IndustryInsights

By David Schneiderman
Senior Counselor, The Abernathy MacGregor Group Inc.

In 1984, Rupert Murdoch thought he had seen the future. He summoned his top editors and publishers to a meeting in New York to learn about “electronic journalism” and the impending death of printed newspapers. After two days of spirited discussions and a primitive demonstration of an electronic Washington Post, the attendees declared that the demise of printed newspapers was inevitable.

Strangely, we didn’t discuss what might happen to the advertising dollars that accounted for the lion’s share of revenue for newspapers. It was merely assumed that those dollars would migrate seamlessly to the electronic newspaper. The participants focused on a simple, attractive equation: If you subtract the cost of newsprint, printing and the subsequent job reductions in production, newspapers would become money machines. As we now know, it did not quite work out that way.

As newspapers struggle to remain viable in the post- Gutenberg world, it is worth recalling the newspaper industry’s long and tumultuous love/hate relationship with technology. The arrival of radio and television threatened to displace newspapers as the dominant source of news and information. Television did make the evening newspaper irrelevant, but with fewer competitors, the survivors thrived. In the 1970’s, computerized typesetting permitted newspapers to substantially reduce payroll, turning them into cash cows and attractive investment vehicles. Now, technology has become the Grim Reaper, with the Internet steadily drawing readers and advertisers from print and imperiling the very existence of newspapers.

There are no easy solutions to the decline of newspapers, but ultimately, websites with large, desirable audiences will win, which is why the appealing content newspapers know how to produce remains the crucial element for success in online journalism. However this plays out, every business is confronted with not only unprecedented and growing challenges, but also exciting opportunities in this new communications ecosystem. Here are some of the most consequential:

Web journalism is fast becoming the dominant form of news media. Not so very long ago, web journalism was nothing more than an afterthought, the electronic version of a print story. Now that’s changed, as journalists post stories throughout the day, adding updates, corrections and new material in an effort to be current and competitive.

This web-first approach means that information, access and materials should be provided first and foremost with the Web version in mind. Online journalism is multimedia and corporations must now equip themselves to provide news with video, audio and graphic content, moving beyond the traditional text-only news release. And communications professionals must gear themselves to the post-it-now aspect of web-based journalism.

Nothing is ever final online. With news websites rapidly becoming the primary editions, they are now publishing the most fluid form of journalistic storytelling ever. Stories, in essence, are never quite put to bed because they are so readily revised or even entirely rewritten throughout the 24/7 news cycle.

It is, therefore, essential that sharp communications teams be equipped to “fix” stories as they evolve over the course of a day, rather than having to fight the uphill battle against what’s been memorialized in print. This of course means that life must change for everyone in the approval and response process in order to stay on top of stories as they are posted hour by hour and minute by minute.

The Internet has democratized media by shifting power from institutions to individuals. The media world has evolved from a top down, command and control model into a complex ecosystem of mainstream media, blogs and user-generated content. It was once relatively clear where news came from (your local paper), when it would arrive (each morning) and who was the messenger (the longtime beat reporter). Today, the news can come from anywhere, anybody, anytime. News, gossip, and rumor move instantly through the Web—often without the benefit of an editor attempting to separate fact from fiction. One important scoop can turn an obscure blogger into an influencer virtually overnight. Conversely, a reporter’s reputation is far more fragile as readers are quick to identify and call out any example of journalistic malfeasance.

The media landscape is constantly in flux, and as a result, the traditional news release distribution list may never be the same again. It’s always been important to figure out who really are the important reporters. Now it can be as important to identify the important bloggers and opinion influencers in your space. Get to know them. Decide which ones you can work with, and cultivate them, and keep an eye on the wannabes who can quickly develop a following. Know the different rules of engagement for each individual who matters, not just the rules as they’ve traditionally been applied by different journalistic outlets.

Demand-driven journalism increasingly influences news judgments. Journalists once cared primarily about getting a great story, being on the front page and winning awards, usually in that order. They still care about those things, but they are often now caught up in how many people are reading their stories on the Web. The popularity of a story is playing an increasingly larger role in assignments and story placements on a web site. This creates the strongest incentive since the era of Hearst and Pulitzer to search out stories that will attract eyeballs, and to write headlines that may not faithfully reflect an article’s tone and content. This will make it harder to interest reporters in stories that may be important and worthy, but don’t have legs.

Reporters now keep a close watch on the most viewed and most emailed story lists on their sites, and you should too. You now have intelligence on what moves readers and what doesn’t on a particular news site. This will help you in deciding how best to pitch a story and to whom. And it will give you insight into the mindsets, preferences and interests of readers.

The best and most influential reporters are becoming brand names. Journalists are embracing the tools of social media to create online personas. They are breaking free of the constraints of traditional media to blog and tweet everything from deep thoughts to random musings to personal information that was considered verboten not too many years ago. Not everyone can be a one man media conglomerate, but reporters are encouraged by their editors to be more transparent and accessible to readers offering new opportunities for engagement.

Brand name reporters are far more accessible than their counterparts in the era of old media. You now have multiple avenues to get to know the most important reporters covering your business. Keep track of their musings through various social media tools and connect with them when appropriate. A reporter’s tweet can become an entry point for a conversation outside of the usual give-and-take dictated by a breaking news story.

The distinction between news and opinion will continue to erode. Successful bloggers know that a mix of news, opinion and expertise, with a dose of attitude, is the surest route to growing an audience. This is not lost on mainstream reporters so it is not surprising that journalism, in all its forms, is becoming more and more subjective. The days of “just the facts” are gone (if they ever really existed), as reporters use context, analysis and third parties to shape a story that reflects their point of view. This doesn’t mean that most reporters are partisan, but it does mean that they now have less incentive to be disinterested observers of events.

The upside of this reality is that it is now far easier to know where a reporter is coming from and to deal with him or her accordingly. You also have the ability to communicate directly, particularly through a company blog, to the audiences that matter to you—your institutional investors, your employees, your business-to-business customers. So companies (and universities and non-profits) must think of themselves as publishers and expand their ab ility to speak to these constituencies through the Web without a media filter.

Tabloid journalism will flourish on the Web. Unfortunately, a flood of fictitious junk courses through the Web and it will only get worse. Most goes nowhere, but some goes viral, forcing companies to spend time and resources containing the damage. Thanks to the First Amendment, there will never be a sheriff on the Web, so this challenge will always be with us. This new media world may sound eerily similar to the old media world—the very old media world of early 20th century newspapers. Tabloid journalism; opinion mixing with news; intense competition; a premium on speed—Hearst and Pulitzer would have been very comfortable and successful practicing web journalism.

In the 21st century media world, it will be critical to distinguish between credible and irresponsible news sources and to know which have clout and which merely create noise that will quickly dissipate. It will be equally important to have a basis for gauging when a public response will sting the opponent or simply feed your opponents’ desires. With increasing opportunities to engage your critics, it will take discipline to decide when it’s in your interest to respond and when it’s best to remain quiet. Consider creating an internal “truth squad” if you haven’t already, one equipped to aggressively monitor and correct inaccuracies in real time.

A Final Perspective. Many of the fundamental, underlying principles of effective public relations remain unchanged by this emerging world without newspapers. But make no mistake, the revolution is indeed here. And that fact makes it all the more imperative that every institution affected by this revolution not miss the boat in adapting its communications capabilities to this new reality.

David Schneiderman was formerly Chief Executive Officer of Village Voice Media.
If you would like to discuss this article, please contact David Schneiderman at 206-437-9998/das@abmac.com in Seattle or Lex Suvanto at 212-371-5999/lex@abmac.com in New York.