RIP (news)papers… here comes new journalism
New York Times’ ad sales dived another 27 percent according to an AP story yesterday. If you’re in the business, and can take bad news well, there’s a website called Newspaper Death Watch. What called my attention to it was the site’s subhead: Chronicling the Decline of Newspapers and the Rebirth of Journalism. The latter is encouraging, coming after a long period of doubt about survival of the honourable profession as it bids good-bye to cellulose and ink, and embraces new digital online channels.
Many have argued that blogs and Google are the driving forces behind the demise of newspapers. They played an important role, because newspaper’s centuries-old business model just couldn’t cope with new technologies to deliver news. Nothing can save newspapers as we know them today, including consolidation. Finding partners or investors for ailing newspaper companies is next to impossible. “That’s like asking someone in another business if they want to get vaccinated with a live virus,” said Sam Zell, the owner of the Tribune Company, on Bloomberg Television.
Senator John Kerry announced recently that he would hold a hearing on the future of the U.S. newspaper industry after the New York Times Company threatened to shut down the Boston Globe. The hearing, labeled “A New Age for Newspapers: Diversity of Voices, Competition and the Internet,” should be a must-follow for anybody in the communication business.
In the mean time, out-of-work journalists have been testing the new frontier and finding hope. A few weeks ago a friend sent me a link to GlobalPost. Its mission is appealing: “GlobalPost is embarking on a bold journey to redefine international news for the digital age. To get there, we are relying on the enduring values of great journalism: integrity, accuracy, independence and powerful storytelling.” Its content is pretty impressive and I hope they make it. Newspaper Death Watch also mentions INDenver Times, another new startup. Taking over community markets may be the tipping point for electronic newspapers and, hopefully, it may happen sooner than most pundits predict.
Why should professionals in PR, whether you’re in corporate communications, executive communications or an agency care about journalism? Because we depend on healthy journalism, practiced with integrity, accuracy, independence and powerful storytelling as much or more than any other group in society.
Aux barricades!
This economic crisis is getting progressively worse. We’re reaching the equivalent of DEFCON 2 but there are only a few signs that businesses are ready for what this crisis is going to do to our society.
The point was driven home when I watched an eye-opening video on Huffington Post from MSNBC. Joe Scarborough, Pat Buchanan and Mike Barnicle interviewed Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski about his new book he wrote with Brent Scowcroft, and David Ignatius – America and the World: Conversations on the Future of American Foreign Policy.
The possibility of class conflict in America is no longer a figment of imagination spread by the far left. If Pat Buchanan sees it coming, something has changed drastically. With millions and millions of unemployed “…there is this public awareness of the extraordinary wealth that has been transferred to a few individuals… at levels without historical precedence in America,” said Dr. Brzezinski. These individuals are, of course, a few business executives who decided to get or, sometimes, loot what they could, tarnishing everybody with the same accusations.
And yet, there is neither a sense of urgency nor an attempt on the part of executives to differentiate themselves from their tarnished brethren. A recent headline in The Times, “Bankers say sorry – but plead not guilty,” summed up the problem. The interesting part about these apologies, to PR professionals, was the fact that lawyers helped to phrase them. I’m not suggesting cheap spin and mindless excuses. If transgressions were made, then take responsibility. Don’t tell me somebody wasn’t responsible for billions of pounds disappearing into thin air – just read comments from the British public at the end of the online article. The response also begs a question: where was the executives’ PR counsel?
Few, if any, executives are prepared to respond to the current crisis to protect their reputations. The usual crisis communications is not going to do it. Understanding what got us into it and a well-thought-out plan of action for the new normal will separate winners from losers in the next round.
