Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

Old media reacts to electronic challenges and dropping circulation and ad revenue by having a less ambitious, underfed product.

Just one case in point.

Denver got its first nonstop flight to Japan.

The Denver Post has a travel section every Sunday. It is a shell of what it used to be, but what’s new.

If the publication was fighting to keep reader interest, they would send someone to do a big spread on vacation opportunities if a family or couple or solo traveler decided to take the flight.

How is the flight in coach? How much? What is transportation like? What would be a fun five day itinerary? I could add 20 interesting questions to answer without breaking a sweat.

And I don’t mean the old junket trip where the writer is wined and dined and doesn’t really experience what a traveler or family would experience.

It would cost money and time to put together such a piece.

But even a reader who isn’t interested, or ready to take the plane to Japan, would

acknowledge “this was a good enterprise idea for my paper to do.”

I’m convinced that survival for old media would include a commitment to excellence.