Bigger and better things

I'm taking the week off for vacation. We don't have too much exciting stuff planned to do; Jessica and I both need the time to relax a bit, get some work done around the house and get ahead on wedding planning. (Feel free to visit the wedding blog at http://jessica-david-wedding.blogspot.com/.)

When I get back, I'm in for a new challenge. I'm returning to the ranks of management, where I'm paid more for people I work with to dislike me. I'll be supervising our reporters as the Senior Content Editor, planning out our printed coverage as well as our online coverage.

Online coverage remains one of the great mysteries of newspapers. Generally speaking, newspaper reporters and editors are terrified the Web is going to make them obsolete. That's probably a true statement one day, but we should embrace it.

I become somewhat concerned though that some newspapers might try to be everything to everyone. One example is trying to become a repository for some of those silly movies we all like to look at on the Net. While I'm glad there's that sort of thing on the Net (look at this blog... I love that stuff...), I'm worried about newspapers and newspaper Web sites losing that seriousness that separates them from the competition.

I think it's important to have fun with your words; don't get me wrong with that. But ultimately, news is the job at hand. You have to do your best to make the world make sense to people.

I'd be delighted to come back in a few days and see a healthy batch of comments about what a newspaper Web site ought to be. Knock me out with great ideas.