We’ve read, repeatedly, about how legacy media continues to evolve to meet the new digital media demands. Newsrooms are hiring all-platform journalists who can write for multiple media; they’re restructuring to add more muscle to their digital reporting teams and they’re putting more emphasis on using metrics to determine what gets covered and what gets pushed to their audiences.

All of that is well and good, but it still means publishers are behind, since all of those steps should have been taken more than a decade ago. Would real digital change in a more aggressive manner have stemmed the advertising, circulation and ratings point losses suffered by legacy media?

Who knows? It’s more than fair to say that earlier action wouldn’t have hurt.

As legacy media makes its structural changes, it’s forgetting a major component. It needs technologists, and it needs them fast. The science of content delivery is evolving, and there are few people — if any — in traditional news operations that have a firm grasp on what’s happening.

Content delivery involves using available devices to get content to users when they want it. In order to be successful, newsrooms need people who not only understand how these devices work, but how they can more effectively use them to push out the content their users want.

I encourage you to read Quartz’s outstanding story on how smartphones are changing the way content will be produced and consumed. Content is no longer a story written by a journalist because he or she thinks the topic is relevant. Content will be topical based on where a person is at any point in his or her day, whether it be stuck in traffic, emerging from a subway platform on the way to work, or drinking a nice cabernet at the end of the day.

For example: Who, in your organization, knows how to use location data to pinpoint where your audiences are, and deliver information based on that knowledge? That, to me, is the single most important issue content producers face. It’s no longer good enough to simply produce the content; you have to get the content to audiences where they are.

The paradigm has long shifted. People no longer find the news — the news finds people.

What do I mean by that? In the long, distant past (like, 15 years ago) audiences still, by and large, waited for their newspapers to be delivered to their doorstep, or turned on their radio for the morning drive, or went home and waited for the local and then national news to be broadcast in the late afternoon/early evening. People had to go find the news. Now, with push notifications becoming ubiquitous, news finds people based on their content desires.

Instead, many publishers are still experimenting with content in a 2010 way (I say 2010 because that’s when the tablet era began). Many are still trying to determine what works best on mobile vs. tablets, what works best at what time of day and whether certain content should be long-form, short-form, or strictly graphically displayed. Instead, they should be focused on the impact technology has on content, and react with the speed of a technology company — not a legacy media company.

That’s why every news organization needs a technology guru who understands the latest technology and content’s relationship to it.

Content is no longer just about writing. It’s about delivering what people want — fast.

So, we have yet another racial firestorm a brewing, this time involving Bruce Levinson, the owner of the Atlanta Hawks. He said some stupid things, and has now vowed to sell the team. The legacy media has reported the events in the standard, traditional, straight-laced way that it has reported such stories for more than a century. And soon, it will go on to other things.

And that’s the problem. Legacy media could --- and should --- just stop reporting on issues. It should take the lead in fostering real conversations about important issues in our country, and race relations could be at the top of the list. There are tons of others that are vexing, too, but this country has never really had (at least, in my time), a real sustained conversation about race in America. Instead, legacy media simply reports on events and focuses on the wrong issues. More on that later.

Look at all of the race-related stories of late. Michael Brown, an unarmed black man, is shot dead by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo.  That leads to days of violent protests, and a stark split in how the populace views the events. Blacks say the shooting raises important issues on race, yet a plurality of whites say it got too much attention, according to Pew Research Center poll.

In a Dayton-Ohio suburb, a black male is shot dead by police while walking through a local Walmart carrying what appears to be a toy gun. Judging from the photos in the local media, the demonstrations on behalf of the John Crawford, the slain man, were attended mostly by blacks; the demonstrations in support of the police, mostly by whites.

And now Levinson, who, in short, said attendance at Atlanta Hawks’ games stinks because southern whites are uncomfortable around blacks. Media has reported the story, what his emails said, the NBA’s self-congratulatory back slapping, and the predictable outrage by those offended by the emails. That reporting is all good, but it leaves open a critical question that deserves reasoned examination --- is Levinson right, and if he is, what does that mean for race in Atlanta? All of the denunciations of his incredibly clumsy and offensive remarks doesn’t change that he could very well be on to something.

Then, there are all of the other race-related issues that we talk about amongst ourselves, but don’t talk about together. Whites who clutch their purses or bags tighter when a young black male draws near, or who cross the street to avoid blacks; or blacks who won’t leave a store without a receipt for fear of being accused of shoplifting, or who duck in a store to avoid balding, tattooed white guys. Those are just a few examples.

The issue of race in America lacks real, prolonged and serious leadership. There is no advantage for any elected official to make this topic a priority. Most whites don’t see race as much of a problem, and if the majority if the electorate doesn’t see something as an issue, why bother?

Well, there’s a big bother. There are plenty of people that want to pretend that the issue of race in America is exaggerated or it’s “better than it has been.” But there are plenty more who understand this is an issue that can cause immense social harm. Ferguson was a societal microcosm that should teach everyone a frightful lesson --- people who feel wronged, and reach a breaking point, will react, loud and angry. If the same had happened in St, Louis, Chicago, or New York, the proportional demonstration and violence would have made Watts look like a teeny, tiny neighborhood dispute.

And where’s the legacy media? It breathlessly covers the story as long as there are ratings to be gained. When the story begins to lose steam, the reporters disappear. It’s not like Michael Brown is any less dead, or that the people in Ferguson feel any less wronged. It’s just that the media has lost most of the interest it had at the height of a truly awful story.

This is not to say this is legacy media’s fault. It is not. Legacy media could use the examination of social issues as the niche it needs to remain relevant in a digital world.  It has the reporting and editing expertise and community reach to make a real, lasting difference. What’s it waiting for?

Media can take the lead --- right now --- and lead open and honest conversations about race in communities across the country.  And I mean going beyond the superficial, “I don’t like blacks,” or, “I don’t trust whites” polls we see so often. I mean a real look at how racial attitudes impact every aspect of all of our lives.

How does race impact where people live, and the ability for them to easily access city services? What’s race’s effect on the ability to secure a good-paying job with true, equal chances at promotion? What role does race play on Sunday mornings, when countless parishioners flock to churches and worship with people who look just like them?

These are powerful, important issues that need context, and, most importantly, solutions with community input. Some will argue this is the role editorial boards and best played in opinion pages. They would be wrong.

This is the role of the new legacy media, which should embrace leading a community through difficult issues.

Reporting what happens isn’t enough anymore. It’s time to become community activists that provides  context and leads to solutions.