Net gains or losses aside

By: Lucia Moses INDUSTRY STILL HAS ITS 'ISSUES'
Execs see continued consolidation, which they consider a good thing

Although fears about the Internet have subsided, some of the nation's top newspaper executives are still facing hard truths. Among their problems, they admit, are a number of the industry's own making.
Speaking June 18 at the Newspapers 2000 convention here, publishers said newspapers are shooting themselves in the foot by ignoring potential revenue, failing to market themselves, and turning off potential employees with low salaries.
"I think we have a very well-deserved image of not paying enough," said Alan M. Horton, senior vice president/newspapers at the E.W. Scripps Co., parent of the Denver Rocky Mountain News.
Stuart Garner, president and CEO of Thomson Newspapers, who lets his publishers run front-page ads, said other papers are missing revenue by not doing the same. "We have a sacred cow called Page One where we can't market ourselves with conviction," Garner complained.
The mood wasn't all black. Internet threats to classified advertising still lurk, but the executives exuded confidence that the Web won't replace local papers as primary and credible sources of news. The weren't overly worried about incidents like last year's Staples Center scandal at the Los Angeles Times, which damaged its journalistic credibility by agreeing to share profits with a source.
And while critics worry that the consolidation of media ownership will leave fewer independent voices in journalism, the panelists agreed that consolidation in the industry isn't only inevitable - it will position the business to compete more effectively with other media. Horton noted, however, that the newspapers will have to accept lower profit margins to stay current with technology.
"Ten years from now, when the [Newspaper Association of America] has its annual convention in New York, there won't be very many of us," predicted William Dean Singleton, president and CEO of MediaNews Group Inc., parent of The Denver Post. "But that's not the end of the world."


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(copyright: Editor & Publisher June 26, 2000)
As long as he's still part of it, of course.