My heart went a flutter this week after reading a few articles that DID NOT forecast the downfall of America’s newspapers, and gave newspapers some hope.
First, “Deseret Morning News” Editor and COO John Hughes has an excellent piece in the “Christian Science Monitor,” entitled, “Newspaper survival guide: Be tech savvy and ethically sound.”
Before summarizing what newspapers need to do, he makes several good points, one being:“[T]here is typically no news on the Internet without a news organization, usually a newspaper, to provide it.”
With few exceptions, news comes from professionals, or at least established media organizations. While there is increasing competition for media organizations — i.e., bloggers and citizen journalists — the bulk of news and information comes from established media outlets.
The main jist of Hughes’ column is this:
“The two biggest challenges confronting newspapers today are first, this pace of new technology (MY ADD: and making money off it), and second, the erosion of journalistic ethics on the part of some ambitious but ruthless journalists.”
In more than one post, I’ve suggested what newspapers need to do to be more relavant and survive. That ethics one, I guess, should be assumed.
Another piece of good news is that online readership of newspaper sites increased “by nearly a third in the first half of 2006.”
The story was based on a study by the Newspaper Association of America. The results can be found here.
While online visitors to large newspapers fell, the overall results are positive. And, they mean that newspapers should be — but unfortunately aren’t — seeing financial benefit from that rise in online readership.
“Newspaper Web sites have become a significant addition to the print product, and are driving large audience growth,” said John Kimball, the association’s chief marketing officer.
Duh, Mr. Kimball. Most anyone could’ve told you that. But, still newspapers still are not generating more revenue to compact poor financial performance.
And, don’t give me any BS about having a hard time reaching younger audiences:
“Overall, Newspaper Web sites helped drive a 15-percent increase in the total newspaper audience for 25- to 34-year olds and a 10-percent increase for 18- to 24-year olds, the association said.”
The final piece of inspiring news, was that the Los Angeles Times publisher, Jeffrey M. Johnson, “resigned at the request” of the LAT’s parent company, Tribune Co. (i.e., forced out) because he and Editor Dean Baquet “publicly resisted pressure from Tribune management to make a new round of job cuts.”
Thank goodness that someone is making an effort to promote editorial quality over financial desires. You CAN have both. In fact, you NEED both.
– Mike
Technorati tags: newspapers, newspaper business, John Hughes , Jeffrey M. Johnson, Newspaper Association of America
