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| Johannes Gutenberg [1398-1468] is credited with being on of the first Europeans to use movable type printing circa 1439 |
ONE NICHE AT A TIME--Last
week, I was presented a San Diego Press Club award for top magazine reporting
in the field of architecture and design. It was a nice rose that I shared with
colleagues, family and friends. But, as
expected conversations at this annual gathering of this town’s paid
communicators focused on what many perceive as an industry in its death throes.
Is Journalism dead? Are members of the fourth estate dinosaurs?
Before re-entering the
discussion here, we should understand journalism’s face is often the TV talking
heads or the penning pundits. Few focus
on the fact every newspaper, magazine, broadcast venue is a business
first. Journalism is not immune from
economic dilemmas. The first amendment
doesn’t protect journalism from poor business practices.
Capitalistic economies ebb
and flow. Every industry at one time or
another will run into tough times. Those
who print news for a living, for example, have hit a huge wall. That wall is the Internet. Internet can deliver the news faster than the
printing press and even most the quickest broadcast venues.
The journalistic print and
11 o’clock news enterprises that will survive from today into the future will
be those that are run as successful businesses first. Like all capitalistic ventures, the well run,
well managed companies will succeed.
Hire good people and pay them well…then pray.
Today’s newspaper
publishers are no different than railroad magnates at the dawn of the 20th
century, who had to cope with the growth of the automobile industry. The car soon became the transportation
leader of choice. Trains were no longer
the big dog in public transportation.
Passenger rail had to change
with progress. They adapted by creating
subways and streetcar systems and to focus on being the nation’s freight
carrier, a leadership position it still maintains.
Newsgathering is undergoing
revolutionary times. The Internet is
still the ocean facing Christopher Columbus before his first voyage. Many feel today’s remarkable advances in
electronic newsgathering and delivery modes are only the tip of the proverbial
iceberg. A bigger boom is yet to come.
Print journalism too must continue
to adapt to new times and they must do it quickly and with creative vigor.
Newsweek, Time and other periodicals are among the best ever published, but like the
luxury passenger train their day as a profitable venture has left the station.
Those who remain committed
to old ways will be blown a side by the creative winds of new technologies that
have forged better avenues (social media e.g.) as to how news is being
delivered.
Also, don’t confuse
delivering the news with quality of news.
Being a good journal is no longer good enough.
Case in point: In 2013, the
aforementioned Newsweek, a weekly
news publication (founded in the 1930s) will no longer print for
newsstands. Instead it will be found
online only.
Many believe Newsweek’s decision is too late. The newsstand version of US World & News Report also died earlier
in the new millennium but resurrected itself online. Unfortunately, USN&WR on the ‘net is a ghost of its former journalistic self.
Publications moving from
newsstands to print are doomed to failure if they stick to delivering day old
bread as news. Everyone that can access a blog is suddenly in the news
business. At one time, there were
hundreds of carmakers after 1900—within a decade only those that had solid
business plans survived.
Today, thousands of news
outlets via the Internet have tugged readers away from traditional publications.
Some blogs are damned good.
But, like print cousins,
there are other factors in play dooming online journals as well.
Competition isn’t the sole
grim reaper.
People that run companies
like Newsweek aren’t blind to the
Internet. They must know no matter how
many MBAs line the boardroom the real challenge in online news delivery for
profit is the fact no one in WWW journalism has found the golden goose when it
comes to making money using the Internet for media purposes.
E-Bay knows how to make
money.
So does Amazon. Google and facebook are generating big
dollars from the WWW.
Because there are so many
Internet news outlets vying for advertising dollars no one is able to corner a
profitable niche. Once the media learns
how to “consistently” sell advertising on the Internet, then will we see a
rebound in quality news journalism.
So far, most publications are
willing to sit on the sidelines (and slowly die) until someone else comes up
with the magic formula.
And, so far, no such
luck. Those advertising agencies saying
Internet advertising is a hot commodity are whistling in the proverbial
darkness.
Fortunately for purveyors
of the printed word, the general reading public hasn’t totally accepted Internet
advertising in the same way they view printed ads. That’s why there are still so many magazines
on every newsstand.
Reason is simple, those
magazines like USN&WR and soon Newsweek were/are general interest “news”
based publications. Savvy non-news magazines,
for example, are surviving today because they are not delivering “breaking
news.”
Niche publications like
America’s many home and garden publications are winning ad dollars on the net by
embracing a mix of print and electronic delivery systems. Plus, they have a narrow scope. They’re not trying to be the swiftest or the
fastest. They’ve found a niche and
marketed the hell out of it.
Bottom line: all breaking news
print journals must diversify—yesterday.
They need to be more timeless by focusing on feature journalism and
in-depth analysis as a print publication.
Print is part of the successful formula.
For breaking news, the Newsweeks of the world must depend on blogs,
facebook and twitter to deliver general news.”
Journalism must serve its
audience. Mass audiences don’t need
newspapers or magazines to get the news instantly.
Then what must they do to
remain in business?
They must find a niche that
the public has actual interest in. All print
news media must return to the basics.
Report the news.
Do not become the news.
Do not interject newspaper
bias into the news (avoid being a political cheerleader).
Embrace the second day
story. Embrace in-depth reporting. If
news is to be manufactured (top ten lists) then make sure it is important to
the community.
Advertising must be
reasonably priced.
Make pricing simple. Don’t charge customers for creating ads. Become a partner with your advertiser. Use publishing experience to assist the
advertiser to best present “products.”
Rediscover the small
businessperson, who can only afford smaller ads. Don’t ignore them because it is easier to
chase the bigger fish.
Simplify the process for
the advertiser. Make rate cards
understandable. Eliminate frequency-advertising
breaks—no one believes them anyway. Give
your advertiser the best price and stick to it: no used car dealer shenanigans
on pricing.
Be creative in every aspect
of publishing. Innovate.
Dazzle the audience for a
change. And, maybe then you’ll survive
until the end of the decade.
And understand that the
death knell for one is not a non-survivable plague for an entire industry.
-------------------------
Thomas Shess is an independent media consultant
based on the West Coast. His media
experience includes being editor in chief of inflight, city and shelter
magazine as well as being a principal in his own public relations/marketing
firm.
He can be found on facebook.
Image:
Replica of the Gutenberg press, circa 1439.
Wikipedia.
Keep Ants Out
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