A lot of good journalists could form a powerful new media presence in Nashville on the web

In keeping up with former colleagues from The Tennessean, a consensus is developing that a lot of us are more than willing to collectively establish a new, diverse and powerful media presence that could kick the ass of anything out there in print.

There was supposed to be a new web presence to debut in October. But I don't know what happened to this venture that I wanted to contribute to.

The web would be the least expensive way to approach the need for an experienced, diverse media source in Nashville's print media. And the staffers could simply work on a contract basis.

The Tennessean's web presence is quite weak. It was designed by corporate and was very slow to pull up. The web site www.gannettblog.blogspot.com reported that The Tennessean was going to eliminate its online presence, just as it is going to do in rolling the Business section into the Local section. An anonymous reader of this site says that isn't so.

The closing is supposed to come in February, the month that many Gannettoids believe the company will follow with more layoffs.

Nashville needs a strong, prominent print media source. There is not one now, although the CityPaper has some good reporters. The Scene, however, is a mere shadow of what it was. The Nashville Business Journal is the most solid; it just needs to expand its presence. But the media industry is not considered a good place to invest more money.

The need is here is Nashville. So is a staff of very experienced journalists that it not afraid of video along with the printed word. But the larger need to bring about a new, diverse and exciting print presence is that of profit.

I believe Tennesseans and advertisers out there would buy it up.