Something cool is happening in Little Rock, Arkansas. Subscribers of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette are getting iPads pre-loaded with the paper’s app so they can read a replica of the actual print newspaper. Those papers are no longer delivered, except on Sunday. 

Mark Jacob wrote about the experiment for Northwestern University’s Medill Local News Initiative, and Poynter co-published an abridged version of that story. In June, Lindsey Millar wrote about it for the Arkansas Times. And in May, Hannah Grabenstein wrote about it for the Associated Press. 

I love Grabenstein’s lead:

"HOPE, Ark. (AP) — Over a lunch of hamburger steaks, mashed potatoes and green beans, Walter Hussman delivered his pitch to the dozen or so attendees of the Hope, Arkansas, Rotary Club meeting. He promised that if they keep paying their current rate of $36 a month for subscription to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper, even though it will no longer be printed daily or delivered to their door, they’ll get a free iPad to view a digital version."

So far, Jacob reported, Hussman has given out 27,000 iPads, “with an overall subscriber retention rate of 78 percent.”

There are questions, of course, about whether or not this is replicable and sustainable. But even if you can’t convince your newsroom to invest in iPads, it offers a good reminder. 

Change is really rough. I think of this every time my phone or Twitter or Gmail auto update and I have to get reoriented. Jacob reports in his story that Democrat-Gazette readers aren’t deprived of their papers and expected to figure their way around the site or app. The site offers an e-newspaper. Whatever kind of newsroom you’re in, change is always easier when it comes in teeny, tiny baby steps. 

But have you moved past those teeny, tiny baby steps yet? Do you still talk in newspaper inches while writing for the web? Or write print headlines (word word semicolon sentence)? Or feel like your job is done once you hit publish? My writing changed when I realized I didn’t write the way I read online. I started to focus on headlines that caught my eye. I paid attention to the mushy middle of long stories that I easily clicked away from. And I started building in time to share that story, engage with readers and resurface old stories.

If you’re still reading in print or on your desktop, how about a challenge? Read everything this week just on your phone. Let me know what you notice. I will not reward you with an iPad. But I would love to hear from you.


The cover of the iPads issued to subscribers features the logo of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. (Mark Jacob/Medill Local News Initiative)

While you’re here:

• In my first job, I remember listening to writing advice from Des Moines Register reporter Ken Fuson at journalism conferences. His obit is yet another master class. 

• The Native American Journalists Association and Report for America have teamed up to cover indigenous communities. 

• Joshua Chang spent a year covering hate crimes in Los Angeles for Crosstown, a nonprofit site that covers crime, traffic and health. Here’s what he learned.

• Check out this directory on getting grants for journalism from the Raleigh, North Carolina, News & Observer.

• This project is expanding statehouse reporting.

• I’ve featured local investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell a few times, and his newest book, “Race Against Time,” shows a career of covering cold cases from the Civil Rights era.

• You have until Valentine’s Day to apply for Poynter’s Leadership Academy for Diversity in Digital Media. 

That’s it for me! See you next week!