Leonsis' 10-point plan to revive newspapers

He says 10 top papers should by Yahoo. "Get rid of senior editors," the former AOL exec also advises. "Turn them into algorithmic managers. Editors are passe. What is needed is a team of people that know how to work and create blog rolls and how to get the content up high into the algorithms so that when a consumer searches the newspaper's content it comes up high in the rankings."

http://ted.aol.com/index.php?ID=2031

 

"Cut the headcount now."

Sounds like a lot of people are already implementing Ted's plan.

 

"Math is king in the new world order and having managers that understand the big algorithms in the sky will redefine journalism for our next generation and redefine circulation into syndication."

Great. I got into this business because I suck at math. Now what? I will say, this new world of algorithms sounds so very exciting.

 

Right. Profit margin goes down from 30 percent to 20 percent and all of a sudden everyone's an expert.

search rankings over immediate cash flow

Shareholders will love that one.

Take the one time big write down.

Riiiight.

Take your company private so you are out of the Wall Street quarter to quarter bedlam.

"Mr. Banker? Yes ... We want to buy out our shareholders. We need $3 billion. Right ... we are not into immediate cash flow anymore, it's all about the future. Of course it'll work. We have this thing we've been selling, and we're not going to sell it anymore, but we'll get more page hits. ... No-no-no-no-no, it'll all work out in the end. ... No, of course I'm not drunk. This advice comes from an Internet expert. ... No, he doesn't have any newspaper experience. ... Hello? Hello?"


And in case you missed it:

Cut the headcount now.

Wow. Genius.

 

Well, it's now easier to understand why the Capitals, Wizards and Mystics are so bad.

Alexander Ovechkin may make the Caps worthwhile by himself, but otherwise the point stands.

 

I think Ted needs an editor, one of those old school passe types who know that the right word in that sentence would be "band". Of course, I guess getting it right is old school as well.
Who needs facts and grammar and all that old shit. Math is the new king.