Not Simply Newspapers struggling - Tv Producers, Too

It is really an interview with Paul Conti, instructor in communications with the College of Saint Rose in Albany, N.Y.

Q: Whatrrrs your opinion of the idea being bandied about that governments like a last option should bail out failing newspapers?

PC: Bad idea. I do believe in newspapers. I think that free journalism (unrestricted reporting) is vital to democracy. But having the government pay to keep the press afloat is only a bad idea. How could you set of just what the government is performing if they're to blame for your paycheck? Even if you have some sort of "firewall" to safeguard the newspaper from influence, how would you dispel public suspicion? As being a former working journalist (thirty years), I will be committed to continuing the craft, but not by government intervention. Newspaper owners should have the modern enterprize model.

Q: In cases where governments decide to acheive it, as long as they attach conditions as is also being carried out for other bailout loans and grants or should it be an empty check?

PC: Again, I'm really against it, but if we were holding foolish enough to accept the money, it would have to be unconditional. Look what actually transpired to public TV during the Bush administration. Inside the first term, the Bush team attempted to wrestle program control away from the people running the Corporation for Public Broadcasting because, based on them, the viewpoints were too liberal. I think they used the text "unbalanced" but that is the things they meant. Whether or not they were or otherwise was irrelevant. The belief that they attempted to affect program submissions are evidence what happens if you take the government's take advantage a media business.

Q: You previously were news director of NBC affiliate WNYT. Are Tv producers facing the same problems as newspapers for the extent that some or most of them might go bust? What type of experience was it that you can work there?

PC: Somewhat, yes, Tv producers are facing the same pressures and so are met with the same business issues. In newspapers, their core audience is dying, literally, and newer younger consumers tend not to tend to read newspapers. In TV, the catch is that the audience is scattering. Newer (younger) consumers don't watch or consume their product. They have got a lot more choices, and so the audiences are getting smaller. In the end, it brings about the same basic problem.

The Television stations cannot sell enough ads to create the money they want to make to guide the business long lasting. Their option would be to switch their budgets by reducing costs. It can make tha harsh truth look better for a while of your time, but the content becomes bland and meaningless, meaning it might be less beneficial to viewers and the viewers start using other choices. Bear in mind the profit center for the local TV station is local news product. Essentially the most successful TV station in a metropolitan area in the united states is the one with all the "best news ratings."

Having fewer reporters or less experienced reporters (who will work more cheaply) necessarily means less content for the viewer. What's more, it means the information you receive is less meaningful. Enterprise stories or investigative stories which take time to adequately report are impossible to gather. The reporters are dispatched to pay fires, car wrecks as well as other crime or public safety related stories. Those are simpler to gather, but less meaningful to some iSatelliteLink larger audience. It fills inside the time in the newscast or space from the newspaper, but it is like Hamburger Helper. It fills inside the plate without nutrition. In the event the content of the newscast is less compelling, then fewer people watch. Meaning ad rates cannot increase or perhaps the ad rates go down. In the end oahu is the same cycle as the newspapers. You can preserve to reduce staff to create your books balance expecting riding out your recession. Still, the fundamental issue is the company plan is dead.

Historically, Tv producers and newspapers sell over a cost per thousand basis or CPM. It's a "wide net" theory of advertising and marketing. When consumers had fewer choices, audience sizes were bigger and the ad would reach enough people to develop a demand for the merchandise being advertised. Audience sizes for individual media shrank over the past decade. The interest rate they're shrinking is accelerating. Meaning the cost per thousand is increasing get the job done ad rate stays stable, that this cannot. Since fewer people are seeing or reading the consumer ads, you will find less consumers motivated to purchase or use products or services promoted from the ad. Newspapers and TV must discover a new enterprize model, one that will not rely on CPM.

So far as the experience goes, I saw the storm clouds gathering after i left the industry. I am not an economist, on the other hand knew the industry that paid me the last 3 decades concerned to suffer greatly. I sat through collective bargaining sessions with labor forces that became increasingly contentious and I didnrrrt contain the stomach to observe this news staff be disassembled. There have been certainly financial pressures inside my last a long period as news director of the TV station, but nothing beats today. Fortunately for me personally, I had created a strategy. I returned university, got an additional academic degree along with the College of Saint Rose invited me to instruct as an adjunct. That triggered a full-time teaching opportunity. I'm am very glad I didnrrrt stay longer though I loved the day to day technique of news gathering.

Q: From your years of experience of journalism and teaching it, is there anything newspapers are capable of doing that they're not doing to improve their likelihood of surviving?

PC: Lots of theories. Only a few guidelines. The traditional wisdom is that they will have to rely more on the web and new media for revenue. This is what I'm telling my students. This content engine for brand spanking new media is old media. Remove old media and what should you do using your I-Pod or where would you opt for your browser? New media forms generate pennies. Old media forms still generate dollars although the dollars are shrinking. Frankly, my students want and expect everything "at the moment.Inches They're not specifically faithful to media brands. They just don't care just what the method to obtain their media submissions are provided that it entertains or informs them. If I were owning a newspaper's city room, I'd be sprinting to generate more "TV News Stories" that individuals can observe on his or her web sites. A couple of newspaper companies are carrying this out, but the vast majority simply send certainly one of their "print" reporters out into the field which has a substandard consumer camera to record a news conference. Yes, that's content, nevertheless it is detrimental content also it won't attract younger readers. They have to mimic the styles that TV reporter use visualizing stories. Every story from the newspaper really should have a companion video version available on demand.