Newspapers are on the brink of a revolution, and as they change, many worry that they will no longer be the souls of their cities. It's a future many employees are uneasy about.

Editors and publishers attending the J. Montgomery Curtis Memorial Seminar at the American Press Institute in September discussed the future of newspapers and their role in it, including how to lead a nervous newsroom with soul.

Participants concluded that leadership, clearly defined goals, honesty about financial matters, and the ability to change are crucial as we approach the "next wave."

"We're at a very risky and exhilarating moment in the history of newspapers," said Jack Fuller, president, publisher and CEO of the Chicago Tribune. Editors are going to have to break down barriers in the newsroom to change things, he said, including interdepartmental fiefdoms, fear of the unknown and mistrust of management.

Another barrier to be broken down is the sense of foreboding staffers feel as cutbacks, layoffs and penny-pinching have swept newsrooms nationwide. Sandra Mims Rowe, editor of the Portland Oregonian, said how her newsroom feels has a direct bearing on the journalism produced.

"This schism is not going to go away until editors take responsibility for fixing it," she said.

But leading the newsroom isn't the only job for most editors. They also wear the hats of controller, corporate officer and, in some cases, circulation manager. These all take editors' time and exacerbate problems in the newsroom.

"Editors, like captains on a ship, must be on the bridge," Rowe said. "Who is going to teach, who is going to coach, who is going to lead, if not the editor?"

What does such leadership include?

Having a plan, said Karla Garrett Harshaw, editor of the Springfield (Ohio) News-Sun, and the ability to articulate and change that plan. Editors should communicate it to their employees, decentralize the decision process, recognize that change is constant, and focus on the social mission of the newspaper.

"Either we address it or turn the lights out," she said.

Some items newsrooms need to learn, the editors said, include dealing with an ambiguous future, driving home our customer-service role, and as Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph publisher N. Christian Anderson III put it, getting beyond the "we've always done it that way-we've never done it that way" trap.

Newspaper leaders can help.

One way is to communicate the realities of the business to staffers, said Geneva Overholser, ombudsman of the Washington Post. In the '80s when newspapers were flush with money, many editorial employees grew to mistrust what came out of the mouths of controllers and financial officers. This trend has carried on until today when most newspapers are considerably more pressed. News employees have a hard time believing newspapers' plea of poverty.

John Oppedahl tried to change that perception as publisher of Phoenix Newspapers. "You need to offer as much financial information as you can to people working in the enterprise," he said. This can have surprising results: in the midst of going through this information, his news staff learned that zoned editions were among the most popular sections in the paper.

Some staffers will always be critical, though, tsk-tsking the fact that newspapers are a business, Chicago's Fuller said. "If they're not right with the fact if people are reading you or not, then you're in trouble," he said. "The market is reality."

Adjusting to the market means reaching more readers. While it sounds good in theory, it isn't always a comfortable process for staffers to carry out. Change is a challenge.

Caesar Andrews, for one, thinks that news staffs should be covering those with the least justice, hope, money and opportunity, even if it's difficult. Andrews, senior managing editor of Gannett Suburban Newspapers in White Plains, N.Y., said that newspapers can change people's perceptions depending on the type of coverage they offer. Write about the poor from the perspective of institutions and you'll convey people dependent on those institutions; but write about them as individuals, and you may find they're the hardest-working people you know.

Building on that coverage of the uncovered is the notion of the newspaper as a community leader, Karla Harshaw said. Just as the editor is the captain on the bridge, a newspaper must be a leader in its community. That's something many staffers, and many editors, are uncomfortable with.

"Newspapers should be a force in communities," she said. "And I think we've been timid about it of late." Readers expect us to be courageous, to take stands, to lead. And to tell the truth.

The question before the newspaper leaders, though, was "Where do newspapers belong in the future?"

On the Web? As databases of knowledge? In the dustbin?

Many believe newspapers have a promising future. One reason is because they create content rather than just transmitting it.

Perhaps newspapers' extensive databases are a good product for the coming century, said Theodore Jay Gordon, a futurist. They could become platforms for new products: a technological link between newspapers, cable and the Internet could bring new information products into people's homes.

Can that make money?

Jack Fuller says it can. The Chicago Tribune's site on America Online became profitable after a few years. The Web site will too, he said, if it is a destination for people and offers useful content.

"If everyone is coming to you, you'll find a way to make money on that," he said. "Unless you're stupid."

Thomas B. Rosentiel, a former media critic at Newsweek, was bullish on newspapers' futures: "I believe that good journalism, in the end, will still be good business." Our product is not the news, he said, "our product is our relationship with our readers and customers."

So what will that future newspaper be? It may not be on paper, but it will have local news, lead its community and be made up of a technologically nimble staff. And it will still be the shining soul of its community.

Branson is publications director for ASNE.