This week’s news analysis felt like it covered everything I’ve been writing in this column for the last few months.
We talked to a lot of great sources for it — so many, in fact, that most of what they said had to be left out. To show them a little more love for all the time and thought they put into our chats, and because some of their comments were too good to ignore, today’s In Circ is sharing some of their unpublished comments.
Samir Husni, chair of the journalism department at the University of Mississippi: “It’s a great time for innovation and reinvention because there is so much we can learn. Look at the Asia Pacific region — print is growing, the Middle East — growing, Eastern Europe, Russia — all growing. But we refuse to learn from anyone else, and we are so bloated.”
Melony Rios, director of buying and planning services, Novus Print Media Network: “I don’t think advertisers care one way or another [whether newspapers are on an ad-supported model]. They just want a media vehicle that works for them, that is efficient in terms of media costs and gets them into the right hands. However newspapers choose to operate their businesses’ bottom line, advertisers want to see results.”
Reed Phillips, managing partner, DeSilva & Phillips: “Print companies need to start looking more like internet companies to be competitive. As a result, they have to refashion the way their employees work to be much more efficient. Some of these print companies appear very bloated in terms of staffing.”
Bob Sacks, president, The Precision Media Group: “The essential nature, the franchise of what publishers have is not changing. What publishers own are words and thoughts, and we shouldn’t be so hung up on how we distribute those words because what’s important is how we monetize them.”
Mike Hayes, COO, NSA [Newspaper Services of America] Media: “The players in the print news industry continue to misjudge the nature of the value proposition that they provide to the public: targeted content (in the form of high quality journalism) and localized media distribution.”
