Newspapers: Dumb, Fat & Lazy?
Howard Kurtz, media columnist for The Washington Post, in a harsh critique of the newspaper industry, writes today that:
The people who run such companies bear a considerable share of the blame. In 1993, just before the Internet became a consumer force, I argued in a book that newspapers had become too cautious, too incremental and too dull, tailored largely for insiders. The rise of hugely profitable monopoly papers in most cities made them increasingly bland, seemingly allergic to controversy.
In other words, the newspaper industry is no different from the U.S. automobile sector — markedly out of step with the mainstream buyers of their products.
Things are bad out there. Many of my friends are out of work, while others are secretly dreading the day when the axe falls. Predictably, many blame the likes of Google for their woes. Yet Kurtz points out that his own employer is talking to Google in an effort to figure out new ways to make money. So is The New York Times.
Let me see if I have this straight: Instead of coming up with a smart strategy and innovating, they’re going to Google to help fix their own mess. If an industry can’t think for itself, well, what do you call it? How about dumb, fat and lazy?
Just to be very, very clear, I am not talking about the working stiffs — the journalists who pound the pavement, every day, looking for news and their editors. I am talking about the members of the executive suite, which who with every passing day prove themselves to be as calcified as the remains of a T. rex.
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About 13 or 14 years ago I was working for a division of The Tribune, Compton’s New Media. I was also in charge of Tribune’s Growth Fund efforts in the Silicon Valley; responsible for finding startups that showed great promise for either The Tribune specifically or for new technology in general.
I remember one meeting back in Chicago when Mr. Madigan mentioned that Bill Gates came to Chicago to speak to The Tribune. My response to Mr. Madigan’s entrenched perception that The Tribune was pretty invulnerable -
“You think that you control the methods of production because you own printing plants – well, 2 guys just bought the methods of production at Circuit City with what was left on their credit cards. You think you control the channels of distribution with your delivery trucks and satellite relays and your kids peddling up and down neighborhoods on their bikes – well, those same 2 guys just set up their worldwide distribution network by plugging a wire into their phone jack. . . . .”
And this was before social networks, Twitter, camera phones, etc – so there goes the content.
And on and on and on.
Why would dumbed-down Americans want to read newspapers. They may buy the USA Today newspaper because it has a lot of colored pictures.
Don’t forget, The US is #39 on the literacy scale. Nothing tobe proud of.
I’ve heard from a journalist friend of mine that major newspapers were paying journalists six-figures a year to file two stories and be in the office 2-4X/yr. And then you’re going to layer editors on top of that, and executives and then try to support a physical distribution system in the face of a gloriously more competitive digital one?
I mean, isn’t it amazing that they’ve lasted as long as they have???
So you get your facts by what you hear? How about some hard cold facts. You should be ashamed of yourself.
There have been so many structural changes, well beyond Google and craigslist that have gotten newspapers where they are:
* Consolidation among key advertisers. Think Macy’s, Citi, etc. There used to be many local brands with local buyers.
* Demand for trackability by advertisers.
* Rise of information technology. Businesses can target their key customers at little or no cost.
* Competition from their own suppliers such as wire services and syndicates.
* Rise of user-generated content.
* Increasing cost of commodities.
* Increasing environmental consciousness.
* Decreasing density of newspaper subscribers.
* Inability to develop national scale to compete effectively with national players.
More details on these here:
http://blog.agrawals.org/2009/04/05/newspaper-companies-cant-unring-the-bell/
Add to all that the crushing debt burdens imposed by reckless acquisitions fueled by easy credit.
Om, check out what they’re working on in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Caution, it’s a long read.
http://stevebuttry.wordpress.com/2009/04/27/a-blueprint-for-the-complete-community-connection/
For a shorter review of their plan, see this:
http://recoveringjournalist.typepad.com/recovering_journalist/2009/04/inventing-the-future-in-iowa.html
It’s not just the newspapers – print magazines are hurting too. Blender, Domino, Men’s Vogue…these won’t be the only titles to get the axe. It’ll get worse before it gets better, but I’m also optimistic that some very creative and useful new venues will emerge from the wreckage.
All these articles, bloggers and analysts are looking at the big city and major newspapers. No one seems to be really digging into the smaller communities or smaller city papers, a layer or two down from the majors. While I agree the newspaper industry needs help and there is declining circulation, there is still a lot to be said for what newspapers provide in their communities that aren’t covered by bloggers or other media. A TV station can’t get into details on stories, because they are hurting as badly as newspapers and usually have much smaller staffs. Bloggers are not the answer,because they just aren’t there in smaller cities. However, more community involvement is the answer. Many newspapers have suffered from bloat and they are now having to start to operate lean & mean. That is what all companies need to do in this economy. Hundreds of newspapers failed during the depression, but the industry survived. They need to start looking outside their buildings and thinking they know what their audience wants and actually listen to the audience and react to that. I have an Internet background and work at a newspaper. I know the egos and high and mighty views that were there. That is changing. They just need to adapt and survive. They may not be in paper form, but I think they will survive in some form.
Touche! :-)
Barb you are right, but these examples are not as many as we would like to see them. On your point
I think this is part of the problem — thinking outside the box is missing.
It is obvious that you know very little about a depression.
The Great Depression started when the stock market crashed in 1929. That was 80 years ago and the next depression will be much worse.By the way, did they have email in 1929? When we have our economic meltdown (depression) there will be civil unrest and food riots. The government will have complete control of the food and water. Many Americans will starve because they have no food. I bought food prepared for long term storage. This depression could last as long as 10 years.It has been suggested that each person have enough food to last for 7 years.Very few people can afford that.
Why not smart ..well thought out analysis. The newspaper industry is neither fat nor Dumb. In fact much like any business that depends on advertising it is in decline. But this is about DEBT …..Industry debt and the debt and lack of access to new debt for the industry customers. This is not about Google, The internet or “user generated content”
Whatever the hell that is…..this is about DEBT….Om everytime you try a take on the auto industry you come up lame …..The auto industry is complex …far too complex for the drivel that passes for commentary on this site lately
Richard
I think you are wrong in your views about the newspaper industry. Having worked in the media long enough I know the shortcomings all too well. Mr. Kurtz summed them up pretty well for the Washington Post.
As far as your comments about auto industry and complexity: i know one thing about business. You make a product customers want. If you don’t, someone else will. That is what I understand is the problem with Detroit. So where you see complexity, I see a few inefficient companies that are out of touch with a majority of their market.
You are right about one thing — it is about debt. Well, how did they end up being in so much debt? Isn’t that part of the business-process.
Main issue is that 20-40 year old are not reading newspaper.
By moving to the Internet is not going to help.
Same thing should happen to TV as well.
Corporation covet 20-40 to brain wash into buying their crap.
No wonder Corporation will sell their left nut to get to the Indian youth.
As far as Debt is concerned. it was US government policy where it is cheaper
to borrow then to save. all tax policy is aimed at that.
It is simple as that.
More that can be done to disrupt 4th branch of government and their cozy
relationship to politician the better. especially when all the money raised
by politician ends up by advertisement.
“I am talking about the members of the executive suite, which with every passing day prove themselves to be as calcified as the remains of a T. rex.”
If you’re going to criticize newspaper management — the ultimate straw man — you might do it with “who” rather than “which.” Say what you want about those dullards, they usually observe the rudiments of English grammar better than most self-appointed experts in the techno-blogosphere.
Point well taken and error/grammatical oversight is regretted.
That being said, my main argument stands. And as you mock the bloggers and the grammatical mistakes on this blog, but you muddle the argument yourself — the dullards as you call it are not subject of my ridicule here. It is their bosses.
You also forget that on any given day newspapers have more mistakes per page than this blog does. And as for self-appointed expert part: i have spent over two decades in the business of media, mostly as a reporter. It has been enough time that I am privy to the fact that many need more than help from the editors to get the job done.
Yes, I understood and agree about newspaper management, and know how maddening it can be. Our local paper here, in central coastal California, is a black hole where talentless editors hold on for dear life while smarter folks leave for greener pastures. The LA Times is a tragicomedy.
I started reading GigaOM two or three weeks ago. The editorial range is mostly good but the writing is often a mess. I notice articles don’t seem to get many comments. NewTeeVee is loading something among the gigabytes of stuff on the homepage that causes my mouse cursor to disappear. On IE, the GigaOM Job Postings pane doesn’t load and there are other layout problems. And so on.
I know what I’d think if this were the technology section of a newspaper’s website. Oh well, we all know that the rule of writing applies in high tech more than anywhere else: if you know anything about a subject, you’re probably not writing about it in a newspaper/blog.
Bill
You are now switching conversation to a whole different topic – our product.
To that, I say thanks for you comments and appreciate your input. We try and improve every single day.
There is not enough investigative reporting. No one mentioned the fact that journalists have been threatened to stop reporting on the Iraq war and other stuff to appear in print.
Perhaps due to the progress of technology we are moving on from newspapers. They haven’t been around since the beginning of time and won’t be here until the end of it. The newspaper killed the town crier and now the internet has come to take the newspaper away.
I think the papers that are forward thinking and adapt to the internet will survive without print editions, the others will disappear and there isn’t a lot they can do about it.