Here as promised are words of wisdom from a person who is actually working in the newspaper business as an editor. He was responding to the article Transforming the Architecture.
"Daily news in the traditional sense is not a great field to be breaking into right now, true, unless you've got some Web expertise. That article about reorganizing newsrooms is a little outdated, though.
Carol Leigh Hutton was fired in San Jose. Owner became uncomfortable with her plan to "blow up the newspaper" as she put it. More on her in a bit.
The AJC is backing off and hiring into some traditional jobs, such as a business editor. They just hired one of my reporters, who grew up in Georgia. They tried to hire one of my editors, but she stayed.
What's happening in Des Moines is much less revolutionary than evolutionary with a different name (information center instead of newsroom) in an effort to show Gannett investors that the company is trying to do something to address the digital age.
Atlanta and San Jose are behind what we are doing without changing the name of the newsroom or doing away with the city editor and business editor (the latter being a good thing).
Did I tell you we won an Emmy? First national Emmy awarded for Outstanding Current News Coverage for Broadband. Other finalists: Washington Post and PBS's "Frontline."
We're all about multimedia.
Carol Leigh Hutton was the publisher and editor here before Knight Ridder sold the Free Press to Gannett. Then Knight Ridder dissolved. If the way this place was managed is indicative, it deserved to die. She went to former Knight Ridder paper in San Jose and launched the same "rethinking" process that was going on here before the sale. In telling people they weren't guaranteed their jobs, the newsroom's No. 3 guy committed suicide. Folks here said Carol Leigh at times lacked a soft touch.
So even before she was fired, I found that article amusing in its holding her up as a pioneer in leading newspapers into the new age. The only thing she led here was a talented newsroom into a swamp of undisciplined underachievement."
Let me know what you think.
Jerry
Jerry in Sri Lanka
Helping bathe an elephant
About Me
- Jerry Renaud
- I am a broadcast journalism professor in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
9 comments:
The commentary on "Transforming the Architecture" came from a friend of mine who's the business editor at the Detroit Free Press. He was at the Des Moines Register before that.
I sent him the article (TTA) to say, Holy expletive deleted, Batman! one reason I can't get hired is the Mass Exodus from newsrooms! [I was RIFed a year ago as an editor with this university, have applied for about 100 jobs, have gotten 16 interviews, have been told three times I came in second (which is unusual, that they would go out of their way to say that, and tells me I'm not being dissed by the boss who RIFed me), and have no offers -- not to frighten anyone; I was recently told by a professor here that I'm a white male over 50 and that's not in my favor. Cool, now I'm a member of an out-of-power minority! It's just not federally recognized.] Anyway, my friend turned it into something constructive, or constructive criticism at least.
My personal feeling is that news and newsrooms are changing irrevocably. This is less than brilliant because we know they're already changing, even if some are changing back somewhat. The only other thing we can say with certainty is how much we don't know right now. The thing that's more hopeful is that while general audience publications are shrinking and dwindling, niche publications (and web sites of course) are proliferating. Got a hobby?
Change isn’t easy, and transform a newsroom overnight certainly isn’t without its problems, as is the case with the top staffer at the San Jose newspaper committing suicide.
In an ideal world, having a technologically advanced newsroom filled with a staff that is skilled on all the new tools is a great goal, but in reality, the human side of the business intervenes.
If you’re not guaranteeing people their jobs, you risk an exodus of staffers out of your newsroom into somewhere, anywhere else.
Plus, training one new employee – even one with the Web skills you desire – isn’t easy. He or she needs to learn your newspaper’s system of copy flow, in-house style and the logistics of working at a new job – possibly even living in a new city.
Now imagine having to train 10, 20, even 30 new employees within a few months time.
That said, the benefits reaped from having a technologically skilled staff with creative minds and the right journalistic background are incredible. Exhibit A: This newspaper’s Emmy win for news coverage via broadband.
So though change needs to be a goal in newsrooms, we also have to be careful about the method of implementation we choose. It’s a cautionary tale: In our effort to rid newsrooms of people unwilling go in the online direction, we could lose quality staffers scared by a lack of job security.
The future of journalism is definately leaning toward online. As newspaper subscriptions continue to fall, more people get their news from online.
I think it really comes down to how the transition is handled. In the response it is shown the way not to do it. And it may be years before we can see results of the actions of newsrooms today.
But in the end, a ship is only as good as its captain.
I think many of the issues and challenges facing the transitioning newspaper industry are very similar to the problems emerging in the music industry. According to Rolling Stone magazine, record sales are down 36% since 2000 and are expected to decline even further. For years compact disk sales have plummeted drastically due to digital downloads (legal and illegal). With advances in technology and the growing popularity of mp3 devices, such as iPods, people seem to have less of a demand to buy CDs. But can you blame them? Why buy a $15 CD when you can purchase only the songs you want for 99 cents each?
With this decline in album sales, artists and record companies are being forced to change the way business is done, especially if they want to get their music out to the public. Several musicians are even dropping their record labels in an attempt to generate more profits in other areas instead of traditional album sales. Radiohead eliminated the middleman and left EMI. The band sold their album directly to consumers online, asking fans to name their own price. Madonna also recently left her 20-year home of Warner Music in favor of a $120 million 10-year deal with concert promoter Live Nation. This deal will cover all aspects of her career, including merchandising and touring (two of the biggest money-makers) in addition to album sales.
Some record companies are fighting back, struggling to keep some of their biggest names in the music industry. Several record companies are moving away from just producing albums. They are teaming up with other media entities to promote their artists and their music. Lately, I’ve noticed how strategically record labels are placing their music in other places than just the radio. New music can now be found in video games, television commercials, MySpace pages, etc. They are working with the new media to make up for profits caused by a decline in album sales.
The music industry doesn’t have all of the details worked out quite yet, but one thing is for sure: the music industry isn’t the same as it was 10 even 5 years ago. It got a lot more complicated than just promoting and selling albums. Record companies need to embrace this new convergence of new technologies in order to remain relevant and conduct successful business. Like the music industry, newspapers also need to spend a lot of time and effort to determine where they are now, and what obstacles they must overcome to be profitable in the future.
Several comments mention the necessity of making a transition, but I don't really agree that everyone in every newsroom is willing to cooperate with that transition. In my time at the Journal Star, I heard first-hand accounts of people who were unwilling to assist in the transition to the Web. I think this transition will become easier as these people wind down their careers, but in some cases at the Journal Star, this could be another 10 to 15 years. There was even contention among the people who deal only with online when it comes to features and content of the site. In short, there's so many people that have to play a part in the production of a quality site -- and I do believe the Journal Star has a high quality site -- that even the most technically gifted Web producers will serve no purpose if the rest of the staff lacks the drive to make a Web site successful.
About a year ago there was a spate of blog posts and articles about this quote, originating from Tim O'Reilly (Silicon Valley writer): "Apparently, Phil Bronstein, the editor-in-chief, told staff in a recent 'emergency meeting' that the news business 'is broken, and no one knows how to fix it.' ('And if any other paper says they do, they're lying.')"
A tech writer, Doc Searls, had some ideas on how to "fix": Doc Searls Weblog
1) Stop giving away the news and charging for the olds.
2) Start featuring archived stuff on the paper's website.
...
6) Start looking to citizen journalists (CJs) for coverage of hot breaking local news topics
...
Interesting, but many of his points rely on the "citizen journalist."
I find that the news room is contantly changing and being modified. With this in mind, I find that no one's job is safe. It may not be fair, but that's just the directon the industry is headed.
With more on-line journalism and consolidation of positions, I feel that individuals need to be really to follow whatever curves are thrown at them, even if it means losing their job. It's now almost a standard that with growth their must be loss.
Here's more of the cautionary tale from newspapers -- I won't call it "gloom and doom," but some might: a NY Times article on downsizing in '07 at major papers. Also, about a year ago, Frontline (blessed be thy name, my favorite documentary news show; if not hitting it out of the park everytime, then at least knocking extra base hits most every time out) did a four-part series on the news business, with one issue devoted entirely the shakeout in daily news and issues with ad revenue.
The other side of the coin is that opportunities are surely emerging elsewhere, if we know how to find them. Humans are consuming more information than ever before. That's part of what's driving the downsizing of newspapers. Another key issue, one I've been aware of (and most of you too, probably) but had momentarily forgotten, is that classified ads were the revenue mainstay of papers. Those have migrated to the web in increasing numbers but have been uncoupled from content. Is there a way to re-establish that link or otherwise milk them for revenue for content purposes?
Here's the URL form the NY Times on downsizing of newsrooms (look out! there's a cave-in in the mine!): http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/business/media/07paper.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&sq=newspapers%20downsizing&st=nyt&scp=1
Here's more of the cautionary tale from newspapers -- I won't call it "gloom and doom," but some might: a NY Times article on downsizing in '07 at major papers. Also, about a year ago, Frontline (blessed be thy name, my favorite documentary news show; if not hitting it out of the park every episode, then at least knocking extra base hits most every time out) did a four-part series on the news business, with one issue devoted entirely to the shakeout in daily news and the issues with declining ad revenue.
The other side of the coin is that opportunities are surely emerging elsewhere, if we know how to find them. Humans are consuming more information than ever before. That's part of what's driving the downsizing of newspapers. Another key issue, one I've been aware of (and most of you too, probably) but had momentarily forgotten, is that classified ads were the revenue mainstay of papers. These have migrated to the web in increasing numbers but have been largely uncoupled from content. Is there a way to re-establish that link or otherwise milk them for revenue for content purposes?
Here's the URL from the NY Times on downsizing of newsrooms (look out! there's a cave-in in the mine!): http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/business/media/07paper.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&sq=newspapers%20downsizing&st=nyt&scp=1
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