News execs need to take ‘new media’ risks

We’ve been told since we were young that in order to succeed, you have to take risks. Unfortunately, it seems some news execs missed that life lesson.

As media quickly is being consumed by technology and journalists are becoming more entrepreneurial, the wave of the future lies with initiatives that are worth taking risks—i.e. Twitter, Facebook, instant photo feeds, blogs, mobile technology, apps, advertising tags…

A new startup founded by Burt Herman, an Associated Press reporter, known as “Hacks/Hackers,” is at the forefront of merging journalists and technologists to create a think tank of new media.

“We’re trying to save journalism, not newspapers,” he told me during a recent book interview.

That’s the point a lot of people are missing. It’s common knowledge that news print won’t be around much longer. I know pressmen who’ve told me, “I won’t have a job in 10 years.” And they’re right.

Marc Andreessen, the co-founder of Netscape, said in 2009 that news organizations need to “shut down the printing presses tomorrow” to handle the economic changes.

The future is in digital—not in print. News people know this. It’s been told to them for years, but a lot still take a “wait and see, where’s my pension” position.

In November 2009, two former journalists in the Detroit area (Mark and Gary Stern), attempted to create a daily print newspaper, “The Detroit Daily Press,” since every other paper in that area had scaled back. It was put on hold that year, then revived again in January. They failed in less than a week and shut down the operation. They, however, took a risk, but followed the failing paradigm of the soon-to-be-extinct broadsheets.

That spirit of risk taking needs to be supported more at newspapers and television stations across the country (and even around the world) with “new media.” John Paton, CEO of the Journal Register Co., took a risk with The Ben Franklin Project. The experiment was to find only free ways to produce two newspapers online and in print with the credo being, “Digital First, Print Last.” The project, called a “success,” will be implemented at all the Journal Register Co. newspapers by July 4.

What Paton’s project demonstrates to industrialized journalism is the ability to not take a backseat approach to a rapidly changing news business. How long will it last? I don’t know. And I’m guessing neither does he, but he’s willing to take the chance if it means he saves money and the company can produce a better-quality product for the people.

As the newspaper industry continues to take the “wait and see” attitude, we’re going to see more and more news outlet morgues. And, as we see what other news outlets have done and say it doesn’t work, we quickly label their initiative as a failure and use them as an example of why we shouldn’t do it either. This, instead, should mean that it just can be done better.

Technologists and geeky computer nerds are inventing such ideas as those mentioned before (and tons more that are out there) and, as a result, they are the ones who are shaping the future of news. It’s not the old editor who’s done it the same way for 40 years so it has to be done that way—it’s the young, talented, computer-savvy, non-newsy individual who is leading this new paradigm.

Editors: Take the risk and allow reporters to have individual Twitter accounts that post instant news copy and photos. Allow photographers to snap photos and have it shoot straight to the Web in real time. Take a chance on creating an app that’s unique and not just RSS feeds of content that anyone can get off of a mobile news site. Forget the eight chains of editors for certain news stories.

Taking those risks will allow for innovation and expand the realm of “new media” that could bring in more revenue. If we are to save journalism, as Herman said, we must take the actions—and the risks that accompany them—to sail into the unknown. It might work, it might not. But one thing is for certain: the smart money (when available) is seeking out journalistic innovation, not being poured into traditional media.