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Offline Ken Gigliotti

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Universities Could Take Over Newspapers
« on: May 16, 2017, 12:32 PM »
News Media Medal of Honour or Join with Higher Learning  : Opinion by Ken Gigliotti

Could the newspaper business be taken over as a revenue stream for university or colleges?  It could also be a non profit or tax free trust from ownership? 

I fear for the newspaper business in general and local newspapers in particular. Recent events have provided an opportunity for our business to survive ,but big moves are in order. The next generation (children) are entering this new alternate reality of the internet and are being swallowed whole. They have no defenses against sophisticated messaging created for them.

This approach is really about evolution. The digital age is pushing boundaries in ways journalism is not prepared for. Journalism seems static , it's feet are locked in the muck and the muck is hardening to stone. The digital world is fast evolving past culture. The focus has to be against chasing the last Baby Boom dollar and embracing the changing of the guard to those growing up inside the technological culture.

The other thing is the biggest asset of the newspaper business is its historic files. This is the thing that the newspaper industry has little interest in. The danger is it will all be  tossed out. Twice I have witnessed the blatant trashing of these historical records. The first was during the change of buildings from the letter press plant to a new offset plant. Literally tons of zinc head shot plates were sent to the scrap yard,along with glass negatives from the turn of the century. These were historic artifacts of the golden age of newspapers. The librarians were beside themselves ,trying to squirrel away important pieces. I got a few hand fulls at the time.

These newspaper files especially the clipping files and photos belong  in universities for study of the historic practices of journalism.

Could false, fake or biased news coverage fatally threaten the newspaper business? As if, it did not have enough trouble already. The issue is trust with out readers and what we will do next. Doing nothing is not an option.

These are the strangest of times for both the written and spoken word, as fools around the globe find each other. It may be that special interest and lobby groups have taken over government already. There is jail lobby in the US that benefits from illegal border crossings from Mexico. The US has the largest number of people in jail in the world.

People of principle stand firm on ground that is giving way beneath them when movement and action are required. Journalism needs to step up and outside of the newsroom bunkers into the light of this new day , smell the air we all breath , walk the streets like it is our beat. We are what our record says we are and we have to change.

Media does some fence mending after US and European national elections with affirmations and advertising. There may be some guilt/responsibility in the system for how things are turning out.

“When you’ve covered the story from every angle,
When you’ve reported the facts whatever the obstacles,
If you’ve asked the questions others won’t,
When you’ve never taken sides in any war, revolution or election,
When you’ve come under fire from people in power around the world,
And you’ve always championed the truth,
Then you can call yourself the most trusted brand in news”

BBC's bold TV ad promoting itself with Katty Kay reaffirms in the most positive terms the commitment to telling the news of the day.

Various news organizations have recommitted and restated their mission of covering the facts of news by running advertising in their own products.  Some like the CBC ran ads on competing cable channels to assure their audiences that fake news is something that does not come from traditional news providers.

The BBC has provided the most comprehensive promise to it's viewers,the CBC also made a similar ad but did not go nearly as far.

“CNN the most trusted name in news.” The voice of James Earl Jones returned to television screens with a refreshed clarity after a long absence.

“Truth,It needs your support” New York Times

“Fake  news is easy, Real journalism is hard, -Local. Trusted. True-  a full page ad in Winnipeg Free Press Saturday Edition is also a example of a local newspaper commitment to truthful reporting. It seems like these ads all ran at the same time and I am guessing they were part of a strategy across the US and Canada. Regrettably I could not find the copy for CBC ad although it ran on CNN and the CBC network.

According to BuzzFeed News, “fake news isn’t actually as prominent in the UK as it is elsewhere, because of the country’s highly partisan press. Its analysis of UK social media habits concluded that “the most popular dubious stories on British politics were almost always the work of long-established news outlets and relied at most on exaggeration rather than fakery.”

EXAGGERATION , yikes not another alternate blurring of the  issue. Stories are exaggerated  to sound more important than they actually are. With a little nip here and a tuck there, a local page 3 story goes to Page One on a slow day.

BuzzFeed seems to have caught the unspoken edge of the issue. There is “fake news” but there is also bias in reporting the vaporous world of political coverage/ conversational journalism. Conversations ,or we need to have this conversation is a phrase getting to be too common and confusing for the public. Is conversation news bias or fake news? It isn't helpful when surrogates will say anything.

Mainstream new organizations do not create false news but their current product , with sometimes reporters becoming columnists , or contributors ,or experts  and back to reporters, anonymous sources, and what they are hearing in hallways, again painting pictures of scenes they were not witness to.

Comedians  turned reporter,then back to comedians. Late night talk shows , S&L on Saturday,the public faces an over load of comment and cannot distinguish what is truth. There is just too much talk, it overloads. I have talked to people who just watch the BBC, or the nature channel, myself included.
The sad thing is that newspaper journalism has cut itself out of this most important time by limiting access.

The thinking need to move from marketing back to an essential service and release some free content on websites. The thinking is introspective and defensive at a time when offense is required. 

Monitization of newspaper websites may have had the unintended side effect of creating an opening for fake news and alternative facts. One important door to information closed and another opened. Trust is eroded in institutions and media. Fewer people read newspapers as a result and our business should offer some free content everyday at least from the editorial page.

News organizations are best at reporting breaking news events like civil unrest, crime, courts , floods, fires, natural disasters. The 9/11 attack on New York cities Twin Towers was exceptional. The coverage of Wars  tends to hedge more to having a politics lens in front of events.

The Canadian War in Afghanistan focused wholly on Canada and the total picture of the war was fractured. The Canadians in the audience are also made up of Dutch (F-16'S & 2100 troops)and Belgium ,Norwegian ( F-16's),France 4000 troops ,English 4,500,Germany 2,500,Italian 2,800, contributions from China ,New Zealand ,Australia, Iran , Russia,Ukraine  and others).It would be like reporting Old Country Soccer scores. Canadians were not given access to the whole picture of that complicated  war. Winning one province in that country was misleading coverage. The costs of narrowly focused coverage become staggering with more jobs for our military are on the horizon in Africa.

Contrarian and risk taking views need to be expressed. It should have it's own Tuesday section. Contrarianism has always been the great story of conflict and business.

Readers and viewers have become sensitive to bias, especially during elections ,and now it has become a full time occupation for the average person causing a dangerous polarization outside political structures. The English , Dutch and French national elections had sizable dissent. The English moved from the EU , in the first rounds with many parties of the Dutch and French elections the far right came in second. They righted themselves in the runoff second elections (focused on stopping the right much like Canada's Stop Harper and was not so much about ideas), but the French elected Emmanuel Macron  president with no political party behind him. He was a phenomenon like Obama (outsider) or Trudeau (running third at the election's start). Traditional parties in the England, US and France were defeated and  given a “right scare”, or rejected. The year of the outsider continues.

When working as a photographer years ago I would engage in conversations with immigrants about the politics of their home countries. Often they would react to something I would bring up, saying that was a an American news view point. I would have to say that may be true as the story origin was an AP story. It is said that journalism is local ,AP is  an American view point aimed at an American audience, CP a Canadian readership, AFP , BBC and so on. Each ethnic group established there own language newspapers and radio stations , cable community access  programming on TV for a reason . Breaking it down further states and provinces would have media that represent each as well as local  media. The slant ,angle or bias of the story moves to the readership it it is intended. The reality is that news  is very different for victors, vanquished and displaced.

In the United States television media gained prominence during the tumultuous 1960's and 1970's. The Civil Rights marches and movements fed daily newscasts. I guess one would have to say where was journalism regarding this subject matter before the 1960's  , and in Canada regarding Residential Schools before before the times these stories were headlines. American newspapers would be split ,North vs South in the aftermath of the Civil War. (Americans started Residential Schools just after the Civil War and Canada fallowed suit) Does heritage media in particular owe apologies for going along with the government policies that were wrong while they were actively perused. Does media cater to the prevailing viewpoints of their constituents even if if there is no ethical logic to support their actions? There are power points around the media business that radiate toward circulation , subscriptions or ratings and adverting that run in the backgrounds  of all businesses. Radio stations in Texas risked financial ruin by playing Dixie Chicks music after they criticized George W. Bush invasion of Iraq. The separation between business and journalism has taken down many of the barriers that once existed. Just look at the idea of advertising on the front page,ad ratios from 60-40 to 50-50 more with the advent of advertorial or having open ad free section front pages ,or any ad free pages. The Editorial Page may be the last semblance of the old order.

There are also gaps that media ignores, it was once called a generation gap now a culture gap, there are gender gaps, and technology gaps. Every generation has a name that identifies its experience , values and aspiration. The newspaper business only truly understood the white ,Anglo Saxon ,baby boom ,demographic. In Canada British journalists had too much influence over the newspaper business.

In the 1960'sand 70's a mixed marriage was between a Catholic and a Protestant. This is an example of a “gap” in culture as many generations co-exist and hold power at the same time. In the 1800's all Protestants were considered fundamentalist Christians , all were “reformers”.

Church policy was also muddled during the time of slavery and the Residential Schools and cannot be justified or explained. If government policy was botched, religion should have be a counter point. Both as it seems had commercial implications as well as power components. Strong over weak and competition between religious groups over conversions. Farley Mowat eludes to competing missions in the arctic during the 1950's and 60's.

The messy truth is that unstoppable waves ,millions of white people were coming to North America and that was not going to change. The world was going through rapid technological change and  that effected government policy. During these times Ottawa had a business relationship (trapping) with aboriginal people who did not speak English. The effects of these policies are still having repercussions from post Civil War  in the US and in Canada  the Hudson Bay Co. ,post WW2 times. Farley Mowat sadly for him  acknowledges this in his  1950's and 60's books.

Does editorial policy revolve around political and business interests? Newspapers still bring in a lot of cash.

What if the future of journalism falls to academia? What if the newspaper business in particular could re-brand it's status with it's audience  under the umbrella of the university  structure. Journalism could be part of the rich campus culture of the exploration of thought,in all of it's forms.

The obvious would be philosophical thought,ethics, art & humanities and writing in all it's forms.


The current media affirmations are in fact defensive and preach to the converted about the high ideals of journalism and yet political reporting still has a lot of wiggle room. Defensive advertising implies guilt. The readers want more that the time honored practices that do not seem to be creating a sustainable future for broadly based news gathering.

“Move fast and break things” is Facebook's inspiring and  forward looking motto. It speaks to its workers. The media business has too many beaten down and too old workers who want it to fail inside the the organization.  It might be a good idea for the business of journalism to explore aspiration change from with in.

Tech companies look forward, they make it their business to see trends and business is good. Newspapers blindly report trends but in no way benefited from this advanced information. Why is that? It is as if they do not read their won stories or see implications. In Canada, is AI and automation eliminating workers and their tax dollars to be remedied by  Guaranteed Annual Income for the displaced. 

Even though we in the newspaper business work always for tomorrow ,it is hard for our business to see next week , or even Monday after a weekend. (Monday is the start over day and thinking jumps to Saturday) The newspaper business should have read their own stories, should have been at the forefront of change. It should have happened when they were flush with cash and saw the slow declining trend starting in 1987. Thomson Newspapers saw it the earliest and sold off their entire chain at peak value only to return in a limited way with digital experience.

Newspapers still bring in a lot of revenue. Struggling Postmedia's last year revenue was $877.2 million.  Moving the commercial operation of newspapers to journalism schools might solve tax problems ,create revenue streams for the dinosaur like scale of university communities .It save journalism from it's shareholders & debt and  ownership. Newspapers already work closely with j-schools. Journalists , editors would still work with students but newspapers could benefit from the diversity of the students, the business school, technology schools, English departments , science & innovation , sales ,in short the best and brightest in areas they cannot currently reach.

What about the science of journalism? The work of applying new technologies , designing dedicated information science and being the first to use it .The evolving math science of analytics is in great need  as political parties are gaining advantage over journalism.  Newspapers could be in the game and not the last to use or just adapt new trends in technology.

Yet we wait for the New York Times to save us. Let someone else do the work. The NY Times will save itself that is for sure.

Journalism as a foundation may be an attractive alternative for ownership and for journalism in general. Re-branding the product could be the big idea that revives the reputation of journalists and provide a “new and improved” product fresh start.
 
*Smithsonian Air & Space magazine May 2017 shows and example of education and private enterprise working together. Jerry Yagen's Fighter Factory ,a private aviation school, Aviation Institute of Maintenance supports the restoration of his collection of historic WW1& WW2 fighters through tuition of students being paid by government. This is not a great example but it is intriguing. These endangered aircraft have great historic value and are very expensive and time consuming to restore and operate. It is a trade off. The aircraft could be restored to fly again or exist as historical scrap. Newspapers could take that road,opposing forces are strong and there is currently no solution in sight beyond destructive cost cutting.

 
The world is getting smaller for news organizations. It seems like the very big will survive and compete in a hunger games of attrition with tech companies. The smaller local markets will shrink and newspapers  could become a restaurant place mate or  flier like product. Advertisers or political parties could some day buy or create their own newspaper like product.

The media vacuum is causing other players jump into the political scene with innovative approaches like CNN original programming , The Messy Truth with Van Jones , and United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell and  Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown ,food ,politics and travel show. Television has the ability to innovate and experiment with freelance products in a way newspapers cannot.

“They are the rock stars of the political punditry world ,a distinction that has brought them both critical kudos and sharp jabs,the the praise for  making a painful political year palatable and somewhat sane with reportage rather than hyperbole,then criticism  for being a part of a media pack that turned a crucial part of the democratic process into absurd spectacle “by LA Times  Loraine Ali 3/16/17  about Mark Halperin  and John Heilemann co-creators of the TV series  Circus:The Greatest Political Show on Earth.

Journalists with images and words should be writing ,teaching and  passing knowledge in this changing environment. Most schooling  involves teachers who are no longer in the field. Teaching would be at a deficit of -5, -10 years at least. Journalism schools are reacting late to the current demands of a business lost in technology. Working and teaching in a dynamic present could be a game changer for journalism and education. Newsrooms could be big and agile again. The newspaper business joining the university culture as a partnered heritage foundation could remove perceived bias and provide a start fresh with a cynical readership on a world wide scale.

Newspaper culture may save universities too. A generation or two of students has grown up not knowing freedom of speech. They have been dipped in the heavy oil of Political Correctness that is now leaching into all the building mortar. Students are becoming intolerant and mob like in a dangerously loud  digital self righteous mentality. Anger and suppression of freedom to think rebellious thoughts or even to dream without borders for those afflicted has many unhappy side effects. Political Correctness is the stuff of comedy clubs , where would they go for fun.”Next time the fire.”

That next angry generation is moving like a great herd , who's first of the six major decisions we all make  led to crushing education debt with no job in sight. Journalism has nothing for them but confused messaging. Everyone wants to talk about mortgage debt in Vancouver and Toronto  ,but not car debt. Eight year loans on  cars and trucks. Car companies are big advertisers in media.

Centers for journalism excellence could produce major projects in a university setting. Every J-student brings at least one good story to a newspaper,their thesis.  Daily work could be expanded toward stories and story telling through words, visual arts ,history and science from a deeper center than from the current news conference, expert for an hour treatment.

Blustering conversation, yelling and talking over need to be replaced by critical thinking , debate and depth of understanding of the important issues of the day and  of our time. Ken Gigliotti opinion

« Last Edit: May 17, 2017, 09:38 AM by Ken Gigliotti »


Offline Ken Gigliotti

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Re: Universities Could Take Over Newspapers
« Reply #1 on: October 28, 2017, 02:43 PM »
I think in small ways local newspapers can start a limited partnerships with journalism schools that would grow into a national chain of education opportunities and revenue streams that would be self supporting without government support. This product would be online and free to be successful.

This is a quote from a story by Robert Cribb  an investigative-reporting lecturer at Ryerson University titled Investigative  Journalism Needs Support first published  in The Conversation Canada, theconversation.com/ca

“We believe the model of bringing together traditional media outlets with journalism schools and academics in the collaborative pursuit of vital public interest information is a uniquely Canadian  solution to a uniquely  Canadian problem,drawing on one of our greatest assets :our ability to get along in the interests of the collective.”
The story outlines how 34  students from four Canadian universities collaborated during the last year with three news organizations to produce a major journalism project on how the oil industry effected the people in rural communities. It was the first of three stories. Funding came from the Michener Awards Foundation. Forty-eight hours later promises were made to toughen environmental laws by government.

The story goes on to say that a project like this is likely to never happen again. There are other non-profit journalism models elsewhere but not in Canada. Heritage Minister Joly said that no government funding would come from the Canadian government.

I still believe the idea that journalism schools and media information companies can join together for mutual benefit. Each depends on the other and  all Canadians  depend on both.

I think in small ways local newspapers can start a limited partnerships with local journalism schools that would grow into a national chain of education opportunities and revenue streams that would be self supporting without government support. This product would be online and free to be successful. Opinion by Ken Gigliotti



Offline Warren Toda

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Re: Universities Could Take Over Newspapers
« Reply #2 on: October 31, 2017, 05:23 PM »
Quote from: Ken Gigliotti
I think in small ways local newspapers can start a limited partnerships with journalism schools ...

They've been saying this for at least 15 years and probably much longer. The problem is newspaper owners who are interested only in running a business rather than a news organization. Schools have the exact opposite motivation.

Look at the link to The Conversation that Ken mentioned in his post. Scroll to the bottom and look at all the universities connected to this. And just one news organization.

News organizations are their own worst enemy.


Quote from: Ken Gigliotti
This product would be online and free to be successful.

Nothing is free, not even success  :) 

But at least it would be free from the confines of old thinking.


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Offline Daniel Crump

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Re: Universities Could Take Over Newspapers
« Reply #3 on: November 01, 2017, 02:01 PM »
Hey Ken,

If I understand this all correctly it is quite interesting. My paper, The Uniter, has found itself being in what seems like a rather unique position for small locals in Canada. We are a NFP, based out of the UofW, but not a student/campus paper. We do receive some funding from the student association and do some campus reporting, but we do equal (maybe even more) reporting that serves the surrounding communities (West End, West Broadway, Downtown, Etc..). The staff, as well as volunteers, are also a mishmash of non-students, students, and alumni. We are still figuring out this model and what it means to be in the position we are in. Was wondering if I could pass your opinion piece here on to my colleagues as it may be of interest to them. In return I'd be happy to post any conclusions/thoughts a discussion on this topic might yield.

Let me know, thanks!



Offline Ken Gigliotti

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Re: Universities Could Take Over Newspapers
« Reply #4 on: November 02, 2017, 10:24 AM »
The story I have in my hand says this was a year long project , “in  an unprecedented reporting collaboration” , 34 students at four Canadian journalism schools,-Concordia, Ryerson, Regina and Uof BC,and three news organizations ,-the Toronto Star, Global News and the National Observer. The story was on the Winnipeg Free Press Think Tank page(oped)Oct 28 2017.This is a very special idea I hope our business does not fumble.

I am imagining a newspaper business where millennials will not come to the the newspaper business (NPB), I think the newspaper business will go to them. There is a demographic shift where one generation is completely taking over from the last.

Winnipeg has two universities and each has excellent newspaper. Red River College has a journalism school and it's paper is online. When I see these products I am always impressed with not only the presentation but the content. Without big dollar resources they have managed to rethink and re-engineer the idea of newspapers with afresh approach. Constant change is built in.

NPB ownership will require a place to divest it's greatest asset the news.
This news asset stripped of its printing press capital, and real-estate, with a product that is online only would put the investment of news on a level playing field. Note that the playing field is changing and the overwhelming choices in degrees of truth will need clarification. A NPB outside the corporate umbrella has a chance to be great again.

The NPB already has a close relationship with journalism schools, and the job isn't rocket science. The news product could use a refreshing that it cannot get through it's current structure.

With greater student leadership in a media they understand and are totally immersed in , the NPB could only thrive. The online culture is always moving and it just getting started.

The current NPB has reached it's potential years ago and is now only repeating the same stories with different authors on a ever repeating cycle.



Offline Warren Toda

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Re: Universities Could Take Over Newspapers
« Reply #5 on: November 02, 2017, 11:47 AM »
Quote from: Ken Gigliotti
Without big dollar resources they have managed to rethink and re-engineer the idea of newspapers with afresh approach.

The "big dollar resources" of a news organization are the employees. It's easy to rethink a newspaper if you don't have to pay anyone. Newspapers love to partner with journalism schools since it means free student labour.


Quote from: Ken Gigliotti
This news asset stripped of its printing press capital, and real-estate, with a product that is online only would put the investment of news on a level playing field.

The two biggest costs in running a newspaper were always (1) the cost of paper and ink, and (2) the cost of employees. School papers have neither of those two things.

Many newspapers now no longer own real estate and many have sold their presses. But they don't have people working for free. So a direct comparison between a news organization and a school paper can't be made.

Newspapers will eventually be mostly online as their print subscribers literally and figuratively die off. But until then, the major problem isn't the sheets of paper but rather what's on those sheets of paper.  And this problem extends to what's on their website pages as well. This is where "student thinking", not free student labour, comes in.


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Offline Ken Gigliotti

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Re: Universities Could Take Over Newspapers
« Reply #6 on: November 03, 2017, 10:40 AM »
I guess what I am talking about is an evolving product. If newspapers continue to decline, local news will fall first. The few big papers will get bigger. It only makes sense with a subscriber base. People pay enough for their smart phones and adding a local paper and a national (or US) paper would not be an option. People will have to decide how they spend their money.

Big papers could add on local coverage by subscription. The next shock to the economy with AI could wipe out existing newspaper products and it is coming soon. It could collapse the tax base of governments. The US is circling the wagons and Canada is very likely to get hurt badly, because big and powerful countries(corporations & media) will only get bigger and meaner. (Boeing/Bombardier, softwood lumber , car manufacturing  all positioning for the China market)

In the meantime local dailies will depend more and more on paid student labour and internships ,or a revolving door of ever changing staff trying to move up to the last two big newsgroups or the CBC research department.

The local newspaper is more likely to expand alliances that are already in play. It is not the end of paid journalists , but it may be the end of job-for-life journalism. There is a very good example I can write about in the next post.

I think there is alternative that allows an alliance that is beneficial providing many information products though many demographic groups and languages and a world wide web of students, politics,and ideas. It could produce a news group a travel group, politics, sports,and personal communication.

The idea is to connect every future generation to a world wide news group of certified and reliable information. This is what child carriers did during the evening paper collections on a local level. Information that people will trust needs a champion. Paid advertising will fallow the free product. This may have a pie in the sky sound but ownership of NP's is already on university boards and it only takes one university start the experiment. The business can still report local fires, mvc's , sports and politics but a world wide connection to Africa,the Middle & Far East has global reach. Digital reach.

This is a very big idea, bigger than newspapers. Universities have networks of research, newspapers have information networks to. I don't have confidence that NP's have the courage ,nor see the danger in this overwhelming digital advance.

The irony is that the "White Man" will be overwhelmed by digital change the same way First Nations Peoples were three centuries ago. They did not see it coming either. One nation of stateless digital natives is emerging.

Failing to do something will leave the future of news to the commercial interests of a few (2) fast expanding internet players. This is getting to be a good talk.

« Last Edit: November 03, 2017, 11:49 AM by Ken Gigliotti »


Offline Warren Toda

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Re: Universities Could Take Over Newspapers
« Reply #7 on: November 04, 2017, 01:05 AM »
Quote from: Ken Gigliotti
People pay enough for their smart phones and adding a local paper and a national (or US) paper would not be an option. People will have to decide how they spend their money.

Don't you think that people are being trained to expect most things to be free and supported by advertising? Facebook, Twitter, newspaper websites, various smart phone apps, etc.  If it's not tangible, why should I have to pay for it?

When newspapers ask to be paid for, some people will say that information should be free. Of course, information has always been free and will always remain so. It's the gathering, organizing and deciphering of information that costs money.

Everyone is free to gather their own information. Is it too much work for you? Then pay other people to do it for you - buy a newspaper!  >:(


Quote from: Ken Gigliotti
The local newspaper is more likely to expand alliances that are already in play.

TV news exists because their networks provide viewers with a lot more than just news. All those Seinfeld reruns, game shows, afternoon soaps, etc, help pay for the expensive TV news broadcasts. Can newspapers do the same? Can they offer readers more than just the news? A web site is a multimedia platform just waiting to be used.

Some newspapers have bought into other businesses outside of journalism, I guess to provide other revenue streams. I haven't heard if any of these have had any degree of success although some did fail.

Remember when CTV merged/partnered with The Globe and Mail? TorStar then reacted by starting some sort of partnership with the CBC. It seems that these went nowhere and then died because no one had a game plan.

Could (or should?) government-funded CBC permanently partner with a newspaper chain? Would that be considered a concentration of news media? If a newspaper partners with a university or college, that wouldn't trigger any media concentration issues.



So I guess video on newspaper web sites is dead again? Most of what I've seen on Toronto news web sites is crap shot by reporters. What happened to all that special video training that photographers did?

My point is that, after 16 years, papers still have no idea about video. Heck, after 22 years online, they still don't know what to do with photos. It took some papers 20 years for their websites to stop being replicas of the print product. And this is where student thinking comes into play.

Students today probably didn't grow up with print papers. They have no print bias but instead they have an online bias. They grew up with online video and online photo galleries. (I get a kick when I show photo prints to teens who have never seen large photos they can hold in their hands.  :)  )



Quote from: Ken Gigliotti
I think there is alternative that allows an alliance that is beneficial providing many information products ... It could produce ... a travel group ...

This has been talked about for at least 17 years. I was in the room at one newspaper when this exact topic was brought up to newspaper executives. The CEO and VP laughed and said, "That will never happen. Newspapers are for news."  Back then, the suggestions included partnering with a well-known music-TV channel and a certain fashion-TV channel; another suggestion involved a large, national travel agency.

There are many online opportunities for newspapers. The problem is that most of them don't have any interest in changing or taking any risks. But they're happy to throw money into a sinking ship. Most papers are happy to sit back and see what the NY Times does. Student thinking would come in handy here.



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Offline Ken Gigliotti

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Re: Universities Could Take Over Newspapers
« Reply #8 on: November 05, 2017, 10:51 AM »
Seventeen years ago in digital time is the opposite to dog years for heritage media. If people were talking about partnerships for print media,no one should be surprised. There was an experiment in Headingley just out side of Winnipeg in the early 1980's that investigated the idea that newspaper copy could be viewed on a local cable TV channel. This was just rolling ,typewriter copy , not a page of a newspaper , no pictures , no design. It failed. It was designed to fail in my opinion. But these ideas were driven by the government investigations of newspaper ownership and operation  the newsrooms. The government threats would force great change.

 The newspaper business was well aware of systemic scoliosis way back then. It was clear by “the Deal” that closed newspapers that few could survive in Canada's largest cities where competition existed. Prior to “the Deal” aggressive newspaper wars like the one in Winnipeg had no winners, the Southam chain was hemorrhaging money (and still is),  the Winnipeg Free Press was losing circulation to a dead heat.

The Deal created a windfall that financed the Renaissance of the newspaper business that fallowed. New buildings ,new presses and design , it was great fun if you were lucky enough to be there to see it from the inside.  The Renaissance  improved a very sick business. Costs began rising and corporatization  seeped in , and the slippage began again. After the 1980's resurgence of newspapers came the mainstreaming of the internet in Canada in 1991, Facebook in 2004, YouTube 2005 and the Simon Personal Communicator (IBM idea)became the iPhone smart phone in 2007. Smart phones and tablets really caused a panic. Real change could not happen because quarterly newspapers still made lots of money, in a declining year over year march. Thomson saw it first and sold out in 1996..

It seems longer than it was. Digital years may be only three months long.

But one of these desperate ideas will likely stick until the newspaper business decides it needs saving. Right now it cannot change because it doesn't want to. That is changing. Even an illiterate photographer like me spitballs these ideas because it is my experience that people who care about newspapers have to come up with acceptable  ideas or they will have them imposed by corporate masters and they may not like the result.
We speak truth to power , but not loudly inside our own walls. Kg opinion