I’m in Cooperstown today, speaking at the New York Newspaper Publishers Association annual conference. As a left coaster, I’m a bit overwhelmed by the history here: the local newspaper has been around for 201 years, the hotel is celebrating its 100th birthday and this is the 156th edition of the conference. (And tomorrow I’ll be taking in the baseball hall of fame.)
Before speaking about social networking and mobile for news publishers, I’m sitting in some morning sessions, including one called “The Deadly Sins of Newspapers.” Ed Efchak, who spent decades at the Bergen County Record and has done stints at Belden and INMA, offered this list of “sins:”
- not owning your localspace
- not concentrating on customer winners
- becoming brand-less
- losing focus
- being boring
- not being digital first
- not being different
While not as compelling as Bill Wyman’s recent treatise on 5 key reasons newspapers are failing, he’s hit on some interesting points and is concluding with an impressive slideshow of innovative print designs from around the world. If I can get a link to the preso online, I’ll post it here.
UPDATE:
Slides are apparently not available online, but Efchak did offer these step of absolution:
Absolution
- get rid of fixed ideas and paradigms
- visualize the ideal situation
- go get the facts
- reduce waste
- think of ways to make it possible
- get input and ideas from many people
- take responsibility – have courage
I think one of the biggest challenges for newspaper the industry is the current sales model… it’s simply is not customer focused
My newspaper is getting mobile too! They are sending me sports updates to my phone. Which is fine if you don’t want to log into the website.
I think newspapers will survive they just need to find out how…