ASNE-Reynolds High School Journalism Institute Newspapers: Dead or Alive? ASNE-Reynolds High School Journalism Institute July 7, 2008

Tough times Fragmentation Information glut Political polarization Audience Platforms Advertising Information glut Political polarization “No time to read” Falling circulation Smaller newsrooms New owners

The Big Gap And in case you weren’t convinced . . . Source: Journalism.org

How will we get across the bridge? Rapidly grow Web audience Reinvent print papers Become reader-focused Become efficient: Stop doing some things Create new products Adopt a culture of continuous change Transform newsrooms for Web first Video: EPIC 2015

Journalism Today THE BAD: • Newspaper staffs are shrinking, foreign coverage is minimal, sections like science and religion are being compressed and absorbed into other sections • Fewer full-time writers, more freelancers • Newspaper stocks are going down • Circulation and revenue are falling every year • More and more, investors are needed to swoop in and save newspapers from going under, and sometimes that’s not enough THE GOOD: • More access to journalism worldwide • More voices contributing and participating • More ways to tell stories with advances in multimedia • There will always be a need for news reporting and storytelling • The number of people going online for news is increasing • Newspapers are improving their websites • New philosophies about the nature and importance of journalism are emerging

Can we succeed? We deliver on multiple platforms YES! We have competitive advantages We are credible We are local We deliver on multiple platforms We are growing audience

Newspaper Audience by Age Source: Scarborough Research survey data, www.stateofthemedia.org

67 million visitors!! Source: NAA.org Neilsen/Net Rating

Evolution of Journalism Old media includes print reporters writing for newspapers and magazines. Old media newsrooms are cutting budgets, taking buyouts, and shrinking their newsrooms. New media still needs the same type of great, thorough reporting, but it is much farther reaching and diverse—and it allows for constant updates to news stories. New media includes websites for print newspapers, blogging, social media (Twitter), audio and video reporting, and news portals such as Google, Yahoo!, and MSN. Some print newspapers have gone entirely online with no print edition. Others are updating content daily outline and putting out weekly print editions. No matter the medium, great journalists are and always will be vital to the world.

Online News Audience Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project, http://pewinternet.org/, www.stateofthemedia.org

What is our strategy? 1. Integrate Web and newspaper workflow BUT Differentiate content Keep the core paper strong Grow the “Pups”

Local is King: The Newspaper What is our competitive advantage? Watchdog Narrative Exclusive content Smart visuals Enterprising reporting Personally useful content Provocative commentary

Local is King: The Web How do we grow audience? First in breaking news Video Photo galleries Databases Interactivity User-generated content Search engine optimization

Then and now: Orlando Sentinel Insert a “then” front page

Then and now:

The biggest risk is to take no risk.