Indy Star Publisher Karen Ferguson Shares Digital News Vision at Hoosier PRSA (December 10 PRSA Luncheon)

Karen Ferguson is only the second female publisher in the history of The Indianapolis Star. She is a six-time Gannett President’s Ring award recipient and landed her first job out of college in Da Region, as we Hoosiers say.

This 1992 Northwestern grad and mom of two has a clear vision for her newspaper that is digitally focused and brand specific.

“We expect our journalists to be marketers today,” she told the Hoosier Chapter PRSA at its December luncheon. “We’ve been around 100 years and won’t stop for 100 more.”

The Star is making news of its own — moving into the vacant Nordstrom retail space at Circle Centre mall, inviting the community into forums that have raised the volume of public dialogue and pushing social media into some new uncharted waters as beat reporters report, market and promote target topics.

She shared a reporter’s daily worksheet via Chartbeat.com, which is a digital dashboard of online posts so each reporter can track who’s reading what. If readership is low, the headline is tweaked with SEO in mind to catch a reader’s eye. The average time spent by a reader on any online Star article is about 25 seconds.

Today’s top post (or at that particular moment during lunch) was about Dan Dakich.

Headline: “Dan Dakich blocks Twitter followers whining about IU.”

Content also coincides with revenue. Print revenue is less than half of the newspaper’s total revenue these days as the Star Media brand launches into the marketing/advertising/digital and web side wooing the business of businesses.

“We can provide any service a digital ad agency can,” Ferguson said.

Asked how to cut through the clutter for a PR pitch, she advised “be interesting.” And if people don’t read the story you pitched? She shared matter-of-factly: “A reporter probably won’t accept a pitch again.” The target audience for The Star is now squarely fixed on those 25 to 45 years of age. More than 40 percent of her newsroom is dedicated to engaging this particular segment.

A few other tidbits Ferguson shared:

• The Star will be hiring a new education reporter to be announced soon.
• Recently hired sports columnist Gregg Doyel is outperforming former columnist Bob Kravitz and is wooing a female audience with expanded features.
• AP’s Tom LoBianco is becoming part of the Star’s news team.
• The Star’s business reporting will be beefed up with a 2015 first quarter plan now in the works.
• Editor Jeff Taylor will be updating readers on all the new beats and reporter assignments in an upcoming edition.

You can follow Ferguson for updates on Twitter @KarenFerguson33.