The St. Pete Times name change: What will it mean for Tampa Bay news?

The St. Pete Times will become the Tampa Bay Times on January 1. Should we care? A 100+ year-old newspaper slightly changing its name to reflect the obvious: that it covers the entire Tampa Bay metro area, not just St. Petersburg? What's the big deal?

Well, it could be a big deal. My sense is that this isn’t just about two newspapers – the Times and the Tampa Tribune – clawing it out for shrinking market share. I believe this is about overall news leadership, regardless of media channel, for our market. None of the other news organizations in Tampa Bay really seem to be making an aggressive play to establish a transcendent news brand beyond the scope of their traditional delivery mechanism – whether that’s TV, radio, print or carrier pigeon.

I think the Times started this slow march with the decision to make TampaBay.com its lead URL over its Stpetetimes.com address. Later, it claimed the name of what was then the Ice Palace, putting a stake in the ground right in the heart of the Trib’s coverage and Hillsborough County – downtown Tampa.

The Tampa Tribune has long had TBO.com, in conjunction with Channel 8. TBO may have inclinations of becoming a transcendent brand, but let’s be honest. TBO.com has evolved little since I started reading it in the late 90s. The site regularly trails Tampabay.com in pageviews, despite its cross-promotion through the Tribune and WFLA-TV. And the Trib's money problems may take it out of the race altogether.

All the local TV stations have embraced social media to some extent. But everything is built around funneling people back to the TV broadcast. No one seems to be reaching for the bigger prize that is out there: to develop and cultivate a newsgathering community that creates a transcendent news brand. All the TV news organizations remain firmly anchored to their call letters.

Local radio? Show me one that really has aspirations beyond promoting its traditional product. It doesn’t exist.

So there is an opening. Some organization – which may or may not even exist today – is going to transcend the traditional media niches. Somebody is going to become the curator of local conversations, become the leader in newsgathering regardless of source or platform and emerge as the leader in a field no longer separated by print vs. radio vs. TV.

Looks like maybe the St. Pete Tampa Bay Times is going for it. I hope the Times is aggressive, before print ad revenues dry up completely. I hope they build on what they’ve started around conversing with their readers. I hope they make strong efforts to bring “citizen journalist” content under their umbrella. I hope they continue to expand the use of video. The Times is making strides. The company is positioned to capture a huge opportunity and should go after it.

I don't favor the Times over any other local news outlet. But I want to see one of these organizations think big, act bold and embrace the future of news. As Seth Godin says, what feels safe is risky, and what feels risky is safe. It feels safe to use online communication to push and promote your core delivery medium. But that’s not a long-term winning strategy. The future is two-way conversations, community, content curation and cross-media platform usage that is diverse and agnostic. Who’s going to grab that? Who will be the dominant news brand in Tampa Bay in ten years? I think we have a leader in the race, but the Times must show courage in pushing away from its print product. We will see if the Times can do that, and who, if anyone, will pose a challenge.