Newspaper Evolution

More than 270 attend inaugural Midwest Newspaper Summit

More than 270 newspaper staffers, students, state press association staff members, vendors and others took part in the first Midwest Newspaper Summit, Thursday, Sept. 17 at the Grand River Center in Dubuque. Attendees came from 13 states. The event was co-presented by the Illinois Press Association, Iowa Newspaper Foundation, Kansas Press Association, Minnesota Newspaper Association, Missouri Press Association, Nebraska Press Association, Wisconsin Newspaper Association.

The Dubuque Telegraph Herald and Parade sponsored a welcome reception the night prior to the Summit. More than 100 of the Summit registrants had a chance to mingle over drinks and food and were offered tours of the Telegraph Herald’s newsroom and other work spaces.

Blogger Alan Mutter, one of the leading commentators on the changing news business, kicked off Thursday’s program. Mutter presented charts showing how print revenues have been steadily declining, and shared that it’s difficult to anticipate how low revenue can drop if newspapers try to rely on print alone.

He encouraged newspapers to “think outside the box” with the use of niche products, interactive fees, search engine optimization and marketing, yellow pages and direct marketing. He also encouraged newspapers to pool their resources with other papers to allow for more research and experimentation with new offerings.

Mutter cited the tremendous advantages newspaper companies have: brands, credibility, content-creation capabilities, large local audiences, cross-media marketing impressions, advertising relationships, rich cash flows. Even with those advantages, he predicts, news companies need to change to reflect consumer behavior “or you will be roadkill.”

Karen Feldman captivated the audience as she presented research from the IBM Institute for Business Value. Feldman showed how roles are blurring among advertisers, agencies, media, device manufacturers and networks in the rapidly changing marketing/information/entertainment ecosystem. If media companies don’t learn to play new roles (developing mobile apps, helping businesses with various needs beyond advertising, etc.), their relevance and success will continue to decline. View Feldman's presentation here.

Lunch speaker Dick Doak reminisced about days of manual typewriters, linotype and engraving. He shared his worries that democracy won’t survive without newspapers or something very much like them.

American Press Institute’s Mary Peskin picked up the programming in the afternoon, sharing results of a study conducted for API by Belden Interactive and ITZ Publishing regarding paid content. The research indicated a huge disconnect between how valuable publishers and the public feel a newspaper’s online content is. Sixty-eight percent of publishers thought people would have difficulty finding other news sources if the newspaper’s web site wasn’t available, but 52 percent of visitors to their web sites said it would be easy to find new sources. Three-quarters of news executives said people would turn to the print edition of their newspaper as an alternative, while only 30 percent of web visitors indicated they would turn to the print edition. Peskin also showed a list of missed opportunities and current opportunities for newspaper companies. View Peskin's presentation here.

The “A Time for Innovation” panel was made up of Mutter, Marty Kaiser of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jennifer Towery of Peoria Newspaper Guild and Chuck Peters of Gazette Communications and moderated by Jo Martin of Times Citizen Communications. Kaiser, who is also president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, told attendees that his newspaper focuses on driving home the importance of professional journalism and on being a source of information that no one else can provide. They stress immediacy/breaking news; reader community; video; investigative and enterprise reporting.

Towery offered information on the L3C business model, a low-profit, limited liability company, with social benefit as its first priority. To work, the L3C approach needs more enabling legislation and an Internal Revenue Service ruling that newspapers are a suitable public purpose for such a corporation. Public service would be a higher purpose than profit, but low profits would be allowed, freeing the organization from some restrictions of non-profits.

Peters reviewed the Complete Community Connection model that Gazette Communications is currently pursuing. He noted that media companies’ core business is not publishing newspapers or operating television stations, but “building community and easing commercial transactions.”

Roger Fidler of University of Missouri’s Reynolds Journalism Institute demonstrated how newspapers can be redesigned to be read with e-readers and urged newspaper organizations to explore the use of e-readers as a means to deliver their product.
The final session of the day consisted of a panel of young journalists, Chris Rhoades of Enterprise Publishing, Thomas Ritchie of the Sioux City Journal and Chris Snider of the Des Moines Register.

Snider discussed the Des Moines Register’s desire to be “the source” of information by distributing content everywhere they can. They use Twitter, Facebook, email and text alerts for this purpose and because young readers expect interaction with news and with reporters.

Rhoades reiterated the idea that the news that newspapers put on their web sites is valuable, and online users should have to pay for access to it. Ritchie reports that the Sioux City Journal normally runs stories online and on Twitter before they make it to print, but warns newspapers not to “bite off more than you can chew” and promise your readers too much.

“ In this time of decreasing budgets throughout the newspaper industry, the fact that so many people took the time and expense to attend the Summit is a clear sign that our members and members of our neighboring press associations are looking for answers,” said Iowa Newspaper Foundation Director Jennifer Asa. “Through the Midwest Newspaper Summit series, we hope to provide a forum for newspapers to work together to find the business models that will continue to support the practice of good journalism in the future.”


Home Future of Newspapers Blogs Research Papers Midwest Summit 1
More than 270 attend inaugural Midwest Newspaper Summit More than 270 newspaper staffers, students, state press association staff members, vendors and others took part in the first Midwest Newspaper Summit, Thursday, Sept. 17 at the Grand River Center in Dubuque. Attendees came from 13 states. The event was co-presented by the Illinois Press Association, Iowa Newspaper Foundation, Kansas Press Association, Minnesota Newspaper Association, Missouri Press Association, Nebraska Press Association, Wisconsin Newspaper Association. The Dubuque Telegraph Herald and Parade sponsored a welcome reception the night prior to the Summit. More than 100 of the Summit registrants had a chance to mingle over drinks and food and were offered tours of the Telegraph Herald’s newsroom and other work spaces. Blogger Alan Mutter, one of the leading commentators on the changing news business, kicked off Thursday’s program. Mutter presented charts showing how print revenues have been steadily declining, and shared that it’s difficult to anticipate how low revenue can drop if newspapers try to rely on print alone. He encouraged newspapers to “think outside the box” with the use of niche products, interactive fees, search engine optimization and marketing, yellow pages and direct marketing. He also encouraged newspapers to pool their resources with other papers to allow for more research and experimentation with new offerings. Mutter cited the tremendous advantages newspaper companies have: brands, credibility, content-creation capabilities, large local audiences, cross-media marketing impressions, advertising relationships, rich cash flows. Even with those advantages, he predicts, news companies need to change to reflect consumer behavior “or you will be roadkill.” Karen Feldman captivated the audience as she presented research from the IBM Institute for Business Value. Feldman showed how roles are blurring among advertisers, agencies, media, device manufacturers and networks in the rapidly changing marketing/information/entertainment ecosystem. If media companies don’t learn to play new roles (developing mobile apps, helping businesses with various needs beyond advertising, etc.), their relevance and success will continue to decline. View Feldman's presentation here. Lunch speaker Dick Doak reminisced about days of manual typewriters, linotype and engraving. He shared his worries that democracy won’t survive without newspapers or something very much like them. American Press Institute’s Mary Peskin picked up the programming in the afternoon, sharing results of a study conducted for API by Belden Interactive and ITZ Publishing regarding paid content. The research indicated a huge disconnect between how valuable publishers and the public feel a newspaper’s online content is. Sixty-eight percent of publishers thought people would have difficulty finding other news sources if the newspaper’s web site wasn’t available, but 52 percent of visitors to their web sites said it would be easy to find new sources. Three-quarters of news executives said people would turn to the print edition of their newspaper as an alternative, while only 30 percent of web visitors indicated they would turn to the print edition. Peskin also showed a list of missed opportunities and current opportunities for newspaper companies. View Peskin's presentation here. The “A Time for Innovation” panel was made up of Mutter, Marty Kaiser of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jennifer Towery of Peoria Newspaper Guild and Chuck Peters of Gazette Communications and moderated by Jo Martin of Times Citizen Communications. Kaiser, who is also president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, told attendees that his newspaper focuses on driving home the importance of professional journalism and on being a source of information that no one else can provide. They stress immediacy/breaking news; reader community; video; investigative and enterprise reporting. Towery offered information on the L3C business model, a low-profit, limited liability company, with social benefit as its first priority. To work, the L3C approach needs more enabling legislation and an Internal Revenue Service ruling that newspapers are a suitable public purpose for such a corporation. Public service would be a higher purpose than profit, but low profits would be allowed, freeing the organization from some restrictions of non-profits. Peters reviewed the Complete Community Connection model that Gazette Communications is currently pursuing. He noted that media companies’ core business is not publishing newspapers or operating television stations, but “building community and easing commercial transactions.” Roger Fidler of University of Missouri’s Reynolds Journalism Institute demonstrated how newspapers can be redesigned to be read with e-readers and urged newspaper organizations to explore the use of e-readers as a means to deliver their product. The final session of the day consisted of a panel of young journalists, Chris Rhoades of Enterprise Publishing, Thomas Ritchie of the Sioux City Journal and Chris Snider of the Des Moines Register. Snider discussed the Des Moines Register’s desire to be “the source” of information by distributing content everywhere they can. They use Twitter, Facebook, email and text alerts for this purpose and because young readers expect interaction with news and with reporters. Rhoades reiterated the idea that the news that newspapers put on their web sites is valuable, and online users should have to pay for access to it. Ritchie reports that the Sioux City Journal normally runs stories online and on Twitter before they make it to print, but warns newspapers not to “bite off more than you can chew” and promise your readers too much. “ In this time of decreasing budgets throughout the newspaper industry, the fact that so many people took the time and expense to attend the Summit is a clear sign that our members and members of our neighboring press associations are looking for answers,” said Iowa Newspaper Foundation Director Jennifer Asa. “Through the Midwest Newspaper Summit series, we hope to provide a forum for newspapers to work together to find the business models that will continue to support the practice of good journalism in the future.”