Readers of the print Post got a tantalizing invitation in their newspaper last week. For three days beginning Sunday, the front of the Metro section promoted “Murder on Swann Street,” a two-part narrative about the murder of young attorney Robert Wone in 2006. It promised an “intriguing, vexing whodunit with strange sexual undertones and clues and characters fit for a pulp novel.”
The preview didn’t disappoint. Reporter Paul Duggan spun an absorbing mystery that left you scratching your head and wanting more.
But there was a catch: Readers were forced to go to The Post’s Web site to read it. Not a word appeared in the newspaper.
That didn’t sit well with a lot of readers. Some, who don’t have a computer, felt cheated. Others, who don’t like to read online, felt inconvenienced.
“You feel like you’re paying for a subscription, but you’re not getting what you pay for,” protested Joan White, a Post reader since 1974 who lives in a Springfield retirement community.
“I don’t have a computer. A lot of my friends don’t have computers,” she said. “But even people with computers like to turn the page.”
I often hear from older readers who fear that The Post, which is losing money, will soon end the print edition and force them online. Many are uncomfortable in the digital age. When they see “teasers” in the newspaper urging them to go to The Post Web site for videos or online chats, they’re certain the days of the print product are numbered. For them, “Murder on Swann Street” was more evidence.
Post editors knew that putting “Murder on Swann Street” exclusively on the Web might upset some print-only readers. But they felt they had few options.
Length was an issue. Each 3,300-word installment, starting on the front page, would require another page and a half to accommodate text, headlines and photos. That’s a lot when The Post is trying to conserve costly newsprint.
Sharply reducing the length, even though many elements had been previously reported, would destroy the intricate narrative that gave Duggan’s tale its richness. Chopping it into a long mini-series would ruin its flow.
Raju Narisetti, The Post managing editor who oversees the Web site, said editors explored putting it in The Post Magazine or other sections of the paper but concluded it “wasn’t particularly suitable” elsewhere.
They decided it worked best on the Web, which he said allowed “multimedia approaches to a compelling saga.” For example, online readers can listen to the riveting 911 call to police reporting Wone’s murder.
It’s not the first time The Post has required readers to go online to view a major project. In 2007, for instance, the paper printed the first and last installments of a 27-part serial narrative by Associate Editor Robert G. Kaiser on how lobbying transformed Washington over three decades. Readers had to go online to read the 25 parts in between. Kaiser has done other series in this fashion.
But “Murder on Swann Street” is believed to mark the first time Post readers have been required to go online to read an entire major package.
Bill Mitchell, an online expert with the Poynter Institute on media studies in Florida, agreed with The Post’s handling of the package. “It strikes me as a smart decision to save the newsprint it would take to print this story in the paper and to run it online only,” he said. But in forcing readers to the Web, Mitchell said, “newspapers need to be careful to hang onto as many of their most loyal customers as possible.”
“Murder on Swann Street” was a hit online. It made the Web site’s “Most Viewed Articles” list on Monday and Tuesday. But it alienated quite a few print-only readers in the process.
Privately and publicly, some Post staffers have questioned the decision. On balance, I think editors made the right call.
The affluent and educated Washington market is unique. Post research shows that most area households have computers and that nearly 80 percent have broadband access. Even among households where The Post is read only in print, 86 percent have a computer and 81 percent accessed the Internet in the past 30 days. So while those readers may not like to read online, they have the capability.
But forcing them to do so carries risks. As it struggles to return to profitability, a bright spot for The Post is that circulation has held relatively stable. But it will surely suffer if too much high-value content is available only online.
“Murder on Swann Street” worked on the Web. But editors know it can’t yet be the new normal.
