The past couple of days have seen the Commercial Appeal laying off more employees and the Tennessean, who have laid off employees and asked those who haven’t lost their jobs to take mandatory furloughs, making a donation for a project in Nashville. One they have had to report about, The Music City Convention Center. For the record, I don’t have a dog in that fight and it would be disingenuous for me to even comment about it. You may want to go look at this picture of a kitten if this isn’t your cup of tea.
What I thought about were my friends and acquaintances who have lost their jobs in journalism and who are having to completely reinvent their lives, some with 30+ years experience. I’m one of those people.
Here is what eats at my soul this week about the Commercial Appeal. The Flyer believes they aren’t losing as much money as you might think:
Apparently not everybody at The Commercial Appeal has been forced to cinch up their belts. Last March, after the newspaper’s largest round of layoffs, CA publisher Joe Pepe purchased a second home on Excitement Drive in Celebration, Florida. Documents (available here) show that Pepe made a down payment of $100,000, and took out a $279,500 mortgage through Countrywide Bank. The three bedroom, 2.5 bath home was built in 2005 and originally listed for $424,900. It’s Pepe’s second Florida property. He purchased an undeveloped parcel of land in Osceola County in 2005 for $305,000.
The same dilemma is playing out with national television networks. NBC anchor Brian Williams makes $10 million a year; Katie Couric at CBS, $15 million; Diane Sawyer at ABC, $12 million; Anderson Cooper at CNN, $10 million. The average starting salary for a reporter in television news is about $28,000 a year. Can you imagine the kind of news coverage we could get if CBS spent, say, half of Katie’s salary on reporters and researchers? Which do you think would give you a better sense of the situation in Haiti: Katie Couric and her hairdresser and handlers, or 15 reporters scattered around the island?
News ratings have fallen 30 percent in the past 10 years, and the decline continues. “Star-based” news is only part of the problem, but it’s significant. So what happens after this system collapses?
I’ve been thinking quite a bit about newspapers, news, local blogging, technology and boiled custard. As I am a fan of boiled custard, unloaded (I know, I can only imagine your surprise) that I have had to take some time to think about it.
News is not dead, campers. It’s not. Local news isn’t six-feet under. For old cronies like me, I’m just having to readjust my thinking. And I also have had to come to terms that my technical skills need honing. You know, like immediately.
I’ve also realized that so many people at the top of the news business (print in particular) are still dealing with old standards that no longer exist. Instead of using the tools available and realizing that there has to be a balance between newsroom/tech crews, there are some local papers that are just seeing the dark at the end of the tunnel.
I admit I fall prey to this as well but after one grieves, one has to pick themselves up by the bootstraps. (Note to myself, I assure you.)
Journalists will continue to write and deliver what they love. You don’t go into news without being committed to it. But there are different levels right now that need to be addressed. First of all, social networking service such as Friendfeed and Twitter need to be used by local media and I’m talking from a perspective of rural media as well. The issue for some papers that are not daily, those who oversee from the top must realize, as Chris Davis says so eloquently at the Memphis Flyer.
Best of all, digital newspaper news arrives several times a day, is never soggy, and anybody can get it anywhere in the world without delay.
Newspapers are ready to get out of the tree-killing business and consumers seem to be loving all the new things their phones and mobile devices can do. Of course, the big rub is that the revenue model hasn’t made the jump to hyperspace, though online revenue is growing. In fact, the CA’s smallish “online only” sector is the only slice of the paper’s financial pie to show growth in the last tough quarter. But everything else is withering.
Davis is dealing with this issue head on. News is delivered several times a day. The way it was done is over. And for those of us not in dailies who do not rely on AP content (or other services for that matter) we have to realize that there is always a new way of doing old things.
So the reinvention begins. Many of us in the news business are understandably concerned everywhere, not just in rural markets. Without the guidance of those who own the papers, we are stuck in a rut that is impossible to get out because, alas, saying “I told you so” in five years doesn’t pay the bills. Bragging rights don’t get the mortgage paid each month.
So many of us are going to have to create our own niches, especially those of us in small markets not owned by conglomerates, who are also suffering. The difference: No buyout packages, no severance, nothing.
And what is the answer?
These are the questions on my mind this morning. I’m feeling more positive about our future although I do see 2009 as a lean time for many of us.
We just have to be smarter than the next guy. That the only thing I can come up with until the next question rears its head.
The New York Times released a series of videos yesterday with celebrities talking about how they rely on nytimes.com.
The list includes Justin Tuck, Lynn Redgrave, Ben Stein, Cynthia Nixon and others all extolling the virtues of their daily need to check the newspaper. Online, of course.
This is a marketing strategy that’s interesting. It fuses a lot of different elements in a documentary style on why news is needed and how you can get it fast from anywhere.
Here is actress Bebe Neuwirth talking about those soldiers killed in Iraq.
I am not going to bang the death gong this morning regarding to the TNDP. I know, thank me later. Although if they read this, they might learn something. (Yeah, I’m feeling all feisty this morning.) This is not a post about a particular Breaking News story so sorry to disappoint, it is about what consumers of news outlets want. I’m pontificating this morning, so bear with me.
I’ve been thinking though about some of the changes that have occurred in the last few years regarding interactive media because in this situation, and in others, it needs attention.
One thing I hear from a lot of people is they don’t have time for Twitter, Friendfeed, Plurk, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Facebook, blogging and others connective online sources.
If someone on Twitter has a 1000 friends, then that’s a resource. If you have a Facebook account, there is a effective way to reach out to other people on what your particular message might be. On LinkedIn and Plaxo, you can put your resume up there and your work experience and something might come out of it. (That’s a hint campers.)
One view becomes another then evolves as people want to know about people they find interesting or who are like-minded. A thirst for information? Perhaps. Nosy? Yes, that too. But people will dig to know about other people because they are curious.
As for people working in the media, these resources are invaluable. In public relations, people are paying attention.
Newspapers are also evolving. I read daily of newspaper cuts across the nation. People perusing news are getting it from the web. That doesn’t mean that people still don’t want soy ink on the tip of their fingers holding on the a paper, but it’s a reality that there is a thirst for immediacy in this day and age. Breaking News is annoying as it is thrown into our face on all the cable newsers, but the subliminal message is there.
“We as consumers of news want to know what’s going on right NOW!” is the message.
When I was in radio news I had a friendly deal with two of the local newspapers. I’d have it first but I only had 50 seconds to give a story that might warrant more detail. I’d break it, they’d give the details to the masses. We would joke about it, but that’s how it went and still does to a local degree.
Now radio and print is competing with interactive media. Christian Grantham, Jack Lail and Michael Silence are great examples of interacting with people on Twitter while still doing the jobs they are paid to do. It creates an intimacy with those who are consumers of the products they work with. The advantage is that with a conversation, it also creates a wider open source for information and potential news leads.
I personally don’t know what my role in the future of interactive media is, but I do know that no matter how large or small a media outlet is, that the changes that we have seen in the last two years are nothing compared to what we are looking at in the immediate future.
As Michael Silence said, this is all, as of the writing of this post, “rampant speculation.”
Kernell is a nice guy. I think I have freaked him out on the two occasions I have met him, but I’m a bit overwhelming at times. I own that. He appeared to be earnest and a pleasant fellow. Answered questions easily and was thoughtful.
Here’s my thing and I agree with a lot of folks. If his son did hack Sarah Palin’s email, it was wrong. But to crucify him in the press before any official documentation has been presented is also not cool. I would say the same thing if it was anyone.
Take a tip from a small-town Brenda Starr, documentation means it’s a story. Rumors are just gossip until there’s a hard copy to back it up. I hear stuff all the time in Hoots but it doesn’t make the paper until I have something tangible in my hands.
It was one of those weekends to go in the books of Newscoma.
I was Aunt Tick all day on Saturday. I watched the niece play a “street ball” type of softball tournament early in the morning. The issue came down to that after Friday night’s asshattery where her confidence was so annihilated, Homer believed the best thing to do was get back on the horse. And she did. She was good. My niece will never be the best player on the team, but she probably be taught to be a utility player, which is important. The coach (a different one) who didn’t know about Friday was gentle but firm and she responded by his interest. She seemed to find her balance.
Later, we saw the youngest niece cheer at a Pee Wee Football game. Incredibly cute although it appeared her interest was in the boys sitting on a nearby bench more so than the cheering. Homer handled it, as she is wont to do.
Two bands played Hoots last night. One of them was inspired by The Dempseys and rocked the house. The other one was all original material with a young woman singing her ass off. Incredible. I’m seeing some progressive things happen in Hoots and I couldn’t be more delighted. I love it when people see outside the box and take action instead of throwing a bunch of meaningless words around. I applaud these folks.
But it was Sunday that kicked our hineys. I confirmed that the winds here were 50 mph mid-morning and our basketball goal fell leaving a black streak down the side of my car but it could have been much worse. SQ and I got in the car and followed the volunteer fire department around. The debris was amazing and it was hard to stand at times as high winds ripped around us. Trees and limbs were everywhere. Some parts of the county were hit so bad that it was advised for us not to go because they were afraid we might get hurt. The power was out for about and hour and a half and the town literally shut down. The grocery store locked it’s doors as did the local McDonalds/convenience stores. Internet service was also out for much of West Tennessee. Several counties lost power and I wondered what would happen if we had a “real” disaster here. The only thing you could see on the roads were limbs. Metal buildings were overturned and at the local cemetery had a huge tree come down on some of the older graves. Chainsaws were common place and volunteers showed up with backhoes and tractors to assist the fire department move fallen trees.
We were fortunate that was all that happened. One fireman told me he was just glad no one got hurt.
We all were.
There is a vibe in news around here right now that is crackling with anticipation and some anxiety.
From the economy to events that are beyond our control, we sit and wait.
Basically, employees of the network cannot use Facebook, Twitter, Blog or even comment in forums and chat rooms without permission from the CNN higher ups according to Chez Pazienza, who was famously fired from CNN for blogging at Deus Ex Malcontent. His story is here.
You can head to their blogs to get the vibe of what’s going on.
I agree with Mark who says this:
Did I give up my right to protest or vote when I started working for a newspaper? I hope not.
Many newspapers are actively encouraging reporters to take up blogging. Newspapers invite reporters to express opinion in the print editions. Newspapers have long held that as long as the opinion expressed is marked clearly as that of the reporter, it is acceptable.
I talk about evolving trends in the news business a lot. I don’t understand why more media folks don’t blog or use Twitter. I’ve seen more breaking news on Twitter that it still boggles my mind.
Technology has run laps around the print media — giving readers instant news, open-source journalism, no barriers to become publishers, and an infinite news hole.
The idea that your daily news is collected, written, edited, paginated, printed on dead trees, put in a series trucks and cars and delivered on your driveway — at least 12 hours stale — is anachronistic in 2008.
I think these things are connected. The writer talks about his 18 years with the Times. I’ve worked in news off and on for nearly 20 years. The way I started out has vastly changed in those two decades.
And the blogosphere has changed in the nearly three years I’ve been blogging. Some media outlets get it and have actively worked toward changing their model to accommodate changes that will happen in the future, which is smart. Even some rural outlets do although there are a great deal of folks who do not and angrily (yes, I said angrily) hold on to that the old ways are the only way to do news.
There is chasm that exists between old and new.
And CNN is treating online communication like a dinosaur. When you edit free thought, then what do you have?
Cohen: “Do you believe that Vice President Cheney was most responsible for deterring President Bush from being the great president and uniter that you think he could have been?”
McClellan: “The president has to bear responsibility for his presidency veering off track like it did more than anyone else, but there are certainly some influences on him that I think were negative influences in that regard and I would include the vice president in that.”
The former White House press secretary suggested that Bush could do much to redeem his credibility on the Plame matter and his reasons for going to war in Iraq if he would embrace “openness and candor and then constantly strive to build trust across the aisle.”
“This is a very secretive White House … There’s some things that they would prefer not to be talked about,” McClellan said.
And shifting to another topic, Sharon Cobb makes a good point here. As I was called this word this very week and a racial slur that accompanied it which made me feel very small by the absolute hate tied to it, it just seems to me that Sharon is right and MSM should report it.
What you are left with is a group of people you find useful/interesting/relevant who update you through out the day. In my case it’s sparked new relationships and opportunities as well.
So I’m not really sure why anyone would prefer not to bother themselves with using twitter or a similar service. If you’re a writer (especially the non-fiction variety) check out twitter for a week and see if it hasn’t proven invaluable on at least one occasion.
Read the whole thing. TechGOnzo breaks it down very well.
I talk a lot about being in a rural part of the state and some of the limitations that go with that. I work at a place that doesn’t even subscribe to a newswire.
I’m finding I don’t need one with Twitter who continually keeps beating mainstream media cable networks in breaking the news. Many times it needs verification, don’t get me wrong, but then it creates a dialogue. The conversation flows and you have instant feedback.
