Jeff Jarvis calls it the Shrug Problem.

While people are still picking up their local paper, few are visiting that paper’s Web site, according to the Readership Institute at Northwestern University.

“…62 percent of respondents said they had never visited the local newspaper’s Website and only 14 percent said they had visited between the last seven to 30 days, numbers that have improved only a little over the last five years.”

I take it as a great opportunity for those newspapers to engage that 62 percent. Unfortunately, I think few will take advantage. The publishers are old and don’t understand the staffing investment it requires.

So I propose the following experiment:

What if a local newspaper opened up two positions?
- A web/multimedia person to create slideshows, video, etc.
- An ad sales person to sell sponsorships around that content and engage the business community in the site (with some free tools/exposure)

Offer to cover benefits for the two positions, but offer no salary. Instead, let those people keep and split whatever they earn.

Any takers? I’d love to see a newspaper actually try this.