Lee Abrams' June 30 blog post

The latest from Tribune chief innovation officer Lee Abrams

THINK PIECE: THE ZONE BETWEEN TOO SUPERFICIAL & TOO SERIOUS

The economic realities are a pain. But they are realities. What is MORE painful is the reporting that the relaunches and re thinks are because of that. Yes, economics are a component, but it' more about getting AHEAD of the competitive curve and getting back in the game, in a BIG way. You can't dwell on the economics...it is what it is...and it's even worse in the music business. (Though I rarely see artists complaining) What we CAN do is dwell on the once in a lifetime opportunity and green light to re-think what we do. To design the future. With that said....

Visited Channel 5 out in San Diego who is doing their own re-launch. Other than contributing to the re-making of WGN-AMERICA, I've been focusing primarily on the newspaper side in my first 60 days, so this visit was a nice change of pace. The competitive spirit was a bit closer to what I've experienced on the radio and music side...let's call it---Intense. Personally and generally speaking I think our company deals with extremes. TV strikes me as often playfully superficial and newspapers often serious and self important. Somewhere in the middle is
a zone that balances intelligent with the ability to engage the masses in 2008. Channel 5 in San Diego is certainly headed to that zone with some fascinating new approaches to local news. I believe they will reach that "zone". The media landscape has changed so dramatically in the past decade that staying on the either superficial or too-serious-for-the-room edges can spell trouble. But reaching that zone that balances intelligence with accessibility will be magic.

One newspaper clearly headed to that zone is the Baltimore Sun. Once again, they were very impressive with how they have evolved their re-launch prototypes. Some of the aspects I really liked included:

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