NEWSPAPERS PUT TECHNOLOGY UPGRADES ON HOLD

By: Bob Weinstein Publishers Put Off Internet, Circulation, Press Purchases


Prudent spending is the leitmotif in the newspaper industry these days. Along with boosts in both staff and editorial budgets, technology upgrades have been put on hold at many papers. Russ Leseberg, president of Sandy, Utah-based Avail Technologies, a consulting company for the newspaper industry, thinks it's a mistake.

"Making do with outdated technology and equipment that's on its last legs will affect every facet of a newspaper's performance," Leseberg says. "Many papers haven't upgraded their technology since Y2K. They're waiting until the price of newsprint comes down or the economy turns around. Others are putting off such investments until they know their vendors are solvent."

Whatever the reason, newspapers are playing it safe and holding back on new pagination and circulation technologies, computer-to-plate (CTP) systems, anything dealing with work flow and imagesetting, and better Web technology, according to Leseberg. Others are keeping costs down by "investing in better information systems by using outsourcing companies," he says. "It's a lot cheaper than maintaining their own database systems. Newspapers are fast realizing that marketing efforts should be database-driven for gathering demographic information to do targeted advertising."

But not everyone is pulling their punches. Several major papers, including the San Francisco Chronicle, are spending big bucks for a future payoff.

Cable-ready in Scranton

Like many others, however, Times-Shamrock Communications, the Scranton, Pa.-based group, has put on hold a number of technology upgrades.

"We had planned to upgrade to new editorial, archival, and classified systems," says Kevin Hoppes, corporate Internet director. "We also wanted to upgrade our infrastructure. Because of the uncertain economy, we went with copper [cable] instead of [optical] fiber because it's cheaper." Hoppes also set his sights on hardware and software upgrades, but "it's not going to happen until the economy turns around," he says.

"There are a number of creative things we would have liked to do with our advertising systems, but we are limited because of their age," says Hoppes. "We were considering cross-advertising through several of our publications. But limitations with our present system make it difficult to accomplish."

Times-Shamrock is also stalling improvements to its Internet technology. "I wanted to take news and editorial content and pour it into XML [extensible markup language] because it provides more flexibility for designing Web pages than HTML [hypertext markup language]," Hoppes explains. "But, it can't be done until we upgrade."

The downside of holding off on technology purchases is that Times-Shamrock will have to skip a whole generation of hardware and software innovations. "The upside," he says, is "we'll have better technology because when we are ready to proceed, we'll buy the newest technology and have a much better system."

Hoppes is betting on the economy turning around in the fourth quarter. "It's been 20 years since the [Federal Reserve Board] has cut interest rates this aggressively," he says. "That's bound to have a positive effect in boosting technology spending."

Other papers are slowing purchases, but still making buys, selectively.

"We monitor technology spending very carefully," says Troy Stutes, production manager at the Port Arthur (Texas) News, circulation 19,462. "I'm trying to get approval to upgrade some of our equipment to cut labor costs. I just got approval for some imagesetters that will save money in the composition department." Stutes says he will now try to convince senior management at Community Newspapers Holdings Inc., the Birmingham, Ala.-based chain that owns the News, to purchase full-page scanners to improve the production process.

Technology expenditures are even smaller at the 3,050-circulation Perry (Okla.) Daily Journal. "Coming from the Muskogee [Okla.] Daily Phoenix, a 21,000-circulation Gannett daily ... I'm used to a lot more technology," says General Manager Eldon McKinnis. "We're only purchasing technology that is absolutely essential. We just bought an e-mail program and Adobe Acrobat 5.0 so we can send and receive ads more efficiently."

Pat Taylor, general manager of the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal, circulation 87,175, says he's not losing sleep over a slow economy, because his company made its major technology upgrades last year. "We got in just under the wire," he says. "We were all set by the beginning of 2001."

Upgrades include new financial and human-resource systems, a Quark-based pagination system for advertising, and new workstations for the newsroom. "Now all we have left to do is minor upgrades, but we don't have to worry about that until 2002," says Taylor.

Frisky in Frisco

Despite a slow economy and tight budgets, some newspapers are moving ahead at full speed and spending to implement some important new capabilities.

The 527,466-circulation San Francisco Chronicle is just one such example. Since Hearst Newspapers sold the San Francisco Examiner and purchased the Chronicle, a number of changes have taken place, most of which involved equipment upgrades, according to Dave Hyams, the Chronicle's director of news operations/technology. (The paper has cut back on replacing PCs and laptops for reporters and editors, however.) On the big-ticket side, the Chronicle is buying a new photo archive system this year, but "we'll be buying less hardware to keep costs down," says Hyams. "We're ready to accept a little downtime rather than having everything mirrored. That is a definite economic concession."

Still, Hyams is seriously looking at a new pagination system. "Our new publisher, John Oppedahl, thinks it's nuts not to have one because of the operational efficiencies it offers. We're going against the grain in a lot of ways," says Hyams. "Unlike other papers which are cutting back on staff and content, we're adding sections and staff, which makes technology purchases essential."

Howard Publications, a 15-paper chain based in Oceanside, Calif., hasn't let a sluggish economy affect its technology expenditures either. "Actually, we're spending more on technology," says Vice President William Howard. "We have a number of items that are up for replacement, particularly film-based to direct-to-plate technology. Otherwise, we replace equipment as needed."

Already having committed $106 million to building and equipping a big production plant, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel continues to shop. Vice President of Production Ken Kieck says he, too, is looking at CTP technology and layout software and "will probably buy something in early fall."

While many papers, especially small ones, are holding back on technology purchases, it's safe to say that newspapers will begin spending more aggressively once the economy makes a turnaround. "Their survival," says Avail Technologies' Leseberg, "depends upon it."



Weinstein writes "Tech Watch," a weekly syndicated technology/career column, for King Features Syndicate.



Copyright 2001, Editor & Publisher.