Help me, news media

So I’m finally starting to feel settled in my new town. The learning curve at work is starting to straighten out, just a tad. I only get lost four times a week, instead of every day. And I have no more boxes in my house to unpack. Google Maps is still my only friend here. Well, Katherine, too. Did I mention how I only get lost four times a week? My place is very cute. It’s a 2 bedroom / 2 bath and 20 minutes north of downtown on the highway. I can take the train to work if I want.

I'm the yellow apartment at top left (stretches to the patio at top right).

Cute huh? So come visit. You have your own room. It even snowed a week ago.

View from my patio.

So here is the perfect opportunity for me to turn to a news medium — any news media — to learn about this city. I’m new. Know very little about this big city, and my first inkling is to Google whatever I need to know. Top 10 places to eat “amazing” pizza? I Google it. Best places to buy tires? Google. What about reviews of hair salons? Google.

What if newspapers, or TV news, or online sites put out these quick Top 10 features — maybe a different one each day on the same spot or time, and they were archived. Something to clip out. Something to bookmark. Maybe even something editors, writers and designers blew out big on section fronts. (That’s right, no story). Something the community voted on. Not an A-list, but something people look for every day — and pass around.

And it was advertising-free. (Gasp.)

And then, here’s the kicker, the news media promoted the hell out of it. What if the news media found these tiny ways to help people live their daily life (like Top 10 polls)? What if?

I’m new to a city and Google has won me over. It’s faster and search-friendly. Wake up news media. It’s not all about informing any more. It’s about helping people live their daily lives — in the tiniest of ways. That means me turning to you, not a search engine, to learn about my community. Yes, it’s all about keywords and search engines pointing to sites. I agree. But it’s also about making me want to turn to certain news media because I know they will help me.

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