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Tuesday, 10 April 2007 18:41 |
By JOHN NORTH
The newspaper industry is changing, and must continue to change, to remain relevant amidst rapidly shifting readership patterns, especially by emphasizing local news content ó every paperís biggest strength ó and by providing information in many formats besides newsprint, according to Jeffrey P. Green, president and publisher of the Asheville Citizen-Times.
While ìmanaging change in our industry is rather stressfulî now, Green said, ìI very much believe in the future of the newspaper industry ó itíll just be in different forms.î
The Gannett Co. executive addressed ìThe Future of Newspapersî during a
25-minute talk at UNC Ashevilleís Reuter Center on March 30. Green then
spent 35 minutes fielding questions from the mostly gray-haired
audience of about 70 people. The Reuter Center houses UNCAís Center for
Creative Retirement, which hosted the program.
Green, who recently took over the helm of the AC-T, was introduced to
the audience as a man of principle ó a native of Cape Town, South
Africa, who left his county after graduation from the University of
Cape Town because he was opposed to apartheid.
He most recently was second in command of The Honolulu Advertiser and
previously worked at papers in Florida and Winston-Salem. Through the
years, Green said he has held onto a second home in Foscoe near Boone.
He began by noting that there are two definitions of insanity. To that
end, some in the crowd chuckled as he quipped that the first definition
is to redesign a newspaper 13 days earlier and then ìappear before a
group that, demographically, is most likely to hate the changes.î
His reference was to the AC-Tís recent redesign and reorganization of
its print edition, which included conversion to an all-local front
section, relegating world and national news to the back of the second
section, and replacing many syndicated political columnists on the
opinion pages, in favor of local pundits.
ìWith the Internet weíve become truly a 24/7 news organzation,î Green
said. ìWe really are a different type of business than the one you grew
up with over your coffee.î
The changes in the AC-T and other papers have been prompted by changes
in reading habits. ìThe next generation is getting its news in a
different wayî from traditional newspapers, he said.
At the AC-T, ìprint circulation is stable now,î Green noted. ìIt hasnít
always been ... We have operationally fixedî the circulation department
to improve delivery service.
Nonetheless, the publisher said of the AC-Tís print edition, ìItís not
growing. All of the growth is inî the paperís online edition.
For instance, he said the print edition draws about 150,000 readers per
month, while about 350,000 readers per month view the online edition,
ìso 70 percent is now gettingî its information from the electronic
newspaper.
However, Green said, ìthereís a ìdisconnect,î inasmuch as 92 percent of
the AC-Tís advertising revenue is from the print product while a
paltry-but-growing 8 percent is from the online version.
ìQuite frankly, the print side of the newspaper business was a very
profitable modelî for many years, he observed. However, fundamentals of
the business are changing, with the respected Knight-Ridder chain
recently ìchopped up and soldî and ìthe Tribune Co. ... on the block.î
After a pause, he said, ìSo, this leads me to my second definition of
insanity: If you keep doing the same thing and expect a different
result.î
That definition could be applicable to many newspaper publishers, Green
said, as the industry as a whole has ìbeen rewarded with a 30-year
decline in circulation.î
He noted that his employer, Gannett, the largest United States
newspaper company, is ó unfairly in his view ó ìa much-maligned media
organization.î (Based in Arlington, Va., Gannett is a nationwide news
and information company that publishes 82 daily newspapers, including
USA TODAY, its flagship and the nationís largest-circulation daily
averaging a distribution of 2.27 million copies. Gannett also operates
21 television stations and cable television systems in five states.)
He then spoke of the Gannett-wide initiative to make its newspapers
more relevant and indispensable to the local communities that they
serve. ìOne of the great things coming out of Web technology is our
ability to measure ó very closely ó how closely stories are read.î
For instance, the March 30 edition of the AC-T, a copy of which was
given to each attendee of Greenís talk, featured a story about a
schoolboy wearing an eye patch resembling a pirateís to class and the
repercussions he faced.
While some in the crowd at UNCA might consider the story relatively
trivial, ìthe only story read more recently was, unfortunately, the
castration storyî that occurred in Waynesville, Green noted.
ìThe generation thatís in this room grew up getting their global news
from newspapers,î the publisher said. ìToday, thereís 24-hour TV cable
news and thereís thousands of Web sitesî from which one can find the
latest news. ìSo, increasingly, the academics who study the newspaper
business say the future is in very local news.î
His last paper, The Honolulu Advertiser, was founded in 1856 as a
weekly and, before he left for Asheville, his paper reprinted the first
edition, which spanned four pages, and featured front-page news of an
extremely local nature, such as someone visiting a neighbor.
With the changes at the AC-T, Green said, ìI think weíre heading back
to the future with newspapers. The local news is something we think
only we can provide.î
Rhetorically, he asked, ìSo what have we done with the paper?î
In answering his own question, Green said, ìWeíve put our local content in the first section. Thatís our most original content.î
He added, ìThe corporate folks told me to keep world-national coverage
to one page, but I rebelled. Having met the many retireesî throughout
the Asheville area, ìI made the call not to cut back on world and
national coverage.î As a result, he said, there often are several pages
of world and national stories in the back of the second section.
As for improving service to the community, Green said a frequent
complaint he and his staff have heard is that press releases and other
items sent to the AC-T often are never published.
To remedy the situation, the publisher said he has ìnew instructions
for our editorial folks ó every press release we get goes online.
Everything we get sent by our readers is posted.î Green then slightly
revised his statement by saying that each submission is ìonly checked
by an editor to ensure that itís not pornographic or libelous ó and
then it gets posted on our calendar.î
He added, ìThe other thing weíve done ó and this was a decision by my
predecessor that I reversed ó we went back to a six-page comics
section.î Several people in the crowd applauded the change, prompting a
smile from Green. Virgil Smith, whom Green did not identify, preceded
Green as the AC-Tís publisher.
ìSo the Citizen-Times is really a work in progress at this point,î
Green said. ìWeíre the fourth Gannett paper to make the changeî to an
ultra-local format.
The change has triggered a relatively small critical response, he said,
with 97 negative telephone calls and 142 negative online responses to a
feedback survey to date.
Green concluded by saying that the format change, at least initially,
appears to be a success, as ìsingle-copy sales are up 150 per day and
the AC-T has experienced an increase of 250 subscriptions since making
the change.î
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