News saturates our lives. It permeates our work and home lives with equal vigor. However, the amount of quality local news is on the wane. Newspapers owned that franchise for more than a century — and its value hasn't diminished. A paper that provides exclusive, local content readers can't get anywhere else will continue to thrive.

In the 20th century, a newspaper could get by with a daily edition, and maybe a few sundry niche publications. Now, a good news organization must diversify across multiple, often unfamiliar landscapes to be profitable and reach a wide range of eyes. All sources must be considered, from daily free tabloids and weekly entertainment street magazines to regional news aggregation portals and niche smartphone apps.

In my first job, my editor told me, "Newspapering is a business, and our newspaper is our product." I couldn't have been more offended. It took years to realize how right he was. No matter how lofty a news organization sets its goals, they have to pay attention to the audience — if they're not listening, then we're not doing our job. At the same time, there's danger in constant pandering for demographics — a good news organization leverages what readers want to know with what they need to know.

Gone are the days when a journalist could talk down to readers. Today's journalist has to talk TO them, to use them not only as sources, but as editors and sounding boards as well. Today's journalist must be impartial without being aloof. That includes using the latest social networking tools to connect with communities, but also engaging readers in online forums and comment areas.

"I don't tweet." "I'm not good with computers." "I don't want to participate in comments." Negativities like that are luxuries today. New technologies are shifting, and our goal is to adapt to them quickly and find the ones that are of best use to us. Not every tool is worth our time, but we can't be too good to investigate. There is no "normal" anymore. We need to *embrace the blur* as the new ordinary. Finding new sources of readers, new ways of reaching audiences and new revenue streams is the new journalism.

Fifty years ago, newspaper people would come in, write stories and hope that The Big One would fall into their lap. The business model was working and they had a captive audience. Today, there are opportunities — some would say directives — to reinvent our profession. We're the generation that has the power to invigorate a nation's interest in well-produced news, but we also have the power to put the daily news report into the dustbin of history. If we play our cards right, we can keep journalism solvent for future generations — it's an invigorating challenge.

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