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Media business model: Are you running the Scotch Tape store?
If you’re old enough to remember Saturday Night Live in its glory days, maybe you remember the hilarious sketches set in the Scotch Tape store at the old mall. The bit was centered on, and got its...
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How to change behavior in your disrupted organization
When a company or industry is beset by massive disruption — as the traditional media have been for more than a decade now — it creates two massive challenges: Figuring out how the business has to...
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Millennials, news and the Borneo effect
It’s the Year of the Millennials, according to Pew. In 2015, at ages 18 to 34, they will surpass Baby Boomers in the U.S. to become the largest living generation. And a major new report by the Media...
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The hardest part of saving news: Changing the definition
Lots of people understand that the traditional business model around news is breaking down. Far fewer realize it’s not just the business part — advertising — that’s broken. It’s also news itself. Why...
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Rethinking the mission and purpose of local reporting
How do you define the mission and purpose of local reporting? Cover the news? Hold institutions accountable? Maintain a well-informed citizenry? Hold up a mirror to the community? “Comfort the...
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“Big-J” journalism projects for resource-strapped newsrooms — Part I
It’s an article of faith in the local media business: High-quality content is our trump card in the high-stakes business of attracting and monetizing digital audiences. But how much of that...
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Power structure: Another “Big-J” project for strapped newsrooms
Last time I blogged about a fairly simple but powerful “Big J” journalism project we did years ago in my hometown, shaking up the judicial system in a very positive way. Here’s another “Big J” project...
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Editorials: Headed for extinction?
Powerful local advocacy is essential to your news brand As the relentless decline in ad revenues empties more and more newsroom desks, there’s been a little-noted side effect: Waning commitment to...
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Why the bitter U.S. political divide? Blame the digital information explosion
Most Americans would agree that our country is more fiercely divided along political lines today — Democrat/Republican and liberal/conservative — than ever before in our lives. Through the last two or...
View ArticleOne more time: Our content is failing our industry
The year was 2005, and the scene was a meeting of the Newspaper Next Industry Task Force — some of the best and most innovative minds in the newspaper business. In midstream, the brilliant and...
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