Better Newspaper Web Sites

As an “ink-stained [newspaper] wretch” and Internet disciple, I'm fascinated by the struggles many newspapers are having embracing/adopting the Web. There are business issues (subscriptions vs. free content), access challenges (everything available vs. select content), advertising (cannibalize the lucrative classified business vs. let Craigslist eat your lunch) and content creation (blogs? podcasts? videocasts?). The Biving Report (hat tip to Jeff Jarvis) offers up nine ways that newspapers can improve their Web sites. Most of them are fairly straightforward: remove registration requirements, improve graphics/design and use RSS. Others are a little more progressive: partnering with local bloggers, the use of tags, and working with “social” Web services such as del.icio.us and Digg. It is curious to see newspapers still grappling with the Web a decade after Netscape helped bring the mainstream online. Then again, the music industry is still trying to figure out how to embrace the digital world. Personally, newspapers have little no choice but to go high or go home as far as the Web goes. With more people getting their news online, newspapers need to experiment and take chances to remain viable and vibrant. Some of these experiments will fail, while some of them will be successful. In an ideal world, newspapers will be able to offer physical and digital (online, wireless) products that meet the needs of a variety of readers AND advertisers.
Update: TechDirt has an interesting post today looking at the Web and newspapers – with a focus on a reporter in Missouri and a discussion about whether the newspaper Web site should provide links to external sites. (Ultimately, they decided not to do it)