Tribune publishing seizes benefits of technology to make connection.

We live in an era of constant connection. We cannot walk across the street for a Starbucks latte without checking voice mail. When e-mail goes unanswered for five minutes, we fire up computer messaging software to talk in real time. Instant alert services keep us posted on the news, sports, and weather.

Can newspapers tap into this connection phenomenon? A convention seminar seemed to offer hope newspapers could. At least, that was the expectation forming as NCEW members walked to the Tribune Tower to learn about "Synergy: How to Combine Newspaper, Television, Radio, and Internet Effectively"

The title hinted of ways to use other media available to newspapers to keep readers constantly connected to our content. But, like a blind date, reality doesn't always meet expectations.

What Gerry Kern, Tribune Publishing's vice president for editorial, and Scott Anderson, Tribune Interactive's director of shared content, showed NCEW members that morning was the virtual newsroom the Chicago Tribune had created for its daily newspapers. The Tribune wanted to make the best use of its forty-two hundred journalists, Kern said, by creating a content marketplace, removing barriers of communication between editors and establishing commerce between its newspapers.

The Tribune accomplishes this with an intranet site accessible only to Tribune-owned newspapers. Each posts its daily budget on the site. Editors elsewhere can then decide early on what content they might want to use from an associate newspaper.

Editors can communicate theses stories by posting questions and comments next to any budget item. In this way, Kern said, newspapers can more thoughtfully orchestrate their work and bring better and more relevant journalism to its readers.

Though not suitable for all newspaper chains, Tribune's internal communications system succeeds in letting smaller markets tap into the vast resources of larger ones. As expected, the two largest Tribune properties, the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, export the most stories; the chain's smaller newspapers import the most. For 2004, Kern projects 21,105 stories will be shared, up from 6,522 in 1996, and shared stories will represent thirty-two percent of content, up from twelve percent in 2000.

Sharing content has benefits, Kern said: It increases choice, maximizes resources and expertise, diversifies reporting, and makes newspapers more efficient. It also saves money. Using shared content so significantly reduced the Orlando Sentinel's dependence on The Associated Press, it was able to negotiate a new deal.

But this shared network creates a new concern Tribune must soon confront: Whether sharing content will make obsolete the separate and sometimes overlapping bureaus its larger newspapers operate.

"Maybe someday," Kern said, "economics might suggest limits on how many reporters cover a story."

Richard Larsen is a deputy opinion page editor for the Ventura County Star in California. E-mail [e-mail]