Over 12,000 journalists lost their jobs in 2008. 11 papers folded print editions this week. My local paper, the Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle, supposedly one of the Gannett chain’s most profitable papers, laid off over 40 people recently. Their A section, which is national news and opinion, had a total of six pages yesterday including ads. I have no doubt the paper will not exist in a print edition within 18 months.

Local news coverage is important

This is a real problem. Local papers do one thing really well: They cover local issues in more detail than any local TV or Radio outlet is likely to do. We need that depth of coverage and that requires reporters with contacts and skills that help them ferret out the underlying issues, the real stories.

Shifting to online news coverage is not easy

What about online? Here in Rochester this is a problem because the D&C web site is dreadful- and it was recently redesigned (I wonder who made this mess?). Instead of following the simple nav conventions of great newspaper sites like the NYTimes or the Washington Post, they chose a convoluted and complex navigation scheme that frustrates me to the point where I often give up looking. And I am an online professional. I can’t imagine what my elderly mother would make of it. She would probably lose access to local news.

Cutting newsroom staff doesn’t make sense because the news and the need for it haven’t lessened

Cutting editorial and reporters also complicates things in the transition to digital. Just because the distribution platform changed, it does not mean that the news changed. You still need enough savvy people to find and report the stories, editors to edit them and designers to get them on the web. Firing newsroom staff creates a problem. The union press workers and truckdrivers won’t lose their jobs on a wholesale basis until the print operation is shut down, however that loss is also inevitable.

Even as digital, the non-major markets’ news business may shrink to the point where it’s not a viable business

Online papers bring in a lot less revenue than print. That is somewhat offset by savings in paper, printing, trucks and other distribution and labor. The obvious and inescapable fact is that the print news business will shrink permanently even if they shift to digital. The companies that own these properties may look at this shrinkage and decide that the local news business is not big enough to be worth having and shut them down completely, digital and all.

‘Local’ is serious business for social media

What does this have to do with social media? A lot. There are significant opportunities for social media entrepreneurs in local, non-major markets. Building out a network of neighborhood sites based on social media platforms like WordPress or Wetpaint is not costly or difficult. Reporting and editorial content creators are out there seeking work. You can leverage their skills and help them build a new career for themselves. Incorporating local blogging is another source of content.

There is money in this. Local businesses need to advertise locally. Social media’s revenue potential in local markets is huge. If I’m doing business in Rochester, NY and I can focus my message on local users in Twitter, Facebook and these local media sites and via local Google Adwords, I’m all over it- or I should be.

When a gap opens because of a major change, there is opportunity. The loss of print local newspapers creates such an opportunity, especially because the newspaper business has squandered the opportunity by waiting so long to deal with it that they now can no longer afford to refocus their resources on something new. Some of us are already working to fill that gap and recreate our local news model in a new way.