And newspapers are to blame for their own inevitable screwing, Newmark told the Newspaper Association of America. Editor & Publisher covered Newmark's remarks:
Newmark doesn't feel guilty about the ongoing shift of classified dollars away from the medium. While he is a champion of more investigative reporting in newspapers -- which he admits costs money to fund -- he wasn't going to let the crowd boo-hoo about revenue woes. He deftly mentioned newspapers' high profit margins -- somewhere in the ballpark of 10% to 20% -- as proof there is plenty of money to feed investigative journalism and the newsroom. "I don't understand what the problem is," he said.
"People like Helen Thomas need backup," he said.
Newmark's blast, while refreshing, is far from new. The first time we heard it was in December 1990, when Geneva Overholser, then running the Des Moines Register, was named Gannett's editor of the year. As best editor Overholser got to give a speech at the company's annual dinner, and God bless her, she let 'em have it.
Gannett was making huge bucks, she noted. The Register's profits rose sharply after Gannett bought it in 1985 -- from about $6 million to $20.5 million just three years later. Why not settle for a little less profit for shareholders, and invest a little more in stakeholders?
"Here's my dream for the next risk-taking, history-making endeavor: Let Gannett show how corporate journalism can serve all its constituencies in hard times. As we sweat out the end of the ever-increasing quarterly earnings, as we necessarily attend to the needs and wishes of our shareholders and our advertisers, are we worrying enough about the other three? About our employees, our readers, and our communities?"
9 comments:
What happened to Ms. Overholser after that speech? Did her golden parachute open up and take her away?
She's on the faculty of the Mizzou j-school now. Don't know what she got as a going-away present from Gannett.
A profit margin of 10 to 20% is small compared to the margin achieved by many weeklies. A 30% margin is normally the goal and I believe that is Gannett's current goal. When you have to remove the coffee maker and water cooler from the newsroom (like they did at the News-Leader) in order to trim budgets and make more money your business is heading in the wrong direction.
Of all the malfeasance DWyatt has committed, he'll never live down the banishment of coffee service. Nero fiddles away.
Gee, you know, I'm sorry the newsroom no longer has a Mr. Coffee or a water spigot, but please...to say that "of all the malfeasance (Don Wyatt) has committed, he'll never live down the banishment of coffee service" hardly measures up to the massive screw-job he's done to sink the paper's overall quality to a new all-time low. That affects a few more people than just cutting off the java and the water to the news staff, don't you think?
I didn't post the information about the coffee maker and water cooler because I thought it was malfeasance. The point was that seems like small potatoes in the overall News-Leader budget and to cut those items to make ends meet seems petty ...
And makes for grouchy (I mean, grouchier) reporters.
Of course, anon 1:55. We all know the coffee makes isn't the biggest screwup. But it's the funniest, don't you think? I mean, what else can we do — after the thrill of canceling our subscriptions wears off — but laugh?
Good entry, Ron.
Post a Comment