You've got to know I'm a fan of public conversations, especially when they create a space for the non-usual suspects to gather together with people of interesting backgrounds to talk about things that matter to everyone involved.
So, the Times-Dispatch's Public Square events have always intrigued me, even when the rest of the newspaper threatens to blow away with the next 100 point drop in the Dow or the topic is focused on the kids with their damned instant messaging.
I continue to wonder what it might look like if Richmond's daily newspaper really leveraged the power of its diminishing pulpit to kick-start meaningful dialogue across the region about public issues -- I mean really leveraged it. Because the print angle's not getting a lot of traction these days.
The Public Square events, apparently a brainchild of publisher Tom Silvestri, come close to doing something the paper has been unable to do with its print product -- namely, deliver the best possible version of its brand.
For centuries, newspapers have held a virtual lock on the information a community needs to go about its business. There was, perhaps, a period of time when local television or radio news managed to compete around the edges, but essentially a good newspaper town was one where conversations happened because of what people read over their cereal in the morning. That notion was boiled down during the rise of the Internet into one misdirected phrase, "Content is king."
The problem is that content is not king. Maybe an arch-duke or some minor noble, but certainly not king. On the chessboard of community conversation, context trumps content. And content without a board -- a medium, a delivery system -- is some mighty useless stuff. Maybe exactly like a king, if you're married to Queen Elizabeth.
No, the conversation is what matters. And whoever drives the conversation wins, more often than not.
And so I've got some questions stirring in my head about what a newspaper becomes when its primary product is an engaged citizenry.
A stretch, I know, for people who can only see the Times-Dispatch through the filter of history or as the throw-away stack of newsprint collecting morning dust in the 7-Eleven. But next week, the Times-Dispatch has invited several of the sharpest minds in our community to talk about creating and supporting an engaged citizenry. That's the work of a newspaper -- creating conversations in our community that matter, and inviting the public to take a active role in them.
The paper opens its doors to another Public Square event next Tuesday, March 10, from 7:00 until 8:30 p.m. at their downtown building on East Franklin Street. Panelists include Reggie Gordon of the Red Cross; Nikki Nicholau of the Virginia Department of Social Services' Office of Volunteerism and Community Service; and Vanessa Diamond of Hands on Greater Richmond.
