Who is Bob McGregor?
Bob McGregor is a white middle-class American house dad. He lives in an aging house, owns two old cars, has two daughters and a wife going through school.
In the morning Bob meets with his buddies for coffee after his early morning swim. He takes care of housework, though I’m pretty sure he hates fixing the outside, hangs out with the cat then picks up the girls from school and goes shopping. One daughter wants to be a swimmer too, so he takes her to the rec center before coming home to fix dinner so his wife can get home from work and school and have a hot meal. She goes to study, he cleans up the mess, they go to bed exhausted.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
The question: How does Bob use journalism, how does journalism intersect him, how could journalism help his life?
How does Bob use journalism?
Bob McGregor does not use a Web site or a newspaper because he doesn’t have a lot of spare moments to sit and read. Bob does use the TV because it’s in his kitchen next to the sink (unsafe?) and at the end of the day. He also turns it on in the background since he spends most of his day alone with the cat and she’s not talkative. On Sunday Bob reads some news that catches his eye while he’s collecting coupons.
How does journalism intersect Bob?
Some of his buddies are tech savvy and tell him about news from their mobile devices or other places they found news. One of his other friends – at least one – grabs a newspaper every morning. They share this information over their coffee to provide each other with social currency.
How could journalism help Bob?
Bob needs news to help him raise his children, put his wife through college, grocery shop, etc. News in the form of home and cooking guides, money management tips, coupons, organizational tools. Bob needs a delivery system for customized news. He needs a Bob Feed. Something that will alert him to rec center hours, school lunch menus, grocery store deals, painter or contractor ads, scholarships and loans for his wife. He needs news about schools and he needs it delivered to him when he needs it even if he doesn’t know he needs at the moment.
Bob McGregor is your common person, why aren’t we making news for Bob? Bob needs you.
This idea takes news down from Mass media to hyper local to niche to individual custom news. It is the antithesis of everything journalists have done for the last 300 years. And it feels so right.