was in them.”

I realize many papers today charge for obituaries, and in most cases, those are not cheap. My good friend Robert Williams encouraged me decades ago to charge for obits, but I couldn’t make myself do it. I viewed it as a reader service and circulation booster. In most papers I see, free obits are available, but they are usually limited to the person’s name, age, date of death and funeral service times.

Revenue from obituaries may keep you from going the free route, but don’t overlook news stories that can be developed from a person’s life. A brief story detailing some outstanding achievement by the deceased does not jeopardize your obituary policy, and it will demonstrate your desire to honor the legacy of someone’s life.

Here are some other suggestions related to content.

• Names make news, and photos sell papers. For years, my wife encouraged me to run more photos, stating the obvious: “People like to see pictures.” Not a bunch of 2-column photos, but large photos that capture attention. That is easier than ever today with cellphones, and it enables a large percentage of the population to take photos that can reproduce well. Encourage people in your community to submit photos. Pick out the best ones and design a page of photos. Make money off it by selling ad blocks on the bottom of the page. It could be one of the easiest selling options in your advertising arsenal.

One caveat, though — crop photos. In this age of central design centers, it’s not uncommon to see photos that are not cropped. I’ve seen way too many sports photos that show background rather than the action.

• While classified advertising has significantly decreased, public notices still remain a significant revenue source for many papers. Read all of them and see if there is a story involved. Quite often, stories about zoning changes or a utility’s rate increase will be a tip for a frontpage news story.

• Seek community input. Don’t limit that to letters to the editor. Find someone passionate about a local issue or topic and ask them to write an article on that subject. Assure them you’ll edit it for spelling and grammar. Don’t use the word “mistakes” when talking about the editing process.

Also, find a solid contact for each of your civic clubs, and ask that person to send photos and information on what their club is doing. That meets the “names and pictures” criteria for attracting readers. School secretaries can be a valuable asset. I recall the day that one of the high school secretaries called to tell about a student who put out a fire on the school bus that morning. That was before the days of social media, and there was no police or fire department report. It proved to be the lead story that week — thanks to the tip from a school secretary.

• While many newspaper staffs operate on downsized newsrooms, look to see how you can partner with other entities. In my current role, our niche is reporting on what is happening in Kentucky Baptist churches. We write stories that many county newspapers don’t know about or don’t have the resources to cover. We encourage those papers to reprint our online articles at no cost, only asking that attribution is given. Don’t hesitate to create an alliance that will be mutually beneficial. In our case, when a paper reprints one of our stories, it makes people aware of our site and increases our page views. That’s a classic win-win.

• A website to check out is https://bit.ly/4iw576X, which produces news content that it shares with all media organizations at no cost and no contracts involved. All that is asked is to give proper attribution. You can search the “States” tab at the top of the site and find stories related to your state.

Chip Hutcheson is the retired publisher of The Times Leader in Princeton, Kentucky. He was NNA president in 2015. He currently serves as a content strategist for Kentucky Today, the online news website of the Kentucky Baptist Convention. Email him at chiphutcheson@yahoo.com