Study: Newspapers Need Greater Union Role, New Ownership Models to Survive

If America’s beleaguered newspaper industry is to evolve, it will require such changes as a shift to public-private ownership models and less adversarial relationships with organized labor, according to a new study by the University of California, Davis.

“People think of newspapers as a rapidly changing, technologically driven, flexible industry. But what we found is that newspapers all too often have more in common with a factory assembly line,” Chris Benner, associate professor of community and regional development and the study’s lead author, said in a statement. “When you’re trying to get a newspaper out, there’s intense pressure to meet deadlines every day. That makes it very hard for newspapers to innovate.”

The study, titled “Next Generation Unionism and the Future of Newspapers: Networking, Entrepreneurship and Hybrid Ownership,” suggests that newspapers must not only become “the networked information provider of the future — the networked, entrepreneurial local information hub,” said Benner, but must also allow newspaper unions to play a more active role as business partners and liaisons with the community, not just bargaining with management.

“That culture shift is the hardest thing to do because people are used to an us-vs.-them framework,” Benner added. “It’s really got to be seen more as, ‘Our members are valuable assets. We partner with employers and training providers and others in ways that meet dual interests.’”

Also among the study’s suggestions: more entrepreneurial reporting and salesmanship in which reporters use their community knowledge and relationships to take a greater role in identifying new revenue streams.

The study was sponsored by the Center for Regional Change, with primary funding from the University of California’s Miguel Contreras Labor Studies Development Fund. It was conducted in collaboration with the San Francisco-based California Media Workers Guild/Communications Workers of America Local 39521, with some additional funding from the California Labor Foundation.

Download the study, here.