Newspapers Need a Business Plan

You'd laugh at anyone who came to you with a business plan that said:

We're going to write up the news in a 100-page document, print it up overnight, drive it to every single house in the city, then have someone else pick it up for recycling. We're also going to need 50 semi-trailers, 400 delivery vans, an army of teenagers on bikes, and a little metal box on every street corner.

You'd also say, "Why don't you just email a pdf to everyone?"

I know this isn't the most sophisticated look at the question of the future of journalism, but it's the entrepreneur's view. The 300-year evolution of this business has left us in a place that is clearly nuts to anyone looking at it for the first time.

We want journalism to continue -- and thrive. We want all economic classes and all communities to have access to the news of the day for under a buck. We want grouchy reporters to push and push and push until they find the truth and protect our rights. We want tough editors keeping it great and maintaining the highest ethical standards.

But this print-out-a-wad-of-paper-and-drop-it-on-everyone's-doorstep thing just doesn't make sense.

What if we took all the capital invested in printing and delivery and spent it on access devices:

- Print-on-demand stations in poor communities
- Kindles for all
- Free laptops/wifi for kids

Could one $50,000 newspaper-delivery semi-trailer be replaced with 500 free laptops for subscribers?

Ideas?

P.S. Here's the Chicago Tribune's distribution center: