In 1991, Mike Silver championed the Tribune Co. investing $6 million into a little-known online bulletin board, chat and e-mail company that had fewer than 60,000 users. That investment in America Online soon became worth $1 billion, turning Silver into the online champion for his company.

His roles at Tribune Co. have included vice present of editorial, marketing and development at Tribune Media Services, vice president of new media at Tribune Broadcasting and general manager of Tribune Interactive, where today he is vice president of strategy and development.

Silver won the Newspaper Association of America's New Media Pioneer Award in 2002.

"It's hard for me to imagine a great newspaper-branded Web site that wasn't attached to a great newspaper," Silver said.

"If the financial base of the newspaper were to decline, and the quality of the journalism were to decline with it, that can't be good for the Web site," he said. "That's why those of us on the interactive side of the business need to keep figuring out ways we can do smart things together with our print colleagues to keep consumers and advertisers happy with online and offline services."

Silver said that much of online editions' advertising revenues are coming from newsprint sources. But he expects that to change. "The fact is that the strength of the online side of the package deals get stronger all the time. Because the Web site is now reaching a significant chunk of audience that the print paper isn't, advertisers are getting value and convenience when they buy integrated online-offline packages.

"Our expectation is that in the next few years, you'll see more and more instances where the online component is not only part of the deal -- but the factor the helps seal the deal," he said. "That's already happening in our CareerBuilder-branded package of print/online classified."

Silver said the average user of a newspaper Web site doesn't visit frequently, but he said that newspapers shouldn't be aiming at the average visitor.

"When you drill deeper beyond the averages reported by the national ratings services, you actually find that there are sizable pockets of intensely loyal users. After we implemented strong-form registration at chicagotribune.com and bought a more sophisticated tracking system to understand usage patterns, we discovered that there were tens of thousands of highly loyal users who were visiting the site with a frequency that was completely masked by the ratings averages.

"And from an advertising point of view, the most intensely loyal users appear to be the sort of folks that marketers want to reach," Silver said. "The demographics of newspaper Web sites are quite attractive, with real strength among people in their late 20s and their 30s.

"These people will stick with us as they get older, and they'll be followed by successive generations as they reach the age they begin caring about the kinds of things newspapers cover."

Silver said it's impossible to make direct comparisons between online and print usage.

"First of all, the print editions don't have the same level of metrics. How many people actually open that plastic bag and take out the newspaper? How many pages do they read? How much time do they spend with the paper? An apples-to-apples comparison is impossible."

And just as entertainment content was key driver for TV and radio when they were new media, utility content could be the killer ap for online editions, Silver said. "When you see a newspaper-branded Web site that has a focal point other than breaking local news and easy-to-use classified advertising, you're looking at a site that is inviting the type of bleak future you predict.

"My personal opinion is that online journalism resources should be deployed largely to produce updated coverage and unique audience-grabbing interactive elements, not embellishing already-printed news articles.

"And I think that other areas of utility -- particularly helping consumers navigate their offline shopping and leisure activities -- remain a promising area for local online growth, although perhaps not under the newspaper brand."

Silver said he's a big fan of the "flexibility inherent in The New York Times Digital's Boston.com strategy-- and many of the programming and marketing tactics that site practices today."

"Just like newspaper-owned radio and TV stations became important to their parent company's bottom line by utilizing different programming and branding tactics when competing in a new medium, I think newspaper-affiliated Web operations need to get there too. "

Tribune Co. is implementing user registration at most of its newspaper sites and has been experimenting with charging for some content at LATimes.com. "Clearly, the world isn't ready to pay for online newspapers at the moment, but that's not necessarily true in the long run.

"Consumers are willing to pay for online services that they find truly valuable. The growing acceptance of paid music downloads is proof of that. And there certainly are examples of things that once came free, but now come with fees: like credit cards and ATMs.

"No question that finding the right formula for paid content is a challenge; but if we believe that we're doing something that has value to a consumer, we ought to also believe that it's not out of the question that the consumer will pay for it.

"What has value?" he asked.

"Well, in truth, the consumer will decide that -- not us. But we better be listening."