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From where I sit in my office in Detroit, Michigan I have a clear view of the economic downturn and its impact on newspapers. The two metropolitan dailies, Detroit Free Press and Detroit News, are changing to become more competitive in a 24 hour news cycle. They recently announced a move to three days a week home delivery, pushing most of their daily effort online.

Where there is challenge there is opportunity and the two dailies are getting a lot of attention for their online initiatives. With these adjustments theirs newsrooms and coverage remain strong.

Recent events in Detroit prove the online publishing model works. The daily newsrooms are using their web site to break news online and providing coverage you could not provide in a print product.

Some examples:

1. Hold the Onions – Charlie LeDuff: A local reporter is doing some great work with video blogs for the Detroit News http://info.detnews.com/video/index.cfm?id=2788

2. Detroit’s Mayoral Scandal was covered online and offers content (pdf, video, audio) you can’t provide in print. http://www.freep.com/kilpatrick

Sure, it's not all wine and roses. There are real challenges facing newspaper publishers, but if you look closely, you see a growing and more diverse newspaper publishing market.

These publishers require affordable systems which are easily adaptable to the demands of today’s publishing landscape. They're discovering that WoodWing’s Enterprise system is versatile and powerful enough to handle all their needs, and that it contains all the tools that make "blended media" possible – allowing them to publish seamlessly to both online and print.

Recent newspaper installations:

1. Michigan State University’s Daily Newspaper – The State News
2. Shelbyville Times-Gazette
3. University of Washington Daily Newspaper – The Daily

The newsroom is changing and WoodWing is there to help.