reinventing the newspaper (nov 2012)

printaction.com/CPA

Palais RoyaleNovember 29, 2012KNOCKING OUT

THE COMPETITION25% OFF!

EFI Inkjet SolutionsWide, Wider, Widest.

www.shop.heidelberg.com1 800 363 4800

.com

MaximizeMaximize Your

PrintingPrinting Profits

Maximize Your

Printing Profits

PM40010868 R10907 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to 610 Alden Rd., Suite 100, Markham ON L3R 9Z1PM40010868 R10907 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to 610 Alden Rd., Suite 100, Markham ON L3R 9Z1

PrintAction 11-2012_PrintAction 12-10-29 5:38 AM

16 • PRINTACTION • NOVEMBER 2012

By Victoria Gaitskell

op newspaper editors say‘print remains vital’t

Initially, I had reservations about covering a

sold-out October panel discussion called

Gutenberg’s Last Stand: Reinventing the Modern

Newspaper for a magazine that covers the printing

industry. Not only the panel’s sensationalist title

but also a string of current events seemed to be

conspiring against the prospect of a healthy future

for the printed newspaper.

PrintAction 11-2012_PrintAction 12-10-30 6:09 AM Page 16

For years, printers have been facing similarchallenges to those of modern newspapers in declining demand for print and growing demandfor content delivery via other media. On October18, the same day on which the Canadian Journal-ism Foundation (CJF) scheduled the panel,Newsweek, the iconic weekly magazine publishedin New York, announced it was switching to a digital-only format starting in 2013 after nearly80 years in print. Just three days earlier, JohnStackhouse, Editor-in-chief of The Globe andMail had announced that on October 22 hisToronto-based newspaper would join numerousother major dailies (including the Ottawa Citizen,Montreal Gazette, The New York Times, The WallStreet Journal, the Chicago Tribune, Los AngelesTimes, Britain’s The Telegraph, and the FinancialTimes of London) in launching a payment systemfor online content.

So it was with some trepidation that I attendedCJF’s panel discussion to learn the straight factson the future of newspapers through a panel recruited from the royalty of Canadian journalism:John Stackhouse, mentioned above; CharlotteEmpey, Editor-in-chief of Metro English Canada;Lou Clancy, VP of Editorial and Editor-in-chiefof Postmedia News; and Michael Cooke, Editorof the Toronto Star. Serving as moderator wasScott White, Editor-in-chief of English operationsat Canada’s national news service, The CanadianPress.

As their discussion progressed, however, I became increasingly relieved and optimistic, sincethis distinguished panel confirmed repeatedlythat print journalism is alive and well. They also

pointed out several directions in which news content producers – like printers – need to thinkdifferently and take calculated risks to transformand expand their businesses.

Nobody’s last standWhite began by pointing out that the panel’smelodramatic title, Gutenberg’s Last Stand, implied a false crisis, since news in today’s societyappears on everything from free printednewspapers, to large public televisionscreens tuned to all-news or all-sportsnetworks, to small screens posted aboveelevator doors and even public-wash-room urinals. Smartphones and tabletshave literally put breaking news in thepalms of consumers’ hands. “More eye-balls are reading more news stories onmore platforms than at any time before,”he says. But he adds that a correspondingproblem for newspapers is that societynow falsely equates pervasiveness withthe idea that news is a commodity that anyone can produce simply and inexpensively.

Cooke, who spoke last, observes that,although 20 years ago there were threedaily newspapers in Toronto, today thereare eight, plus an explosion of newsWebsites. “Digital ideology keeps on repeating that mainstream media don’tget it digitally and can’t adapt to new ways of producing news. Google and Yahoo and the restare basically engineering companies, and they dothat very well, but they don’t do news. The truth

is our reporters do their news for them,and our method of producing digital content is simply by combining old-fashioned reporting with digital tools.”

Neither did Cooke view the currentstate of flux of newspapers as merely theresult of pressure to go digital: “The 2008financial crisis has beaten us up financiallyas much as any structural changes we’redealing with. News in general lost 50 per-cent of advertising revenues in the lasteight to 10 years. The reason we’re not outof business is that our profit margins arehistorically high.”

Stackhouse agrees: “There’s no crisis injournalism. Society is hungrier for moreand better information than ever before.We just need to wake up and figure outhow to monetize it and take advantage ofthe enormous demand.”

Monetizing text and the rise of pay-wallsStackhouse says that, although The Globe triedunsuccessfully to charge for online content severalyears ago, the time is right to proceed now be-cause of three critical trends: Changes in technol-ogy to enable the construction of pay-walls,changes in the newspaper industry that haveprompted hundreds of newspapers to do it, andchanges in the marketplace resulting in greater

consumer willingness to pay for information of value online. Now IT and customer servicehave become the biggest challenges for anyoneimplementing a pay-wall, he says.

Cooke contributes two more reasons why somany newspapers are establishing pay-walls now:One is the relatively recent development of Web-site metering technologies that enable newspapersto charge different readers different amounts fordifferent types of content. The second is thedownward pressure on CPMs (cost per thousandimpressions) for advertisers online.

Stackhouse also points out that custom contentis the only significant revenue growth area in a lotof newspaper companies. “The special sauce weare offering includes exclusive content for busi-ness leaders and special advertising offers. Peoplewant more than journalism. They want access toinformation that matters to them plus a great userexperience. People are overwhelmed with infor-mation today. They’re willing to pay a good chunk

NOVEMBER 2012 • PRINTACTION • 17

Photos: Paul Terefenko / The Canadian JournalismFoundation

Among the panelists,Lou Clancy, Vice President of Editorialand Editor-in-chief at Postmedia News;John Stackhouse, The Globe and Mail, Editor-in-chief; andpanel moderatorScott White, Editor-in-chief of The Canadian Press

Michael Cooke, Editor of the Toronto Star, speaksabout the challenges to print media of the pastdecade

Charlotte Empey, Editor-in-chief at Metro EnglishCanada, presents the different strengths of today’smedia streams


of money if you can provide them withany help to cope with that.”

There was consensus among panelmembers that their most significantcompetition came not so much from individual publications or platforms, butrather from the more generalized fightfor the time and attention of audiencesbarraged with information from a largevariety of sources.

Print remains vitalAmong the esteemed panel, Cookeemerged as the strongest advocate for thetraditional printed newspaper. He states:

“I’m sure we will not be able to turn offprint and go to digital any time soon.There is certainly no business case rightnow for doing it, and I personally don’tsee one. Print remains vital.”

He explains how the Star has produceda dedicated news Website for 15 years,but that its parent company has consis-tently been unable to make a digital busi-ness case that earns enough money tocover the costs of the newsroom and staffrequired to produce the news.

“There’s a lot of life left in print, and ifwe’re smart, we can come up with newand unimagined ideas to make money

with it,” Cooke continues. He cites threesuch innovations that have occurred re-cently at the Star: One lucrative change isthat now, with their Sunday subscription,readers can choose to purchase an addi-tional optional insert consisting of theNews and Book Reviews sections of TheNew York Times. A second is that weeklyTV listings no longer come free with theSaturday paper but can also be purchasedas an optional insert, a move that notonly brings in additional revenue from250,000 households but also saves thecost of printing TV listings that the othersubscribers don’t want. A third new effi-

ciency is that the Toronto Star has mergedits home-delivery operations with TheGlobe, so that the same company now delivers both newspapers, saving themboth millions of dollars.

Lean innovationLou Clancy emphasizes that modernnewspapers need to find ways to encour-age and lead innovation and afford theskills and tools these innovations require.He says the National Post is led by entre-preneurs who discover ways to get thingsdone by running small-budget test proj-ects with limited staff. “You’ve got to startup lean, as if your wallet is half empty,not full.”

Examples of the Post’s successful projectsthat started small are Gastropost, a Websiteand Saturday printed supplement in theToronto edition where readers report theirsuccesses in accomplishing weekly foodmissions. Another is the Chinese-languagesite taiyangbao.ca using translated Vancou-ver Sun content and bloggers which in eightmonths has attracted 400,000 unique dailyvisitors and is already profitable. Clancysays he feels it is critical for these projectsto rely on a start-up mentality and smallteams to enable optimal learning, then thelessons they learn can be shared across theentire organization.

Print enhances reader’s experienceMetro, a free daily and one of the fewnewspapers currently in growth mode,has expanded into 10 different print editions published in 10 different citiesacross Canada, each using common national, international, and entertain-ment content plus 30 percent local news.This spring, Metro also relaunched itsWebsite which offers 15 different digitaleditions and mobile apps.

“The paper does not drive digital anddigital does not drive the paper,” explainsEditor-in-chief Charlotte Empey. “Ourdigital growth reflects our belief that ouraudience is looking for a seamless transi-tion from paper to mobile to online, depending on the time of day.” For example, they might start the day withMetro online over breakfast to learn whathappened overnight and research roadconditions and weather. While commut-ing to work, they might pick up a printedcopy to stay on top of the latest stories or

Online36% TV NewsWebsites

41% Newspaper

Websites

30% News Aggregators

(Google News)

14% Dedicated

News Services (Reuters or Bloomberg)

http://www. SocialMedia

10% Twitter

35% Social Media Sites

Regular newscast on a TV station for either evening or late broadcast for their daily news fill

Daily newspaper that they would normally pay for or subscribe to for their daily news fill

Community newspapers and magazines for their daily news fill

Television station dedicated to only news or information 24 hours a day for their daily news fill

Free newspaper that people hand out or make available around town for their daily news fill

CBC Radio news broadcasts to get their daily news fill

Daily newspaper websites for their daily news fill

Social media sites like Facebook for their daily news fill

Talk radio stations with regularly scheduled news broadcasts on the half hour

Daily television stations dedicated to only business news and information for their daily news fill

Online news sources like TV news websites for their daily news fill

News aggregators like 'Google News' for their daily news fill

24-hour news-only radio stations

Magazines like Maclean’s and Time, and their websites for their daily news fill

Dedicated news services (Reuters or Bloomberg) for their daily news fill

Popular micro-blogging medium (Twitter)

40%

23%

19%

17%

14%

14%

13%

13%

12%

11%

10%

7%

7%

3%

3%

3%

Where do you get your daily news?

In Ranked Order

Ipsos Reid in October conducted a poll, on behalf of The Canadian Journalism Foundation,to discover which media sources people rely on most for their daily news fill.

Part of Ipsos Reid’s October poll for the CJF ranked a person’s appetitefor specific news sources from always daily consulted to least consulted.

18 • PRINTACTION • NOVEMBER 2012


unexpected news. During the day, theymight consult their smartphones for thelatest breaking stories or gossip. On theway home, they might want a lighter con-tent mix with videos, serialized books orrestaurant reviews to help them unwindfrom the day’s stress.

“Each medium is valuable because ithas specific strengths,” continues Empey.“Print allows for rich detail and languageto paint a vivid picture. Online, becauseof infographics, sound, video, and photogalleries, a story can become experiential.All the platforms work in partnership todeliver stories that capitalize on eachmedium’s strength and enhance thereader’s experience.

“I don’t know exactly how we’re goingto make money on the edition of the future, but if we allow readers to get whatthey want when they want it, give themunique, exclusive content, and make our-selves an indispensable part of their day,they’ll be back every day. Our presidentand sales team will figure out how tomake it work.”

Know thy readerEach panelist agrees that newspapers aredrastically reforming their relationshipswith readers. Stackhouse says that to create great work for today’s market,journalists have to learn to work with ITengineers and marketing departments tounderstand what readers want and whenthey want it. Clancy says: “We no longersit in an ivory tower. You have to haveopen discussion with your readers all thetime and make use of psychographicsand online surveys to find out what theywant and need, what their interests are,and what they think.”

Empey adds: “The days are gone whenmedia can tell readers what to thinkabout things. Our readers range in agefrom 18 to 49, but 25 to 34 is the sweetspot for us. Their feedback, even from biased individuals or wing-nuts, gives mea window onto a much larger world. If I didn’t know what the conversation isamongst our readers, what they arethinking about and tweeting about, thenit would be impossible for me to put together a paper and digital products thatwill interest them.”

Cooke emphasizes that it still remainsa newspaper’s job to tell people what they

need to know. “We are not pandering tothe popular as opposed to the important,but at the same time we have changed because our tools have changed. Ournewsroom has a big screen that tells uswhat is trending on Twitter and Googleat any given moment. If we aren’t cover-ing a topic it shows people want to readabout, we’ll go and get a story. We changethe lineup on Thestar.com almost hourlybased on what we learn from the varietyof tools available.” He adds that Starreporters have discovered they can self-correct a story before it goes to print byposting it on a blog, where social mediawill monitor the content. Cooke alsonotes that since being trained in SearchEngine Optimization, his newsroom deliberately operates in ways that will“make Google love us.”

While taking the new requirements of reader interaction in stride, all fourpanelists communicate well-informedoptimism about the future of newspapersand agree that it’s an exciting time of creative change for journalists.

Reaffirming printA new poll conducted by Ipsos Reid forCJF, released one day before its Torontonewspaper symposium, shows that a ma-jority of Canadians still prefer to receivetheir daily news from traditional outlets.In descending order of preference, thenews sources respondents preferred were:Regular evening or late television news-casts (40 percent); daily newspapers, either purchased or by subscription (23 percent); daily community newspa-pers or magazines (19 percent); 24-hournews-or-information-only television stations (17 percent); and free news -papers or CBC Radio news broadcasts(14 percent each). Percentages of peoplewho said they preferred to obtain theirdaily news from various digital mediasources were all lower.

The poll also asked respondents to classify themselves based on theirnews-consumption habits as belongingto one of four categories: Hyper newsies,moderate newsies, casual newsies, ornon-newsies. Almost 40 percent of respondents self-identified as membersof the two most engaged categories,hyper newsies (10 percent) and moderatenewsies (29 percent). By combining these

results with demographic information,the poll constructed profiles of Canada’smost highly engaged news consumers asfollows:

Hyper newsies are twice as likely to bemales (14 percent versus seven percentfemales) in Western Canada (18 percentin Alberta, 15 percent in British Colum-bia) or Atlantic Canada (11 percent).They include twice as many middle-agedpeople and seniors (12 percent each) as younger consumers (six percent). They are also most likely to be universitygraduates (12 percent), earn high incomes (15 percent earned $100,000+annually) and to be parents (12 percent).

Moderate newsies are slightly morelikely to be male (31 percent versus 28percent females), seniors over the age of55 (32 percent), in Alberta (36 percent)or Ontario (34 percent), and middle class(55 percent earned between $40,000 and$99,000 annually).

Perhaps profiles like these ones will assist news producers in devising thekinds of new, enhanced experiences theiraudiences crave.

Victoria Gaitskell is keen to exchange ideaswith readers at [email protected];LinkedIn: ca.linkedin.com/in/vicg8; Blog:vicg8.blogspot.ca; Twitter: twitter.com/vicg8

51%Free

Newspapers

43% Subscribed or

Paid Magazines

60 % Community

Newspapers and Magazines

PrintTelevision & Radio

74% Regular Newscast

on TV

54% 24-Hour

News Television

46% Talk Radio

Stations

43%CBC Radio

News Broadcasts

42% Daily Television

Stations

28%24-Hour

News-only Radio

NOVEMBER 2012 • PRINTACTION • 19


reinventing the newspaper (nov 2012)

Business