While the Gazette has long been negligent in its online efforts, the reporting and photography at the paper has always been top-notch, garnering many awards for the 15,000-some circulation publication. Within the past two years, the Web site finally received a nice face lift, which was subsequently gutted for an awful replacement earlier this year. At least they enabled comments.

As circulations plummet, ad dollars evaporate and American newspapers head toward bankruptcy, what has the brilliant leadership (read: publisher George Hudnutt) decided to do for the Gazette? Start charging for content online.

George, where have you been for the past 18 years?

Nearly every attempt that an American newspaper has made to charge for stories or wall off content in the past 18 years has failed. Even the venerable Wall Street Journal is close to tearing down its pay wall. The New York Times couldn’t do it. Neither could nearly EVERY newspaper in the country.

Furthermore, who voluntarily reads a PDF of the newspaper? The system, developed by Tecnavia, takes PDFs and makes them like Web stories.

And why would this person pay for something that he or she can get for free here, here, here or here?

If I were an advertiser in Medina County, I would demand a refund. This new strategy is a rip-off and an attempt to prop up a business that apparently is failing. Why would I pay a publication that can’t seem to grow even in the midst of being in the county with the fastest-growing population in all of Ohio? Now, instead of pushing forward, the Gazette is taking several large steps back.

Reading this article makes me wonder if Hudnutt even owns a computer. What he’s describing in this online PDF is what Web sites have regularly done for the past 18 years.

“It makes the actual content of the paper, the full content, clickable so that you get the whole paper rather than the traditional Web site … They (Tecnavia) developed the program we are currently using to display our newspaper pages for newspaper and education purposes,” Hudnutt said. “They process the pages in what you might call a super PDF where all of the content is searchable.”

“This new product … on the Web will offer the universe to our advertisers,” Hudnutt said. “Anyone, anywhere, can access their ad over the Internet.”

He said any Web address the advertiser decided to add would be clickable. For example, if an advertiser wanted to put map directions to his business in the ad, a user could click that link and directions would pop up.

“It’s something newer that we haven’t seen before,” Hudnutt said. “It seems to be working out really well.”

Being privately owned may not help many community publications’ survival, after all.

Pat Thornton writes about a family-owned 25,000 circulation newspaper near Cleveland. Though he does not name the paper, it has to be the Gazette’s sister, the Chronicle-Telegram of Elyria. Earlier this year, the Elyria publication finished buying and installing a $12 million press. This new press allowed the two papers to condense production.

At about the same time, the two laid off production and editorial staff. Elyria Publisher Cooper Hudnutt claimed that “the layoffs came as a result, basically, of the economy. Some of them were because of the consolidation, but some weren’t.” The timing, perhaps, was a terrible coincidence.

Back to Thornton. He talked to an editor at the 25,000 circulation paper and was told that the editor pleaded with the publisher to take a small fraction of the millions of dollars he was going to sink into new presses and invest it online. The publisher saw no reason to.

And why not? I’m sure the 1990s were very good to the Hudnutts as Medina County’s population exploded. Although the Gazette never capitalized on the increased population, it had to have benefited from the increase in classifieds, real estate listings and auto advertising. Quite a few national chains moved into town, too, boosting circular ads.

Flush with cash, the Hudnutts probably saw no reason to invest in a pesky, money-losing Web site. That story is nothing new. If anything, they wanted a press that could print color on all pages so they could charge advertisers more.

“Clueless” may be the only way to describe the Hudnutts’ strategy. As long as the family continues to be rich and plan for retirement, why should they worry about taking a risk online? The Internet to them must still be a fad.

With the pile of cash that I’m sure the Hudnutts have, the Gazette could become quite the driving force in the community. Too many Medina families are bowling alone.

Imagine what a powerful, engaged local newspaper could do. The Hudnutts should be growing their giant sack of money with real, kickbutt journalism and community development. Ad salespeople should be retrained to sell the benefits of online advertising rather than just using the Web site as an add-on or upsale to the paper product.

The Gazette should be developing new audiences and products. I’m sorry to say when my grandparents pass on, another generation of reader does not exist to replace them. Meanwhile, free publications (including the Sun and a retooled Trading Post) offer news to the new population, challenging the Gazette’s once-held monopoly. The Hudnutts aren’t just clueless, they are negligent.

I love my hometown, and I hate to see its newspaper commit suicide. But every time I come home and leaf through the Gazette, I find less and less to read. It is a very thin paper for a growing community. Being a privately owned newspaper may not be the cureall, after all.