What news content will we pay for?

In a post earlier this week, I wrote about a conversation I had with digital music guru Jim Griffin, in which we got on a tangent about print journalism in the digital world. Jim’s idea of aggregating digital music, charging a micro-price and divvying the pool of money among artists and labels could translate to print media, we thought. Steven Brill is planning something like that for national media organizations, and I suggested in my post that the Denver Post should consider something similar on a local scale.

This morning, the Post reported that it plans to do just that. The article did not go into much detail. But Jim had an idea that I think the Post should consider: claim its niche as being a “hyper-local” news source. Local news is what it has that no other print source has (the weeklies notwithstanding — they don’t have the breadth of the Post). The lot of us who are getting our national and international news “free” online might put up a bit of change for the skinny on local government, business, and entertainment. That, together with in-depth sports coverage (I don’t think there’s a media market in the nation that has more sports writers per capita) and a couple of good columnists, and the Post has something worth charging for.

The Post article today also mentioned “bundling,” just as the cable companies are bundling TV and high-speed Internet. I already pay for two print subscriptions, one online subscription and a Kindle subscription to the Post. I’m more than ready for bundling.