Russell Moore: Newspapers: The Typewriters Of Media

Monday, August 12, 2013

Russell J. Moore, GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER™

Are newspapers the metaphoric equivalent of the typewriter? It certainly looks that way.

In the old days, newspaper reporters wrote their copy on typewriters. So it’s fitting that typewriters have now become a good metaphor for newspapers—outdated victims of technology that have refused, or at least failed to adapt to the technological age.

As a former newspaper reporter myself, and one of a small percentage of people under 35 who reads newspapers every day, it gives me no pleasure to point this out. But nothing could have made that point clearer than last week’s fire sales of two media giants which both once dominated their respective regions and, arguably, the nation’s media. Those days are gone.

The Boston Globe sold for a song—a mere $70 million to Red Sox owner John Henry who, as part of the deal, doesn’t have to take on the paper’s $110 million pension liability. That means the New York Times, which sold the paper, actually forked over $40 million to Henry, a former hedge fund manager, in exchange for taking the paper off their hands.

The Washington Post was sold to Amazon founder Jeffrey Bezos for considerably more—$250 million. That sounds like a hefty sum, but according to analysts, it’s not. Industry analysts say that the Post could've sold for almost 10 times this amount just a decade ago.

How to lose $1 billion

The Boston Globe was sold to the New York Times for $1.1 billion back in 1993. The late Rhode Island business icon Royal Little, who founded Textron, titled his autobiography, How To Lose $100 Million Dollars. Little has nothing on Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr., who lost more than a billion with this sale.

It’s easy to poke fun at the media dinosaurs who have failed to find a way to adapt to the digital age. But the $250 million dollar question is how the industry will find ways to operate that are captivating, cost effective, and timely. Without a way for citizens to get the information they need about the operations of their government—democracy doesn't stand a chance. That’s as true now as it was during the American Revolution.

But all is not lost. The good news is that there’s no better man than Bezos to try and answer the question. Bezos made his fortune by founding and leading Amazon.com—a company that found ways to market and sell products on the internet. The company’s been so successful that it’s toppled former retail giants Circuit City and Borders Books. And it’s giving unbelievable headaches to Best Buy and even Walmart.

No joy in Newspaperville

The struggles of newspapers are easily identifiable. In a digital and instant gratification age, people won’t wait for the morning to get the news.

Thanks to the internet’s decentralizing effect, particularly via social media, newspapers no longer maintain the stranglehold over the delivery of content. A guy with a smart phone and a Twitter account can report on a city council meeting just as easily and effectively as a newspaper reporter.

And how can anyone forget that Craigslist has already killed off one major source of revenue in newspapers—the classified ads sections.

The elephant in the room however, is whether people have simply ceased reading—at least in the numbers they were once accustomed to. A good argument can be made that the effects of social media—Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and so many other forms of blogging—have simply deactivated people’s attention span for long form articles.

Yet even if that’s the case, people are still curious beings by nature and the need for information isn’t going anywhere.

Does innovation lie ahead?

For his part, Bezos has said publicly that he does not have any major changes planned in the immediate future for the Washington Post. But you’d have to be crazy to think someone like the Amazon.com founder would spend $250 million in cash for an outdated company without a plan in mind to modernize it.

It’s won’t be easy. Not all schemes to sell news and advertising over the internet work. It’s long become obvious that the Patch.com experiment, envisioned by AOL CEO Tim Armstrong is foundering. Just last week Patch.com announced it was firing around 500 people and closing 300 local sites.

Although some news organizations claim they’re having better success with pay walls, I’m not buying that. If the decentralization of media has taught us anything, it’s that people don’t have to pay to get news, analysis, and commentary.

I’m hoping that the Washington Post, under Bezos’ management, will begin to customize and personalize the news experience. If folks are reading their news on machines instead of paper that means the organizations will figure out how to tailor the content presentation to the preferences of the viewer. For instance, imagine individuals turning on their tablets or computers, and immediately seeing the content they’re most interested in first—sports, lifestyle pages, or news—instead of a universal, one-size-fits-all front page. This could easily become a reality if the organization uses the right algorithms and programs based on a user’s previous viewing preferences.

High stakes

It’s easy to pick on newspapers but they’re not the only industry that’s been, or will be affected profoundly by the internet. Movie theaters, television stations, and as we’ve already seen, retail stores, are also in the cross-hairs of the World Wide Web. Like newspapers, they will be forced to change, or go the way of the typewriter.

Yet none of those industries, with the possible exception of television news, is essential to keep a democracy intact. With respect to news media, the stakes couldn’t be higher. The bottom line is that the news industry is in need of major changes—and if the last week wasn’t a wake up call, than the tone-deaf leaders of the legacy media organizations will remain asleep. And that’s not good for journalism, or more importantly, democracy.

A native Rhode Islander, Russell J. Moore is a graduate of Providence College and St. Raphael Academy. He worked as a news reporter for 7 years (2004-2010), 5 of which with The Warwick Beacon, focusing on government. He continues to keep a close eye on the inner workings of Rhode Islands state and local governments.