A 2009 Checklist for Newspaper Publishers
November 25, 2008 by Craig Stoltz
Henry “Buzz” Wurzer, 40+ year newspaper industry veteran with service bars from Tribune and Hearst, among others, left a comment on this blog a few days ago. Afterward he sent along a kind of manifesto for newspaper publishers looking into 2009.
While waiting for it to arrive, I cringed a bit. I don’t know Wurzer, but he’s been around since the days of hot type, since before newspapers even began their ascendancy into cash-spewing local monopolies. He’s a long-time leader of newspaper trade groups. I expected a Defense of the One True Way.
But his 16-point checklist is anything but. It’s a progressive call to action.
A few favorite excerpts:
1. I would fire myself as publisher and rehire myself as CEO, Local [name of local market] Information Utility…
4. I would lead a culture change throughout my organization that all future strategic plans would be initiated digitally and then employ traditional formats such as print in a supportive role…
9. I would make available multiple links to other information channels to enhance the content I provide.
It’s scary for me to look around and see how few newspaper publishers are applying these principles. A good number still prohibit outlinks to other sources that add reader value, for instance, for fear of sending traffic to “the competition.” I’m not acquainted with a newspaper newsroom that as a matter of daily practice creates digital content first and assigns print a supportive role.
Earlier this month the American Press Institute convened newspaper executives for a “crisis” meeting. It appeared to produce little beyond anxious silence. The event was closed to reporters, the after-meeting conference call was canceled, and a short executive summary the only record of events [aside from one renegade Twitter stream--digital samizdat circulated furtively to shine light on the opaque dealings of the Central Committee of the People's Newspaper Ministry].
They could have saved themselves a lot of trouble. Read the items on Buzz Wurzer’s 16-point checklist. Adopt them.
It would be a start.
Download Wurzer’s newspaper-publishers-checklist. Visit his site here.
I’ve followed this for a while and the only conclusion I can come to is: Some things are meant to die.
People croak and so do institutions. This one that, sadly, is dieing a very slow death.
Mr. Wurzer’s checklist hits it out of the park.
On the API Summit: Stay tuned. More to come.
Thanks again for sharing The Wurzer Way.
Craig -
Thank you for bringing Mr. Wurzer’s checklist to my attention. I really appreciated the insights of a thoughtful industry veteran as we try to implement a new business model, requiring a new mindset, new tasks and new jobs to serve customers in a completely new way.
I do have one correction. My liveblogging of the API Summit was not “renegade” or any kind of “samizdat” circulated “furtively”. I informed all of the participants, and the organizers, before the Summit that I respected the need for full and frank discussions, and that I would not be reporting on, or attributing statements to, any participant. However, my thinking on the subject of reinventing media is greatly enhanced by the people I follow on Twitter, many of whom work at Gazette Communications. So, to enhance my participation, and those of the other attendees, I posted my thoughts, and questions, out for comment. I was amazed by the response. My perspective was significantly enhanced by the use of these tools. During the Summit, I frequently commented on my blogging, and at one point posed the questions I was receiving to the entire group.
Which makes me think that a similar approach to news gathering in our communities could form the backbone for the type of networked, community strengthening, micro-personal to regional news organization we are trying to create.
I look forward to continued discussion on these topics as we continue the real work of trying to make this happen in Eastern Iowa.
Thanks,
Chuck Peters
CEO
The Gazette Company
[...] Some other recent posts that I have appreciated are Jeff Jarvis with his “scenario for news” summary, Martin Langeveld describing his “future of journalism“, Steve Outing and his exhortation to “redefine news“, and Buzz Werzer’s “Checklist for Newspaper Publishers“. [...]
Chuck–
Thanks for your comment, and I apologize for mischaracterizing your Twitter efforts, or at least your intentions, at the summit. I will say that your Tweets from the summit have been *received,* and appreciated, as leaks from within the sanctum.
[I also confess to habitually straining for metaphors that compare corrupt and failing U.S. institutions to the doomed organs of the former Soviet Union.]
A final note: I am delighted to see leadership and change-making coming from a smaller company safely remote from Great Papers of the East Coast. Like many significant changes, perhaps the one in digital news will need to come from Main Street, not Wall Street.
From–dare I say it?–the People.
n.b. Interested parties will find Chuck’s blog here: http://cpetersia.wordpress.com. It includes a link to his API liveblogging.
[...] a turning point when I read that thoughtful industry veteran Buzz Wurzer’s first item on his 16 Point Checklist for Newspaper Publishers was: I would fire myself as Publisher and rehire myself as CEO, Local (Your Market) Information [...]