Dedication Remarks
Joe Hladky
My opening statement comes from the perspective of a person who, for the
past 25 years, has been responsible for a one mid-size market independent
Newspaper/TV/Radio and, of course, Web content company. I am also a director
of The Associated Press.
The essence of your questions is “how can we do a better job of preparing
the next generation of journalists” so I will share a short SWOT analysis
as I see our industry and its needs.
Strengths:
If one believes the old adage that "about all politics being local",
the same can be said for news. There is no better single source of information
about a community than the local newspaper ... if ownership dedicates the
resources. It takes real work and dedication to a community to properly report
on the affairs of that community in a manner that strengthens the community.
Team the local paper with a community minded TV station and the public can
be well served. The internet is, if developed properly, a potential strength
but today lacks traction in the local market.
Weaknesses:
We are an industry that loves to shoot ourselves in the foot ... make that
feet. Too often we think of ourselves as a medium that everyone depends upon
and that just because we write or broadcast a story, people will or should
see it. In fact, nationally newspaper subscription penetration is less than
50% and falling and TV ratings for the combined 6pm newscasts in most markets are
in the mid to high 20s, at best.
I mentioned that newspaper subscription sales are declining but I should have said that readership is much higher and holding steady … we just can’t get away from that paradigm of subscription sales as a measure of success. And, when the Audit Bureau of Circulations reports come out, most media will run a story with a headline proclaiming declining subscriptions but forget to mention that readership is steady.
The internet is a most confusing medium. Traditional media just don’t know what to do with it so we blindly fumble around and do what the other guy is doing … that would be, lose money. Virtually all newspapers began their internet service by giving it away to get as many eyeballs as possible. (By the way, we now charge) And, worse yet, we now allow the giants like Google, Yahoo and Topix to aggregate our sites without compensation even though they do give attribution and refer people to our sites. I can think of no economic model that provides the where-with-all to pay reporters and editors if their work is given away. Advertising has not proven to be the answer in the local market.
TV does a good job of promoting … newspapers have a long way to go.
Opportunities:
Recognize that people have a choice of where they get information and write
a story with the customer or viewer in mind. Promote the uniqueness of your
paper, station or site. Most Blogs don’t edit and many put up rumor as fact
… we should be able to capitalize on our strength and reputation.
Don’t be arrogant … be willing to recognize when we make a mistake and correct
it immediately.
Challenge the facts about which you are writing … there were gross reporting
errors after hurricane Katrina with respected news organizations repeating
rumor as fact with no verification.
Traditional or established companies develop bureaucracy and don’t deal with
new concepts well. In today’s economic environment, doing the same old thing
is not a guarantee for success.
Threats:
Every start-up media targets the newspaper for advertising and information
content … especially auto, real estate and help wanted advertising. The latest
challenger, of course, is the internet and some traditional mass media advertisers
are beginning to use the internet with success.
How many papers have published stories about how easy it is to buy a car or house or some other item on the internet but we would never write a story about how easy it is to use our classified section. Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy.
On occasion we see research indicating that news media are rated right down there with politicians. That is scary and it undermines our credibility to attract subscribers and viewers. One reason that we are held in such low esteem is the conservative right has made the liberal national media a whipping boy for their cause. As we have seen in recent elections, they are powerful, well organized and have media access. Unfortunately their efforts reflect on all of us.
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather a skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming -- Wow -- What a ride!!!"