Metro Detroit has a new daily newspaper:  the Detroit Daily Press, which is scheduled to be online Nov. 23.  Well not online, they don’t have a Web site yet. This new publication will be available in print for daily delivery to Metro Detroit newspaper readers. You’ve got to be kidding me.

I love newspapers. I spent almost 20 years of my life photographing for print media.  I wish there was hope for the survival of the industry.

The day I presented my New Media Secrets talk to the Denver Press Club last winter,  the Rocky Mountain News shut down.  I knew about this before many others. Why? Credit the immediacy of social media.  News was coming directly from the Rocky Mountain newsroom via tweets and  Facebook status updates from employees who’d just learned it was their last day on the job.

That was the day I declared myself free of my dependence on old media for my income.  I’ve not solicited any of the local media for work since.  It has been a rough transition, but my career is better off for it.

I know a number of local writers jumping on board this new publishing venture. I sincerely wish them the best.  But, all I’ve heard through the grapevine are old attitudes about the need for print media.  The investors are outsourcing many of the services and setting up the paper like they would have in the 1970s. I’ve not heard any concern for photography, video, Internet or new media concepts.

In other words, nothing new is being created and there’s  little commitment to the growth and innovation of the industry.

I understand the owners have committed two months’ worth of capital to support the project. Even in a good economy, two months of capital is not enough to support a start-up publication. In a declining media market, with few advertising dollars available in the depressed market we have here in Detroit,  it appears destined for failure.

According to the recent Razorfish digital brand experience report, 84 percent of consumers get their current information and news online.

This upward trend will continue. The two traditional major daily papers in metro Detroit now only offer home delivery three times a week, which is the impetus for the launch of this new daily paper.  This doesn’t even take into consideration all the other newspapers and magazines that have closed this past year in Michigan.

Another concern about the health of this endeavor is the lack of buzz, marketing or community-building strategies. The only reason I knew about the new newspaper is because friends of mine where applying for positions with cheap rates and no benefits.  They have only offered a few traditional old school press releases.

Their Web presence seems to be a secondary concern. Their target market goal is the more than 100,000 baby boomers missing their traditional daily paper. Are baby boomers really missing their newspaper? While boomers don’t seem to be embracing the online editions, returning to old-school methods doesn’t seem the answer.

I hear the Daily Press now has a Facebook page. Do they know what to do with it? Do they have a plan? Are these extremely misguided people wasting a lot of money?

Rosh