I knew the article Newsonomics: Rebuilding the news media will require doubling-down on its core values was going to be a good read when it started off with the phrase, “Alt-what?”. I’m kind of slow sometimes so it took me a minute to figure out what the phrase meant. Three paragraphs in and I figured out he was talking about something alternative. Then I saw he mentioned those alternative facts and I went ooooh. But the article wasn’t about those alternatives. It was about alternative ways for the news media to step their game up. The author Ken Doctor offered interesting and effective ways for the media to improve. Below are my top takeaways from the article or as DJ Khaled would say, “keys to success.”

1. Newspapers need to step their game up and create content that readers want to read

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Doctor writes that readers want to see reporting about daily events. He says, “Readers do expect coverage of the day, and those that don’t provide it don’t deserve reader support.” According to the article 22 percent of U.S. dailies ignored the Women’s March. If newspapers want to have more success then they need to start reporting on events that will attract readers.

2. Show strength not weaknesses

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Subscribers want to see strong content with quality. Doctor writes, “In addition, subscribers are more willing to pay for strength — that day-after-day demonstration of news values — than to weak appeals for support. Assert the strength of the news product — and how your subscription can make it stronger.”

3. Minimize and organize

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With so much going on in the world and the wide variety of information readers have access too, news outlets need to cut out the overload of info. Doctor writes, “We know solutions for overtaxed readers, in an age of digital and social news bounty: editing. That’s why newsletters have proven so valuable as a new news marketing tool. But news companies of all kinds can go farther. How about organizing Trump’s tweets into tables, searchable by date and topic, with the fact check alongside it, rather than only writing one fact-checked story after another, which for readers tend to disappear into the ether?”

4. If you don’t separate the facts from the lies, congratulations you played yourself

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There needs to be a separation between real news and fake news. Doctors says an ignorance index needs to be created, “We’d hope — one of our fundamental values, right? — that as a learning species and nation, we could all agree that facts are important. If factuality is one of those core values, double-down on it. And have some fun with it. Maybe show the comparative results of two groups: subscribers and non-subscribers.”

5. Finally, find allies

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In this industry finding allies are important. Receiving support can help increase subscriptions. Doctor writes, ” Publishers — who must earn support they receive — must ask who are the social influencers, local or national, who will get people to open their wallets, given the new realization that paying for news makes a difference? The sprouts of a real reader revenue revolution must be nurtured.”