The market has failed newspapers since the dot-com bubble burst and ad revenue vanished. Let's face it, the market wants profits and it is difficult to monetize print news other than through readership. Readership is shrinking. Advertising revenue is shrinking.
One Dow Jones & Company publisher of a small New England daily told me during lunch last March that the only thing keeping his paper alive is the fact you now have to pay for death and foreclosure announcements. Given our aging and house bubble popping society, at least he has a market.
The ongoing meltdown of the news media has sparked one of the liveliest debates in recent memory, with an outpouring of opinion and analysis from people as diverse as John Stewart ("The Daily Show", Comedy Central) to Rupert Murdoch -- the last surviving newspaper baron and acquirer of the Wall Street Journal and Barron's back in 2006, two namesake print publications in every brokerage office in the country. The strong brand and solid, experienced reporting still brings in readership even in a financial news world dominated by Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg. The question is...for how long?
Murdoch and Dow Jones disgraced former chief executive Les Hinton can brag about Wall Street Journal readership beating the New York Times and USA Today, but it's becoming a track race with no spectators. The numbers of the overall industry are shrinking. So their heads are above water while everyone else is up to their eyebrows. There is no growth story on the news side of News Corp.
There is still room for print in people's lives, as there is room for short story literary journals and croquet.
So far this year, 1,424 newspaper jobs -- writers and editors -- most of them in their 30s and older, were laid off, according to Paper Cuts, a website focusing on the long recession in the American news business. Just in the last month, Austin American Statesman in Texas laid off 33 newsroom and other staff; Gannett, owners of the flagship USA Today, continued laying off people at their local newspapers, news room staffers included; San Diego Union Tribune, owned by a private equity firm now, laid off five reporters in June. The list goes on. It's not a pretty sight for mainstream print journalism, a place all aspiring news writers hoped to work and garner some semblance of middle class existence before their 40s. Not anymore.
Richard Hine, ex-marketing VP at the Wall Street Journal who -- prior to Murdoch's acquisition -- created the Weekend Journal, writes about the death of print journalism in his debut novel "Russell Wiley is Out to Lunch" . He has a few suggestions for mid-career (or aspiring to a mid-career) print reporters in this handy 10-step program for weekend Forbes readers. Whether you're a disgruntled reporter, or just a news junkie who loves holding print in your hand, Hines reminds us in his Steve Carrell kind of way that it is time to get used to cold hard unbendable tablets and the concept of what's trending on Alexa.
Step 1. Stop being so defensive!
I have to point out that I’m still feeling a lot of resistance from you. I can sense you itching to tell me that nothing beats the feel of a beautiful, glossy magazine in your pudgy, damp hands. Or the serendipity of coming across that one vitally important nugget of information you know is buried somewhere in your stack of unread papers. Take a deep breath. Hold it. Now let it go.
Step 2. Put as many of these words as you can into a single sentence
App. Tablet. Paywall. SEO optimisation. Monetization. Customization. Particle acceleration. Mobile. Geo-targeted. Click-through rate. Finish your sentence with this phrase: "but at the end of the day it’s all about the content, and that’s what’s going to set us apart."
Step 3. Find out from FourSquare or Facebook Places where your company’s "digital guru" is at this moment
Find her. Show her the sentence you just wrote. Ask her if it makes sense. Then beg her to rewrite it into something a normal human being might understand.
Step 4. Memorize your revised sentence
Use it in every meeting you attend and email you write for the next six months.
Step 5. Ignore that piece of "good news" about print
You may be tempted to trumpet some not-bad new statistic, like "newspaper ad revenues are declining slightly more slowly in the 3rd quarter". Or "In Norway, circulation in the women’s category fell only 0.7% last year." Don’t fall into that trap. Remember step 1.
Step 6. Make your boss a key ally in your success
The real world of print media is nothing like 'The Devil Wears Prada'. Unless you’re working for Anna Wintour, your real boss will be nothing like Meryl Streep or the Miranda Priestly character. She will be sweet, charming and well-mannered, with only occasional freakouts. Ignore the freakouts. Just remember your boss is completely terrified of being usurped by a 25-year-old with the interpersonal skills of Mark Zuckerburg (and the ability to survive in Manhattan on 50k a year). Your challenge is to convince her you’re her loyal ally, and also that you "know social media" in a non-intimidating way.nEvery time Facebook decides on a new definition of "privacy" for 600 million people, make sure to volunteer to update your boss’s account settings.
Note: You will also need to explain to her exactly what hashtags are at least once a month.
Step 7. Add the words "… and social media strategist" to your job title on your CV and include them in your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn profiles
Do this whether you’re a journalist, work in ad sales or circulation, or at the printing plant.
But do this especially if you’re a higher paid executive who’s "at risk" the next time the company decides to "rationalize the cumbersome complexity" of its recently re-organized corporate structure.
Step 8. Cultivate a mentor
Why do you need a mentor when you get on so well with your terrific boss? Because your boss will be fired within the next 6-12 months, that’s why. Seriously, are you not paying attention to what’s going on around you? Note: Your mentor should be somebody senior who has jokingly expressed jealousy of the way your boss has set up her Facebook privacy settings.
Step 9. Get up early each morning and read a quality newspaper
This will make you better informed than any of your peers, but when they ask you how you know so much, point to your Blackberry, Android or iPad and say you get all your news while "on the go". Reading a good newspaper will also help you identify other industries that might make sense for a smart, resourceful person like you when this whole thing goes pear-shaped.
Step 10. Focus on the big picture
That great print brand you love so much, that gives you a reason to get up in the morning, is doomed. It’s sad. At times, you may be tempted to start drinking too much and gorging on greasy foods. Work out instead. You’ll want to look good and have a well-oxygenated brain if you plan on competing with all those whipsmart technogeeks in the world of "branded multi-platform digital content distribution".
And if that’s not your goal, working out now will help even more later. Truth is, your quirky sense of humour will only take you so far when you’re trying to find a new entry level position in whatever dynamic, growth-oriented industry you try to get into next.
And trust me, after you lose that last 15 lbs and get a new haircut, you really will look and feel so much better.
In the words of Robert McChesney, media scholar at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, "Will the last reporter standing please turn out the lights."
