American Onslaught

Prior to starting this blog and co-founding three new media companies, I worked as a journalist. Those who have followed some of what I have written and what I have been doing may know this already. And if you don’t, you do now. 

While working as a journalist, I was a reporter for a daily newspaper in central New Hampshire. I covered everything from grandmas birthday to the murder down the street. I did develop a specialty in investigative reporting. I wasn’t something that I pushed for, but it just kind of happened. Actually, below I have one of my investigative articles posted.

The reason I tell you my background first, is because it has a lot of relevance on what I am going to write about in this post. Over the course of my time as a journalist, though it may have only been for a few years, I took notice of a few things. Mainly, that the industry leaders, managers, and owners had and continue to have their eyes closed behind the wheel.

What I mean by this is these industry leaders thought the same old way of doing things that worked back in the 1950s would continue to work in the changing world of today. Now if your not an ostridge, having had your head buried in the sand for the last 10 years, then you know things have changed. Things continue to change. No one is connecting the same way they have always connected. And these changes are having an effect on journalism.

While I worked I watched. I watched as my boss, month after month, had trouble meeting sales quotas. The company had to lay off people, and at every step cashflow became more of an issue. 

But what was happening was entirely within his control. You see, the website of the paper lacked even the very basics. It took two years to allow readers to comment on an article. Even today, three years later, there are no advertisements embedded in the articles. 

I remember he would always talk about the 90 year old subscriber in some remote town and what he/she would like to read. Well, I have news for you, that is a dying market segment (literally).

So the paper’s ailing condition was not as a result of hard times, disinterest in news itself, but it was the unwillingness to change. This what was killing the paper and many papers around the country.

These newspapers are not dying, quite the opposite, they are committing suicide before our eyes.

So what is the solution. Adapt. That is the only course. Many of these newspapers, far from the national level, may never become a Digg or StumbleUpon, but they can adapt.

Recently, I read about two newspapers in Detroit that seemed to have the right idea. You see this papers recognized a fundimental thing, times they are a changing and have been for some time. In realizing this they noticed that their website traffic continued to rise while subscriptions continued to fall.

Instead of doing something that my former boss might have done, they decided to adapt to the emerging online market and devote resources there while making print news a-la-cart.

Within Q1 of next year, the newspapers will add digital news channels and offer subscription-based electronic editions, while reducing frequency of its print products. Home delivery of the papers will be limited to Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays, and print editions — some just single sections — will be sold on newsstands every day. The company also aims to place more emphasis on digital audio and video and mobile offerings.

So there is hope for newspapers after all, if we can get them to just put down the gun and take a step back. My advise to those owners out there, fire your current managers and executive editors. Then bring in some young minded people that are in tune with the changing face of media, and put them in charge.