Singleton: Newspapers need to get with the times

Wow. Talk about shooting the messenger. Anybody actually read anything in this article other than the words "Dean" and "Singleton"?

 

"Discard 'our' arrogance"?

Takes one to know one, Dean. How about, you know, offering solutions instead of continuing to be part of the problem?

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Birdscribe is correct. The only thing that surprises me is given Dean's arrogance and ruthless slashing and burning, why would he spend money to hire consultants ... knowing he's going to slash jobs en masse, anyway?

 

Arrogance is gutting the product and expecting circ and revenue not to tank.

 

Down to these consultant types love for Michael Bolton music....

And this is more than a poker tell. It's more like yelling "Incoming!" as a shell is about to hit in/near your bunker.

 

Yes. Seemed extremely simplistic with no specific answers. We have to change, dammit!

What did you take out of it?

 

Fuck "Dean" and "Singleton."
For three decades he has constringed community pillars and cozened thousands of journalists out of careers. Not well-paying careers, but noble satisfying careers.
His eye never set on delivering a worthwhile-product. He plunders and defiles and when all is extracted, he merges.
It's like watching a high school football team run the same play over and over and over again.
So when this Motherfucker stands in front of any assemblage with megaphone in hand, pounds fist to podium and espouses change, my spine cringes.

 

Dead. On. Nails. (tipping hat)

 

It seems that "new" ideas become "old" ideas overnight in the business. I'm sick of reading "newspapers will be around for a long time" columns by old timers, and "newspapers need to change to survive" columns" by innovation gurus.
And yet, I'm seeing nothing but a steady decline in newspaper revenues, what gives? Are papers not changing fasting enough? Changing too quickly?

 

Writers: Singleton needs to get hit by a truck

 

In my opinion, newspapers reacted to slowly to the opportunities and competition from the internet, wondered what to do about it and then went headlong into it, mostly using newspaper people to provide the content and often run the show rather than web folks who really know what clicks and sells online. And did it as cheaply as possible rather then putting resources into the web.

 

No kidding -- I kept waiting for some of his solutions in the story ...

 

"Once and for all, we're going to have to quit writing and editing for each other and write and edit for that consumer out there," he said.

I think this summarizes it pretty well.
The newspaper as an entity has been loathe to change and has gotten clobbered for it. It makes me ill that newspapers have traditionally dedicated one or more editors for months at a time to put together contest entries. Think about it -- if all those editors had spent their time cooking up ideas to innovate on the internet, perhaps papers wouldn't have been lapped several dozen times.
Singleton was a villain long before any of this was an issue, of course. But anyone espousing any degree of faith in the long-term viability of print at least deserves some kudos.