By Stan Johnston
In the late 1980s, I was on a newspaper industry panel discussing future technologies. Instead of addressing the growing Internet threat, our entire conversation was about print. I finally asked in frustration: “What do you think is the main product we make and sell?” Every person said “newspapers.” They were wrong then and now. It has always been about information people trust, not how it is delivered.
Newsflash to newspapers: Nobody cares about your platforms and processes. Digital newsrooms and regional clusters? Great ideas 15 years ago. The industry is missing the point, again. It is focused on shifting to new business models and production platforms while customers continue to evolve how they even consume information – often crowd-sourcing news themselves and moving away from newspapers in droves.
I worked in the newspaper industry for more than 15 years – half in the newsroom, and half in corporate communications (my transition to tech marketing). I left because the industry had two blind spots, technology and customers. Bottom line: Most newspapers view new technologies solely as a way to make their own lives easier, not as a way to add value for their customers (or the world).
In the past, even calling subscribers “customers” would get a stern response from the newsroom. As a result, newspapers have made decisions that benefit themselves at our expense. For example, many newspapers print their weekend editions early to save money, and they label every page as “Sunday” – even in the Saturday paper. Often that includes live news sections. I can think of no way that helps a customer. It is confusing and a weekly lie.
I was discussing the issue recently with Michele Himmelberg, a former top-flight sports journalist and colleague who now is PR director for Disneyland. We agreed newspapers should be marketing the value of trust, not their operations platforms. To me it’s like Disneyland promoting itself to families as the most efficiently run theme park. And you thought it was about the magic?
If I sound bitter … well, maybe I am a little. Journalism was my first love, so leaving it was a difficult decision. I still strongly believe in the importance of an independent free press and informed citizens in a democracy. However, local newspapers are becoming less relevant at a time when trusted voices have never been more important. And while much has been written about the ad revenue losses from craigslist and other online competition, I believe the industry stumbled because of institutional hubris.
‘While much has been written about the ad revenue losses from craigslist and other online competition, I believe the newspaper industry stumbled because of institutional hubris.’
Newspapers originally had small editorial staffs, with cadres of freelancers or “stringers” they could deploy. Then Watergate and other highly publicized events popularized the press as our “Fourth Estate.” Newspapers grew so enamored with their own importance that editorial staffs burgeoned, became increasingly alienated from the business side, and detached from their communities. It was akin to separation of church and state.
In addition, newsrooms became convinced only “professional” journalists could be trusted. But any attempt to create a set of formal standards or certification requirements was met with disdain. Net result: Bloated full-time staffs requiring mass layoffs, capital-intensive facilities needing to be sold, and operations struggling to reorganize when they should be looking ahead strategically.
I believe the solution was there all along. Back to the future. Small staffs managing mostly crowd-sourced news with key trusted voices in the lead. Then amplify it with strategic partnerships. Think the early 20th Century, when the industry was threatened by the immediacy of radio (and later TV). Back then the focus was on serving local communities, not corporate stockholders, so newspapers found their place in the new world and prospered.
Newspapers could prosper again, even on the print side, with creative thinking. Most important, other industries that undertake digital transformation find nobody can go it alone in the Internet era. Partnerships are essential. And I don’t mean cooperation with another team in the same company.
For example, why haven’t newspapers partnered with manufacturers to offer home printers customized for news? Give consumers a $50 pre-programmed, connected printer with every year’s paid subscription. By letting customers print their edition at home, newspapers would save the cost of printing plants and home delivery. I’m guessing that would offset the $50. (The news would be more current, too. Just saying.)
Instead of being open and agile, newspapers remain defensive and slow to change. Instead of leveraging trusted voices, longtime reporters are being laid off en masse to make way for a new generation of digital content specialists nobody can quite define yet. The only certainty is that video will be part of the mix, so “multi-media journalist” is the hot new title. (Wish I had thought of that when I covered city council meetings, took photos of the events, wrote the stories, then filed them with wire services.)
But that leads back to the core issue: Newspapers are preoccupied with themselves, so customers are moving on without them. A few years ago I discussed the situation with former colleagues who also had left the industry. We kept trying to take the high road and chalk it up to unexpected disruption, but we simply could not shift the blame.
Ed Canale, a former Sacramento Bee editor and early digital visionary, summarized what we all felt: “Newspapers aren’t failing because of the Internet; they are failing because of arrogance and greed.”
If you doubt that, pick up the Saturday newspaper and tell me what day it is.
Front View Mirror 