A good read. Here's a sample and then the link to the whole article:
"In the digital age, we’re told, the critical difference between success and failure is human capital — those heartbeats and fast hands that can make a good business great. So are newspapers reacting to their downturn as Circuit City did?
Every day, Romenesko, a journalism blog at the Poynter Institute, is rife with news of layoffs at newspapers, most of the time featuring some important, trusted names. It is not the young fresh faces that are getting whacked — they come cheap — but the most experienced, proven people in the room, the equivalent of the sales clerk who could walk you through a thicket of widescreen television choices to the one that actually works for you."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/business/media/17carr.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
And this:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003891430
And there's plenty more depressing news at Newspaper Deathwatch. Link to the right.
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1 comment:
On the E&P article:
Every single action recommended by the Kellogg professor is the antithesis of what's happening at the Journal, at Booth, and probably in the entire industry.
Let me take issue with the one that bothers me the most.
Every person in management at the Journal, and likely in the Booth chain, has had a career nearly 100% based in newspapers! How can these people think any differently? You can tell even by the way they approach a problem: it's always the same bag of tricks (better offer for new subscribers, fighting with other media outlets for advertisers, optimizing driver routes). Come on!
There are a few people at the Journal who have come from other industries and backgrounds and have real business intelligence. Unfortunately, management has no interest in new ideas or approaches whatsoever. Every new "revolutionary" idea they have on expanding their business (outside of just newspaper) is an idea that was tried 10 to 20 years ago among manufacturers.
And pardon my vulgarity, but every management meeting is like a circle jerk. They reassure each other how smart and capable they are and protect each other's back. You notice there aren't any cutbacks or buyouts in management -- the area I expect actually eats up the most overhead. There are managers at the Journal who came from the secretarial pool 20 years ago. What innovative ideas is that person going to have? These are, above all else, YES MEN. Their reward is not for productivity, creativity or even profitability, but for LOYALTY.
Hey, if the newspapers were rolling around in piles of money, I wouldn't think this so dangerous. But to keep all this dead weight in the face of these very real market changes is akin to giving President Bush 4 more years to fix the mess he's created.
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