Newspaper Execs Launch Group to 'Fight Back'

[Prince of Persia]

I don't know whether to be encouraged or amused by this effort.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003936789

 

[PeteyPirate]

 

[harbinger]

I found most of the article encouraging. At least somebody is making an effort. But if they're going to blame the recession for all of their problems, they should show a commitment to restaffing as the recession eases. Any takers?

Oh, and I found this laughable:

Management structures and sales practices are also changing, with the emphasis on fewer executives and more soldiers in the trenches.

 

[Pendleton]

Of course, many don't think the Recession will "ease" for at least 18-24 months.

 

[Bubbler]

I found most of the article encouraging. At least somebody is making an effort. But if they're going to blame the recession for all of their problems, they should show a commitment to restaffing as the recession eases. Any takers?

Oh, and I found this laughable:

Management structures and sales practices are also changing, with the emphasis on fewer executives and more soldiers in the trenches.

Managers have been getting laid off too. No one is safe.

 

[bigpern23]

“Newspapers don’t have an audience problem,” said Barrett, who is also president of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association. “Newspapers have a revenue problem, driven primarily by the recession.”

This is partially true, but partially incorrect. The revenue problem is certainly affected by the recession, but we do have an audience problem.

That problem is that older newspaper readers are dying off. Younger readers are going online and not paying for content. We haven't yet figured out how to effectively turn online content into a viable revenue stream. Until we do, newspapers will continue to suffer.

I do believe there will come a time that most readers will prefer online content and advertising will summarily follow them to web. We need to find out a way to survive until online advertising can pull its weight in the business model.

 

[WriteThinking]

I agree with most of this, but the part I'm not sure of is the second graf:

"This wrongheaded perception stems from the economic recession that’s affected all advertising-based businesses, and from the myth that newspapers no longer attract the public support they once enjoyed."

There is a wrong-headed perception regarding newspapers, or at least, news outlets, and the need for and popularity of them. But I don't think the recession is the primary culprit.

It is the cheapening of the product that has occurred because people don't have to pay for it anymore.

This is the real key. And until newspaper executives start acknowledging it, and doing something about it -- even if it is just making people pay for online reading (yes, I know that won't be enough, and shouldn't be all that happens, but it's the principle of the thing), nothing will change and that current "perception" will continue to be the reality.

The simple fact is, people expect to get this product for free now. And that's what's killing us, not the recession, even as bad as that is, and even though it surely is having an effect on the business right now.

 

[DanOregon]

This strikes me as very odd. A PR campaign for newspapers.

 

[cranberry]

More flaks weren't going to get these guys out of trouble, either.

 

[Stitch]

We're not going to take it.

 

[Football_Bat]

Our paper ran a full-page color Newspaper Project ad today.

 

[DanOregon]

Ladies and gentlemen, I'll be brief. The issue here is not whether we broke a few rules, or took a few liberties with our profit margins - we did.
[winks]
But you can't hold a whole industry responsible for the behavior of a few, sick twisted individuals. For if you do, then shouldn't we blame the whole capitalist system? And if the whole capitalism system is guilty, then isn't this an indictment of our economy in general? I put it to you, America, isn't this an indictment of our entire American society? Well, you can do whatever you want to us, but we're not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America. Gentlemen!

 

[clutchcargo]

Read and listen to all this carefully: this whole idea of saving newspapers/media companies sounds honorable, but don't equate that to saving all of our jobs.

We're talking two different things here. What sounds positive for the top dogs of our industry is all about net profits, stock prices, executive bonuses, and shareholder dividends. But jobs? Think about it.

 

[ScribePharisee]

Executive bonuses rank atop that list. These people live in a world not that of the general reporter. The latter will eventually serve as their show shiner, part time.