"Realtors repudiate newspaper ads" - Reflections of a Newsosaur

There is something left out of this picture and I think it is highly relevant to managing newspapers during this crisis.

Yes, new ways of advertising real estate have emerged, they are cheap or free, and they seem to work.

Yes, this has resulted in newspapers losing a treasure trove of traditional advertising revenue.

Yes, many newspapers have attempted to provide an oline advertising option for what they have long done in print; these efforts have not stemmed the loss of dollars or confidence.

So, what's missing? It's very much rooted in where we sleep. In addition to knowing which properties are on the market, we need to know so much more both as part of any transaction, but in so many more ways, each day we sleep in a place we own or rent or each day we spend planning to do so.

In other words, rather than trying to go ofter what has proven to be the most vulnerable, shouldn't newspapers be trying to manage themselves toward that which requires their capabilities and reach in order to accomplish? Shouldn't newspapers look at the real estate sector not simply as a sales and rental activity, but as a daily living sector? If they do, are there not tremendous opportunities for newspapers to make themselves so much more important to people as they live in real estate, or plan to acquire or sell it? Bring all of the information and services together for that - in a way that taps traditional newspaper expertise and does not rely blindly on a computer program, and maybe there is hope yet for the "real estate" sector.

How does a newspaper manager today steer the newspaper in new directions like this? How does the manager avoid the risk of devoting too much time lamenting the losses and chasing the elusive, and focus primarily on using strengths and abilities to offer something more valuable?