Big media houses should be paying attention to National Public Radio and the momentum it has right now. And I’m not talking about the non-profit, pledge-drive business model that gets tossed around as a possible panacea for newspapers’ revenue woes.
I’m talking about audience growth.
According to this profile in Fast Company, NPR’s audience grew 95.6% between 1998-2008 while newspapers saw their audience decline 11.4% and the audience for network TV news fell 28%.
Instead of standing pat, NPR has made a number of key hires, including a new CEO, Vivian Schiller, who came on board in January. In the Fast Company article, she provides the money quote:
“I’ve worked in a lot of big media companies now,” she says. “I mean, this is my fifth [The New York Times, Discovery Channel, CNN, TBS], and I’ve never seen such a connection between the institution and the audience members. The power of that is extraordinary. The journalism and the credibility — that’s the obvious stuff. It’s the personal connection that’s the secret sauce.”
A personal connection is something local newspapers and TV stations talk about but have yet to fully leverage. NPR, with its network of local anchors and reporters, provides the brand with local authenticity to complement its national/global gravitas. It’s a powerful combination.
NPR has also made the most of its new media opportunities, boasting 14 million monthly podcast downloads and 8 million Web visitors. On Inauguration Day, more than 40,000 people sent updates from around the world by YouTube, SMS, Twitter, Flickr and iPhone. (An NPR listener actually developed an iPhone app. Any newspaper readers done this yet?)
Kinsey Wilson, former co-executive editor of USA Today, is now general manager for digital media. Wilson has been traveling the online journalism circuit as a speaker at newspaper and related conferences for years (not sure I can remember attending a conference where Wilson wasn’t a speaker)Â and knows the culture inside and out. So his take on the culture at NPR is especially instructive.
“One of the things that struck me as a newcomer is the strong sense of optimism that still pervades the organization,” Wilson said. “It stands in quite stark contrast to the atmosphere you encounter in newsrooms these days. There is still a very strong passion around the mission, what we’re able to do on a day-to-day basis. And that may be fairly unique.”
It’s more difficult than ever to foster a positive culture inside a media house – I recently heard one newsroom editor call the attitude “fatalistic” – but there’s really no other option. Find positive examples like NPR to guide you and develop personal connections with your audience.
It may not save the company, but it might improve your community and open some doors you didn’t know existed. Which, after all, isn’t a bad thing to do if you think you might be out of a job soon.
Mark Briggs 
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